ARR was better

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

ARR wasn't harder, the game was new and we were all just bad.

If any post can be claimed to be pure rose tinted glasses, it's this one.

And I make that claim because I have video of several of the coil raids of my groups clears, and God I'm terrible.

Also, I was doing speed runs of AK and WP back in the day, I used to pull all the way to each boss room. They weren't really hard if you knew what you were doing.

[Connor]

I liked cross-classing. Yeah, you read right. I miss being able to use Cure, the no-longer-existent Protect, and Stoneskin as a Bard.

Idk about the other stuff. I feel like ARR was simply too early in the ‘post-1.0’ lifespan for long-term issues with the game to be identified. That said, I did like how abilities all felt more fun. I like the silly useless things like Miasma having a debuff more for the thematics (pretty sure it was healing down even though no enemy ever healed lol) than an actual gameplay purpose. Now it feels like everything devs do is attempting to create a perfect numerical balance instead of a fun game

[Kayokane]

the elemental attributes on gear, was an already obsoleted system. Where in Legacy it was actually used, in ARR the amount of points needed for a tangible effect was too high to be useful.

[Kaurhz]

- Jobs had identity - Sure.

- Jobs had a reason to level multiple (cross class system) - Yes, and it also made things a pain. The role system would suffice if they could introduce interesting enough mechanics. I don't think too many people were like "OMG Let me use this class instead", it was more "Oh, I have to level THAT job"

- Hunting log and the Hunt kept the overworld alive - The Hunt still exists, and I would argue the only reason the Hunting Log kept the open world alive is because it was new. The Shared FATEs fulfill a similar role. You could actually argue Palace of the Dead had some shared responsibility in killing off the overworld, e.g., the number of FATE trains I saw in absolutely every single zone went down significant post-PotD release. Prior to that? It's 3.3, and I could still see FATE trains running on the regular in South Shroud, Costa Del Sol, Coerthas, and Northern Thanalan.

- Things weren't handed to you (you had to work a lot harder to clear content and save allowances) - I disagree, ARR wasn't difficult, it had a lot of terrible systems which just made it inconvenient, e.g., cooldowns not resetting on wipe.

- The raids were harder and had more complex tank/healer mechanics - Sure. Some of them were also badly designed where mechanics would queue based on HP %, e.g., Melusine.

- The dungeons were harder (lost city of amdapor anyone?) - Some dungeons were harder and some were a joke. People literally asked for the current dungeon design, even if they don't necessarily like it now. How often were you going off-course in Haukke Manor for Manor Varnish? I can count the number of times on 1-hand, and that is even when it was the potential for
40K gil for just killing 3-4 extra mobs, which would also yield EXP at the time. - How often did you clear all rooms in Sastasha? How often do you still do it if you get it?

- The relic was harder, involved the over world and HAD a gil sink, AND dungeons even contained some of the pieces, AND crafters could make money selling the weapon needed - This expansion is literally the only instance where it isn't the case. HW still had the crafted items, and was a significant time sink. Eureka had the time and Gil sink, in addition to massive Gil rewards, and the same applies to Shadowbringers. If you wanted good runs of CLL/Dalriada/DRN, then you were still spending a bit of time farming, or a bit of Gil getting all the requisite lost actions and essences.

- levequests had meaning - They still do, whether you decide to use them or not is entirely on you. The amount of people doing Coffee Biscuits was insane. Also is the loss, or restriction on Ishgard Restoration IMO is not worth the sacrifice of making levequests meaningful. Battle leves were useless from my experience.

- Grand company was useful - It had its uses yes. This is a system that they really need to continue.

- Glamour system was more robust - How was it more robust? What are you even talking about here?

- Elemental attributes on gear - The amount of significance and actual meaning behind this was miniscule. Nobody was using a Fire Materia IV - and frankly the only benefit to it was that Mutamix would occasionally give you useless materia

- Tradeable raid glamour meant raids had value in clearing them weekly (the dreadwyrm attire) - Are you referring to Replica Dreadwym Gear? - This was added in 3.x by which time all coils could be done unsync. People are still clearing weekly for loot anyway. Making it tradeable doesn't accomplish anything.

[Kayokane]

- Glamour system was more robust - How was it more robust? What are you even talking about here?

probably how every crafter needed to make their own glamour prisms and you needed 12 different types of prism just to glamour your gear.




Let's not forget Accuracy Caps, because even when healer's wanted to deal damage, they'd still only hit half the time because they needed to meld acc just to be even close to the tier cap.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

probably how every crafter needed to make their own glamour prisms and you needed 12 different types of prism just to glamour your gear.

Not sure how that makes it robust. (not aimed at you)



That just makes it more frustrating. There were cheers of joy when they got pared down to one prism per crafter, and even more when it just became one prism.

[Kayokane]

Not sure how that makes it robust. (not aimed at you)



That just makes it more frustrating. There were cheers of joy when they got pared down to one prism per crafter, and even more when it just became one prism.

This precise reaction here is why they changed it, that and inventory space, imagine having to carry stacks of prisms from each crafter type just to be sure you could glam that manderville coatee on a moments notice.

[Andevom]

Yeah, my job (Dragoon) had an identity in ARR alright, and it was awful.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Yeah, my job (Dragoon) had an identity in ARR alright, and it was awful.

What, you didn't like auto-dying to raidwides when blood for blood was up? And sometimes even when it wasn't?

[Xaphire]

Yeah, my job (Dragoon) had an identity in ARR alright, and it was awful.

You'll take your floornament identity and you'll like it.