How to make the 3rd raid difficulty work

[Reynhart]

No, all I can offer is observation and on Tiamat (very low population server) while the content was still relevant, I'd routinely see 10+ players at any given time wearing the titles.

Sorry, but "looking around you" is hardly a clear evidence.

I don't think this is a good idea for 2 reasons..: Balance and incentives.

"Balance" against what ? Every raider would have the same chance to drop those items.
As for incentive, even if you could get 8 pieces, you'd still need to do creator to complete your set. And if you didn't drop, Creator loot will help clearing every raid faster, thus increasing the odds of looting this special gear. Especially if this special gear is actually higher than i270.

And then there won't be anything to strive for with the gear when the raid is over too.

Yes, there is...Stormblood content. If the gear you drop won't get replaced until the next level cap, you'll use them far more than any normal drops.

And guess what? That challenge you want is being added as the third difficulty. So what if there is a normal mode, it doesn't diminish the satisfaction you get for beating the hardest version of the fight.

No, it diminishes the incentive to do it. Challenge only for the sake of challenge is boring.

And I love how you just assume I'm a horrible player because I don't raid.

I don't assume you're a horrible player. There's no difference between clearing Rivenroad in 1.23 and killing a raid boss. If you don't like that, you just probably wouldn't have done it. And if you would have, I'd like to understand why you don't like raiding ?

The major factor was people asking for more than they could chew

Sure, Gordias was brutal. But having a good incentive is what pushes people to get better. If there's none, they'll just say "fuck it, I can have on par gear without it"

As for gear, savage gear has always been better than the normal gear, I'm not even sure the point you are trying to make with that.

Yes, but why non-raiders should obtain same ilvl gear ?

I don't want your gear or mounts or minions or titles.

Maybe you don't, but people do. That's why we have alternate means of obtaining upgrade items since second coil.