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Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!
On preparedness, not liking gear swapping doesn't mean you're opposed to it in the least. I would imagine the vast majority of people who are opposed to gear swapping as a mechanic still use it. Much in the same way that you can hate how GameStop has driven the mom-n-pop game stores in your town out of business, but still shop there because you don't have options left. That doesn't mean you wouldn't be happy if they went out of business, though.
There are plenty of other ways SE could shake things up while still not having the absurdity that is gear swapping. You could have equipment with 'modes'-- for examples, imagine something like Cloud's FFVII:AC sword, or the katana in MGS2. A weapon that stays the same in form, but changes function. Hell, look at real life; if you want to cool off, you roll up your sleeves. In a game, this could be associated with lower defense, but higher agility or the like. A hypothetical example; a watch which can switch between increasing your accuracy (by making you 'focus' on the rhythm of the ticking), or could be sped up to increase Haste%. A black mage could have a tunic which decreases enmity and increases magic attack when the hood is up, or increases magic accuracy when down. Like those 'transition' lenses that are sensitive to UV light, you could have a pair of glasses that increases accuracy in bright situations. Shoes could be made to increase running speed and agility in one mode, and reduce knockback and bind in another. The possibilities are endless, and it would never be as absurd as instantaneously changing clothes in the middle of a battle, and the minmaxing that goes with it.
You could have materia-like beads which are quickly swapped in and out of equipment, with small delays. You could have equipment have 'phases', where the player would switch their entire armor over to another setting, channel, phase, whatever you want to call it very quickly, but with varying drawbacks or advantages. You could even apply that on a party-wide level, and make it somewhat of a puzzle-- while your DRK is doing huge numbers and your PLD has the enmity to hold hate, your WHM's MP is being spent at three times the normal amount. While your mages are drowning in MP, your melees are hitting with all the effectiveness of a wooden stick.
You could have 'machine' equipment, where you're given a certain number of points to allocate to systems; ever seen Star Trek? When you need energy for an all out attack, you push it there, when you need to put up shields before you're slaughtered, you do that. You could have 'maximums' in allocation, to make sure people don't push it too far; you could take it a step further and allow people to exceed the maximums for short periods of time, in exchange for overheating, or even destroying the armor (requiring it to be taken to a crafter, to an NPC in town, to an outpost, or some other system to repair it)
You could have 'mood rings' which change based on your characters 'emotions'; which would be determined by what abilities you use, and how and when you use them. Using berserk and weapon skills would incline them towards fire elements and strength, etc. You could have them be job specific, and have very nice rewards for those that walk a fine line-- for example, a DD ring that increases damage by a large amount, if you manage to keep your character 'calm' by carefully balancing your use of abilities.
The possibilities are huge. Gear swapping is a lazy system at best, absurd in practice, and an enemy of proper game balance at worst.
On preparedness, not liking gear swapping doesn't mean you're opposed to it in the least. I would imagine the vast majority of people who are opposed to gear swapping as a mechanic still use it. Much in the same way that you can hate how GameStop has driven the mom-n-pop game stores in your town out of business, but still shop there because you don't have options left. That doesn't mean you wouldn't be happy if they went out of business, though.
There are plenty of other ways SE could shake things up while still not having the absurdity that is gear swapping. You could have equipment with 'modes'-- for examples, imagine something like Cloud's FFVII:AC sword, or the katana in MGS2. A weapon that stays the same in form, but changes function. Hell, look at real life; if you want to cool off, you roll up your sleeves. In a game, this could be associated with lower defense, but higher agility or the like. A hypothetical example; a watch which can switch between increasing your accuracy (by making you 'focus' on the rhythm of the ticking), or could be sped up to increase Haste%. A black mage could have a tunic which decreases enmity and increases magic attack when the hood is up, or increases magic accuracy when down. Like those 'transition' lenses that are sensitive to UV light, you could have a pair of glasses that increases accuracy in bright situations. Shoes could be made to increase running speed and agility in one mode, and reduce knockback and bind in another. The possibilities are endless, and it would never be as absurd as instantaneously changing clothes in the middle of a battle, and the minmaxing that goes with it.
You could have materia-like beads which are quickly swapped in and out of equipment, with small delays. You could have equipment have 'phases', where the player would switch their entire armor over to another setting, channel, phase, whatever you want to call it very quickly, but with varying drawbacks or advantages. You could even apply that on a party-wide level, and make it somewhat of a puzzle-- while your DRK is doing huge numbers and your PLD has the enmity to hold hate, your WHM's MP is being spent at three times the normal amount. While your mages are drowning in MP, your melees are hitting with all the effectiveness of a wooden stick.
You could have 'machine' equipment, where you're given a certain number of points to allocate to systems; ever seen Star Trek? When you need energy for an all out attack, you push it there, when you need to put up shields before you're slaughtered, you do that. You could have 'maximums' in allocation, to make sure people don't push it too far; you could take it a step further and allow people to exceed the maximums for short periods of time, in exchange for overheating, or even destroying the armor (requiring it to be taken to a crafter, to an NPC in town, to an outpost, or some other system to repair it)
You could have 'mood rings' which change based on your characters 'emotions'; which would be determined by what abilities you use, and how and when you use them. Using berserk and weapon skills would incline them towards fire elements and strength, etc. You could have them be job specific, and have very nice rewards for those that walk a fine line-- for example, a DD ring that increases damage by a large amount, if you manage to keep your character 'calm' by carefully balancing your use of abilities.
The possibilities are huge. Gear swapping is a lazy system at best, absurd in practice, and an enemy of proper game balance at worst.
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