New crafted gear should be the same iLVL as previous raid tiers BiS, not better.

[Thi]

This is a small thing that I have been thinking about and it actually has began to bother me a bit. Essentially at the launch of a new raid tier, all your work in the previous tier does nothing to help you launch into the next tier because you just replace it with crafter gear on patch day.

I get that it's good to have a system where new players or players who skipped a tier can catch up, but really the crafted gear should be a catch up, not a skip ahead.

In this case new crafted weapons for this tier should be i505 and armor/accessories be i500.

Gear you earn in savage should be the best possible gear to start the next tier of savage not crafted gear that anyone can buy off the market board. It gives the gear a slight bit more life than helping you clear the fights you already beat quicker.

And no, this would not make crafting sets worthless, they would still be a viable catch up mechanic for the players who do not do savage or want to change jobs for the new tier and didn't have that job geared. The only big loss would be that week 1 raiders wouldn't have to pay exorbitant prices for gear they will be throwing away in a few weeks.

[Mansion]

And no, this would not make crafting sets worthless, they would still be a viable catch up mechanic for the players who do not do savage or want to change jobs for the new tier and didn't have that job geared. The only big loss would be that week 1 raiders wouldn't have to pay exorbitant prices for gear they will be throwing away in a few weeks.

I think it would make it worthless. Because catching up for a raid tier can be done with the uncapping of memoquartz, or the 24 man raid gear that gets unlocked too. And on top of that, the new normal mode raid gear gets available.
It's also negating the "chore" of crafting this new gear as you need new mats, new scrips mats etc. All that effort for a gear that isn't better than 7 month old gear doesn't make sense to me.

But the deeper problem that I read in what you say is that gear itself doesn't feel right. There isn't a lot of choice, and unless you are in that tiny population of day one / week one Savage, you'll get good enough gear anyway. We would like to hold onto our old savage raid gear because it is our only reward for doing Savage in the first place, but its only purpose is... making Savage easier and getting forgotten come the next raid tier. It doesn't feel like progression or rewarding to gear up, in my opinion.

[Espritduo]

This is the way it was back in 2.x. SE realized it was a waste of everyone's time by HW and have not gone back to ARR patterns since for good reason.

[Evrardoux]

i actually found no reason to run any of the normal edens verse raids because they dropped 480 gear and the crafted was also 480. so those normal raids were obsolete to me on launch. kinda strange how they did that.

It is a strange decision that ultimately leads many to do exactly what you did - ignore Normal Raids and then they never do savage because that its own beast that the game never teaches you how to perform in.

[Eclipse12187]

It largely depends on itemization. As a healer main the i480 set was horrendous compared to my previous tier bis, even pentamelded. I’m fine with the pieces being higher than previous tier, it keeps the new gear competitive and gives you options. I can craft the 480 cheat piece and aim for 480 legs from normal raids while my group works on progging savage for that sweet 500 gear.

To add to it it’s also a great source of catch up gear, get a set of 480 of your choice and augment it to 490 now so you’re not as far behind the curve. The suggestion to nerf crafted ilvl doesn’t benefit anyone, it just makes entry level harder for newer players or fresh 80 jobs.

[Ultimatecalibur]

This is the way it was back in 2.x. SE realized it was a waste of everyone's time by HW and have not gone back to ARR patterns since for good reason.

That was the way things were up to 3.2 when they changed ilevel calculations and gear release patterns after Gordias pretty much destroyed the raid scene in 3.0/3.1. It took nearly 5 weeks after Gordias normal mode was released to be geared enough for Gordias Savage which was released 2 weeks after normal. Prior to Midas the best crafted gear was equivalent to uncapped tomestone gear. Starting with Midas the best crafted gear was slightly superior to normal mode raid gear.

[Eien713]

i actually found no reason to run any of the normal edens verse raids because they dropped 480 gear and the crafted was also 480. so those normal raids were obsolete to me on launch. kinda strange how they did that.

As far as I know, ilvl is not everything. Both sets might be 480, but what about the stats they have? As a BRD, I go for whatever piece has crit in it, so you're usually looking at a set composed of a mixture of pieces. The normal raid gear isn't obsolete on launch, and if you think this, then your understanding of the gearing up system is flawed. Besides, on launch, the prices are usually high, so maybe some people don't wanna spend that much money or can't afford it.

[Eien713]

the crafted set was way better than the 430 beginner stuff i had on my alts, and i waited a week or two after it came out to buy the armour, so i think it was like 1mil per set back then. im not telling everyone to just buy crafted, but i personally dont like waiting for one piece of jewelry at a time from raids and then 4 chest pieces for 1 top.

You lost me. Weren't you talking about the 480 gear? As for the 430 you speak of, I'll have to go back and check both crafted and normal raid gear to judge. I just know that there has never been an instance where a full gear set had all the best stats, crafted or not. The best set is usually mixed.

[ForteNightshade]

And no, this would not make crafting sets worthless, they would still be a viable catch up mechanic for the players who do not do savage or want to change jobs for the new tier and didn't have that job geared. The only big loss would be that week 1 raiders wouldn't have to pay exorbitant prices for gear they will be throwing away in a few weeks.

Actually, it would... for crafters. Shadowbringers has already made crafting so damn easy markets die comically fast. Making the 5.4 crafted gear i500 would more or less kill its worth from a sales perspective. Not many people are going to buy gear when they can opt for a free alternative with no weekly restriction. Now if you have zero interest in crafting or don't think crafters should be able to charge the prices they used to, then obviously this isn't an issue. But in that same breath, crafters could argue why should they care if your BiS lasts beyond a tier?

The actually problem is gear progression is far too linear. With tomestone gear so easily obtainable, there's just no way they can balance every avenue without another suffering. Ultimate is sort of the middle ground, and highlights another problem. FFXIV has shockingly little at ilvl content. It's a big reason people keep asking for a version of Mythic+.

[Barraind]

I like having a day or two every patch cycle where crafting is relevant and feels like a rewarding part of the game.


14 has a LOT of itemization issues to fix if it wants to not handle things in the way it does. I don't like how that aspect of the game works (vertical only progression using only an ilvl system with random stats is the laziest way you can ever design your itemization) but thats what they're going with.