Greetings,
Below is a comment from Akihiko Matsui in regards to battle balance plans moving forward.
Matsui here.
I'd like to give a rough breakdown of the direction we are looking in for future battle adjustments.
- Tanks
In regards to the issue where enmity immediately reaches the system cap, we would like to make another round of enmity system adjustments based on high item levels. We are aiming to address this in the February version update.
Additionally, we would like to make it so it is easier for tanks to build enmity and properly hold their targets when there are melee damage dealers in the party with them.
Also, rune fencers are currently weak to physical attacks, so we are looking into adjustments from various angles such as via equipment and job traits. We feel it necessary to make them comparable to a paladin for all-around tanking.
While we feel adjustments to ninja are necessary, if we were to simply enhance Utsusemi there is a concern that they would be able to completely shutout enemies (though it depends on content). Naturally we would like the tank and healer roles to work together in a party setting, so we are currently looking into a better way to address this.
- Damage dealers
Based on the above, there may be some concerns over rangers and other damage dealers who have specialties involving enmity reduction possibly losing their place.
When it comes to pure damage dealers, there are various types of individual characteristics such as accuracy and attack power, but we would like to reduce the gap based on damage dealt over time.
Especially when forming parties with support jobs, a difference is elicited between jobs with large boons and those with small boons, so we feel it necessary to make adjustments with this in consideration.
There’s a ton to think about when it comes to support and healer balance as well as the treatment of jobs that possess a wide range of roles, but to start out we would first like to make adjustments to enmity and tanks, and strengthen the foundation of party play.
I'll be discussing the specific plans for adjustments and the implementation timing bit by bit as we move forward.