An alternative to gear swaping

[WendyMarvell]

Ok... so I know there are many threads already about wanting/not wanting FFXI gear swap system in the game. I decided to make a new thread to actually discuss an alternative as we seem to have a very notable difference of opinion among the players.

Lets throw that idea of FFXI gear swap away for a minute, and not discuss it, clearly it was a system with its pros and cons.
It was an eyesore.
It demanded the players to get and carry many pieces of gear (good and bad).
Among many other things (this thread is not about that).

So after reading this one: (or most of it)
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/42378-Legitimate-reasons-why-many-of-you-do-NOT-like-Gear-Swapping

I saw that there are no real suggestions as to where to go, just either wants or not wants, but then i saw a post by Xoo about materias, and i would like to elaborate on that idea.

Personally I would like a system that does the following:
1) Flows with the game properly (no blinking) perhaps with an animation...

2) Makes me want multiple choices of gear for each of the slots (It helps create a gap between my main jobs and not-so main jobs), and make sure i don't throw away my old useless gear.

3) That it keeps the game entertaining with endgame progression (in XI generally Sky and relicAF first, then the rest... Salvage, einherjar etc...). So that a few pieces from our current raids are phased out, but some stay.

4) That it doesn't kill crafting.

5) Lastly I would like the system a system that gives me an opportunity to keep those pieces of gear that are now obsolete, but I once wore proudly. Much like the initial materia system aimed to be.

Bonus)
1) Try to not destroy inventory spaces (like rdm in XI).
2) Try to keep the materia system.
(these two might be mutually exclusive)

--I know some of you don't like the gear swap idea because of the "lack of preparation " for a fight, but try to consider getting the gear your preparation for the next fight--

Ok, so on to the idea... Please keep in mind this is for endgame play not exping, but certainly we can accommodate for that...

This idea involves two new kinds of materia-like items and a new type of materia-like affixing, I will call the items Soul Gems and SoullessArmor (silly name yes, temporary).

What this new crafting process will do is split a piece of gear into two forms, one the Soul Gem and one the Soulless Armor. The Soul Gem will contain all the stats of the item, and the Soulless Armor will have now one slot for a "Soul Gem". This process only needs to be done the first time. There will also be a reverse process (to enable resell).

The Soulless Armor is what you actually equip for the way your character looks. This aspect will make you keep some items for their looks, create some uniqueness between the players so not 100% of the people who can use byakko's haidate will have them on as their main look.

The Soul Gem will carry all of the item's stats even what is added by materia and defense. They will be able to be changed during battle on the fly, but the Soulless Armor will not (you will keep the same outfit therefore addressing the blinking).

So clearly there needs to be some restrictions on the Soulless Armor, so we don't have mages running around in heavy plate and such; the soulless Armor and the Soul Gem will carry the same level and job/class restrictions as the armor piece that was split. They will conserve their Unique status if they have one, and all of them will be untradable (so the marketwards don't flood). Via the reverse process re-sell of split items will be possible, but it will only be possible to completely reverse the process if it returns the item to its original stats + whatever materia.

Ok... so theres a few issues that this system does not address, but can be addressed via other means.

First off... balancing the content, the content will need to have a progress. There will need to be a progression of content that gets increasingly more statwise demanding, so perhaps as patches are released the stat demand is higher. It will give that feeling of "hey I'm finally farming sea, after obtaining all that AF2,sky gear,HQ elemental staves, and so and so..."

It will help the casuals (who tend to shout for groups) by giving the more experienced players a reason to go back and get the gear they must have for their Hardcore LS (for that new job they want to play). It is arguable that there will be "elitism" in this matter, and people may not be invited because of their lack of gear. This issue is addressed by the fact that the gear they have while not as effective will be sufficient to clear the target raid/primal/NM/whatever. So elitism will more likely appear when shouting for higherstat play at which point players should just have an ls, and it should be clear that the reason for the lack of invite is that the player needs gear from A B C D E F G content before attempting H J K content...

So you want to just jump and get the best gear from H J K directly? That wont work... much like in XI there will be some pieces of gear in A B C D E F and G that are slotwise best option for casting some spell x or some ws y.

This has been a long post, last but not least, content should be challenging for the level of stats the players have while attempting it, but the drop system should fall heavier on the Hardcore players. As the patches progress and we get more content, the drop rate for old content should be increased as to allow for new Hardcore players and casual players to have the means to catch up to the Hardcore (and become one if they chose to do so).

Ok so I know the names i chose for the items are silly... but they are temporary. I know i must have missed some key concerns and would like to edit the idea as to address most or all of them. Discuss concerns and such, but no crying about what FFXI system used to be unless its relevant.

Don't forget to like the post if you like the idea, and also thanks for reading.

Please excuse any mistakes in my English as it is not my first language.
Likely that the next post be a please like if u dislike post. *do so even if it isn't*

[Wolfie]

I like your idea because it serves both as appearance customization and as a compromise between gear swaps and no gear swaps.

But.

I don't think it will work as gear swapping because of one major reason: there are tiered sets of gear available now, and there will likely continue to be tiered sets of gear. Someone who is using darklight gear now has no reason to go back and swap in gear from the beastman camps or older dungeons. Gear swapping has a requirement that getting new gear provides sidegrades and is used situationally, as opposed to straight up being an upgrade in every sense.

I also think that the major argument is not that there is gear swapping in general -- because that is something that you can do now to optimize your existing gear before a battle. The argument is allowing gear-swapping in the middle of combat, which I will argue up and down that it is a bad idea if only because it an obtuse mechanic that becomes the default gameplay style.

[WendyMarvell]

I can't argue about disliking it as a form of gameplay, however I (emphasis on I) believe that it provides for the use of more content, and that it could make a very enjoyable part of the game.

It is true that with our current content DarkLight is certainly the better piece for most situations, but if this game had gear swap, they would be seen in most of the ability enhancing / timer reducing AF pieces. In particular for mages, there are many crafted/materia pieces that are better than darklight which they would be gear swaping (int hat and convert hat for example).

If gear swaping didn't have a benefit to the player we wouldn't have the threads yet.

Thanks for the reply.

[Andrien]

If I had to choose between regular gear swaps and this, I'll choose regular. And I don't like gear swaps.

[syntaxlies]

people will just wanna op 2 different sets and swap still,lol

[Tibian]

Why do we even need an "alternative" form? I am satisfied with how characters are developing, I am overjoyed gear swap doesn't exist, and I am pleased that in 2.0 mannequins will exist that function as gear holders for easy and efficient equipping.

All I see in these repetitious gear swap threads is pretty much "it was in XI, lets find a way to put it in XIV." I understand your post is examining an alternative to it; but you're still looking at putting in a system... simply because it was in XI.

I'd be super happy if they came out with a cosmetic outfit system as you are describing, but not for the sole purpose of including gear swap.

In general, gear swap was a terrible mechanic of XI that created a plethora of problems that were not able to be fixed during the entire lifespan of the game. I think even the proponents of gear swap understand the logistical nightmare it continued to impose on the game. I don't want to see a repeat of inventory overload, constant blinking of characters based on the attack I am about to use, macro hell (especially given how terrible macros function in XIV), or even party restrictions because I don't have 20 pieces of gear for each of my 10 attacks.

I think a better question to ask the forums would be "why do you feel it is necessary to promote a feature like gear swap?"

Do you think there isn't enough character customization? Do you feel the character progression isn't satisfying enough? Do you desire more skills? More diversity? What is it that you REALLY want out of gear swap or a system that functions along the same lines? I haven't heard a solid answer throughout all of the gear swap threads except "it was in XI."

Talent systems add alternative advancement for characters and can be used to introduce new spells, FUN spells, character advancement, and easy swapping for fights. If made correctly, a good talent system eliminates all the issues of gear swapping and allows for a diverse makeup of characters. I am sure now that I brought up talents, someone will bring up merits. Merits are a form of a talent system yes. Unfortunately they lacked the proper means to increase diversity and instead increased the amount of elitism and classism that existed in XI. Didn't have the right merit? No party invite. Furthermore, merits were just horrible reason to add another insane amount of grinding to a game that clearly had enough. I don't want to see merits either. If XIV can improve on merits and create a brilliant talent system that promotes diversity, eliminates the classism regarding merits, and removes the grind associated with merits then yes I'd be elated to see such a system.

I am pretty happy without talent systems, or merit systems, or even gear swap systems. Someday I think I'd like to see an introduction of talents -- certainly not in the form of merits and definitely not in the form of gear swap.

As I close this post; let me give you some food for thought. If you really want gear swap... the materia system does exist. In fact, you have the option to meld several pieces of materia to one piece of gear. Simply meld to your hearts content and swap that gear BEFORE battle starts.

I also think that the major argument is not that there is gear swapping in general -- because that is something that you can do now to optimize your existing gear before a battle. The argument is allowing gear-swapping in the middle of combat, which I will argue up and down that it is a bad idea if only because it an obtuse mechanic that becomes the default gameplay style.

Couldn't have said it better.

[WendyMarvell]

I'd be super happy if they came out with a cosmetic outfit system as you are describing, but not for the sole purpose of including gear swap.

I think a better question to ask the forums would be "why do you feel it is necessary to promote a feature like gear swap?"

Do you think there isn't enough character customization? Do you feel the character progression isn't satisfying enough? Do you desire more skills? More diversity? What is it that you REALLY want out of gear swap or a system that functions along the same lines? I haven't heard a solid answer throughout all of the gear swap threads except "it was in XI."
.

There really needs not be any other reason than because I liked it in XI... not because it was in XI, but because i liked it.

I think XI was indeed built around gear swapping, and that is not a bad thing, as the game progressed the tougher fights required some serious gear stacking to cast 1 spell (particularily rdm), said gear made every other spell almost obsolete to be cast in the set thinking about enfeebling para to slow. I found the collection of gear to build each one of my sets to be the most entretaining part of XI. It is not like you would bring 3 or 4 rdms to cast each 1 different spell in XI.

Furthermore, i don't share the idea that gear swapping was a terrible mechanic, it made XI unique in that way and if the content is appropriate by requiring the stat specialization, then what the gear swap adds to the game is just the repetition of content for gear u need for that new job u want to play, and hopefully someday we will have enough content for that to be a pleasure rather than CC/AV spamming (like right now).

The merit system as with our point allotment system right now are the parts that u can't change on the fly. This is the character customization, and I would like it to remain that way.

I'm glad u like the cosmetic idea, I'd love it if we have something like that at least.

In summary, i don't want this game to become XI-2, but this characteristic of XI was one of those that I'd like to see here...

Thanks for the reply =)

[Wolfie]

FYI, gear swapping in FFXI was considered an exploit by the devs. They decided to tough it out and design content with the idea that people would be swapping gear mid-combat, because by the time they learned that gear swapping was a thing, removing it would have caused a gigantic backlash from the community.

[Molly_Millions]

I don't think we need an alternative to gear swapping. I only have time atm to skim the first post, so I apologize if I'm way off base. I would be against any system that allows players to change their stats mid battle. That goes for materia, actual stat points, gear or any other system people dream up. You should have to prepare before you enter battle. If the battle is not beatable without switching stats in the middle of it (which isn't truly allowed right now anyway) then SE did not do a good job balancing said battle.

[Jynx]

I'd rather jobs have multiple builds that were usefull in battle.

I'd like there to be multiple sets of gear I can obtain at max level for differnt battle scenarios such as solo, party, NM's, Damage dealing, Evasion.

I want lots of good gear to get, but I don't want to be switching into it mid battle.