Cookie Cutter Gear

I really do like some of this new gear coming out, such as Perle. I just remember a while back having to work for some of the best gear or even some of the mediocre gear that made you not a complete nub. Such as getting a hauby 4 or so years ago. It was a huge accomplishment for me when I could actually afford a hauby for the first time. I went from having 3.3mil to using the last 750k I had, which made me broke for a while but I still had some awesome new body piece.

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of how to implement future gear so it wouldn't be the case, that SE hands you gear on a platter? I'm not trying to come up with a way to seperate the "lower class" with the "upper class" or make it so people with tons of time get all of the good gear. But just a way to have some sort of accomplishment for getting some new awesome gear. Without giving it out as a charity or what have you.

I partied for maybe 4 hours the other day on PLD in Abyssea and got to 80PLD and already had enough for full Perle which replaced my turtle gear and DD gear for my PLD. I mean I'm not complaining because it looks cool and is really good. Not to mention I would expect higher level gear to give you more defense and such. But I know there was some sort of seperation between what kinds of gear you could afford in the past.

Now this sort of implementation, being able to get a full set of really good gear in just a few hours has got to be great, especially if you're starting out. It just makes it have very little individuality I think when about 1/3 (random guess) or so of DD are using the same gear set.

By asking this "What's a new way to implement the acquisition of gear?" I'm not trying to imply that "oh the game is dying! hauby is lol the world is ending!!" I am just curious if anyone has any good ideas. I'm also not looking for any ideas that are similar to what has been implemented in the past that requires tons and tons of time or gil just to get. Thank you :)

For people too lazy to read:
Any ideas for a new way to get gear that isn't as easy as Perle, but not as hard as Relic?

I'm actually not surprised that the new gear is easy to obtain, considering the level cap increases to come. I think once we hit 99 we will see the new end-game gear and can expect to spend some time earning it. But for now, meh... enjoy the little hand-outs. That's just my opinion.

that gear does exist. items such as nocturnus helm and body, timarli or ocelot and loki's. the gear is out there you just have to research and locate it.

many people have issues with thier old gear becoming more and more obsolete. and have a hard time looking at lvl 99 and realizing that all the gear they spent years farming for or earing points for is going to be useless at 99. because lets face it 80 killed most of it. by 99 you can expect to see people refer to byakkos and salvage gear, as low level gear. and it will be. but there will always be prize gear to be had. just need o take the time to find it

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. If you mean challenges that require full parties or Alliances to get one gear drop...god I hope not. As far as the new Abyssea gear, I think SE intentionally leveled the playing field for gear to stop the elitist mentality as we move into the new lvl caps. Not having the time or resources to get the old "uber" stuff used to be a real problem for some people and they were overlooked in EG stuff because of it....kinda catch 22 "You don't have no sky gearz"..."But I need to do sky to get those gearz"..."you dont have no sky gearz...you fail...go away nub"

For now, there is just no excuse not to have a decent set of gear. Old stuff prices have plummeted and new stuff is cheap and easy to get.

The "sense of accomplishment" will probably come in the form of magian upgrades to sky/limbus/dynamis/assault and nyzul gear...I know I personally just can't wait to start the mind crushing process of killing 5,000 enemies to upgrade K.Osode...>.>

Given the advent of certain new abilities (Perfect Defense, Sengikori, Skillchain Bonus, Magic Burst Bonus, Mana Wall, lowered level for Sekkanoki, etc.) and new challenging NM arenas (Walk of Echoes, Abyssea), I think S-E is purposefully trying to drive the game's content AWAY from simply trying to acquire equipment. By essentially giving away Perle/Aurore/Teal gear, S-E is telling us that being a "cookie-cutter" with your gear is adequate, and that one's equipment no longer defines one's importance or relevance in FFXI. I believe S-E is trying to tell us that tactics and group organization will be more important for success now, and into the future.

This represents a significant shift in the paradigm of what defines a player's "standing" or "worth" relative to other FFXI players. Many players will reject and/or resent this notion, having spent 'X' number of years applying effort to acquire 'X' "elite" gear, at least partially with the purpose of gaining notoriety among peers.

However, hurt feelings and bruised egos aside, it is what it is. S-E leveled the playing field (not completely, but significantly), and did so with very little apprehension. You choose to accept it, or you don't. Everyone's going to have to learn how to play their jobs better from now on. Your value will be determined by how much you can manipulate your job abilities and spells to generate damage or mitigate damage (or in many cases, BOTH) ... gone or fading are the days of measuring your talent solely based how much haste+ equipment you have in your melee gear and how much STR+ is in your WS set. Sorry.

Well said, Damrod. Clearly, I agree with you.

Thank you. I'm not a total hose all the time (just most of the time).

In contrast, look at the bright side. If you have the older content gear, it's going to be upgradeable and it will be the "shizz" once again.

And in all seriousness, most people that don't have it won't ever have it. Who is going to go thru nyzul or assault so someone can get it? Now granted, it might be ALOT easier to get that gear and then upgrade it at lvl cap 99... but...who's to say that SE won't recap those events specifically for that reason.

Yes, alot of ppl are upset that their gear is becoming obsolete...but it's not becoming obsolete, it's time will return soon enough thru trials...(whenever they finally decide to release those).

SE knows how important this kind of thing is to a large part of the player population...they will make avenues available to facilitate it ...else they know they risk losing customers.

Correct. As with most things, patience is a virtue.

While S-E will undoubtedly make amends with the chunk of its playerbase that will be "butthurt" by the fading glory of their pre-76 equipment, S-E also knows it needs to make avenues available for new (and returning) customers to "catch up". Hence the cookie-cutter equipment referenced in the OP.

Thus, like I said initially in response to the OP: your "individuality" as a player will be more measured by your skills in actually playing the game ... not just equipping your "elite" gear and then mashing a WS macro when you hit 100% TP. This new "individuality" won't be as easy to measure with achievement points and snapshots of your gear on your ffxiah.com character page. Too bad.

No not at all. I am just looking for people's opinions and ideas to what they think would make is slightly more gratifying when attaining new gear. I personally despise that kind of gear that needs tons and tons of time, people and effort to complete, then has a low drop rate to boot.That's a good point. I think that's something to keep in mind. There are still alot of changes in the works.Another good point, I suppose they did come out with alot of interesting and good gear that isn't as easy to obtain as Perle. I guess Perle is just setting the bar a little higher for what gear the normal person can get. I will have to do a bit more research as to how to get some of the new gear like the Goading belt which I'd really like.

I like everyone's opinons so far, thanks alot.

Soloing NM's for a piece of rare/ex has always held a sense of accomplishment for me. I remember the first one I ever did was "Leaping Lizzie"...went 1/10 on the damn thing but when I finally got the drop, I felt like cheering!

Was 1/3 on swift belt solo...so cant complain about that one.

I think better drop rates on rare/ex gear would be nice, hell I'm 0/20 and worse on some of those bishes! But once you finally do get the drop (especially if you solo it), nothing can take that feeling of gratification away.

Nice Damrod. lol
I'm fortunate to be 1/1 on LL
1/1 on Swift belt
1/2 on soboro
and 0/18 on Okotes.

Those are some of the ones I remember. haha

Very nice....you got a four leaf clover in your pocket or what? I have never had "good" luck with drops...but I'm a rock head so I just keep killing it...over and over and over....

I have no problem with HNM gear..Ppl complain how easy the new Crour gear is to get but then they complain more when they don't wanna put forth the time to get the HNM, Salvage, Dynamis, [enterwhatever else gear here].

Getting great gear for no effort is stupid.

I'm not gunna lie I was a little sad when my Homam/Ebody and other rare gear got replaced in this last update. But then again lvl cap increased and will still increase...so old gear is old and new stuff will only be better and shinner! If all the old gear remains best at 80, 90 and 99..then why keep playing?

On a side thought I hope they add some kinda of Magian trials to HNM, Sea, Sky, and Salvage gear just to keep it alive and good.

They said they were going to do something for the "precious" gear (as they called it) in new TotM but they never said what or when.

I'm kinda leaning toward a point that was made earlier. The future might not be about "what" you have, but whether or not you know how to use it correctly (i.e. It's easy to get but do you know how and when to use it).

I kinda like this idea. People might pick a job or two and learn to be really good at them rather than trying to lvl cap 15 jobs and be mediocre (at best) at all of them. Just a thought.

I do wish SE wouldn't wait till the week before an update to say what is going to be introduced. I'd like to know what new "bling-blings" are coming for us ahead of time! Gives you something to look forward to!

Agreed. +1.