USgamer: Do you feel satisfied with the current way users work their way up to end-game gear and weapons?

Yoshida: We had the Zodiac weapon and then the Anima weapon, where the players were powering up their weapons through their own efforts. We feel we've already done what we can for those weapons.

We would like to keep that concept of having to put in the effort, little by little, in order to power up your weapon. We want to take it in a direction where you're taking on a challenge in order to achieve that. The next time, we'll probably not just have it for weapons, but also for armor as well.

[Source]

Anima effects on gear may near literally happen :P