A little direction please

[Niwashi]

(as a rule i try to find out how much a merchant would sell it for and use that to decide if its overpriced)

I like the Libra Eorzea app for this (as well as other things). You can search for gear by type and level, then under its item listing, get a link to NPCs that sell it, and from the NPC vendor's listing, see what the item costs.

I guess for those who play on computer maybe it's not really an issue, as there are plenty of websites where you can search out items with their prices and locations where you can buy them, but I play on PS4 and don't always have my laptop handy, so a cell phone app with a complete item database (and recipe database, and quest database, and so on) is nice to have. It's basically a cellphone version of the Lodestone's Eorzea Database

[Kaosfury]

The issue im having is feeling locked in.... it seems gear is easily available...and upgrades every 2-3 levels. Im missing the old school feeling of camping a mob for drops..... or rare spawns that give resources or jewelery drops or weapon drops.

Seems like mobs are just here to grind n then move to a new area...im not asking for sandbox.....but its starting to feel VERY cookie cutter to me.... like 1-50 is like 15 weapons every one uses...

I hope im wrong

[Kaosfury]

This game is still one of the besti have played in many years. Im just used to everquest style. So i wasnt trying to desparige the game at all.

In fact its one of my favorite because of the lack of p2w..... love the fact that square cares enoughabout its players and product to not adopt the free 2 play, pay to win model.

[Niwashi]

The issue im having is feeling locked in.... it seems gear is easily available...and upgrades every 2-3 levels. Im missing the old school feeling of camping a mob for drops..... or rare spawns that give resources or jewelery drops or weapon drops.

That role is filled here not by mob drops, but by some of the better gear that can come in dungeon treasure chests.

The level 15 green-quality gear that can drop in the first trio of dungeons got kind of trivialized when Hall of the Novice was added, giving equivalent gear much easier. But there are a few nice pieces you can get in Halatali, Toto-Rak, or Haukke Manor. And then when you get to Brayflox, there's the Calvary set for tanks, Infantry set for DoW DPS, and Battlemage set for DoM. And so on throughout the game. Instead of camping mobs to try to get the drops they want, people keep running dungeons to try to get the drops they want.

(At least the players who are interested in that do. There are other players who just rush through wearing quest/vendor gear and don't care about what they're wearing or in some cases even what they're doing until they hit end-game, but I think they're missing out.)

As for rare and difficult spawning mobs, there's the Hunt marks at level 50 and 60. But those don't drop gear, just end-game (or former end-game) currencies.

[Ichirai]

This game is still one of the besti have played in many years. Im just used to everquest style. So i wasnt trying to desparige the game at all.

In fact its one of my favorite because of the lack of p2w..... love the fact that square cares enoughabout its players and product to not adopt the free 2 play, pay to win model.

lol it's funny you say that because I switched to FFXIV from FFXI because I was tired of that whole NM camping stuff...amongst other reasons....gear is definitely easily attainable if you are either willing to dungeon grind or make it yourself if you enjoy crafting! (I said easily but yeah its all depending on your frame of mind)

Happy Hunting!

[Jeycht]

There is indeed no gear drop in FF14 but only mats.
That's mean you "farm" mob to have mats and craft the gear.
No "special" gear from drop nor in dungeons. The only "special" thing you have in dungeons is skin but no effect or real stat boost.
(btw I understand you. I liked farming mob for a rare special piece of gear that feel really better than common one but unfortunatly that doesn't exist here, only the ilvl matter)

[Niwashi]

No "special" gear from drop nor in dungeons. The only "special" thing you have in dungeons is skin but no effect or real stat boost.

For the better items, there's a real stat boost. I don't know if it's a big enough stat boost to interest you, but it's often BiS at its level, beating anything else available in the game. At endgame, raids take over from regular dungeons for providing the BiS gear, but it's the same basic pattern. You can get good-enough gear elsewhere, but plenty of players want the best available, and will run dungeons or raids in hopes of getting it.

[Teiren]

I know exactly what you're talking about, so don't worry. That's part of what I call the old era of MMORPGs, mostly MMOs before WoW revolutionized everything. However, some MMORPGs even today do something like what you're saying, most obviously in Blade & Soul, but I think Guild Wars 2 and Rift may also do something like that and perhaps TERA too. Both old and modern MMORPG design has its benefits and drawbacks. Though I personally prefer most of "modern era" MMORPG design, I have fond memories of Ragnarok Online, Lineage II, and some other great oldies.

For better or worse, FFXIV is a simplified version of a modern era MMORPG. It's designed this way on purpose to be accommodating and comfortable to people brand new to MMORPGs and those that got tired of partly just what you're describing. Not having to care about exact gear numbers is also one of those deliberate design decisions. So I know it's difficult to get used to a different design, but if one lets themself really get into and enjoy the story, scenery, and the overall presentation of everything in FFXIV, it's a great game.