Variance in player skill is hurting FFXIV's itemization design.

[Hayward]

There is no gap, By the time most raiders are close to being 240, welfare city comes out and everyone can be 240 in a matter of weeks. There is only an illusion of any gap and it's at the raider's expense.

This attitude right here is the very reason people are put off by raiders. How in the world does allowing everyone else to get caught up become synonymous with "welfare"? Should they just be happy with i210 gear until the next expansion? My guess is i220 crafted gear wouldn't even be available in a raider-approved version of XIV. Should those commoners simply be allowed to struggle through the new content unless they are accepted in the high-and-mighty raid FCs?

I'd be quite interested in your answers.

[loreleidiangelo]

This attitude right here is the very reason people are put off by raiders. How in the world does allowing everyone else to get caught up become synonymous with "welfare"? Should they just be happy with i210 gear until the next expansion? My guess is i220 crafted gear wouldn't even be available in a raider-approved version of XIV. Should those commoners simply be allowed to struggle through the new content unless they are accepted in the high-and-mighty raid FCs?

I'd be quite interested in your answers.

The commonly-argued point is usually that you don't "need" top-end gear to do anything at the casual level.

[Cakekizyy]

The commonly-argued point is usually that you don't "need" top-end gear to do anything at the casual level.

If raiders can clear raid, then they don't need the gear either.

[RobbieH]

If raiders can clear raid, then they don't need the gear either.

The only raiders that can clear raids with crafted gear or the tier bellow are the pros, semi-core will have trouble, mid-cores would need the gear to clear it so yes raiders need the gear, and since SE decided to go with DPS checks more than ever with Alex instead of punishing mechanics like A8S it's another plus for needing gear.

EDIT: SE should add challenges to raids (similar to what FFLogs is doing here), and with it achievements which would award thing such as mounts and glamours, as an incentive to do those challenges.

[zosia]

This attitude right here is the very reason people are put off by raiders. How in the world does allowing everyone else to get caught up become synonymous with "welfare"? Should they just be happy with i210 gear until the next expansion? My guess is i220 crafted gear wouldn't even be available in a raider-approved version of XIV. Should those commoners simply be allowed to struggle through the new content unless they are accepted in the high-and-mighty raid FCs?

I'd be quite interested in your answers.

Yeah, I have tried being nicer to you people here, but so many of you just spit on raiders. So, I don't care anymore. If non-raiders are put off by the salt they have brought, maybe they should reflect on their own poor attitudes when raiders were expressing their concerns about gordias last summer.

I am not against catch up gear. I am against catch up gear while the raid tier is current. If a new wing of midas dropped with weeping city and there was new and more powerful gear to be had, I could really care less if Yoshida mailed everyone a set of 240 gear. A reward system that invalidates the rewards of a raid three months after it's released is a flawed reward system, no matter how badly you want to defend it. Catch up gear should come out when it's time to actually "catch up" rather than giving gear out when the ilvl is the current highest in the game.

I don't even have problems with 240 coming from easier fights. Primals should drop max ilvl raid gear, just like they did with garuda, titan, and ifrit EX. Just look how quickly Niddhog EX has fallen to the wayside. No one wants to work for subpar rewards (aside from alts), and now the PF is much less active with niddhog ex parties. That same effect can be seen in raiding.

Again, just look at the Level-4 interview where Yoshida was called out on how terrible the savage rewards are among other things. This game is becoming a joke.

The commonly-argued point is usually that you don't "need" top-end gear to do anything at the casual level.

where did I say that?