Something that has been bothering me..

[HyoMinPark]

This also highlights some of the things that I have been noticing.

The situation probably wouldn’t be so bad if one has a static that you were progressing with regularly, regardless of the pace at which content is released and/or becomes “older”/“outdated”, but for people that rely mostly on PFs/PUGs, getting good groups for prog or farming only gets harder and harder the longer the content has been out. For example, I focused primarily on Neo and ignored Shinryu. Now it is absolutely awful trying to get a decent group, because most people have farmed their weapons/dogs/99 tokens are either finished with the fight, or waiting for the developers to let the buy the mount whistle with tokens.

[Lelila38]

It's just how ffxiv handles gear upgrades. In a few months next patch comes out and all your hard earned gear is obsolete. I really wish for something longer lasting. This time it was worse than ever as 24 man was released so late, that I was already finished gearing.
But for the savage/extreme fights, I learn them, because I have fun tackling the hardest content this game has to offer, for the feeling of achievement and joy when finally clearing it after weeks of work. The gear is just a bonus.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

It's just how ffxiv handles gear upgrades. In a few months next patch comes out and all your hard earned gear is obsolete. I really wish for something longer lasting. This time it was worse than ever as 24 man was released so late, that I was already finished gearing.
But for the savage/extreme fights, I learn them, because I have fun tackling the hardest content this game has to offer, for the feeling of achievement and joy when finally clearing it after weeks of work. The gear is just a bonus.

Uhh... it wasn't released late. Unlike last expansion, Stormblood did not have a patch delay, thus Rabanastre released fourteen weeks.

[HyoMinPark]

It's just how ffxiv handles gear upgrades. In a few months next patch comes out and all your hard earned gear is obsolete. I really wish for something longer lasting. This time it was worse than ever as 24 man was released so late, that I was already finished gearing.

Actually, compared to Heavensward, the first 24-man wasn’t released until 3.1, which came out almost 5 months after HW first dropped. Rabanastre was released 14 weeks after Stormblood dropped, so it was actually earlier compared to 3.0 and Void Ark.

[Zfz]

I remember seeing (quite a while ago) a short and not very active complaint on how FFXIV keeps holding back on giving casual people a good weapon. It's always at the last boss of the tier. Upgrad token always in Savage, etc. Perhaps this was an experiment?

At this point, the change is more like a catch-up mechanism. Except those who came late to the party, people who still aren't raiding or trying to raid Savage by now probably aren't going to anyways, and they probably aren't doing Shinryu EX either. So throw them a bone and keep them playing until 4.2.

If anything, if I was still trying on progression, I'd welcome this opportunity and get the 340 weapon to boost my chances.

In your progression, have you made any other upgrades through Creation purchases? Upgrading to a Rabanastre 330 piece perhaps? What's so different? Why is it that upgrading other slots to 340 doesn't bother you, yet upgrading the weapon demotivate you?

[Karshan]

It is indeed a catchup mechanism.

The way FF works, gear becomes irrelevant every 6 months, give or take (every pair patch). So having the gear is not really your final goal for doing Shinryu, V3S or V4S. Because that goal becomes irrelevant in a very short span.

If you really aren't completely motivated (with just the achievement) to go in there, that's ok. What could be a relevant goal related to gear, to help keep the motivation, would be to have it before a certain amount of time, like you know a race when the new raids come out (why do you think people are so hyped by mere patches ?Because it's the thrill of purpose coming back). The sooner in BiS, the better the parses and the way fflogs work you'd want to kill the floors asap to take a spot in good logs, and gear is significant (with the same "skill" a guy in 320 will do 15 to 20% less than a guy in BiS).

Since BiS can only be reached with raiding, I'm ok with this catch-up mechanism allowing you to have the same ilvl, but later and not in BiS. With Relic armor coming up though, might change my mind and advocate for a 5 ilvl difference (because if relic armor is also customisable like relic weapon, BiS would become irrelevant with 2 major pieces adjustable and raiders would not have the adequate rewards for the effort)