FFXI Job Direction?? Dev Team, Please Respond.

[AyinDygra]

These forums are as close as we'll get to a direct line of communication with the developers. These are exactly the topics we should be hearing back from them on. SE has been far too secretive in regards to future planning in relation to jobs in particular. We get about 2 weeks notice before changes occur with major version updates. Maybe we'll get a sentence or two at a Fanfest developer panel. Perhaps it's Japanese culture or something, about saying they're planning something that they later decide against, and end up scrapping it... that they think it would be embarrassing? I think it would show good sense if they can either discard bad ideas, or run with good ones.

Keeping everything in development a secret until it has been fully developed, programmed, and then unveiled to the public before getting feedback, will continue to lead to "issues" with implementation that could have been avoided with community input. Some elements that, once programmed, are "too difficult to change" due to the extensive revisions necessary, even if they wanted to, become impossible (or not cost effective) to change.

Such posts would also drive community conversation in directions that are compatible with the vision of the development team. We've seen this in several threads on this board (too few so far, but good examples are: the crafting skill cap increase thread, the revised 2hour abilities thread, and Corsair 11 rolls thread) If players feel that the development team is taking the jobs in undesirable directions, they can get that feedback too. Without posts stating the direction and vision of the development team, players have to "assume" the direction, and make plans accordingly. They may think "Past FF games (the most logical frame of reference) have shown 'this job' to do 'this', so that's where SE must be headed. I'll play 'this job', because I enjoy that style of play. That's the direction I want to go too."

For some jobs, (like White Mage,) that's a pretty easy trend to look at... best healers in the game. Some are "balanced" already and don't want to see changes, but know they're coming anyway as the level cap keeps going to 99, (like Monk.) Some jobs have needed certain "fixes" (some small, some quite large) for a long time with no resolution within sight. (like Puppetmaster's automaton AI)

What are the developers thoughts? What are they thinking/planning? Do they acknowledge the issues at hand? (We don't even have to know what they're really "doing", but what direction they're headed would be nice.) The more detail the better. Also, the more interaction the better. Clearly it's best for them to be working on getting things into the game, but maybe they should schedule some meaningful time each week for community interaction. For all we know, maybe they already do this, but the amount of feedback that we're getting on these (English) boards leads one to think they're mainly using the boards to release "twitter-like" advertisements about upcoming version updates while giving lots of "that's too difficult/time consuming to change" answers to feedback threads, which, while quite possibly is the honest reason for the dismissal of the idea presented, makes us wonder what IS worth the time and effort? What direction ARE they going in?

Saving these revelations for version updates isn't the best idea, in my opinion.

[Aldersyde]

PUP and BST confuse SE too much to receive a substantive, relevant adjustment

I've always felt that SE won't give bst significant buff because they are too concerned with making them too strong and upsetting their conception of game balance. Consequently, this fear makes them bend over backwards to make sure they don't get significant buffs. I'm not saying bst is weak, I love bst, but I do believe bst gets shafted a lot compared to other melee dds.

My prediction for bst is that by lvl 99 is that we still won't be able to charm in the prime xp area (Abyssea), they still won't have a ws better than rampage (lol at Cloudsplitter and building Farsha), and our best jug will be a damn crab again (although the vnm version would be pretty cool). Personally, I hope for an ability to charm large mob via ability or trait, or large mob jug pets but with the way SE has adjusted bst in the past, I can't see it happening. Doesn't matter though, I'll still play and love bst.

[Seriha]

BSTs will pretty much need to accept that their future will likely lie in jugs, and to be blunt, it's for the better.

1) "Everyone who subs BST is better than BST main!"
A common argument prior to Abyssea. All you needed was your BST the same level or higher and the only real penalty you faced was not getting Leave until 70. Some need to try to get over the concept of being a WAR with a pet, too. Jugs offer a diversity WARs lack, even though Sic point costs could probably use some work.

2) "There's nothing to charm in endgame areas!"
In part, one could surmise that some NMs were isolated because SE wanted the focus to be on that mob. Could they have put non-aggro critters nearby? Perhaps. But this basically leads into the following...

3) With enough appropriately leveled mobs to throw at an NM, a BST (or group of them) is basically invincible.
This is largely why you don't see Charm as an option in Abyssea. Fast respawns, usually plenty of mobs at a camp, and you can level them up. Add a dash of Familiar and the ability to restore your 2 hour easily and BSTs could reliably hold VT+ mobs for half hour stints. Even without that, you basically reintroduce problem 1 while things like atma and temp meds further boost longevity of both the pet and master.


Jugs basically solve all three of those problems, while carrying perks like atma transfer and the ability to control TP moves used or completely dump your own enmity via Snarl. Plus you don't have to worry about claim system drama like when using Charm. Now, I know some might not like the pets available, the expense, or even Call Beast's recast timer, but if skewed too much you basically recreate problem 3, just replace charmed mob availability with as many jugs as you can carry (which can be a lot with 240 potential inventory slots).

[Alhanelem]

The bowels of hell. That's where it's heading.

[Hoshi]

You forgot about RNG DD. That's ok. So did SE.

BAZINGA!

I think I love you lol.

[Duelle]

These forums are as close as we'll get to a direct line of communication with the developers. These are exactly the topics we should be hearing back from them on.

You'd think so, but save for a topic on the DRG forums, I don't think the devs have actually said much of anything. Those of us with ongoing discussions *coughredmagecough* are curious to see if anyone from SE is lurking in our threads.

[Nebo]

I think I love you lol.

3) With enough appropriately leveled mobs to throw at an NM, a BST (or group of them) is basically invincible. This is largely why you don't see Charm as an option in Abyssea.

I'd be inclined to agree with this reasoning if DD + WHM couldn't already kill everything in Abyssea, with lot sof jobs capable of soloing.

[Greatguardian]

You'd think so, but save for a topic on the DRG forums, I don't think the devs have actually said much of anything. Those of us with ongoing discussions *coughredmagecough* are curious to see if anyone from SE is lurking in our threads.

If they actually reply positively to the RDM subforum's melee crowd, I will gladly toss my Duelist's Chapeau. Destroying the most powerful mage in the game, one Accuracy buff at a time.

[Luvbunny]

Beast is actually pretty good now, perhaps SE can add more DD gears and raise up a little of their damage output. Another small tweaks could be to lower the call beast timer, add more HP to jug pets, slightly raised jug pet attack, give a bit more boost to reward results, and give us stout servant 3 + 4. With those minor tweaks, BST is perfect, a DD that use pet to add overall damage output.

As for Summoner, the job is not in a really bad state. SE could tweak the duration of the buffs so that they are actually useful... make hastega last 8 minutes, stoneskin already last very long - could absorb a lot more damage, whispering wind + spring water heal at least 500-600 hp basically slightly make all of our buffs pact better and longer. Another tweak would be if you have the elemental avatar out, party would gain "bar+elemental" aura status, maybe around 30-40, not enough to offset the ones from whm but good enough as nice added bonus (and stack with WHM and BARD spell). Tweak the Avatar favor by expanding its radius to 20 yalms, and make avatar DD physical to be 15% less than normal. Summoner needs to have Auto Refresh 1-4, or give us more MP if you keep it the way it is. Give us Stout Servant 2 as job traits at 90. And lastly, make our merited tier 2 BP to be able to proc only either red or blue based on damage type (slashing, piercing, etc). At least with that, SMN can add a bit more of usefulness as buffer via BP or Avatar Favor (even just having avatar out can help give party a "bar+element" status), can do a bit of DD if needed via BP Rage, and can actually help with proc weakness.

[Duelle]

If they actually reply positively to the RDM subforum's melee crowd, I will gladly toss my Duelist's Chapeau. Destroying the most powerful mage in the game, one Accuracy buff at a time.

I'd probably be so happy I'd make a tribute video. Then again, like almost everything in FFXI, there would be a "but" attached to it.