Legitimate reasons why many of you do NOT like Gear Swapping

[Exni]

This was never the reason- not in ffxi; gear swapping was used to increase output for the job you were playing, not because there was a lack of skill.
Skill doesn't measure how much damage you'll do a monster.
If anything, gear swapping when used correctly showed that you did not lack skill.

FFXI is a gear swap heavy game, when you were fighting most high end monsters, you were unable to do damage unless each of your sets were Optimal for each individual situation.
And most optimum gear sets couldn't even be produced without first quantifying what you were fighting; its level, its job, its stats, and what abilities / traits / spells it had.

If anything though, keep ffxi out of ffxiv, the game is fine as it is; we have a materia system in place so gear swapping isn't required.

I agree with most of your post except for that last sentence. Our current materia system definetly does not fill the role that swaps played in XI. Actually, the current materia system doesn't do a whole lot in general.. seeing as how only a few of the stats actually "work" as expected. The fact that they have a materia system in place though gives me hope for the future of XIV though, it can always be fixed.

[Leoheart]

I agree with most of your post except for that last sentence. Our current materia system definetly does not fill the role that swaps played in XI. Actually, the current materia system doesn't do a whole lot in general.. seeing as how only a few of the stats actually "work" as expected. The fact that they have a materia system in place though gives me hope for the future of XIV though, it can always be fixed.

Of course, that last sentence wasn't very constructive.
But it's a start, and I do hope to see the system flourish in the near and/or distant future of FFXIV.
My only quarrel is the limitations of what materia can be attached to as well as what you have stated.

I.E. Why use the AF gear for a minimal increase in stats- and an even worse increase to some of your job specific abilities when you could've stuck with your single/double/triple melded gear before 1.21.

My only hope is that these addresses are issued immediately so we don't have to put up with a near flawed system for a long time.

[Arcell]

Of course, that last sentence wasn't very constructive.
But it's a start, and I do hope to see the system flourish in the near and/or distant future of FFXIV.
My only quarrel is the limitations of what materia can be attached to as well as what you have stated.

I.E. Why use the AF gear for a minimal increase in stats- and an even worse increase to some of your job specific abilities when you could've stuck with your single/double/triple melded gear before 1.21.

My only hope is that these addresses are issued immediately so we don't have to put up with a near flawed system for a long time.

However, double/triple melded gear will always be better than most anything else in the game. It has been stated that the game is balanced around putting a single materia into gear, nothing more. Anything else puts you outside of the balance of the game. The trade-off is the low rates on melding more than one materia.

[Resheph]

I think that the difference in a gear swap system like xi's and other mmo's vs the system we have currently is that the current gear system is gear that is more powerful and therefore worth wearing all the time, wheras in a gear swap system the gear is less powerful but each piece has a different specific purpose. With matera, you can futher boost gear so that there is no reason to take it off at all.

Gear swapping is just a dumb concept. I don't think I have seen a movie or comic book chracter, about to deliver a devastating punch to the bad guy, stop, change his gloves to ones with spiked knuckles, deliver said punch, then put back on his original gloves.

Not to mention the current speed at which gear can be changed would not be practical in combat anyway. Most of the time my gear macros for changing classes have to be hit two or three times to get all of the gear on, due to lag.

edit: I also can't understand why people would think of gear swapping as a selleable game mechanic. It has always seemed like something players want to do as a result of bad gear design by developers, bug exploit, or other unintended use of a system. I have never thoiught "oh man, that game has gear swapping, gottabuyit!!!"

As long as the gear id designed well, and as long as the combat system is interesting enough on its own (and the game doesn't have an exploitable equipment system that allows players to change equipment in battle) then no one will need or want to swap gear.

[Wincy]

Gear swapping is just a dumb concept. I don't think I have seen a movie or comic book chracter, about to deliver a devastating punch to the bad guy, stop, change his gloves to ones with spiked knuckles, deliver said punch, then put back on his original gloves.

I don't have a desire to read through almost 40 pages of this, but a quick skim through recent posts and I found this quote.

This is definitely the thing that gets me about gear swapping. It doesn't make any sense for your character to swap gear in the middle of a fight.

I also saw some discussion about the way materia works. I do agree that it might be cool for materia to be slotted and unslotted at will, more like the way it works in its namesake FFVII. So if you know you are headed to Ifrit, you can stack your gear with Fire Resistance. Stuff like that.

So now you don't need to store lots of random gear pieces, but rather lots of random situational materia. Now add materia to its own inventory tab (like crystals), and you're starting to speak my language...

[Klive]

I don't have a desire to read through almost 40 pages of this, but a quick skim through recent posts and I found this quote.

This is definitely the thing that gets me about gear swapping. It doesn't make any sense for your character to swap gear in the middle of a fight.

I also saw some discussion about the way materia works. I do agree that it might be cool for materia to be slotted and unslotted at will, more like the way it works in its namesake FFVII. So if you know you are headed to Ifrit, you can stack your gear with Fire Resistance. Stuff like that.

So now you don't need to store lots of random gear pieces, but rather lots of random situational materia. Now add materia to its own inventory tab (like crystals), and you're starting to speak my language...

Only problem of that is all materia is not considered equal. Your chance of exploding your item with more than one bind is based on type of materia, level of materia, quality of materia; of each materia used. You would have to 'gut' the materia system and place in a new one. Too many variables as it is now. Being that they are updating the materia system with new materia, I doubt they would be 'gutting' the system anytime soon.

[Keyln]

Gear Swapping is common in RPGs.

Not really. In most RPGs, both offline and online, it is usually impossible to change gears mid-fight. At most, a player may be able to swap out weapons, but not change entire sets of gear mid-fight.

FFXI was the stark exception to this rule, as players could change gears at any time, which led to massive min-maxing.

[SwordCoheir]

Not really. In most RPGs, both offline and online, it is usually impossible to change gears mid-fight. At most, a player may be able to swap out weapons, but not change entire sets of gear mid-fight.

FFXI was the stark exception to this rule, as players could change gears at any time, which led to massive min-maxing.

Alot of times you were hit with some sort of penalty too. Like with turn based RPG's most of the time you lost a turn on that character.

[Felis]

Gear swapping is possible ingame, if you only want to switch your gear and not your class/job during a fight

/battlemode off
/[insert your gear swapping macro here]
/battlemode on

of course your party members kill the enemy before your gear swapping is finished, but this is another story.

[NoctisUmbra]

The way I see it, what they should do now is reintroduce that gear-change penalty that seems to have gone away or simply make it impossible to change gear when you are considered in-battle similar to how the teleports/returns are.

That way, DoW players aren't tempted any further by the DoMs that are practicing such gear-swaps.