I just don't get it.

[Mael-bess]

snip

I'm a little confused, but bear with me as i've started the game around 2 months. So what do you mean players who started 2 months ago could catch up to you? You mean gear wise? shouldn't they be able to (not in 2 months but eventually)? I mean wouldn't it be bad for a game if players that are around for a long time would have a huge advantage over more recent players, everyone should be able to be at an equal standing with some effort, regardless when they started to playing.

I for one i'm no where close to have\achiev what you have, and somethings i'll never be able to get that you have. I agree that you should have something special for playing the game that long other than a tattoo, isn't that what veteran awards are for?

[Nutz]

I for one i'm no where close to have\achiev what you have, and somethings i'll never be able to get that you have. I agree that you should have something special for playing the game that long other than a tattoo, isn't that what veteran awards are for?

I suppose veteran rewards are for that, though they're also meaningless glamour/ mounts/ etc. I think what melisande was getting at was the fact that in previous MMOs something like a relic weapon might have taken even longer to get, but would have lasting value. The way it's implemented in this game unless you quickly grind it out immediately it's either outdated or close to it by the time you get it, nevermind 6 months down the line.

In one of several efforts to make this game accessible to new players the devs neglected to make any items give a lasting advantage, and it's difficult to see how they could given the state of itemization. For a weapon to be useful one year from now it would have to be insanely powerful today -- objectively and significantly more powerful than anything else out there. Even so, 2 years form now it would be trash because all we really have to make weapons powerful are weapon damage and main stat and those things are constantly climbing.

To have items that can be useful even after new items have been introduced you need to slow down the power creep and add more interesting stats.

FFXI had a wonderful assortment of stats (IMO). One of the most sought after weapons in the game had very low damage, but due to other game mechanics and the unique properties of the item people still wanted it several years after release, even after level cap increases (referring to the kraken club in case you were wondering -- occasionally attacked 2-8 times). There's room for much more interesting stats that could make gear last longer if they'd also stop increasing main stat numbers so dramatically.

I'm not even advocating that they slow down on releasing gear really, just saying that it's not necessary for every other patch to include definite upgrades for every single slot on every single job. Of course, you really could get by with less gear added overall. I never quite understood the very rigid gear set structure that they use, but I suppose it's just another layer of accessibility (ie. as a tank everything 'of fending' is for me, and maybe some 'of slaying' stuff sometimes, and nothing else ever).

[Welsper59]

I'm not even advocating that they slow down on releasing gear really, just saying that it's not necessary for every other patch to include definite upgrades for every single slot on every single job. Of course, you really could get by with less gear added overall. I never quite understood the very rigid gear set structure that they use, but I suppose it's just another layer of accessibility (ie. as a tank everything 'of fending' is for me, and maybe some 'of slaying' stuff sometimes, and nothing else ever).

At this point in the game, at least until they give a HUGE heads up on revamping the system, it is absolutely mandatory that they keep going up on the ilvl. The players, unbeknownst to themselves, have an expectation in regards to content and reward. We want content to be harder and give us worthwhile rewards. No ones going to find it worth their time and effort to run through Savage just so that their a drop from it might offer a better ratio of a secondary stat for one job, while the rest might get something worse or just outright pointless.

Ignoring the fact that FFXI was not gear-locked in combat, the only reason XI got away with so much diversity with gear was because of how situational each piece was. If you were trying to be good at the game, you didn't stick to your WS set while you were trying to TP build. You didn't leave your Fast Cast gear on by mid-cast. No, you would macro a switch of gear to benefit from the wide array of stats that benefit you. In other words, that gear you macro generally sees action for a second or two when you do something related to it. Sometimes, you wouldn't even see it on your character by the time it swaps out lol. Not exactly material to be "cherished" outside of the numbers it represents.

We don't have anything like that because this game is not designed to handle that. Even if they did introduce side gear to remove that definitive upgrade next patch, absolutely no one with any sense of logic would find it to be truly worth their time if it were locked behind something like Savage. They would have to literally redo the entire stat system in order to introduce worthwhile side gear options. Even then, it'll come down to a singular BiS system without the ability to swap gear mid-combat. So along with that, they'd have to redo it so that we'd be playing FFXI, basically. WoW had a wide array of fun/useful/useless stats on their gear, but just like here, it came down to one BiS set. Alternative gearing only existed outside of endgame there, which is why FFXI essentially perfected horizontal gear progression.

If what you meant was that the upgrades were miniscule, then that absolutely would not work with the current system. If 6 months for the next tier of max ilvl isn't long enough to cherish your gear, then what realistically is? Why would anyone bother spending their time doing new content enough to last until the next cycle, when the difference with the new and old stuff is negligible?

Edit: This got cut off and its a rather important part to the tone of this lol. If what you were saying was encompassing your mention of adding interesting stats in order to keep gear relevant, then yeah, I totally agree obviously. It's just that based on the way you were arguing the subject, it sounds like you were looking at one being separable from the other, which is something I don't agree with.

[Nutz]

Edit: This got cut off and its a rather important part to the tone of this lol. If what you were saying was encompassing your mention of adding interesting stats in order to keep gear relevant, then yeah, I totally agree obviously. It's just that based on the way you were arguing the subject, it sounds like you were looking at one being separable from the other, which is something I don't agree with.

I was merely addressing each issue, though they're interconnected. You got the idea though. With more interesting stats they could slow down a bit on the release of gear and we could hold on to it a bit longer (even with potential upgrades being released).

Even though a lot of FFXI's stats were used in very specific situations, I think many would translate well here. You could have stats to reduce TP/MP costs/ increase TP/MP gains, various damage modifiers (ie. mobs take 5% more damage while under the effect of thunder, GL stacks deal 10 potency per stack to all enemies within area of effect), various ability modifiers (ie. 10% chance wrath stacks are not spent, Hallowed Ground makes you absorb damage rather than just negate it), double/ triple attack, occasionally deal double damage. Really anyone could think of tons of things from slightly advantageous to very effective that they could put on armor/ weapons that would be a lot more interesting than +15 STR.

[Gardes]

I for one i'm no where close to have\achiev what you have, and somethings i'll never be able to get that you have. I agree that you should have something special for playing the game that long other than a tattoo, isn't that what veteran awards are for?

I'm pretty sure they meant things they have achieved IN the game, not trivial items that you get JUST for being around longer than someone. By your logic, you could be playing for 6 months while I pay for the subs for 1 year but not play any of the game and log in on the last month, get close to your ilvl in that one month and consider myself having achieved more than you did.

[Krissey]

I have been playing FFXIV since it was released in 2010. That's 6 years. What do I have to show for it?
1. A tattoo.
2. A 'Legacy Chocobo'
3. A now completely worthless 'Relic'
4. Most of my jobs at lvl 60
5. ALL of my gear worthless, over, and over, and over again.
6. Some achievements from 1.0
7. A Medium house I bought in 2013 upon ARR.
8. A Wind-up Cursor Minion and Free Fantasia
9. Black Chocobo Chick and Cascadier Uniform Voucher
10. Beady Eye and Voidal Resonator
11. Minion of Light and Black Mage Barding
12. Wind-up Leader and Behemoth Warhorn
13. Wind-up Odin and Aetheryte Ticket x 50
14. Wind-up Warrior of Light and Barding of Light
15. Wind-up Goblin and Goblin Cap
16. Wind-up Gilgamesh and Enquire Within (For your Medium House)
17. Wind-up Nanamo and Fat Chocobo Head
18. Advent Attire
19. Wild Rose Attire
20. Wind-up Firion and Wild Rose Barding
21. Tantalus Attire

I fixed this for you

[Skivvy]

I fixed this for you

I don't think freebie items given to you simply for subbing really count as accomplishments.

[odintius]

Most the stuff from veteran stuff I don't even use it collecting dust though in my inn closet, so I guess its relevant in taking up memory for the game.

[Krissey]

Most the stuff from veteran stuff I don't even use it collecting dust though in my inn closet, so I guess its relevant in taking up memory for the game.

So what do you want? What do you really want? You want raids to be exclusive and to have super epic awesome graphics that only like 10% of the player base has access to and you to be one of them so you can stand around in Ironforge, I mean Idllyshire and have all the noobs gawk at you? Do you want validation of every one gazing at you in awe of your pro-l33t skills (aka RNG blessed you by dropping your stuff...it could have been anything on the loot table).

What do you want to "Show for all your time" ? Do you want raid tiers to last a year and no updates to the game so you can stand around and "enjoy" the best possible gear with nothing new to do for a year? No you don't want that you'd just quit playing if it went untouched for so long.

So what do you want?

[odintius]

So what do you want?

Nothing seem you assuming allot on your own their all I want is some depth to the game currently its not IMO currently to me it pretty mediocre game I don't even consider this a actual mmo, I've seen ftp games have more depth. I'm sure the well play those game will be a retort or to that effect will be applied, but i kinda already do though. I come back do story do the two dungeon that five year old could do and wait till nerf to the gear come because its the next patch trash gear afterward anyways. /shrug