Stat squish confirmed: How will unsynced old content be handled?

[Ammokkx]

Lower levels aren't really the problem. The problem comes at the end of expansions, where gear score explodes. We don't notice it much during the patches when they're current because we're just keeping up, but just look at the jump from, say, level 70 job gear (item level 290) to Augmented Scaevan (400). And then the next expansion has to keep up with that power creep.

You can look at the stats you have in Bozja and compare it to what you have equipped outside it

[Payadopa]

I hope this will mean lower-level content like the Crystal Tower will be less of a broken faceroll. The enormous leaps in stat growth are a huge problem, and I'm glad it's getting addressed.

I think that's the reason why everyone and their pet moogle want to be done with it as quickly. There is no engagement. It should require a modicum of effort. Would still be pretty easy, but, y'know, engaging. At least force us to do mechanics again. lol

[Liale]

I think that's the reason why everyone and their pet moogle want to be done with it as quickly. There is no engagement. It should require a modicum of effort. Would still be pretty easy, but, y'know, engaging. At least force us to do mechanics again. lol

Ummmm no, most people want to be done with it quickly because if you have been playing since 2.0 you have done it a million times already and no matter how much you are engaged it's still old content you can do with your eyes closed in your sleep.

[ForteNightshade]

Ummmm no, most people want to be done with it quickly because if you have been playing since 2.0 you have done it a million times already and no matter how much you are engaged it's still old content you can do with your eyes closed in your sleep.

To be fair, making it so absurdly easy only exacerbates that feeling. I'll be more willing to run Weeping City for the 100th time if it remains engaging. Meanwhile, I've actively avoided Alliance Roulette for nearly a full year because I absolutely detest getting LotA and Syrcus for the bazillion time when a light breeze knocks over all the bosses.

[Deceptus]

A stat squish. A concept WoW has attempted multiple times and gotten wrong EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Something always goes wrong.

If this is true and well developed:

Damage reduction example: 530 BLM using Fire 4 with no crit/direct hit deals about 50k damage, this will become about 10k damage. Ratio of damage to enemy health will stay the same

Then this should NOT occur.

Undersized parties might be more difficult

The FFXIV Developers have two choices in front of them. Make enemies stronger and old, outdated content harder or make players stronger and old, outdated content easier.

It's a tough balancing act and I'm glad I don't have to be the one pulling the trigger on the decision. I am concerned with the FFXIV development team because their track record on system overhauls isn't exactly stellar, or even good at this point.

Lower levels aren't really the problem. The problem comes at the end of expansions, where gear score explodes. We don't notice it much during the patches when they're current because we're just keeping up, but just look at the jump from, say, level 70 job gear (item level 290) to Augmented Scaevan (400). And then the next expansion has to keep up with that power creep.

The Devs have pretty much standardized ilvls over the last few expanions. It's usually 120-130 ilvls from old expansion tome gear to new expansion tome gear.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The Devs have pretty much standardized ilvls over the last few expanions. It's usually 120-130 ilvls from old expansion tome gear to new expansion tome gear.

That was my point, yes. How much do stats escalate over those item levels? We jump that every time we go to a new expansion, and we're going onto the fourth expansion soon. That means three big end-of-expac gear jumps, with corresponding stat jumps. That's a big chunk of what's being smoothed out.

[wereotter]

That was my point, yes. How much do stats escalate over those item levels? We jump that every time we go to a new expansion, and we're going onto the fourth expansion soon. That means three big end-of-expac gear jumps, with corresponding stat jumps. That's a big chunk of what's being smoothed out.

This is absolutely something they could control, and I think they should look into.

Some potential places to reduce the explosion of item level:
Leading up to the end of the expansion, we were given a job coffer with item level 430 gear
Immediately we had the option to replace this with item level 440 Ronkan gear
Then level 445 crafted gear
Level 450 Eden normal
Level 460 Tomestone (and later 460 YorHa gear)
Level 470 Eden savage (and later 470 augmented tomestone)

So within the first patch we went up 30 item levels.

An example of the squish they could use:
Coffer : 430
Ronkan gear : still 430, but lets you use the same items on multiple jobs to streamline armory space. Additionally this set would have the accessories. Alternately this set could just be deleted.
Eden normal gear : 435
Crafted gear : also 435
Tomestone gear : 440
YorHa : 445
Augmented tomestone & Eden savage : 450

This cuts out 20 item levels of advancement every tier leading to 60 fewer levels added each expansion.

The stat gains could be comprable as well, which would lead in addition to the stats not inflating so dramatically, more flexibility when creating BiS lists for jobs making 24-man raid gear more relevant than it currently is.

[Rongway]

Some potential places to reduce the explosion of item level:
Leading up to the end of the expansion, we were given a job coffer with item level 430 gear
Immediately we had the option to replace this with item level 440 Ronkan gear
Then level 445 crafted gear
Level 450 Eden normal
Level 460 Tomestone (and later 460 YorHa gear)
Level 470 Eden savage (and later 470 augmented tomestone)

So within the first patch we went up 30 item levels.

An example of the squish they could use:
Coffer : 430
Ronkan gear : still 430, but lets you use the same items on multiple jobs to streamline armory space. Additionally this set would have the accessories. Alternately this set could just be deleted.
Eden normal gear : 435
Crafted gear : also 435
Tomestone gear : 440
YorHa : 445
Augmented tomestone & Eden savage : 450

This cuts out 20 item levels of advancement every tier leading to 60 fewer levels added each expansion.

iLv adjustments are not necessary, and the iLv number itself is largely meaningless outside of its role in locking people out of content. The iLv growth scheme we have allows for a certain perception of the expected pacing of gear replacement, and is fine. They can easily adjust the gear stat formulas without changing the iLv scheme.

[linayar]

A stat squish. A concept WoW has attempted multiple times and gotten wrong EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Something always goes wrong.

If this is true and well developed:

Damage reduction example: 530 BLM using Fire 4 with no crit/direct hit deals about 50k damage, this will become about 10k damage. Ratio of damage to enemy health will stay the same

Then this should NOT occur.

Undersized parties might be more difficult

Ratio of damage to enemy health staying the same only works when fighting similar-leveled enemies. The point of undersized parties is to overpower lower-leveled enemies, and since the stat gained per level increase is reduced between levels 51 and 80, it means you won't gain as much stat within that level range to use with undersized party against lower leveled enemies. But you still would be tuned relatively the same against enemies at your level.

[MsQi]

"440,000,000HP!"

oh, are we still using windows 98?