"Revamped" Rewards System

[Velhart]

Astral Ring and Cassie Earring off the top of my head. But that's not much of a list.

FFXI had an endless slew of sidegrades and situational gear that either relieved your inventory (by introducing gear that converged multiple pieces of gear into one) or burdened your inventory (by introducing pieces of gear that could each be useful in different situations). It's a good way to add longevity to content, but a bad way to give players a sense of character progression.

An FFXI MNK in 2005 and an FFXI MNK in 2010, given a choice of optimal gear, are not as statistically different as you might think. What changed over time was player understanding of game mechanics, techniques and styles of play independent of any great statistical growth. We became cleverer, not stronger. Remember how Kirin took 30+ minutes to kill with BLMs and RNGs in 2005? We could have applied 2008's melee burn strategy just as well back in 2005--if we knew how to gear our characters then. I still remember STR/ACC MNK back in the day. We were so dumb then.

Anyway, all that sidegrading provides a fantastic illusion of growth and motivates people to do content, which is fine in the short term. Maybe 1-1.5 year cycles of sidegrade content. The problem with FFXI was sidegrading became the law of the land as soon as the level cap hit 75 and remained so until the cap raised again 8 years later. I can imagine how this would be very discouraging to a player who didn't buy into the illusion.

FFXIV can't be afraid of making older gear obsolete if they want to elicit from players a genuine feeling of character growth. I think they are on the right track when it comes to handling obsolete gear, though. We can already trade in primal weapons and Darkhold gear for GC seals. These items may be obsolete for some players, but they aren't worthless. Squenix should have a redemption plan for all content rewards after a certain amount of time as they push forward to create new content and more powerful gear.

This worked out in a unique way in FFXI, but I am not for situation gear in FFXIV. I don't like carrying more gear for one job than I should.

It needs to be simplistic. Like if I am DRG, it is set on the table and clear as day that you want STR/PIE/Crit Rate/Crit ATK and focus on gear that gives me this, or WHM with MND/Healing Magic+/Enhancement+. The stat system does not need to be complex to be fun. Other MMO's approach it like this also. They make gear that caters to a job's primary stats. You see a piece and you can tell who it is for.

FFXI was a fun system, but I do not want it again. It was pretty tiring carrying 2-3 sets for three of my jobs. Its a big hassle to me.

Striders, Ochiudos Kotes, Cassie/Astral Earrings, Fuma Kyahan (arguable), Peacock Charm, Haubergeon (59 but best thing for a lot of DDs), ACC rings to name a few.

I was never a fan of this either. When I am lv.75, I clearly want lv.75 gear on all my stuff. I don't think SE studied enough of what people want to will way later on how people use gear, or what piece was popular at the time. I also never understood why Samurai could wear a Haubergeon, but not a Hauberk or Adaman Hauberk. Not even giving DRG access to that set for that matter.


But overall, I want gear that caters to a job. You look at a piece with STR/PIE/Crit on it and you say "Ohh, that is clearly a DRG piece.". For one it prevents 8-24 people tackling each other down for one piece and the competition would be between you or another DRG in the party. WoW wasn't like this at first either, but by WoTLK, they were able to segregate gear and the reward system was a lot friendlier than it was before. Its the reason they don't like inviting multiple classes to a party, to ease competition and get benefits from other classes.

Right now in FFXIV, as soon as that DL piece drops (Especially Light DPS in my case.), all jobs that can wear it (Which are usually 3-4 people in my party.) start going at each other for it. While there will always be general pieces that are friendly to a lot, this method would ease tension and lower competition for a piece. It works in other MMO's, and it can work in here.