Hi All,

There are a lot of good ideas in this thread. I think one of the fundamental flaws with the Primal Fights / Loot System is at its very core:

  • The lack of an overarching System to govern the Primal Fights. Specifically, long term replayability that *incentivizes* and inspires players to want to repeat the content other than just a mundane Time Sink (which is what it is now), with a broken Loot System.
At its core, it's pretty obvious that Ifrit (when it came out) and then Moogle *were* the primary source of "Content" for an entire patch. How do they keep players busy for ~2 - 3+ MONTHS between patches?

Sadly, they chose a simple, archaic, blatant Time Sink method of the current Primal Loot System (Forcing Untradeable Drops into a specific player's Inventory), which of course has led to the outcry we have today.

I'm *not* justifying what Yoshida-san and team have done (I deplore it), but I think their reasoning (even now with the 10 -> 5 and 20 -> 10 reduction of Totems/Nuts) is that realistically for some / many(?) players they may *ONLY* want to get their "1 - 3" Weapons for their Main Classes, so realistically for many players, they may be satisfied just doing the Primal Fights until they get their 1 or 2 or 3 weapons and stop.

So it's not even "7/7 Weapons" to collect, it'd be "1 Weapon" or "2" etc. Which means those Players (who only play a few select Classes/Jobs) would get "bored" or be "done" even faster, if they allowed Weapons to be passed.

Now that being said, as some have pointed out here, what Yoshida-san and team *should've* done (and can still do going forward) is:

* Design a Long Term Goal-oriented System, that would inspire players to *want* to repeat the Primal Fights.

Specifically, they could've designed not only Primal Weapons (as they are now), but a few "Primal Artifacts" (i.e., some great OTHER PRIMAL ITEM) that require Rare Materials to complete.

Imagine if Ifrit or Moogle *also* dropped an Ifrit Skull, or Moogle Wing, or an Orihalcum Ingot, or Divine Log, etc. Or if they also had Gear Enhancements (upgrades) where you could gain an Abjuration (Key Item) from the Primal Fights that's necessary to upgrade Gear.

Then imagine if there was a challenging Recipe that required one of these Rare Materials to make some "PRIMAL ITEM" that could be benefit all Classes (they could make a PRIMAL ITEM for Tanks, one for DDs, one for Mages (Offensive or Defensive), a wonderful Crafting Item or Primal Tool, or something for Gatherers).

The point being that with some foresight and thought into designing some Rare Primal Items (other than Weapons), and having them driven by Rare Materials that can *only* be found in the Primal Fights, that alone would add longevity to the Primal Fights (and make players want to play more often), *while* still keeping the ability to PASS / GIVE Primal Weapons to other Party Members.

Yoshida-san and team would save all this grief and headache, and STILL have a good Time Sink, while generating more Positive Feelings instead of just adding FRUSTRATION to this game.

The Primal Weapons drop rate can still be as rare as they are now, but allow the ability to Pass drops to anyone in the Party. But that's only if they also designed a System (and Additional Primal Items with Rare Materials (from Primals Only)) that also dropped from this fight.

I think the problem is exacerbated with the terrible "cover up" by Yoshida-san about why he made the Primal Loot System (paraphrasing: "To prevent ninja looting" - Yah right ) (side note: If he was that concerned about "ninja looting" why are all the new Dungeon Drops (Cutter's Cry & Aurum Vale) *back* to the Loot Pool System to allow players to PASS drops to each other?).

Now this "lowering the drop requirement" for Nuts & Totems is just a bandaid to broken Loot System. Sure it may make it "easier" for some (and the goal is less), but it doesn't resolve the CORE PROBLEM:

A need for a better LONG TERM GOAL-ORIENTED REWARD SYSTEM for Primal Fights.

I sympathize for Yoshida-san. They are trying to make 2.0 (in the background), generating lots of exciting content and perhaps in 2.0 there are Long Term Goal-Oriented Systems (like a Dynamis, or Relics, etc.), but they really should've (and can still) design a *System* that drives players to want to do these Primal Fights repeatedly, that's better than just mind-numbingly repeating the same Primal Fight HUNDREDS of times (for some) just to get the 1 Weapon you want.

With Garuda coming, and them showing off concepts for Leviathan Weapons, sadly, I think they're just banking on keeping players busy with "1 Primal Fight per patch", until 2.0 hits.

I hope we get a more meaningful change before 2.0, or at the very least, when 2.0 launches, they have better Loot Systems and Long Term Goals that make players want to repeat content rather than doing stuff like this.