Armor repairing, what do you think about it?

[Wobble]

Sorry I searched and could not find this so I'm posting. I for one and kind of on the fence about it. I see what they were trying to do but at the same time it is no fun to have to quit and search for repairs on something. I for one and trying to work on crafting in order to be self sufficient but that as well is very time consuming. So what does everyone else feel about this?

[MagicofGaia]

I feel that 'now' they are fair. I don't mind it as much now. With the decreased durability hits on armor for achieving optimum rank/class I ranked 1-14 on a new class and was still around 94%. in beta/release beta I could rank 4-5 times and I'd be down to 50-60% again and again.

With the menders ward addition and retainers being able to seek repairs for you, I do not have any problems with the current repair system.

[Xeno]

I wouldn't mind it if you could repair past 100% and then the item is more powerful at like 125% or something.

[MagicofGaia]

I wouldn't mind it if you could repair past 100% and then the item is more powerful at like 125% or something.

I appreciated a feature like this in Oblivion. Repair to 125%, and have slight bonus stats - attack / def. the durability from 125 - 100% deteriorated a little quicker I believe than normal, but still.

[Smashington]

The "Seek Repair" Icon works pretty well after you get used to it.

With the recent adjustments reducing the irritation of constant repairs, I think it actual adds to the demand for crafters, incentivizes leveling your own crafts and helps create the need for socialization of players.

[Lusavari]

Now that I don't ware a weapon out in 2 hours of use, I'm alright with it. To mention though, if you have HQ gear, the durability does go up to around 125% of NQ.

Back during closed beta, though, I made numerous alternative suggestions (of course, back in closed beta, weapons had just as depressing deterioration rates as they previously had, if not worse. One that caught on quite a bit of attention from my fellow testers had to do with an armor system similar to the evoliths of XI (though a different name would be used.)

I figured mostly at the time the gear repair was related to the fact only woodworking, cooking, and alchemy produced consumables which were infinite sources of income of those crafts. I figured the gear condition and repair was added on to give blacksmiths and armorers a consumable income as well. As we know, once you create something like a Haubergeon, it's permanently there unless someone quits, or tosses it, or gets banned. So there's only going to be more over time driving down the prices. Which means over time there becomes less and less reason to make more, especially since after a while, the price is driven down so much by the fact everyone might sell off their old one and so on.

So in theory, eventually since gear in XI for the longest time was only expanded sideways, and were mostly rare/ex, blacksmiths and other crafters were deprived a sustainable income.

So the obvious solution is add something they have to repair and can charge a fee for. Unfortunately, until recently, it was absurd. Someone should have to have gear fixed more than once every week or two, but it was daily. Hell, my axes, I had to repair 2 and 3 times a night. And I was using only gear that matched my level.

So my idea was throw in something like Materia or Evoliths. You fight an NM, it drops an Evolith/Materia/Magicite, or to keep the XIV terminology in place, let's call it an Aether Shard.

Now, before we look into it, let's look at the problem with Physical Level real fast. Everyone spends their points differently. I'm obsessed with being balanced and being able to do anything, so I never specialized, thus I'm considerably weaker than anyone else playing the same class:

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...cicuid=1519807

As such, I always found a lot of gear never offered really good additional stats. I was REALLY disappointed with the first round of NM gear. Of course, with current changes planned, we may end up with the stats on that gear actually meaning something, since I can't adjust my own power to beat out gear as easily.

Now that physical levels may be on their last days, I think now might be the time to throw the system out again for debate and criticism.

So, let's say you find an Aether Shard. They can be color coded by stat, but for this case, let's say we find one with +100 HP, and a slot cost of 5. Now, Let's say our body armor has a total of 7 slots in it. We take it to our Blacksmith friend, Black Smith. We pay Black 10,000 gil to insert it into our armor for us (because he has to use up some item, like an enchantment orb to turn it into an Aether Orb than can be synthesized into the completed gear. Plus Profit. Let's say he makes 5k off doing it)

Now we have a Breast Plate with +100 HP on it. Well, let's say we're out fighting another NM, and we get an Aether Shard that's blue, a support Shard. It doubles the effect of all other pieces in the gear. Since we can't put another +100 in due it its 5 point cost, we can place in this x2 shard which just so happens to cost 2 points, and bam, +200 HP.

Now let's say we upgrade armor, but we want our old shard back to place into something else. Well, let's visit Black Smith again, and he can use his abilities to remove them for you (at a cost) and return your old shards to use on something else.

The effectively allows us to keep the level of customization physical levels brought without having them dampen the effect on stats they brought. Personally I think it's a great idea, plus it gives an alternative to gear repair for crafter income, and a fix to physical levels.

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Edit: I took the liberty to add a dev tag.

[Keith_Dragoon]

I hate it, I do understand their goal with it but in my case when my gear gets screwed i'll either have to dish out mad gil to get it to 75%, buy a new piece or afk for 3 days hoping for repairs by another player. My Linkshell has fallen on hard times due to the state of the game so all our high crafters are MIA leaving me to seek repairs from the zombie-like folk on my server who rarely even talk let alone move.

[Enthy]

It would be nice if finding the repair material wasn't such a pain in the [bleep] maybe make it so no repair material is needed? or a universal repair material lol

[Keith_Dragoon]

It would be nice if finding the repair material wasn't such a pain in the [bleep] maybe make it so no repair material is needed? or a universal repair material lol

That would probly make repairs more common and easier to obtain.

[Xeno]

That would probly make repairs more common and easier to obtain.

No repair material {Yes, please}