I guess it's time

[FallenArisen0990]

A Video for my Ex-FFXI Brothers and Sisters.

*InB4somesaysnostalgia* Another thing that bugs me about XIV is that there isn't alot of things memorable like in XI. That one Fan Made Video from Patch 2.0 to 2.55 has been best memorable thing I've seen from XIV minus the ARR's Opening. Nidd was a step in the right direction because I did something... 2.55's build up was memorable as well. Coil was the best thing they ever made in terms of content. Great music (minus the generic boss theme). Hildy is sadly more memorable than half the content we have right now.

[Velhart]

While I agree with most of what you said, you can't seriously think that you're really going to be using that i245 weapon much at all in the next raid tier. The patterns show that the new Warring Triad fight in 3.4 will drop an i250 weapon, and most groups will be farming those before doing much of final Alex Savage, if any of it at all. So at most it'll be an advantage for the first week, then you'll have the primal weapon and be using that to progress through the tier until you get the next Tome weapon. Is it really worth the effort for at most one week of actual competitive advantage?

To most hardcore raiders aiming for server/world first? Absolutely. You don't have time to go fight a primal and that weapon along with new crafted gear is pretty essential to getting those pushes in. It may not be a strong case for those who do plan on tackling the primal first then raids, but even then on a midcore level if you are fighting the primal first, those ilvl245 weapons are going to help take it down a bit faster.

If the argument people want to bring which I am not sure if it is relevant to the general topic on hand is if the highest current weapon in the game is more novelty than usefulness. I think that is a more subjective, person by person basis type of thing. This is something however that is a thing in all MMO's or games with ranking weapons in general. "Okay I got the best thing in the game, so what now?"

A Video for my Ex-FFXI Brothers and Sisters.

*InB4somesaysnostalgia*

You know, all that stuff is still there. Not like anyone took it from you.

[KitingGenbu]

That's what MMOs are all about!

The problem with gear and this game is the objective superiority of it, which is lacking in this game. An example would be maybe get an ridill/e-body from Fafnir/Nidhogg in FFXI. Gear is objectively better in look and stats plus was not that common to get by just anyway (before they made HNM poppable anyway). In XIV, your savage gear is honestly just a dyeable version of the normal mode, looks ugly anyway (subjective of course), and honestly doesn't show why its worth getting stat wise when the groups you will join for savage will want your ilvl before your actual secondary stat count. If you're casual, you're just gonna stick to tome gear anyway. Of course item superiority has its issues, like now with XI, most people want you to have a high tier relic to even just to be able to join capacity point parties, but I admit it does feel pretty good being able to show off something that not many people have a chance to get PLUS is objectively better, not just a cosmetic thing.

[FallenArisen0990]

You know, all that stuff is still there. Not like anyone took it from you.

You're right. It's still there but what they did take away from me was 1.23b. I though 2.0 was just gonna be an updated version of 1.x. It is a updated version for sure, but they cut so many corners that I ask myself, was it really worth it? It's only coming to light now but I complained about this to FC back in Patch 2.2. I foresaw this would eventually snowball into a gridlock where they can't add anything worthwhile to the game without changing some core mechanics.

[Lambadelta]

The advantage is minimal, you don't need it to beat A9S, if you go for world first then i understand.

The biggest damage increase will come from the new crafted gear, that will really help.

I don't understand why you even bother coming to this forum if everything is about long-term gains for you.

Why not go to another MMO if you hate how this game has been doing things for the last 3 years.

[Vantol]

I don't understand why you even bother coming to this forum if everything is about long-term gains for you.

Why not go to another MMO if you hate how this game has been doing things for the last 3 years.

Because there are no other fresh and big MMOs out there. Unfortunatly. If there were one, 90% of people I know who currently plays FFXIV, would drop it in a heartbeat.

[odintius]

I don't understand why you even bother coming to this forum if everything is about long-term gains for you.

Why not go to another MMO if you hate how this game has been doing things for the last 3 years.

Maybe because its the fact their doing the same thing over and over for the last 3yrs, that might be the problem for some it stale. Most mmo aren't full blown pure vertical progression aither and has elements of horizontal in them, this game use to have it BTW. Having pure horizontal people will quickly point out the problems with it, but pure vertical has its own share of flaws as well and people are pointing them out as well its a matter of finding a sweet spot of adding the two, but people tend to exaggerate there arguments.

[Velhart]

Maybe because its the fact their doing the same thing over and over for the last 3yrs, that might be the problem for some it stale. Most mmo aren't full blown pure vertical progression aither and has elements of horizontal in them, this game use to have it BTW. Having pure horizontal people will quickly point out the problems with it, but pure vertical has its own share of flaws as well and people are pointing them out as well its a matter of finding a sweet spot of adding the two, but people tend to exaggerate there arguments.

Doesn't horizontal make you do the same thing over and over for years? But you know instead...doesn't try to refresh the content? The horizontal enthusiasts try to argue that content becomes stale, but do not say why something that gets even more stale over time is the solution. Even during FFXI, it was an incredible breath of fresh air when ToAU came out, because I would finally be doing something that isn't Dynamis/Limbus/Sky/Sea all the time.

Also, we are currently in a horizontal patch right now. Even number raises the ilvl, odd number patch offers more variety in that ilvl range.

[odintius]

Doesn't horizontal make you do the same thing over and over for years? But you know instead...doesn't try to refresh the content? The horizontal enthusiasts try to argue that content becomes stale, but do not say why something that gets even more stale over time is the solution. Even during FFXI, it was an incredible breath of fresh air when ToAU came out, because I would finally be doing something that isn't Dynamis/Limbus/Sky/Sea all the time.

Also, we are currently in a horizontal patch right now. Even number raises the ilvl, odd number patch offers more variety in that ilvl range.

If you like trivial bland gear with boring stats so you can skip a phase of a fight sure, but that not my cup of tea it just zzzzzz and show lack of any depth imo and asking for more from a game isn't a bad thing IMO it add more value to the game IMO not less.

[Teryaani]

Yeap. I've been noticing each patch too there is a decrease in players over all. Patch week..or shoot, even a few weeks after the game was lively, now it seems little to no change.

Coming from a server that gets grouped with high population servers but really isn't (Siren), I've seen complete departures for a variety of reasons ("game x came out" "they did what to crafting?! I'm done!"), but even more have fled to the mega-servers in hopes of getting into statics or just seeing more people. My wife and I are planning on doing it as well once the house gets reclaimed. As anathema as it is to a game company to do, they really should merge some of the smaller servers.