[dev1244] Accessory Reform, discussion

[Kittra]

My observations:

We will no longer be able to spirit-bond 4 rings at a time/2 earrings at a time/2 bracelets at a time, all of which give material only obtainable from that type of accessory.

With the examples they've given on the new recipes, we don't actually gain anything by using 2 rings instead of 4 other than getting some inventory space back.

Even if we can put materia on accessories following patch 1.21, we still will not have free choice of "which" materia we can put on them, just like we don't have free choice of "which" materia we can put on any piece of gear. More than likely, the materia they designate for rings/earring/wrist/neck will not be anything you'd want to put on them in the first place, because that would, technically, destroy whatever perceived "game balance" SE "thinks" they have in place.


My feelings on this change:

Personally, I'm not happy.

I'm all for maintaining inventory space, but when SE originally announced the "abolishment" of slot cost, I thought it was just that, getting rid of a horrible Tanaka inlaid gimick that should not have existed in the first place, and allowing players to reach a "fuller" potential.

Instead, we got a reworked system (9 to 5 slots) which explains why it took them so long to get us this fix in the first place.

Going by SE's track record of previous changes/implementations they've done over the past year+, I don't hold out much faith that this system will benefit us at all.

As it stands now as they explained it (without taking into account how new accessories may or may not have stats spread) we gain absolutely nothing from this change. However, we don't really lose anything either (other than the ability to spirit-bond 3-4 rings at once), nothing really changed other than instead of 9 slots, we now have 5.

If I had known that they'd be reducing the slots ahead of time, I would have lobbied more for new accessories with better stats for level 50, than the removal of the slot cost system (which could have worked if SE actually sat down and made the system more intuitive).

Most of all though, I'm upset with this give/take mentality SE has for FFXIV. It seems they feel they can't give us something without taking something else away in the name of game balance.

Now if the game was actually balanced, and they needed to maintain it, I'd be all for whatever changes they made to that cause, but as it stands now, the game is 95% unbalanced. No one wants to play MRD, LNC, or PUG because they are "unnecessary" and, as a whole, entirely unconventional for any fight where the mob does not stand still the entire time, which does not happen, because the enmity system (which SE already changed once before) is not balanced.

*end rant*