MAFGA

[LilimoLimomo]

Personally, I don't think the Artifact Gear is wasted at all; once you acquire it, you can glam its aesthetic on to any piece of gear you later replace it with.

FFXIV's glamour system has all but entirely decoupled stats and aesthetics.

[TarynH]

Personally, I don't think the Artifact Gear is wasted at all; once you acquire it, you can glam its aesthetic on to any piece of gear you later replace it with.

FFXIV's glamour system has all but entirely decoupled stats and aesthetics.

I speak in terms of usefulness as actual gear. It's usually tossed aside rather quickly for better gear. We didn't even get the dyeable versions in SB and SHB until the relic content, and by then it was only glamour gear. I'd like to actually use it longer as suitable "stat-useful" gear to do content.

We should at least be able to use it to get raid gear after hitting level cap. Which we couldn't in EW.

[Jojoya]

I speak in terms of usefulness as actual gear. It's usually tossed aside rather quickly for better gear. We didn't even get the dyeable versions in SB and SHB until the relic content, and by then it was only glamour gear. I'd like to actually use it longer as suitable "stat-useful" gear to do content.

We should at least be able to use it to get raid gear after hitting level cap. Which we couldn't in EW.

AF gear hasn't been consistent as a sole source of left side gear to get into the first raid of an expansion.

HW - see below
SB - AF 290, O1N 295 (insufficient)
ShB - AF 430, E1N 425 (sufficient)
EW - AF 560, P1N 565 (insufficient)

Heavensward AF was different from what I can gather from online resources (Lodestone being down atm isn't helping). Initial ilvl was 200 and it looks like it was released in patch 3.05 and was purchased with tomestones instead of being a job quest reward while the 170 Yasha gear (also tomestones) was the original entry level gear for raids (A1N required 170).

The AF gear has been good for MSQ progression thru the x.1 patch dungeon (except in SB) for those who don't raid or farm tomestones.

It feels like the dev team has never come to a decision about what role they want AF gear to play in the gearing process. I'm guessing they've kept it on the low side (being a simple quest reward) so the mid-tier tomestone gear becomes the entry to raiding set. The AF gear was valuable in ShB and EW for initial tomestone farming.

If AF were to become the entry to raiding set, there would be little to no need for that initial gearset purchased with the second tier tomestone at the start of an expansion. The tomestone could still be used to purchase accessories (if someone isn't farming whichever EX trial drops them) and of course purchase the crafting materials. They would likely put the AF gear back on the tomestone vendor as well instead of making it a reward unlocked thru simple MSQ progression.

I can't say I have any strong opinion one way or another after stopping to think about it. As a crafter, I'm replacing both the AF and second tier tomestone set almost immediately with the crafted gear when that comes out just after expansion launch.

Probably better for those players who don't get the crafted gear right away to leave their feedback on how AF gear should fit into the gearing system.