Sixth

@chicane
I must be the only one who got enough gold from lvl 90/95 raids to get my astera weapon and all new accessories (except the brooch) before I even started to do astera raids regularly.
I failed 6 times already trying to +13, still rocking +12, so spare me the "math". It's RNG, these things happen. It annoys me too, but ohh well, better luck next time. I will get +13 too after 2 more fails anyway.
If you have +13 astera weapon, why do you even complain? The topic was about NOT having the gear for astera raids to do 7% damage, at least that's what I wrote about, and how to get gold outside of astera raids to get sufficient gear for that 7% damage. Surely you do at least that much with a +13 astera weapon, so you can already get drops from those raids.

Righteous and The Dead scrolls are still good income from lvl 90 raids if you get lucky (like with all raids), Memorable and Judgment also nets some during peak prices. They also give quick seals, which lets you buy those runes or chunks that are still useful.
You can also farm regular battles for chunks and synthesis materials. They are coins too. Paradise Orb price skyrocketed now (at least on EU, no idea about NA - check the market maybe?), and farming them is not hard even with lower tier gear. Add in the occasional chunk drops, and you get some nice income.
Scrolls from lvl 95 raids are still the most expensive ones (aside from The Dead, of course). Again, get lucky, but hey, you have to get lucky in astera raids too.

And "just buy several hundreds of boxes"? Really? I know that it's a common tradition to look down on people who buy their way to top in games, but what's stopping you to do the same? If you don't want to spend a lot of time in the game to get that OP gear, why not lower your playtime and work more for more cash and buy those boxes yourself? At least than you will have experience in both and can decide which one is more worthwhile to do based on the time and effort you spent on doing them.

You guys just want everything quickly. It's not the difficulty, you have issues with the speed of getting there, and I find that kinda funny seeing that you play a korean MMO. MMOs are based on grind. Take out the grind and there's nothing left aside from a chat box.
You don't have to reforge that stupid weapon every 2nd day. Geez.
Lets just agree to disagree here. Maybe I'm just more patient with games and grinding than most people.

@FlameSama1
People play Vindi. If they wouldn't, we wouldn't be here now, right?

Btw, what's wrong with anecdotes? When you write one, it's okay, it has to be about all of us, but when I do, it's suddenly "only about me". Your anecdotes somehow weight more or what?

I'm playing on EU server. I don't know how are the prices on NA server, aside from "it's inflated". If the market isn't equal in ratios there compared to EU, that can be why I don't get why you guys complain about getting gold. But on EU, I don't find it difficult or even too lengthy to properly gear a character for astera raids even without doing astera raids.

I agree with the recycled content being a low-tier development strategy, I forgot to add this. It makes the game boring, especially if we can only see AoE circles left and right in every single raids. At least Regina had some visuals for her AoE attacks, but starting from Glas, the circle dynasty took over. Not only it is boring, it also looks terrible.
Doing these "new" specials were fun for 2 days because they brought back memories from old times. But after that, it's just a chore to do them without any reward (seriously, the reward from these is so low tier, it's a joke even by Vindi standards, and even if you get that orange light, you open it and find a Fresh scroll +yay).

Anyway.... I'm not here to stir up some heated, sparky discussion about this. I just wrote my opinion about it. It just happens to be that it's not aligned with most people's opinion here, but that's okay, I can live with that.

People complaining that other people playing more than them get da gear faster than them?
People complaining that other people paying more than them get da gear faster than them?
Yeah, nothing new.

It's an MMO (the massive part is questionable, but still multiplayer regardless). Every single MMO operates this way, no exceptions, and it's really just common sense to accept this. It's how life works too, just saying. You invest more (be it time, money or both), you gain more.

I agree with some points mentioned here, but the one I highlighted here is not among them, mainly because there is no logic in it at all. People should really stop bringing up this excuse in these topics.

I'm a regular player too, got nothing OP in my inventory, yet I can manage to do 15 to 25% damage even in whale astera parties.
Time to stop complaining and instead improve your playstyle/gear.
7% is too high? Well, I guess, awarding AFK players should be the next move than, right?
Even my eira was able to do 13% damage with 2 whales in an agares party with only 96 CF and nothing higher than a few +13 dulla gear (which is easily obtainable now with the seal shop, so don't tell me it's unreachable for "regular" players).
Granted, I don't know how difficult it is to play every class, I only play 2 of them after all, but surely you should be able to do 70% of one HP bar damage if you just keep on the damage and don't die every half minutes unless you seriously lack in gear for those raids, in which case ask yourself why do you even want to play those raids without the ability to contribute anything to your party and even expect a reward for it?

Astera raids are NOT the only place to get those gold coins, contrary to the popular belief here. You can't do enough damage there? No worries, there are level 95 and 90 raids around too, among other battles that can net enough gold for you to upgrade your gear, even in a timely manner. You can also do some OS if you have the nerves for it for profit, you don't need 7% damage there (I think - I can't bear that mode, so not sure :P).

Also I saw someone mention "open world".
Please no! I don't like wasting my time running from NPC A to NPC B in dead space areas that have no purpose whatsoever other than to needlessly extend my time spent in the game.

What I feel this game needs are:
A serious optimization and advertisement.
Rework of that atrocious binding system (like many people already mentioned), especially for low value event items.
And most importantly, make my solo fishing boats... well, solo! How come people can join my boats even if I click on the "Depart alone" button? They disrupt my afk fishing sessions! >.>

I want these back:
Old s1 and s2 raids with all of their respective titles.
Cool game modes like labyrinth and gauntlet.
Difficulty options, or at least a proper hero mode for all s1 and s2 battles.
Combo bonus.
And lastly but most importantly, non-RNG glides for Lann.