FilthMcNasty wrote:
Would it be all that difficult to reverse the 'must have ilvl x' idea and make content for players at a capped item/character level?
Yes, it probably would. Unless you get rid of ilevels altogether there's no other way to keep content balanced as people get more powerful. Just look back at the level 50 dungeons. In i100+ gear you could run i55 content in a matter of minutes with zero effort or challenge. And if you did level cap things to where it would still be a challenge then people would wonder why they bothered gearing up in the first place if they never get to fully use the gear. Trouncing low level stuff in high level gear is a big part of the fun for a lot of people. I'd love to see more horizontal progression but I can't think of a good way to add it into a game like this after the fact and still keep things balanced.
Horizontal progression worked in FFXI because it was designed that way from the start. FFXI was a playground. FFXIV is an obstacle course.
An obstacle course has clear challenges and clear goals and you need a certain amount of skill and power to complete it. Run it a bunch of times, get better, eventually clear it, and then move on to a harder course and start again. A playground is different. It has all the toys just scattered around and you can play with whatever you want whenever you want. You can make your own obstacle course out of it if you want but that's not it's main purpose. It doesn't need to be balanced around ideas of skill and power because nothing requires it on it's own.
One isn't inherently better than the other, but they're different enough that a simple, "why not just make X be more like Y" is a pointless question.
FilthMcNasty wrote:
I guess maybe players are already conditioned to expect rewards that allow them to progress?
Of course we are. You just described practically every video game ever made.
Get better gun, kill more guys.
Get better car, win more races.
Get missiles, blow up more stuff.
Get fire power, trounce ice boss.
Get exp, kill things easier.
Get hookshot, beat dungeon.
Etc...
Edited, Nov 21st 2015 11:10pm by Karlina
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75 Rabbit/75 Sheep/75 Coeurl/75 Eft/75 Raptor/75 Hippogryph/75 Puk
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat
Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O