Rant: Mages, Cuirass, and Trends

[OverlordOutpost]

Actually, I'm a bit curious of those myself, Papa and Louis' metallic armors are very oddly colored.  I'm theorizing that they possibly be made of special metal materials such as rose-gold, darksteel, or platinum.

 

There's actually lore on this - not specifically on Louisoix's sabatons (which are white, not sure what's an odd color about that?) - 

 

Yeah, the pure whiteness and gold linings of the armor make me think it's made of one of those GSM metals, and not BSM/ARM materials.

 

 

On that note, tinfoiling armor with gilding for an anti-mage battler sounds like a pretty cool idea.

[Aya]

So Final Fantasy is not just like Dungeons and Dragons... I consider this a good thing!

 

Sometimes I find myself wishing to play a "divine spell caster" in Dungeons and Dragons based games, and its really not possible without simply ignoring half of your classes intended capability.  Variety isn't a bad thing, and its very true to Final Fantasy flavor going all the way back to the original game.

[Sounsyy]

I should note that the gilding is being used to dampen the effects of magic. Whether it actually allows the user's magic to be bolstered as well has yet to be seen, considering it's being done by Garleans. And it just happens to be a golden-hued alloy, we don't know the actual contents of the gilding itself.

 

(That said, I could totally see "tinfoiling" one's armor for extra protection against magic, if one could afford it.)

 

Hell, it could be like FF8's Junction system for all we know. Equip Fire spell to your armor slot, gain Fire and Magic resist. Equip Fire spell to your sword, gain Fire damage.

 

Coat your armor in gold, dampens magic against you. Coat your grimoire in gold, amplify your magic.

 

Who knows. All I'm saying is there's a pretty specific subdivide for metals used for armoury and metals used for aetherial conduction with little-to-no cross over between the two. Garleans coat their armor in "gold" to dampen Eorzean mages after that BLM in the End of an Era trailer totally annihilated those Garleans with one Fire III.

 

But the armor metals: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mythril, Cobalt, Darksteel, and Wootz have no aetherial properties and shouldn't hinder spellcasting, from a technical standpoint. If you want to play with gilding or coating your armor with aetherial enhancing metals, go Silver, Gold, Platinum, Electrum, or Rose-gold, but note that these metals are far too soft to make armor on their own. They'd need to be coated on top of a stronger metal, or mixed (though, I'm not an expert on metallurgy, but I think that would actually weaken the end product right?) together.

[Melodia]

So Final Fantasy is not just like Dungeons and Dragons... I consider this a good thing!

 

 

*Notes Aya likes D&D.....swoons*

 

:thumbsup:

[Zyrusticae]

It frankly doesn't bother me one whit. Not for historical reasons, nor for "It seems as if" reasons, but for game design reasons.

 

Mages in MMOs are powerful. They have very strong ranged damage dealing (hello Black Mage!) or healing powers that allows them to play with devastating effect. Tanks, on the other hand, largely focus on being able to soak damage, and their use of heavy armor with it's powerful damage mitigation compliments this. For the same reason that White Mages have crap damage dealing abilities (to avoid the "I can do it all, hahahaha!" syndrome), mages in this game (and most MMOs) are limited in the armor they can use. High damage/heals at range? That's powerful. Counter it by making them fragile? That balances them against the other classes. If your Black Mage could wear Dragoon's armor and do Dragoon-levels of damage from anywhere on the map without worrying about positioning or being hit by the AOEs around a monster, why would anyone play a Dragoon? If a White Mage could clank around in Paladin's armor and simply keep aggro with their massive self-heal while letting the damage mitigation of the armor keep the incoming damage low enough to let them live, why would anyone play a Paladin or Warrior?

 

That's why RPGs and MMOs handwave odd restrictions like this. Not because they think that's the way it actually would be, but because they have to balance the game so that it's fun for everyone. The current setup, while not perfect, provides a solid mechanic that relies on well-balanced parties with well-balanced roles in order to succeed at the tougher content.

This reasoning is specious at best.

 

Two things to note:

1. Plate armor in this game does NOT have any caster-specific stats. If a BLM decided to wear a full set of plate armor they would be absolutely gimping their damage output in exchange for a very marginal increase in survivability

2. Cross-class skills in this game are extremely limited, and a BLM or WHM has no permanent method of damage mitigation. Note that a LOT of a tank's survivability comes from their high base VIT and their tanking stances with bonus HP+healing and damage reduction, in addition to secondary temporary buffs. Plate armor is only a small (very, very small) part of that. Just because a WHM could wear plate and hold aggro with Cure III doesn't mean they'd be good enough to tank in place of an actual tank.

 

TBH, I think the gear restrictions are an anachronism and completely unnecessary given how the game functions. Each job is hard-locked into their role; there is not nearly enough ability versatility via cross-classing to allow any job to step outside of their role. If things like Shield Oath and Defiance were cross-class-able, yes, this would be an issue, but since they are not, it is completely unnecessary to restrict gear choices for any reason outside of class visual differentiation (a reason that is quickly becoming entirely moot with the number of people wearing all-class glamours to battle), and maybe to get people to GRIND MOAR because they can't share gear between DRG/NIN/MNK/WAR/PLD. Obviously, I think both of these reasons are weaksauce and would much prefer to be able to glamour my gear to look however I want it to look, regardless of whether it suits the "flavor" of the class or not.

[Gegenji]

TBH, I think the gear restrictions are an anachronism and completely unnecessary given how the game functions. Each job is hard-locked into their role; there is not nearly enough ability versatility via cross-classing to allow any job to step outside of their role. If things like Shield Oath and Defiance were cross-class-able, yes, this would be an issue, but since they are not, it is completely unnecessary to restrict gear choices for any reason outside of class visual differentiation (a reason that is quickly becoming entirely moot with the number of people wearing all-class glamours to battle), and maybe to get people to GRIND MOAR because they can't share gear between DRG/NIN/MNK/WAR/PLD. Obviously, I think both of these reasons are weaksauce and would much prefer to be able to glamour my gear to look however I want it to look, regardless of whether it suits the "flavor" of the class or not.

 

What about PvP then? You can hide your weapon while sheathed, so what's to keep someone from glamouring their BLM to look like a PLD and then dropping a Flare on you? Then again, my own argument doesn't hold much water in this regard since you could technically glamour yourself to look naked with any class. I had originally thought that was one of the reasonings for it (identifiable "roles" from a distance for PvP), but the Emperor's New stuff kinda blows that out of the water.

 

... I wonder if PvPers actually do that, though...

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind more All Class glamourable armor... but for a completely different reason. I kinda want to be able to make an IC "battle-crafter" - running around with a "warhammer." However, I'd be limited solely to the all-class and crafting gear.

[Zyrusticae]

They had similar reasoning for why they restricted glamours in the first place, but then they added GREAT BIG GLOWING LETTERS calling out the class of the player beneath, making it entirely pointless. I make my target selections in Frontlines purely by class name and little else.

 

Distinct glamours actually help in this case because usually I can easily differentiate targets from one another by visual confirmation alone. I just have to learn to associate glamours with people and their classes first, which doesn't take long.

[Gegenji]

They had similar reasoning for why they restricted glamours in the first place, but then they added GREAT BIG GLOWING LETTERS calling out the class of the player beneath, making it entirely pointless. I make my target selections in Frontlines purely by class name and little else.

 

Distinct glamours actually help in this case because usually I can easily differentiate targets from one another by visual confirmation alone. I just have to learn to associate glamours with people and their classes first, which doesn't take long.

 

See, I don't PvP, so I didn't know they did that. If that's the case, then the only real argument I can see for glamouring anything onto anything (save for weapons, of course) kind of falls apart.

[No Longer Exists]

*Peeks out from under the hat on the floor* Three things.

 

One: The reason why there is a delineation between heavy armor for tanks, medium armor for melee dps, and light armour for magical dps/healers in FF14:ARR is this. Because Yoshi and the Devs say so.

 

 

I know we've become a community of "but it's my money, you should do as I say", however, that's still not the case nor will it ever be in the foreseeable future. I'm willing to bet a small pile of gil that this will not change because they do not want to change it and it is their toy that they have built which we are playing with (and paying for the right to play with). While the devs attempt to cater to us as much as possible, they DO have to weigh these things and make choices.

 

Point number two is in reference to the DnD comparison: I'd like everyone to put on two oven mitts over whichever hand you use most (Yes, both on that hand) and then spend three hours trying to do stuff. This is what Arcane Spell Failure is for, to realistically show that while you have a ten pound metal gauntlet on, you can't make intricate finger motions or accurately pull the right combination of spell materials (Remember: Wizards use component items for spells, while Sorcerers did not hence their different options of armor). While 14 does not reference the use of components when spellcasting as a BLM or THM which nullifies comparison to DnD, I refer you to point 1: The Devs said No.

 

P.S.: Clerical Spellcasting is through your holy symbol and is more of a "INSERT GOD'S NAME HERE.....DO THIS FOR ME, O MIGHTY ONE" than a "Occulus Reparo." Ergo, could wear armor that was more restricting to movement. Same goes for Paladin.

 

Three: These tropes came from the middle ages, where scholarly men (Wise Ones aka Wizards) were not warriors and devoted their time to thought instead of physical prowess. As such, they were not accustomed to carrying an extra 30-70 pounds of metal on their person. (The average weight of a newborn child is 7.5 lbs, the range is 5 - 10 lbs) <-- this means that knights, generals, and anyone rich enough to afford expensive plate armour were carrying roughly 5 to 10 newborn children on their personage during wars. Go ahead, try it out for yourself with sacks of flour.

 

Now, the argument being made for glamouring negates this issue as its an illusion, not actual 70lb plate mail. Again, I refer you to point 1: The Devs said No.

 

P.S.: The dev team CHOSE to give us a glamour system, they didn't HAVE to.

 

Cheers.

 

-Black Hat.

[Melkire]

-pops in-

 

Haven't read anything in this thread since the very first post, but I want to point out:

 

Spellcasters wearing cloth goes back to certain mythologies (Greek, Norse, etc.) where gods were so powerful thanks to their magic that they didn't need to bother with armor, since no mortals would ever get even remotely close. Some gods were so obscene in this regard that they could snuff out other gods just as easily (mythologically-accurate non-Disney Zeus comes to mind). They didn't bother with armor because cloth - or lack thereof - was just so much more comfortable.

 

The ones who did wear armor did so because they were usually lesser beings of magic, or else were deities of war, like Ares.

 

Ever wonder why Zeus goes around wearing almost nothing? It's because you'd fry via lightning bolt before you could much more than twitch. The same holds true for most sorcerers, wizards, priests, and users of magic / avatars for divine intervention: magic is the ultimate offense and therefore the ultimate defense. They're so far above mortals with their puny copper, brass, silver, and steel weapons that they don't need to bother protecting themselves and instead opt for comfort.

 

See Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards.

 

-pops out-

[Erik Mynhier]

*Peeks out from under the hat on the floor* Three things.

 

One: The reason why there is a delineation between heavy armor for tanks, medium armor for melee dps, and light armour for magical dps/healers in FF14:ARR is this. Because Yoshi and the Devs say so.

 

 

I know we've become a community of "but it's my money, you should do as I say", however, that's still not the case nor will it ever be in the foreseeable future. I'm willing to bet a small pile of gil that this will not change because they do not want to change it and it is their toy that they have built which we are playing with (and paying for the right to play with). While the devs attempt to cater to us as much as possible, they DO have to weigh these things and make choices.

 

Point number two is in reference to the DnD comparison: I'd like everyone to put on two oven mitts over whichever hand you use most (Yes, both on that hand) and then spend three hours trying to do stuff. This is what Arcane Spell Failure is for, to realistically show that while you have a ten pound metal gauntlet on, you can't make intricate finger motions or accurately pull the right combination of spell materials (Remember: Wizards use component items for spells, while Sorcerers did not hence their different options of armor). While 14 does not reference the use of components when spellcasting as a BLM or THM which nullifies comparison to DnD, I refer you to point 1: The Devs said No.

 

P.S.: Clerical Spellcasting is through your holy symbol and is more of a "INSERT GOD'S NAME HERE.....DO THIS FOR ME, O MIGHTY ONE" than a "Occulus Reparo." Ergo, could wear armor that was more restricting to movement. Same goes for Paladin.

 

Three: These tropes came from the middle ages, where scholarly men (Wise Ones aka Wizards) were not warriors and devoted their time to thought instead of physical prowess. As such, they were not accustomed to carrying an extra 30-70 pounds of metal on their person. (The average weight of a newborn child is 7.5 lbs, the range is 5 - 10 lbs) <-- this means that knights, generals, and anyone rich enough to afford expensive plate armour were carrying roughly 5 to 10 newborn children on their personage during wars. Go ahead, try it out for yourself with sacks of flour.

 

Now, the argument being made for glamouring negates this issue as its an illusion, not actual 70lb plate mail. Again, I refer you to point 1: The Devs said No.

 

P.S.: The dev team CHOSE to give us a glamour system, they didn't HAVE to.

 

Cheers.

 

-Black Hat.

 

Well that's that. Nothing more to add to it really.

[Dat Oni]

Not necessarily. This design decision has its effects on the Lore, and we being a Roleplaying community that works with said Lore, how we interpret it has a big impact, and that still warrants discussion.

 

In other words, the thread doesn't just end at "Devs said no."

[No Longer Exists]

*Peers* 

 

While I appreciate your stance, what actual impact does it have on RP? Community-wise or individually? Is RP an imitation of life or is it a fictitious effort at group-storytelling? 

 

Am I a bowling ball dreaming I'm a hat?

 

Symbolically, the concept of the conversation is akin to "What if we rode on Elephants instead of drove cars?" It has no global impact whatsoever, but it might be fun to think about. Yes.

 

The design decision is factored into the lore, unless I misread, which to my mind (scattered as it is) denotes that attention was paid to the concept and it was ultimately denied. Hence: No. 

 

I am by no means saying "Shut up, it's over." and I apologize profusely if that's how my post was interpreted. I am curious just HOW this truly impacts anything at all, if you don't mind me asking you to explain.

[Gegenji]

Well, if there's a lore reasoning for why caster classes can't wear heavier armor, then that's something people might want to try to work with or work around. Heck, I completely missed the whole bit about there being aetherically-positive metals until Sounsyy pointed them out. While there may not be many ways to portray that in game on your character (beyond Magitek pieces and whatnot), it might be something someone might want to add to their character to add a little extra IC "punch" to their spells.

 

On the flip side, say metal armor (or just certain metals) interferes with casting magic. Then, couldn't a caster be restrained by forcing gauntlets made of them onto magically-inclined criminals as a sort of "magic-cuffs"? Figuring this sort of stuff out can have plenty of RP potential.

 

Along with that, since I'm playing a smith character, I'm actually rather interested in the idea of gilding armor to bolster magic resistance. It wasn't a focal point of the OP, but it is something that came out of the conversation. And now folks have lore credence to methods for bolstering their defenses against aetheric assaults.

[Zyrusticae]

The whole premise of the thread is predicated on justifying why armor restrictions are the way they are, and I fundamentally disagree with those justifications. Saying "the devs decided it is so" is less a justification and more a statement of fact after the fact has already occurred, which makes it a useless observance considering it was already informed by the very premise of the thread. So repeating it over and over just feels like you're saying "shut up, there's nothing to discuss" because it's so, so useless.

 

And, for that matter, I would like to push more folks to then push Square Enix harder to lighten up on those archaic glamour restrictions. Yes, yes, "you should be happy with what you've got" and all that claptrap- look, just because I think things can be better does not make me somehow unappreciative of what I have. Contentment is not complacency and I will have no part in that kind of inaction.

[No Longer Exists]

Well, if there's a lore reasoning for why caster classes can't wear heavier armor, then that's something people might want to try to work with or work around. Heck, I completely missed the whole bit about there being aetherically-positive metals until Sounsyy pointed them out. While there may not be many ways to portray that in game on your character (beyond Magitek pieces and whatnot), it might be something someone might want to add to their character to add a little extra IC "punch" to their spells.

 

On the flip side, say metal armor (or just certain metals) interferes with casting magic. Then, couldn't a caster be restrained by forcing gauntlets made of them onto magically-inclined criminals as a sort of "magic-cuffs"? Figuring this sort of stuff out can have plenty of RP potential.

 

Along with that, since I'm playing a smith character, I'm actually rather interested in the idea of gilding armor to bolster magic resistance. It wasn't a focal point of the OP, but it is something that came out of the conversation. And now folks have lore credence to methods for bolstering their defenses against aetheric assaults.

 

Okay, now THIS is something to sink your teeth into. Good call! I hadn't even considered that. It's definitely worth looking into.

[No Longer Exists]

The whole premise of the thread is predicated on justifying why armor restrictions are the way they are, and I fundamentally disagree with those justifications. Saying "the devs decided it is so" is less a justification and more a statement of fact after the fact has already occurred, which makes it a useless observance considering it was already informed by the very premise of the thread. So repeating it over and over just feels like you're saying "shut up, there's nothing to discuss" because it's so, so useless.

 

And, for that matter, I would like to push more folks to then push Square Enix harder to lighten up on those archaic glamour restrictions. Yes, yes, "you should be happy with what you've got" and all that claptrap- look, just because I think things can be better does not make me somehow unappreciative of what I have. Contentment is not complacency and I will have no part in that kind of inaction.

 

Apologies for the double post, I didn't see this come up.

 

How do you justify gravity? Or justify the physics behind an archer launching an arrow? There are certain things that are justified by forces beyond yours, ours, or anyone's means. Every change starts somewhere, you are correct, but sometimes the buck just stops. We can manipulate the effects, but not that basic understanding and the basic understanding is that there is no way to have a black mage in heavy armor. This isn't socio-political or a matter of consensus. It's for all purposes, a law of the universe Eorzea is based in. I'm not even certain that the devs created any lore about glamours other than "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO, YOU CAN TOO NOW. COME, LEARN."

 

While Newton possibly ran out into town square and yelled that about his findings on gravity, which were eventually proven to be what we call fact (I'm taking some creative license here), we have yet to disprove gravity itself. It is a law of reality. It can be manipulated but not changed.

 

(I'm rambling.)

 

Back on point, considering that Eorzea is a fictional reality with its own physics and laws of energy, matter, etc, it is naturally written in that they are (gasp) laws. Immutable. We, as RPers, can hand-wave that off if we like and decide it doesn't exist in our perception but that creates chaos. And now we've entered into the realm of philosophy and archaic existentialism, which was the predecessor of modern science. Modern science being what proves and disproves theories about our universe.

 

And finally, I am by no means a pessimist. I am, however, an obvious realist (if you hadn't guessed by now) and I am full of concern that there's such zeal for affecting change in a video game's very minor detailing system when there are so many things about our real world that could use the attention. Which is why I felt that "The Devs said No" was a proper response, because if they said No and "No means No" then we can devote our time and mental efforts to other enriching activities. 

 

Also, this. :frustrated:

 

Cheers!

 

-Black Hat

[Berrod Armstrong]

The whole premise of the thread is predicated on justifying why armor restrictions are the way they are, and I fundamentally disagree with those justifications. Saying "the devs decided it is so" is less a justification and more a statement of fact after the fact has already occurred, which makes it a useless observance considering it was already informed by the very premise of the thread. So repeating it over and over just feels like you're saying "shut up, there's nothing to discuss" because it's so, so useless.

 

And, for that matter, I would like to push more folks to then push Square Enix harder to lighten up on those archaic glamour restrictions. Yes, yes, "you should be happy with what you've got" and all that claptrap- look, just because I think things can be better does not make me somehow unappreciative of what I have. Contentment is not complacency and I will have no part in that kind of inaction.

 

Apologies for the double post, I didn't see this come up.

 

How do you justify gravity? Or justify the physics behind an archer launching an arrow? There are certain things that are justified by forces beyond yours, ours, or anyone's means. Every change starts somewhere, you are correct, but sometimes the buck just stops. We can manipulate the effects, but not that basic understanding and the basic understanding is that there is no way to have a black mage in heavy armor. This isn't socio-political or a matter of consensus. It's for all purposes, a law of the universe Eorzea is based in. I'm not even certain that the devs created any lore about glamours other than "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO, YOU CAN TOO NOW. COME, LEARN."

 

While Newton possibly ran out into town square and yelled that about his findings on gravity, which were eventually proven to be what we call fact (I'm taking some creative license here), we have yet to disprove gravity itself. It is a law of reality. It can be manipulated but not changed.

 

(I'm rambling.)

 

Back on point, considering that Eorzea is a fictional reality with its own physics and laws of energy, matter, etc, it is naturally written in that they are (gasp) laws. Immutable. We, as RPers, can hand-wave that off if we like and decide it doesn't exist in our perception but that creates chaos. And now we've entered into the realm of philosophy and archaic existentialism, which was the predecessor of modern science. Modern science being what proves and disproves theories about our universe.

 

And finally, I am by no means a pessimist. I am, however, an obvious realist (if you hadn't guessed by now) and I am full of concern that there's such zeal for affecting change in a video game's very minor detailing system when there are so many things about our real world that could use the attention. Which is why I felt that "The Devs said No" was a proper response, because if they said No and "No means No" then we can devote our time and mental efforts to other enriching activities. 

 

Also, this. :frustrated:

 

Cheers!

 

-Black Hat

^ VIGOROUSLY POINTS TOWARD IN AGREEMENT

[Zyrusticae]

Apologies for the double post, I didn't see this come up.

 

How do you justify gravity? Or justify the physics behind an archer launching an arrow? There are certain things that are justified by forces beyond yours, ours, or anyone's means. Every change starts somewhere, you are correct, but sometimes the buck just stops. We can manipulate the effects, but not that basic understanding and the basic understanding is that there is no way to have a black mage in heavy armor. This isn't socio-political or a matter of consensus. It's for all purposes, a law of the universe Eorzea is based in. I'm not even certain that the devs created any lore about glamours other than "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO, YOU CAN TOO NOW. COME, LEARN."

 

While Newton possibly ran out into town square and yelled that about his findings on gravity, which were eventually proven to be what we call fact (I'm taking some creative license here), we have yet to disprove gravity itself. It is a law of reality. It can be manipulated but not changed.

 

(I'm rambling.)

 

Back on point, considering that Eorzea is a fictional reality with its own physics and laws of energy, matter, etc, it is naturally written in that they are (gasp) laws. Immutable. We, as RPers, can hand-wave that off if we like and decide it doesn't exist in our perception but that creates chaos. And now we've entered into the realm of philosophy and archaic existentialism, which was the predecessor of modern science. Modern science being what proves and disproves theories about our universe.

 

And finally, I am by no means a pessimist. I am, however, an obvious realist (if you hadn't guessed by now) and I am full of concern that there's such zeal for affecting change in a video game's very minor detailing system when there are so many things about our real world that could use the attention. Which is why I felt that "The Devs said No" was a proper response, because if they said No and "No means No" then we can devote our time and mental efforts to other enriching activities. 

 

Also, this. :frustrated:

 

Cheers!

 

-Black Hat

 

See, the thing about all of this is that the devs ARE human beings, they HAVE demonstrated some level of response to player feedback, and the devs, being the true gods of Eorzea that create the reality of the game universe, have all the power in the world to affect this sort of change.

 

Even more than that, simply talking about this sort of thing and bringing it to their attention takes an absolute bare minimum of effort. I have enough hours in the day to devote to seemingly frivolous affairs like this while still doing things of actual importance, thank you very much.

 

Remember, the only reason glamours are in the game at all is simply because players really, really wanted it and made it known. We can equally make it known that restricting it arbitrarily is simply not good enough. If you don't care enough to participate and think it a waste of time, that is entirely on you, and it is within your rights to refrain from wasting any further energy on the endeavor.

[Melkire]

...are we really getting into the "Powers That Be" discussion? Because I've had enough of that for one lifetime. Thank you, House M.D. fanbase.

 

Also, please note that we are retreading old ground here.

[Sarij/Norowareta]

Let’s have some fun.

 

Regarding gear:

 

 NPCs follow the general rule. You don’t see a Black Mage or THM in pure plate and you don’t see a Paladin running into battle in monk gear or… a summoner’s coat. Even the bosses have some sort of consistency. (See Amon in cloth gear but basically a BLM… I think it only is Bard gear because …. All Bard specific gear is over the top and none of the other bosses ‘fit’ the Bard style. The various other bosses all drop sets that… oddly fit their style.) Why should players be the ones able to break that consistency? Not to mention breaking the standard gear style would break the aesthetic of the game. (What does aesthetic have to do with the game? I am pretty certain the people who design the gear, the mobs, and the world consider their work art rather than a game even if you don’t.) (I don’t know every NPC soo take that with salt)

 

Regarding lore:

 

If I am not mistaken most of the gear (the nice stuff) in imbued with a certain aetheric nature. The Aetherical Gear (Pink background) I BELIEVE is the result of the gear being imbued with the dying aether of the wearer. The Artifact gear and what not is specifically designed for the user to augment their skills and abilities. Since most of the abilities of the Characters of the FFXIV are aether based (unless you are Garlean then you have techno-punk stuff) it would make sense that the gear is meant to strengthen the wielder in supernatural and appropriate ways. If you wear the wrong stuff you could mess up your aetherical balance and be at a worse state.

 

 More generic gear probably is a bit harder to justify other than if you are wearing plate you are probably going to get stronger and have more stamina. Lighter and somewhat tighter in the right places gear would give you more agility in combat. Mind and intelligence I do not have an answer.

 

Regarding RP:

 

Honestly… if you desperately want a look in RP (not PVE), just level the class. If it means enough to you that you want it badly, you will do it. If you are not willing to put in the effort you probably don’t want it that badly. There is a VAST amount of gear now anyone can use for glamour.  If you want something specific you need to put in the effort this is a GAME before a medium for RP. The game is not designed for your singular ideals. Furthermore, when RPing… just because you are using the Paladin soul stone… it doesn’t mean you can’t RP being a BLM casting flare. (You might get some funny looks but so long as you have RP to back up the actions I don’t think anyone will say UN-UH your armor wouldn’t let you.)

 

Regarding PVE:

 

If you are upset you can’t look like a dragoon while healing... you are the special star not someone being limited by archaic designs. Once again it falls back to aesthetic, yours vs the developers. Frankly, the amount of ‘passion’ they put into the designs in this game pretty much cinches that they want a look for the game and while they will give players things to mess with (such as emperors gear) it will always be what the developer LIKES and PREFERS. There are enough all classes gear now to be able to get the look you are after most the time.

 

Regarding Discussion:

 

Just because someone says: “Well it is the dev’s call and they made a call” does not mean the person says it is useless to discuss it. The fact of the matter it is true. It may change sometime in the future when they need a bright bauble to get people’s attention. Not everything someone does not like needs a crusade. The developers are not trying to strike at people individually. Not being complacent does not mean trying to force things to what you specifically think is better. Calling out decisions as BACKWARD because you do not agree with them actually is more of ‘shutting down the discussion’ than saying well… devs do not want it; because you are not actually discussing it just saying it is wrong. Frankly, the entire argument reminds me of folks complaining the new car they got is the GT instead of the GTX.

 

(Uh... well didn't realize my account was Quur... I have two accounts? This is Iex for those curious... looks like I get to explore why the hell I have ... oh.. cause I made an account long time ago for the Wiki...)

[No Longer Exists]

Apologies for the double post, I didn't see this come up.

 

How do you justify gravity? Or justify the physics behind an archer launching an arrow? There are certain things that are justified by forces beyond yours, ours, or anyone's means. Every change starts somewhere, you are correct, but sometimes the buck just stops. We can manipulate the effects, but not that basic understanding and the basic understanding is that there is no way to have a black mage in heavy armor. This isn't socio-political or a matter of consensus. It's for all purposes, a law of the universe Eorzea is based in. I'm not even certain that the devs created any lore about glamours other than "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO, YOU CAN TOO NOW. COME, LEARN."

 

While Newton possibly ran out into town square and yelled that about his findings on gravity, which were eventually proven to be what we call fact (I'm taking some creative license here), we have yet to disprove gravity itself. It is a law of reality. It can be manipulated but not changed.

 

(I'm rambling.)

 

Back on point, considering that Eorzea is a fictional reality with its own physics and laws of energy, matter, etc, it is naturally written in that they are (gasp) laws. Immutable. We, as RPers, can hand-wave that off if we like and decide it doesn't exist in our perception but that creates chaos. And now we've entered into the realm of philosophy and archaic existentialism, which was the predecessor of modern science. Modern science being what proves and disproves theories about our universe.

 

And finally, I am by no means a pessimist. I am, however, an obvious realist (if you hadn't guessed by now) and I am full of concern that there's such zeal for affecting change in a video game's very minor detailing system when there are so many things about our real world that could use the attention. Which is why I felt that "The Devs said No" was a proper response, because if they said No and "No means No" then we can devote our time and mental efforts to other enriching activities. 

 

Also, this. :frustrated:

 

Cheers!

 

-Black Hat

 

 

See, the thing about all of this is that the devs ARE human beings, they HAVE demonstrated some level of response to player feedback, and the devs, being the true gods of Eorzea that create the reality of the game universe, have all the power in the world to affect this sort of change.

 

Even more than that, simply talking about this sort of thing and bringing it to their attention takes an absolute bare minimum of effort. I have enough hours in the day to devote to seemingly frivolous affairs like this while still doing things of actual importance, thank you very much.

 

Remember, the only reason glamours are in the game at all is simply because players really, really wanted it and made it known. We can equally make it known that restricting it arbitrarily is simply not good enough. If you don't care enough to participate and think it a waste of time, that is entirely on you, and it is within your rights to refrain from wasting any further energy on the endeavor.

 

Granted, you are correct in that it does indeed take little effort. However, consider that this question has already been asked of the devs and their response (I reiterate) was "No." Therefore, that argument is invalid. The effort was made and it was denied. :dazed:

 

I am afraid Melkire is right though, we've spiraled into old discussions already chronicled here in the RPC. As such, I'm going to stop polluting the thread with responses to this part of the conversation. Thank you for your opinion and input.

 

*Retreats back under the hat*

[Aduu Avagnar]

True, it's not a cuirass, but I'm just going to drop this here:

 

For those of you wondering, yes, that is a conjury wand.

[Warren Castille]

I forget which quests, but there are Sultansworn recruits who also wear heavy armor but wield conjurer wands. I think. Been a long while.

 

Edit: This doesn't change the fact that the reason we don't get transmog options for off-class gear is likely rooted in spaghetti code and has no real lore-appropriate reason why we can't have things.

 

My pet theory, which I've discussed before with several of the same people whining in this thread, is that the glamour check is limited to equipment you can actually wear and not just a reskin option. If you take multiple-job equipment and glamour AF onto it, then change jobs, the glamour "falls off" for the incorrect job. I think it's just a Can Equip: Y/N flag that gets tripped to disable it.

[Edvyn]

that's not a wand it's just a little sapling he found that he's going to plant in the heat of battle for the good of the environment