Matching Set Bonus's

[Duelle]

That's a poor example though, it's a misrepresentation of set bonuses.

Agreed. Set bonuses normally give greater stat increases, unique changes to mechanics or bonuses to existing abilities. Along the lines of:

(4) Strength +1000, or
(4) STR increases shield block chance, or
(4) Goring Blade also reduces defense and magic defense.

[AmyNeudaiz]

That's a poor example though, it's a misrepresentation of set bonuses. Also, set bonuses wouldn't fix this issue because people will still need time to obtain the items for the set bonus. If anything you should be asking for consistent drop rates lol

Yes, it would widely fix the issue that people who wear mismatched sets that make up almost everyone who doesn't use AF by giving people incentive to wear matching sets and it opens the doors to things like proper variety of builds for various playstyles rather than just "this one piece of gear is the best ____ slot for ____ job so use it and only it"

[Airget]

That's a poor example though, it's a misrepresentation of set bonuses. Also, set bonuses wouldn't fix this issue because people will still need time to obtain the items for the set bonus. If anything you should be asking for consistent drop rates lol

I wouldn't really call those a misrepresentation, they still offer stats which aren't available with the pieces unless you are wearing x amount of gear.

I'd much rather have set bonuses where it isn't straight up you have to wear these 5 pieces for the effect and more open ended with a large variety of gear and the bonus are available through wearing any variety.

I don't really understand why there's an issue with people being mismatched, if that's how they choose to maximize their abilities then let it be. To setup a method in which set bonuses would be the top choice when it comes to gear would completely defeat the purpose of gearing up to your design and focusing on just wearing a set to get the best stats possible.

I've never been a fan of set bonuses cause it does pretty much makes you go,

Well I need these 5 pieces for it to be useful otherwise it's useless, but I want to use this new headpiece I got, however if I want to use this headpiece then I have to replace the other 4 pieces of gear I have because they are worthless without the set bonus. That's the type of concept I don't like behind set bonuses. There are right ways to go about like the GC set bonuses but having it to specified just leaves it open to making gear selection very restrictive in the long haul.

[AmyNeudaiz]

I'd much rather have set bonuses where it isn't straight up you have to wear these 5 pieces for the effect and more open ended with a large variety of gear and the bonus are available through wearing any variety.

Well there you go, a very solid idea that pretty much destroys your complaint. I never said how they should execute set bonus's but the way they've done it with GC gear we can expect that to be the case with future sets.
Also, with materia for regular gear and there being end game non-set gear already like darklight and the new class only gear, why appose the idea? I never said there has to be only set bonus's.

[Duelle]

I'd much rather have set bonuses where it isn't straight up you have to wear these 5 pieces for the effect and more open ended with a large variety of gear and the bonus are available through wearing any variety.

Depends on how the bonuses can be used. If it's a beneficial change to class mechanics, then the devs are justified in making you wear the 5-piece set to get that. Not that anyone has ever forced players to wear more than 4 pieces at that (even WoW has up to 4-piece set bonuses for their class-specific tier gear).

I don't really understand why there's an issue with people being mismatched, if that's how they choose to maximize their abilities then let it be.

In the case of the OP, it's not because other players look like mismatched clowns. It's because to perform on a similar level to those people, she/he would have to look like a mismatched clown as well. Some players, myself included, are very affected by aesthetics.

To setup a method in which set bonuses would be the top choice when it comes to gear would completely defeat the purpose of gearing up to your design and focusing on just wearing a set to get the best stats possible.

Appearance tabs/transmogrification/vanity slots. Pick your poison.

There are right ways to go about like the GC set bonuses but having it to specified just leaves it open to making gear selection very restrictive in the long haul.

While giving the developers leeway in terms of gear design because they know they can put the really good bonuses on the AF/tier gear for that specific set of content.

Which gives a two-fold bonus. One being that they can design progression as a build up to the gear with set bonuses (AF/Tier). Two being that they have an easier time designing and balancing battle content when said gear with bonuses, being the apex (or close enough for balance purposes) for that content set, will be the measuring stick for class/job performance. There are benefits to that type of design.

[indira]

so you hate people that gear up properly to beat a content?

if your really good you dont need to be "properly" geared, just in the ball park.

[TheVedis]

They started doing set bonus' with some of the recent gear, i would expect more of this in the future, but not retroactive to older gear

[MrKupo]

I like it when everyone looks different. It becomes even better when people go out of their way to always have a certain look. I have recently been doing a thing where I am always wearing spectacles. Why? Because that's my character now, deal with it.

I would almost BEG SE not to have gear sets simply for the fact that everyone will end up looking exactly the same all of the time.

[Duelle]

I like it when everyone looks different. It becomes even better when people go out of their way to always have a certain look. I have recently been doing a thing where I am always wearing spectacles. Why? Because that's my character now, deal with it.

I would almost BEG SE not to have gear sets simply for the fact that everyone will end up looking exactly the same all of the time.

Appearance tabs swiftly deal with the above mentioned problem. It's not like we can only have one or the other.

[whoopeeragon]

Appearance tabs swiftly deal with the above mentioned problem. It's not like we can only have one or the other.

There is a problem when it comes to end-game stuff though. People looking for members with that 'matching' gear aren't gonna bother checking each person one by one to see if they're just wearing it for vanity. They see that person wearing mis-matched clothing, NAH, screw you, next in line please, when in fact, that very person may be having an all-gear set bonus attached with strings and clams, but merely liked his appearance. Justifiably, it could work the other way around, in that if you really wanted to do end-game content, then LOOK like you are, but since you've already equipped as such, why hinder your own experience when it really doesn't affect others, because you still act as you were meant to?

I'm not saying that would be the case, but judging about how impatient parts of this community is when it comes to end-game content ("YOU NO KNOW HAMLET, MWAHAHA, FUNNY, NOW GET OUT" kind of attitude), it's very likely people aren't going to look past how you look like and see whether you have put the effort into doing so. That's the first issue that popped into my mind when I thought of set-bonuses and vanity slots being implemented with one another.