Former WoW player: Suggested changes to FFXIV Raiding end-game

[Yagrush]

As one of the few WHMs that have a Sindri Lux with Direct Hit/Piety on it (because DH was once accuracy), I'd rather not have to return to stacking a skill that's not natively on my gear just so I can hit the broad side of a barn. The problem with set gear in FFXIV is that we're basically fighting against the armory chest, and too much class specific gear is not a good thing, the primary weapon chest shows that to be an issue.

Maybe I wasn't too clear. But I'm definitely against accuracy as a stat. It was terrible. As for class specific gear, I don't think my idea would make those issues, since it would be about adding one new stat across the board (That impacts each job differently)

I think the problem with #4 is that it starts promoting FOTM builds, and with the costs then imparted to pentamelding, it begins a very hard line between the "hardcore" min/max crowd and the rest of the players.

"oh, you have this slotted, well, only a loser does that, so you arent welcome in this group" or "oh, you only have two slots filled, well, you know, to be the best you need to pentameld"

So I guess at that point, what is considered a "meaningful" change? if its a change that can open the door to discrimination between play styles, I am firmly against it. as it stands now, for stats there is virtually zero difference between the top 1% of "hardcore raider types" and the rest of the population, and this is, despite what some may think, a good thing.

right now if anything, FFXIV caters to.. no one, and everyone. we all get parts of what we want/need but no one group gets a full desire list fulfilled, so no one is singled out as.. ."special". This is a good thing and keeps the game from being that other game. because that other game, is a job, it is not entertainment. FFXIV retains the fun.

Hmm, if you think a new 'Mastery' stat would maybe worsen the issue, I could maybe see it. As a new stat, just by existing, has the natural consequence of creating more "wrong" builds when theres one "right" one.

However a new stat like this wouldn't create the issue. There's already stat priorities, and 'useless' stats for some jobs, and definitely 'wrong' ways to gear up your character. So it wouldn't be a new thing.

As for what I consider meaningful? In this particular case, a stat that makes the job feel and play differently, if only slightly. That altered my rotation somewhat. Made me press a button sooner than I would've. Basically, a stat that makes me feel its impact once I have gear with it and that it interacts with my gameplay, not just a passive number increase, you know?

The issue I'm trying to address is basically job gameplay staying flat throughout a whole expansion cycle. Items that impact it would be cool. My idea I presented is just a happy medium between what we have and something new.

[Almagnus1]

Maybe I wasn't too clear. But I'm definitely against accuracy as a stat. It was terrible. As for class specific gear, I don't think my idea would make those issues, since it

The gear we have falls into different categories, and further breaking apart those categories is only going to cause us to pick up and grind out more gear. It's better that it's simple and that we have things like Ultimates to challenge us rather than the entire cluster that is WoW gearing. Seriously, you don't want that aspect of WoW here as it's the primary aspect of WoW that's causing people to flee (aside from the obvious drama with Blizzard).

[Nothv13]

As for what I consider meaningful? In this particular case, a stat that makes the job feel and play differently, if only slightly. That altered my rotation somewhat. Made me press a button sooner than I would've. Basically, a stat that makes me feel its impact once I have gear with it and that it interacts with my gameplay, not just a passive number increase, you know?

This sounds a lot like skill speed and spell speed. Even now different classes want different amounts of this due to how rotations line up. For example DRG typically have little skill speed to make their rotation line up better, but nothing is stopping your from stacking more skill speed to change up your rotation, though that is suboptimal.

[DPZ2]

So yeah. A single stat that impacted job specific gameplay for a job would be awesome.

Strength. Tenacity. Dexterity. Intelligence. Mind.

These are already built into the game and are 'job specific'. Gear for a particular job swims in these stats. The stats change depending on which job you're currently playing.

TL;DR The game already has what you're requesting.

[Kes13a]

the "mastery" stat in Wow was at best muddy and confusing and did little except add frustration since it was supposed to be good, but they added little that actually had it as a base stat. personally I think they added it as a sop to the people requesting what you are, a bit more 'differentiation' and it went poorly. Since naturally, everyone was trying to get it to be 'better'

when it comes down to it, changes in the stat values in FFXIV overall are miniscule due to materia. for instance I used to think determination, adding as it stated, healing and damage, would be beneficial, then I found a site with the actual added values. to say the least, I no longer think its important at all, same with any kind of speed.

with the incoming stat squish, I doubt they will give us more of any stat to be honest. might be nice if they changed how the end values are affected, but I doubt that was well. as it stands, things.. "work", maybe not excessively, but well enough to leave alone

[Yagrush]

Strength. Tenacity. Dexterity. Intelligence. Mind.

These are already built into the game and are 'job specific'. Gear for a particular job swims in these stats. The stats change depending on which job you're currently playing.

TL;DR The game already has what you're requesting.

They change numbers, not gameplay. Making my fell cleave do 10k instead of 1k doesn't change the gameplay. So no, the game doesn't have it.

I already talked about skill speed/spell speed. Making the rotation line up slightly by a few decimals of seconds that is barely noticeable doesn't fit what I'm talking about.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

They change numbers, not gameplay. Making my fell cleave do 10k instead of 1k doesn't change the gameplay. So no, the game doesn't have it.

I already talked about skill speed/spell speed. Making the rotation line up slightly by a few decimals of seconds that is barely noticeable doesn't fit what I'm talking about.

Change job. That changes the gameplay entirely, and you don't even need to make a new character!


And we get slight gameplay changes every expansion. Having to relearn jobs twice or more per expansion depending on gear would be dumb.

[MonteCristo]

[
4) Gear stats are very boring. Besides glamour, there is no excitement to end-game gear when it\\\\'s only a slight stat improvement, and every materia meld is prioritized for Crit. I would love for more interesting materia options (new competitive sub-stats or enchant procs), set bonuses, or even a trinket slot. I understand balance is an issue. But I also don\\\\'t think that should excuse SE from not even attempting to make more interesting gear options. They definitely have the creativity in them, as Bozjan has shown. We lack that carrot on a stick to keep playing end-game.[/QUOTE]

Number 4 i have been saying for years now....i know this isnt popular but one of my favorite things about ffxi was being able to obtain pieces of gear (normally very difficult to get) that had a unique property to it that made the sense of accomplishment incredible. The foundation and formulas in this game seem to be very concrete and I highly doubt that a few pieces of specialized gear allocated to the endgame try-hards would throw the entire balance of the game off especially since most of the population may not even acquire. Gear now is basically reskin add more to the stats rinse and repeat. Alot of the time i don\\\\'t even look at the name just make the ilvl is high enough and thats it...no sense of attachment to my weapons or gear outside of glamour whatsoever.

[DPZ2]

...snip...

Face it, there isn't a single stat that changes gameplay for a specific job to such an extent that it matters in this MMO or any other that I've ever played (and that list is pretty long, and includes 10 years of WoW). In WoW, your talents affect gameplay not your stats. This game doesn't use a talent system.

Players ignore skill and spell speed in this game because the meta for raw DPS regards it to be way below MAIN STAT, CRIT, DH or DET in rank of importance when choosing gear.

[Caurcas]

Nyet, end game is fine. We just need more raids in a patch is all.