Modification to Weapon Classes and their uniqueness in Battle.

[Cairdeas]

One of the things that people have been asking for is a something to help differentiate each Weapon Class from the others around it. These ideas are to try and add variation between weapons so that Each Weapon Class Does not operate the same as other.

These ideas are collected in a series of steps and groupings.

1. Remove Native AOE from all skills and spells.
2. Any Skill that loses its uniqueness because of the lack of its previous AOE gets rebalanced to be more unique without having AOE.
3. Introduce a toggleable modifier that changes All attacks from Single Hit to AOE. Each Weapon Class doing AOE differently. Essentially this is the same thing that happens for the current Mage Classes but is spread to all Weapon Classes and is not done at the actual Skill Performance but is toggled back and forth before a skill is performed not while selecting it. This could be toggled by pressing L2+R2 together on the gamepad or CTRL and ALT at the same time on the keyboard.

If you need a better example of this, think of Age of Conan's Modified Attack. You can go from being a Single Directional hit, to a wide range hit that hits multiple monsters.

Now that the steps are taken the following types of attacks modifiers are present on all classes.

Physical Weapon Classes: AOE only works on Weapon Skills.

Gladiator:
Attack Mode 1: Slash - An up and down, or down and up attack that only hits one target. Has a higher chance to deal a critical hit, especially from behind the monster.
Attack Mode 2: Circle - A Wide arch attack that hits all monsters directly in front of the Gladiator. Does slightly less damage, but hits more then one monster. 180 Degree Forward Cone, lower chance to deal a critical hit but higher critical hit damage when a critical hit is performed.


Archer:
Mode 1: Single Shot - A single hit arrow strikes a single monster. Uses one arrow, and has a chance to nock the next arrow faster reducing the stamina cost of the next hit.
Mode 2: Multi Shot - 5 arrows are fired into the sky and rain down on all the monsters in a circle area around the main target. Is slow and costs more stamina then a normal hit but if only one monster is in range all the arrows hit him for a lower damage per arrow over 2 hits. (Example: 100 dmg +100 dmg +75 dmg +50 dmg +25 dmg = 350 Damage)

Pugilist:
Mode 1: Punch - A Single target hit that has a low chance to stun a monster.
Mode 2: Spin Kick - A Circle attack that hits all monsters around the Pugilist. 360 degree hit, the closer to the front of the Pugilist the monster is the more damage they take. Requires much more stamina then normal but has a low chance to push the monster back and force an enmity recheck.

Marauder:
Mode 1: Crush - A Diagonal hit that hits one target and deals more damage if you have maintained your balance in one spot. Has a higher chance to cause a stun or knock back if you have been in one spot for more then 15 seconds.
Mode 2: Swipe - A ravaging attack that hits everyone around the Marauder. Deals more damage if you have maintained your balance in one spot. 360 Degree attack costs more stamina to perform but the longer you are in one spot the more damage it performs.

Lancer
Mode 1: Poke - A Quick single hit has a chance to create a weakness in a enemies armor.
Mode 2: Pierce - A slow rough hit that hits all monsters in a straight line. 30 Degree forward cone. Can hit up to 3 monsters in a row but deals more damage the closer they are together.


Magic Class: AOE Only works on Spells.
Thaumaturge:
Mode 1: Chaos - A Single cast that hits one monster. Damage over time spells do more damage/healing. Costs normal MP. Grants TP it modifies elemental weakness.
Mode 2: Cone - A magical blast hitting everyone forward of the caster.

Conjurer:
Mode 1: Balance - A Single Cast that hits one target and deals more Direct Damage and costs normal MP. Grants TP if elemental Damage.
Mode 2: Surround - A Magical blast hitting everyone around a central point. Cost 3x MP but positive effect spells last longer.




Again these are just ideas.

[Xatsh]

maby I am reading what you mean completely wrong but doesn't the current battle system do exactly what you said.

All the classes have aoe version of normal attacks, and solo versions.

Mages have a button to switch between Aoe/single targer modes.

Lnc has attacks that hit all mobs in a line.

Archer has aoe and single target attacks.

Pug has single target, line, and aoe attacks

Glad has attacks of all dmg types as well as circular attacks

Mrd has single target normal attacks and half circle normal attacks.

[Cairdeas]

This would be a forced toggle that affected All skills/spells. Not based on certain skills being AOE natively.

[Aldarin]

In all honesty, it has been the general theme of most RPGs that magic can do area attacks much easier than melee. My biggest pet peeve is that Mages get AoE for no cost and AoE is not available on melee classes. My suggestion would be to make all magic single target, balance that from there, then add AoE at 3x MP cost and balance that (should be pretty balanced with the 3x MP cost). This lets other character do physical attacks, and then if they want to hit an area, use spells.

[darkstarpoet1]

you would regret making magic cost more mp if you went to any higher level group and did nm's. the mages already have enough problems trying to help a party and not run out of mp. this is only doiin the nm's we have now. i'd hate to see it later on in game. i think aoe is fine as it is. these abilities are meant for single or aoe attacks and not both.

[OmegaNovaios]

I really like the idea of turning on/off AOE for any weapon skill. I also really like the idea of having 2 modes for each class including DoM. Also for Archer mode 2 and Lancer mode 1 AGI doesn't exist in FFXIV and please specify if "hits all mobs around the character" is cone or 360 degree.

For quick reference: STR/VIT/DEX INT/MND/PIE

The only thing I'm skeptical over is having actions affected by a stat based on the mode you are in. I don't think this is necessary to add and let's say I wanted to do more damage/stick a debuff on more effectively with a certain attack or spell on a single target and mode was more ideal stat wise. This forces me to be in AOE mode with the intention of a singe target action.

You can easily argue you can simply go to single target mode and should be fine or just position yourself better for AOE, but it just seems complicated when it doesn't need to be and there is the possibility of SE making the game to where "mode 2" stats are required to overcome an obstacle but AOE is a serious issue (however I would trust that SE would try to avoid this and maybe making the game too easy in this sense because either mode will overcome the obstacle rather than forcing players to make/experiment with the decision whether easy or hard). Also, I think healing should be more effective as single target than AOEing since there is no disadvantage whatsoever to AOE heals when compared to single target heals.

Adding more damage or accuracy is OK to singe target mode, but IMO "mode 2" either should have no stat boosts or even maybe a better idea is giving bonuses to damage, accuracy, and defense (heals/buffs) ALL 3 at same time to single target mode.

Love the overall idea though.

[Cairdeas]

I re-worded some of them and removed the stat modifiers.

I was half asleep when I first wrote them.

[Cairdeas]

Tweaked the DOM's again...

[Synapse]

some weaponskills are meant to be single target because of heavy damage, well not in FFXIV, but almost all "final" WS(cap went by like 5x) in FFXI were single target. About the modes, when i look at it, i get the idea it looks like a skill u would use to make ur attack be better for a short time rather than actual mode.

I think it would be nice if they all had 1 mode but uses a skill that would give them different type of style(Frontal cone, Line, 360 etc) for a certain amount of duration.

[Cairdeas]

some weaponskills are meant to be single target because of heavy damage, well not in FFXIV, but almost all "final" WS(cap went by like 5x) in FFXI were single target. About the modes, when i look at it, i get the idea it looks like a skill u would use to make ur attack be better for a short time rather than actual mode.

I think it would be nice if they all had 1 mode but uses a skill that would give them different type of style(Frontal cone, Line, 360 etc) for a certain amount of duration.

No offense. But Last I checked we are not playing FFXI. And implementing it as just a buff would not appease most people.