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

[Granyala]

I think it's stupid to base your definition of a raid on the degree of commitment it requires.

Well I did forget to type "large group of people needed". Though as an ex 25man WoW raider, I'm having difficulty considering 8 individuals being a raid in the first place.
Back in the day raiding was: "a huge number of people vs a challenging boss that made you eat dirt for many IDs until it rewarded you for defeating it".

That. By definition, was difficult to achieve with ever changing randoms. Not impossible, mind you but very rare.

Today, most bosses are so easy that it takes a competent group maybe 5 pulls in order to figure out what is going on.
If, outside of savage/ex, any boss survives for more than that, the group has incompetent members.

Dungeons are a bit too small and restricted due to role limits to really support a slightly larger group of friends. Savage raiding has moved away from that in a sense because you can no longer value friendship over skill if you want to progress whereas the difficulty of Coil was tuned to allow for a static of varying skill to clear.

SE made the same mistake Blizzard did: They have one seriously punishing raid mode and the rest of the game is essentially freeloot.
I do agree with you, if you want to argue in favor of content in between.

I do NOT agree with overly rewarding raids and DEVs desperate to pressure/coerce every player into them, the way WoW does.

As SE have continually made EVERYTHING obtainable by all (I pays my sub I should have access to every single item in the game for no effort waah), nothing can ever be "special"

Well then, where is my savage loot?

BTW: if you don't think that weapons with powerful ability modifiers or sets with powerful bonuses wouldn't be deemed mandatory in savage raids, you are deluded.
Just as you are deluded if you think that any savage group would tolerate someone derping around with an i60 weapon.

[randysquirrel]

Well then, where is my savage loot?

BTW: if you don't think that weapons with powerful ability modifiers or sets with powerful bonuses wouldn't be deemed mandatory in savage raids, you are deluded.
Just as you are deluded if you think that any savage group would tolerate someone derping around with an i60 weapon.

You will be handed it on a silver platter when the fights are given echo and everyone can ignore every single mechanic and just tunnel through the fights.
I assume you misread my post, I said the i60 weapon appeared when doing a roulette trial, but no one cared. Obviously no one in my static would go in with such a weapon, but none of us have the best weapons either. Do you then think we should be kicking out the people that have lower weapons (our WAR is still running about with the i230 weapon, the lazy bum)

[randysquirrel]

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this at all. Se say they don't introduce weapons with added abilities because everyone might insist they were necessary, and kick out anyone who didn't have that weapon. When I run my dailies, you get people turn up with all sorts of weapons, the other day someone in my trial was using the old i60 ifrit weapon, no one cared, even though obtaining a better weapon would literally take all of about 2 minutes. In my static, some of us have our relics, some don't, and none of us have i245 weapons, again no-one cares, ability always > ilvl

I think SE just use this reasoning as an easy get out.
Because the real reason is, if they introduced such weapons, the whole playerbase would WANT them, and be up in arms if they weren't incredibly easy to obtain. So they would be made faceroll easy to get, everyone would have them, and it would immediately eliminate any such benefit to having them.

As SE have continually made EVERYTHING obtainable by all (I pays my sub I should have access to every single item in the game for no effort waah), nothing can ever be "special"

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this at all. Se say they don't introduce weapons with added abilities because everyone might insist they were necessary, and kick out anyone who didn't have that weapon. When I run my dailies, you get people turn up with all sorts of weapons, the other day someone in my trial was using the old i60 ifrit weapon, no one cared, even though obtaining a better weapon would literally take all of about 2 minutes. In my static, some of us have our relics, some don't, and none of us have i245 weapons, again no-one cares, ability always > ilvl

I think SE just use this reasoning as an easy get out.
Because the real reason is, if they introduced such weapons, the whole playerbase would WANT them, and be up in arms if they weren't incredibly easy to obtain. So they would be made faceroll easy to get, everyone would have them, and it would immediately eliminate any such benefit to having them.

As SE have continually made EVERYTHING obtainable by all (I pays my sub I should have access to every single item in the game for no effort waah), nothing can ever be "special"

To be fair, I suspect they're concerned off relevant content, especially if they do intend to up the difficult like patch 3.3 did. Most of the dungeons now you can pretty much carry a poorly geared person through without too much effort. Whether it's a legitimate worry though, is up for debate. On the one hand, I could see that start to happen if dungeons were challenging enough your ilvl made a difference. But if they keep things as are... eh. You're right, no one will care.

[loreleidiangelo]

I'll be the filthy casual here and pretty much say that I'd only want these items with unique effects and niche uses so long as they aren't ball-bustingly difficult or grindy to obtain. But as several people commented, they wouldn't have their "special snowflake" appeal then, and that would apparently make them less fun or interesting to play around with to people, so idk.

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't? I can dig the first choice, and would be totally in favor of unique, but ultimately accessible gameplay-altering gear. I can't say I (or SE, for that matter) would ever support the design philosophy of the second.

[Hayward]

I'll be the filthy casual here and pretty much say that I'd only want these items with unique effects and niche uses so long as they aren't ball-bustingly difficult or grindy to obtain. But as several people commented, they wouldn't have their "special snowflake" appeal then, and that would apparently make them less fun or interesting to play around with to people, so idk.

This is at the center of every thread like this, whether people want to admit it or not. Certain MMO players cannot abide "undeserving" non-raiders being able to acquire quality weapons/tools in ways other than doing static-only content, where they have to apply to groups like they're applying for some kind of job (anyone who denies this and played XI is a dirty liar) and can be rejected for not having the flavor-of-the-month class/weapon/gear. This is why Lore tomes and Anima weapon quests are present here.

[Granyala]

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't?

Ding, ding, ding: we have a winner!
That is indeed what some (not all) want. Some even openly QQ'd about raiding not being "rewarding" enough, essentially translating to "I want my char to be (much) more powerful that the one of the dude slowly farming his tome gear".

Imho, the way to add spell customization would be materia.
These can be put into any item, various combinations could be possible and they could make them available over many avenues.

You can add modifying materia, hell you can even go as far and add special materia that grants new skills altogether (limited to 1-3 per set of gear or sth).
Seriously so much more can be done with materia than lame "+12 (you don't feel my anyway) secondary stat"!

You will be handed it on a silver platter when the fights are given echo and everyone can ignore every single mechanic and just tunnel through the fights.

Do you then think we should be kicking out the people that have lower weapons (our WAR is still running about with the i230 weapon, the lazy bum)

Stupid Forum ate post, so shorthand version:
1) Twintania and Nael say "hi". So much for "mindlessly tunneling". :X
2) Does the boss enrage despite perfect execution and DPS performing near the theoretical limit of the class/gear? If yes -> Encourage the WAR to upgrade. If not: Work on the larger issues first.

This is why Lore tomes and Anima weapon quests are present here.

And this is why I love FF. Great looking sets, powerful stats w/o having to bother with the hassle of scheduled play and "people" drama.

[Nalien]

Imho, the way to add spell customization would be materia.

Would such materia come from gear? My main concern is how utterly dull gear is in this game, someone commented earlier, you can essentially figure out BiS and focus solely on that before the servers even come back up... That's why I'd go for a IX style solution, over materia... That and IX > VII, IX > All... BiS would likely remain as it is, but something like the dungeon gear (which is entirely worthless as gear) could see value with such stats, I'd want to get that gear for stats rather than glamour/seals...

That 100 times.

But I fear that many just want to be the special snowflake thinking that SE should dedicate more time designing stuff for the top 1% players and less for the remaining 99% who spend the same $ to play this game.

I, at least, just want all gear to be more interesting... I don't want something like Nidhogg weapons to be specifically special while everything else remains as is, I want every piece of gear to have something extra... IXs system is really perfect for that, everyone would have some stats unlocked just by playing with whatever gear they already use, and with a limited amount of AP to set such stats, the "top 1%" would essentially simply be getting more options for optimization, something I honestly doubt the majority of players care about... If people cared about optimization being locked to the high end raiders, I'd see people actually using Food and Potions... All it does (for me, at least), is provide more value to all gear and give me a greater justification to do more content. I'd be more interested in content like Nidhogg, and when I do dungeons I'd actually be interested in the gear, rather than just wishing the chests rewarded 1,000 company seals instead to cut out the middle man...

[Venur]

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't? I can dig the first choice, and would be totally in favor of unique, but ultimately accessible gameplay-altering gear. I can't say I (or SE, for that matter) would ever support the design philosophy of the second.

That 100 times.

But I fear that many just want to be the special snowflake thinking that SE should dedicate more time designing stuff for the top 1% players and less for the remaining 99% who spend the same $ to play this game.