This game has WAY bigger issues than some server problems.

[KyteStones]

The games been made and about to release. I keep laughing at threads like this, and the threads that say the game isnt ready. The battle system is set in stone. There won't ever be a "3.0" with all the money invested in "2.0" to work. If you don;t like it don't play it. The DEVS are happy with how it turned out. If you want all these nifty features and an OP game, spend millions on creating your own mmorpg. until then keep quiet and either play or dont play They aren;t going to rework the game a third time to make you happy. beta is over, suggestions and such are pretty much out the window at this point.

[MalcolmReynolds]

I don't think anyone is asking for a reworked battle system. There are ways it can be made better while still keeping the same foundation in place.

Getting that stat boost in the next set of gear is nice, but there should be more to differentiate gear. I hate to use WoW as an example, but they knew what they were doing with gear. Set bonuses are nice, which 14 does use to a certain extent, but there can be more diversity. As it stands, that set isn't even worth using as you can often get much better stats from non-set gear.

They need gear with additional effects, like procs, such as weapons having a chance of inflicting a debuff on an enemy, or a shield that has a chance to activate a bubble that absorbs some damage, or armor that allows you to evade every 10th attack, or maybe something with low defensive stats but a high chance to dodge attacks...there's a lot you can do with gear instead of just +X to stat. Materia is a good idea, but it can be refined a bit more to include more effects so you don't see melee DPS classes with just +STR materia.

The battle system can work as it is, but it needs a bit more difficulty and the gear needs more versatility. Oh...and abilities need to activate as soon as hit. There seems to be a bit of a delay from when they're pressed to when the effect activates.