Rate the Dev-Team's progress with the Job Adjustmentｓ Manifesto

[Dreamin]

Giving them an F would be too kind in my opinion as to what has been delivered and what was promised.

[Ophannus]

Need to revamp Relic/Mythics/Empyrean weapon skills/stats for certain jobs. Start by making Gungnir worth a damn, followed by overhauling Camlann's Torment and Quietus. No point in 'ignoring defense' because other jobs get weapon skills with "Damage varies with TP" BUT THEN ALSO HAVE A HIDDEN ATTACK BONUS MODIFIER TOO SO THEY ALSO "IGNORE DEFENSE". The highlight of Camlanns/Quietus is that it has Ignores Defense Varies with TP so the base power of the remains static at all levels, but then Shoha increases damage with more TP and additionally it has an Attack Bonus(Attack Bonus=Ignores Defense).

[MarkovChain]

Just because a job isn't popular doesn't mean its not a good damage dealer. You have to consider barriers to entry for each job. Blu and Pup can do more damage than given credit for (up until legion level opponents), but they're 2 of the hardest jobs to start up due to farming spells/buying attachments, and a steeper learning curve. Nin's popularity was most likely more akin to its ability to red proc and solo in abyssea.

Drk is one of the best DDs currently, so idk why you think they need urgent adjustments, people just don't like the job as much. Sam is also in fair standing. Its not a ragnarok war, but its above drg and probably mnk on most targets.

This is stastical evidence. People don't play pup because it sucks it's not a matter or having or not the best attachement. Bring a job to the max is extremely expensive regardless of the job. When you play on a level so that you have a relic 99 (say) or en empy 99, the money spend on attachement is compeltely neglectable. Plus they are easily farmable and by noway needed to play efficiently. cor and pup are last because they suck basically, there is never a reason to prefer cor over brd, which considerably limits the spots opened for a cor and pretty much exludes them from any non 18 man event.

[Caketime]

BST - Grade F. We've seen some new pets, but most of them don't have squat in the way of group friendly abilities, the Frog can solo Balaur and other low tier NMs easily but otherwise does nothing, and I haven't been able to test out how fail dat fish is. Not looking forward to the price tag there, especially for a niche jug pet that will likely just leave me out of some gil and frustrated. There are some bright spots like Gerard, but he's a rare mollusc in that he sets things on fire, steals pants and doesn't afraid.

We were promised group orientation, to me that sounded like they were going to revamp our existing abilities and maybe add some new ones to make us more viable for group play. Instead we got Spur and Run Wild, neither of which supports group play. Well, maybe Spur kind of does if you use it to spam Wild Carrot with Lulu, but nobody relies on that as a viable tactic and instead opts to bring a proper healer. Spur by itself is rather dubious, if you're saving up for 3 charge Ready moves you'll have over 100TP anyway, it only helps with the initial climb to 100.

Run Wild is still being tested I believe, but we do know that it provides Regen, and it's rumored to provide Haste but 5 minute samples make it hard to prove either way. The best part of that ability is the pet dies, often in the middle of a fight, which makes it more of a liability and not worth wasting macro space for.

Our new SP ability in its current form is hilarious. I can understand the concept of sacrifice, but for Stoneskin? All an enemy has to do is melee with added effect: dispel and then follow it with a generic TP move to cause instant death, what's the point in eliminating our defense to gain a garbage buff that we would be better off not using in the first place with slight preparation?

If I had to design an ability that required sacrificing the pet but gave the BST some sort of boon that would make the sacrifice worthwhile, I would make it a pet haste and attack buff that lasts 5 minutes like Run Wild, but doesn't suck completely. I would also make it stack with Run Wild, so that pets could actually do just that for 5 minutes. So we'd get a bull in a china shop for 5 minutes, then the pet's poor little heart bursts and we have to pull a new buddy out of our invisible backpack. Of course, that would be a fun thing and we can't have fun in this game because it isn't balanced.

[Leonardus]

Going to execute some tough love here.
Warning: Another BST complaint.

SE is a "110%" Company, so let's start them at Grade: (S)

Beastmaster: (Vision Review)
+20pt: Variety of pets. Seems to be increasing.
-10pt: ...Said jugpets are often expensive/annoying to make.
-20pt: "More party abilities." Where? Killer Instinct?
-10pt: Summon-Style Pets. Where? How?
-20pt: "More pet-specific abilities." Where? Run Wild?
-10pt: "Revised Familiar." Where? Details? Worried.
-08pt: "Feral Sacrifice." Why? No Thanks.

Grade: 52% (F)

Suggestions:
*Rework Spur, Rework Run Wild
*Charmed Pets need to at least, have Snarl
*Method to use jugpet's "locked" TP Abilities
*Faster/More Ready Charges to keep pace with battles

[Mokeil]

I'll go ahead and weigh in on the job I know best: Summoner.

Vision
Mystics who conjure avatars to fight by their sides, then sit back and enjoy the show while paying close attention to their MP as their minions deliver devastating blows to adversaries and provide aid to allies

We intend to make it easier for avatars to wreak havoc upon enemies, but also emphasize how vital the act of managing the source of their magical powers is to summoners.

Example Adjustments

* A new ability that expends an additional amount of MP to shorten the recast time for blood pacts.
* Introducing the avatars Cait Sith and Atomos.

TL;DR version first.
Grade: F
Why: A few points for Shock Squall, but 0s in everything else. Stated expectations were not met, nor do there seem to be plans to have them met in any sort of identifiable time frame.

The Long version.
I've got to give SE a flat out F for this. Since the Manifesto was posted, here's what Summoner has gotten:
(NOTE: I am also generously including the updates that were added just before the Manifesto was released)

• Four new Wards: Soothing Ruby, Shock Squall, Heavenward Howl, and Pavor Nocturnus. (These were mostly a consequence of the level raise. They are largely Lame, especially for what should be our final and most potent abilities. I bet most people really only remember one of these even exists.)

• A modification to one of our Merits: Elemental Perpetuation now gives -3 per merit, instead of -1. (I'm not even sure why they made this change. See below for why!)

• Another modification to that previously mentioned merit: It is now basically Fast Cast for Avatars. (This came along only a mere month after the previous change. Seriously. They even told us when it was changed the first time that it would be changed again the next month.)

• Elemental Spirits: They now have dirt cheap perpetuation, and access to their appropriate Tier V nuking spell. (They had to add the elemental spells in separate for us, instead off adding them organically as the level caps were raised. How messed up is that? Also, cruddy AI mechanics still relegate these guys to very niche uses outside of Disposable Battery.)

• Recast Time for avatars: This is lowered to 5 seconds. (I have yet to hear one single word of praise on this.)

• Wards are now no longer interrupted if the enemy you are fighting dies mid-activation. (This should have been done years ago. Useful, but several years overdue.)

Out of all of that, only one thing of real note was given to us - Shock Squall. Shock Squall is pretty darn nifty. It is also the only thing that hits the stated goal of having us "wreak havoc upon enemies".

At level 99 we are still using the same Rage commands were were using back at 75. OK, to be fair, Carby, Fenrir, and Diabolos were all given new magical damage pacts (before the Manifesto was written), true, but the damage on them is laughable. We are also, at level 99 still tied to the same 45 second Blood Pact timer we were tied to back at 75. Everyone else has gotten all sorts of nifty Haste and Fast Cast options to increase their output (both damage and support), but not us. What gives?

In addition, while our other Post-75 Wards are fairly decent, they, too, were given to us before the Manifesto. Also, our Pre-75 Wards are pretty much a joke now. Only Hastega and the curative ones are worth using. We pay more MP for our Wards and get less effect out of them than anyone with SCH (main or sub) gets with comparable effects (Blink, Stoneskin, and Phalanx are three easily demonstrated examples). Until these things get boosted, we can't really do that "provide aid to allies" thing that SE says they want us to do.

As for the proposed examples listed? We're still waiting for some sign of one of these to show up in the near future. They've been dangling Cait Sith in front of us for over a year and a half now. When is it due out? No one knows! Its been indefinitely delayed while other things get taken care of. Oh, but we now have a 30 second video of it punching something. Yay.

Now, I think they're hoping we'll accept Astral Conduit (the new Summoner SP ability) as a substitute for "a new ability that expends an additional amount of MP to shorten the recast time for blood pacts". But while Conduit is really nice, it is only usable once an hour. It does nothing outside of burst/zerg situations to help us stay even partly competitive outside of that 30 second once per hour time frame.

[Ophannus]

Dragoon A-

-Increased HP, Parrying and Evasion
This was welcomed. I was always annoyed since 2003 that DRG's evasion and parrying was so low despite our(at the time) lightweight armor class. Why would a lightweight mobile warrior be able to dodge less than a heavily armored knight(PLD evasion vs DRG evasion). The HP boost helps our survivability as well as increases Wyvern Breath Potency(both elemental and healing breath) since Wyverns are DRG jobs and benefit from this.

Spirit Surge Adjustment
-They actually made this one of the top 2hours now due to the 25% JA Haste. DRG is one of 2 or 3 jobs that can reach the delay cap now.

-Jump timers reduced
Godsend. Increased our damage by a very nice margin.

-Stardiver
Drakesbane was good but only in Abyssea. Outside of Abyssea, Drakesbane is very weak, Stardiver is a solid STR based WS(finally...a STR based multihit without an attack penalty for DRG!)

-New Jumps
These changed DRG into a more offensive job from how we were at 75.

-New Traits
Conserve TP is pretty decent, it often goes unnoticed, but according to JPWiki, DRG gets Conserve TP V at level 97 with a 27% proc rate.(Starts at 15% when DRG first gets it, scales up +3% per trait).

-Steady Wing and Wyvern DT-%
Amazing! Steady Wing is a godsend and wyverns are extremely durable now. The only time my Wyvern dies these days is when I die but that's a different issue.

-Introduction of Smiting Breath and Restoring Breath
This is a huge game changer. This allows DRG to force elemental breath when the target is either immune to physical damage or if the DRG doesn't wanna engage but can run by, use Smiting and add a little magic damage on the target. In abyssea with the right gear and buffs, could do almost 1.2k+ Smiting Breaths. Restoring Breath is super amazingly good. No other melee can self cure like DRG does. Way better than Chakra. A DRG with a Heal Breath set can rock 1k Healing Breaths and the fact that it can work on other party members makes DRG awesome for lowmanning things like Dyna/Assaults etc without sacrificing an offensive sub.


-Change to Empathy and introduction of Healing Breath IV
Another welcomed change. This enhances our Healing Breath and Elemental breath potency by like 15% or so and gives the Wyvern a decent boost in attributes. Healing Breath IV is a 2 second cast Cure VI for 0 MP and enmity, 60 second recast when /SAM or /Melee is amazing, no other melee can self cure like DRG can.

-Remove Plague
So useful when soloing things that plague us and take our MP.

-Spirit Link Buffs
The Regen effect is highly potent. 90 second duration of 33/tick regen and Spirit Link timer being reduced from 3 min to 90 seconds is extremely useful. I like how SL transfers 50% of the Wyvern's TP and I wish I could use this attribute of the JA more often. Maybe if they give us a pet command that inhibits wyverns from using breaths after WS and only when smiting breath is used (does like no damage to new NMs anyway) then DRGs can use their wyverns as a TP battery every 90 seconds.



I have to say I'm impressed with the changes they've made for DRG these past 2 years, it's more than I could have asked for and exeeded expectation. The only things DRG really needs is an Attack Boost JA,,switching Crit Defense Bonus with Crit Attack Bonus, a Pet command to stop breaths after each ws and finally remove breath damage taken% from new NMs so that breaths stop dealing 20 damage to them. Also I'm glad they made DRG more offensive instead of giving Wyverns the ability to enfeeble the target, that would have been lame/useless unless potent. Dragoon is by and large a lot stronger than we were before, it's just that WAR and DRK are stronger due to their abilities which enhance weapon skills. If DRG could get a 25% attack buff and still /SAM and receive the same buffs as the WAR or DRK, Stardiver is so on par with Resolution, look at the attributes of Stardiver and Resolution, they're pretty close. It's crap like Souleater/buttloads of Attack that make Resolution do more than Stardiver(along with DRK being able to keep up 25% JA haste for 3minutes and DRG's 25% haste is their 2hr -_-)

[Ophannus]

How can you rate BST so badly. BST is 800x better at 99 than they were at 75. The pets they have now are amazingly strong. Sure they're not popular for legion and stuff but I've seen Falcor hit endgame NMs for 300-500 damage which is proportionately more than what CourierCarrie was hitting Nidhogg for at 75. The Ready system is pretty amazing too.

[Ophannus]

Also people need to lighten the hell up.

Giving them an F would be too kind in my opinion as to what has been delivered and what was promised.

NOTHING WAS PROMISED!

*Multiple example adjustmentｓ follow each job vision. These are provided merely to illustrate the general direction we intend to take each job—actual adjustmentｓ implemented may differ from what is written.

LEARN2READ

[Tanama]

Maybe if they give us a pet command that inhibits wyverns from using breaths after WS and only when smiting breath is used (does like no damage to new NMs anyway) then DRGs can use their wyverns as a TP battery every 90 seconds.


DRG really needs is an Attack Boost JA,,switching Crit Defense Bonus with Crit Attack Bonus, a Pet command to stop breaths after each ws and finally remove breath damage taken% from new NMs so that breaths stop dealing 20 damage to them. Also I'm glad they made DRG more offensive instead of giving Wyverns the ability to enfeeble the target, that would have been lame/useless unless potent. Dragoon is by and large a lot stronger than we were before, it's just that WAR and DRK are stronger due to their abilities which enhance weapon skills. If DRG could get a 25% attack buff and still /SAM and receive the same buffs as the WAR or DRK, Stardiver is so on par with Resolution, look at the attributes of Stardiver and Resolution, they're pretty close. It's crap like Souleater/buttloads of Attack that make Resolution do more than Stardiver(along with DRK being able to keep up 25% JA haste for 3minutes and DRG's 25% haste is their 2hr -_-)

Seconded. I hope the above quote is translated and shown to the development team. All of that would be a very welcome additions to Dragoon.

Then we would truly feel as awe-inspiring as Kain Highwind for sure!