no, I was saying you were acting obtuse because you threw out march 10 like every raider was showered with rewards that day. Most raiders in this game are easily 1-3 months behind world 1st groups. Even citing march 10th as something that addresses the majority of the raiding community, or whats left of it, is being obtuse.
If you want to speak on functunality, functionally, most raiders don't clear content at the same pace of world first raiders. Functionally, mentioning march 10th is pointless.
Lastly, the only reward that stands out from midas is the raid weapon. So, no, I was not talking about a7s.
Just because there will be players that can't do it, does not mean that adding raid ilvl accessories would not be a good idea. If anything, putting more low hanging fruit in the raid end game will encourage more active participation in challenging fights.To further expound on your point that Extreme Trials should drop BiS rings and other accessories, let's use your aforementioned skill gate. Not everyone is good enough to beat that content. Smaller population servers are sometimes even further at a detriment due to condensation of skill to particular groups of players, and while that is somewhat being addressed through the Raid Finder function SE just implemented, it would still point to your big gripe that my point about being better and obtaining said best items is "obtuse." See how you literally just used a bunch of words to make the same point I made while trying to inflate your argument while being needlessly inflammatory? Great. The thing is, there is best gear in the game. And the sooner you obtain it, the longer it lasts. That's an empirical fact.
If your point is "there is a skill gate so it would be a bad idea", then I disagree with your point. It worked great for the first three EX primals and it would work great again with any trial.
As for that "emprical fact" how about we look at progression functionally rather than using world first groups as your standard. Functionally, raid rewards are poor when most raiders don't get a full clear of the raid until after that catch up patch drops. IE most midas clear came around the time the latest patch was about to come out or a little after it came out.
Which only serves to highlight how pointless investing in any of these activities seems. Functionally, all the rewards in this game are so standardized that nothing feels rewarding anymore. Got a 240 weapon? Big woop, just wait utnil the next patch when you can get a free 250 weapon. Got a 240 BiS chest piece from a8s? No worries, in 2.4 there will be a crafted chest that replaces it immediately even before the new alex progression starts.We now have access to the i240 Anima, which can be grinded out through esos and about ten different methods for obtaining sands, the i240 Lore, upgradable through weekly rewards from the Mhach and Void Ark Raid, and through the use of Allied Seals which are those open world hunts I've been hearing so much about.
Nope, I don't have to do any of that, I got my gear, It was unsatisfying. The only thing I am missing is my midan weapon, which is what? A 4% performance gain on average? WHOOO HOOO can't wait to take that 4% performance upgrade and watch it get thrown into the garbage when Midas BiS is obliterated by the next set of crafted battle class gear.They did release the highest ilvl in 3.2. It was locked behind the hardest content in the game. If you can't beat it, then you have to wait until they alleviate it with separate solutions, which they did in 3.3 with the tokens I'm casual content. If you weren't Raiding Savage, you've had either your i230 Lore weapon, your i230 Anima weapon, the i220 Sephirot, or the i210 Eso. Depending on which, I'd say that speaks to some longevity.
This game has been unsatisfying, and as I said earlier in this thread, I am done subbing to this game. Keep defending the status quo, the last handful of you will really enjoy yourselves.
You don't have to play this game 8 hrs a day to stay current, at all. You are generating this imaginary raider to plop your argument on top of and it's just not the reality of the situation. And no, there is no content offered to players that are between hardcore and casual, none. There is no real midtier end game. There is just an amalgamation of fights (midas) where the progression curve started off bimodal with an exponential tail. The content is this game either flops or is old after a month of play. The only staying power is in the savage raid which is poorly supported. SE seems to have zero ability to foster a raiding comminity in this game, you only need to look at your average server to get an idea of how poorly raiding is doing in this game.
and that's why hardcore players have been leaving the game in droves since heavenward. Don't worry, we got the hint, we are headed to greener pastures, you guys can have this glamour RP hello kitty grind fest of an MMO>If the developers wanted to cater to those hardcores that want to feel like their time was valued, they likely would have already. It's been years thus far. They haven't. Hardcores are given some content that they do complete. To ask them to fundamentally change the game (ilvl jumps, stat distribution, and / or item effects for longevity)so you can feel special is futile.
The forums exist for players to provide feedback. That's whats happening here. Don't try to change the purpose of the forums only to say not the change the game. Makes you come off as a hypocrite.In short, that's what not what FFXIV:ARR was ever supposed to be. You had some fun in 2.0 and up, there was content there that made you feel special. I'm sorry if you don't today and are tired of the formula. If you're looking for games that have what you want, then listen to what other people say - PLAY THOSE GAMES! They exist BTW. Try some Dark Souls for difficulty. Maybe play EVE online, with unrelenting and punishing space piracy and cutthroat PvP. You could play WoW for your raid focus content... or even go back to the old games, like FFXI or even emulated old school EQ.
Don't try to change FFXIV to something it was never intended to be. It will never work.