FFXIV is reliable and consistent

[galbsadi]

Agreed. I have been back for about 4 weeks, and I have had to spend 4 weeks to gear up my main (dragoon) in mostly just 380/390. I don't have anything else really geared in anything other than 360, and some 370. So, dragoon is about it for me when it comes to end game content. Alts can make this easier, but it is a pain to level that up, and I don't want to spend the money to skip. Granted, in every mmo I play I am a one character main person, so it doesn't effect me as badly, but like you said being able to play any class on that one character is a major selling point.

I'm not sure I see this as a bad thing, to be fair. I mean, unless you're pushing savage raids (which you're probably not doing on anything other than DRG)...you can get more gear than you need for any content pretty much in unlimited quantities.

Sure, i380/i390/i400 gear is capped...and outside of savage raids you really don't need i380/i390/i400 gear. However, i360 gear is unlimited, and at i360 you can (other than savage raids) get into and complete any content currently in the game. i355 gear drops from dungeons and is also good enough for any content currently in the game (other than savage raids). i330/i340 gear is now basically free and unlocks most content in the game (other than alphascape). Finally, i380 gear can be crafted in unlimited quantities and again give any class of yours unlimited access to any part of the game INCLUDING savage raids. So, overall, there's nothing really stopping you from being able to do whatever content you want on any class on a single character.

Could this be revised so perhaps the crafted gear is i355, the dungeons are i360, and the unlimited tomestones i380? Sure, and that might make things easier for some people (at the cost of making crafting less valuable for the portion of the population that focuses on crafting).

Further, if one is really pushed to want multiple caps it's not that different from leveling an alt in another game (and in fact even costs about the same amount in total to buy the same skip you get in another game).

How would you recommend improving the situation without devaluing crafting...another aspect of this game that many people love and enjoy?

[SturmChurro]

How would you recommend improving the situation without devaluing crafting...another aspect of this game that many people love and enjoy?

Well, granted, once you spend 7 weeks fully gearing a main class, it gets much easier to gear your alt classes. As far as I know, to craft that stuff on top of actually being a crafter, you also have to do the higher level content themselves to craft it. Good for crafters, not really for people who don't craft, (I don't) unless they have deep pockets. I am no game designer, I don't have any solution. Off the top of my head, maybe a way to grind out the gear slowly for people who don't craft, etc.

[galbsadi]

Well, granted, once you spend 7 weeks fully gearing a main class, it gets much easier to gear your alt classes. As far as I know, to craft that stuff on top of actually being a crafter, you also have to do the higher level content themselves to craft it. Good for crafters, not really for people who don't craft, (I don't) unless they have deep pockets. I am no game designer, I don't have any solution. Off the top of my head, maybe a way to grind out the gear slowly for people who don't craft, etc.

You have to appropriately upgrade your crafting gear, but you don't really have to do higher-end content at all to craft even the best craftable gear in the game HQ. In fact, there's a whole segment of the population (not me) who specifically ignores most combat content and makes a crafter their 'main' class...and it's quite viable for them.