SERIOUS SUGGESTION: Skillchain staggering instead of Weaponskills/magic

**Skyver** · 08-31-2011 05:37 AM

Right, so we get Abyssea and it's neat and all, and we get these Notorious Monsters that drop precious items everyone needs for their gear, which you make drop by Staggering (or as some say, proc'ing, for reasons I'm still not sure) with extremely specific Weaponskills and Magic. However, it's horribly flawed, for two primary reasons.

The first reason being, let's say the NM's red weakness is Fire. Cool, there's a Samurai in the party, they have a fire-based Weaponskill. What? It won't stagger the enemy? Only Red Lotus Blade will? How does that make any sense? So that's the main problem here: why is it so specific? If the enemy is weak to Fire, shouldn't a Fire-based Weaponskill stagger it?

But what really should be changed, and here's my real suggestion: Weakness Targeting should be done via Skillchains and Magic Bursts. What's a Skillchain? <--That's something that could possibly be asked these days, because no one uses them anymore (on purpose). This shouldn't happen--core game mechanics just shouldn't go unused like that. But that's not why Staggering should be changed to Skillchains. The main reason is, simply, because Abyssea broke the job system. In the old days, you'd create a party or alliance and have a wide, diverse group of people. You could unlock and level any job and you'd be doing something good. FFXI was all about the diverse job system--but it's not anymore. Now if you're not a Ninja, Warrior, Black Mage, or White Mage, you're useless (unless you're a Blue Mage, in some unfortunately rare cases). Why? Why would the game's developers deliberately make it so a large percentage of the game's jobs are useless. Think about it: a world where you could be any job and be useful in an Abyssea party. Even a Puppetmaster!

We'd be:
-Bringing back an unused game mechanic
-Bring more strategy and teamwork, by working together to figure out/make Skillchains.
-Fixing the job system, by make most, if not all, jobs useful in the game--rather than just having 90% of the player base being Black Mages.

**NeoLionheart** · 09-01-2011 04:35 PM

This is an extremely good suggestion. I don't know what they were thinking with abyssea's stagger system. My main jobs are DRK, PLD, and RDM, how often do you think I get turned down when its regarding abyssea content? Or how "useful" I'm perceived to be right off the bat?

I shouldn't have to level NIN WAR BLM THF or WHM in order to prevent myself from being an outcast. My current 3 level 90 jobs cover quite a few different trades already.

**Skyver** · 09-03-2011 12:09 PM

Oh by the way, ignore the topic title. I still think Magic should stagger enemies, but I really, truly think that Skillchains should be used to stagger them also. Making it so only a select few jobs are useful in the game is really hurting the job system.

**Economizer** · 09-03-2011 12:24 PM

Aside from ignoring the common QQ, this is a decent idea, to an extent.

Still, replacing the very reliable Abyssea proc system outright is a bad idea. Additionally, making skillchains proc makes a risk of double procs go higher, especially in brew situations.

To make this workable, the old system would have to stay, and getting the weakness with a skillchain would only be able to work if the mob has not been proc'd once already. The new system would have to be less reliable then the old one, but still likely enough to proc that alternate jobs can be used.

Using the above as ground rules for an alternate proc system that does not replace the existing one, this is how each would work:

Red: Skillchains would have to cover the element of the proc needed. It would be more likely to get a proc if you were using the weapon that could proc the weapon skill, or using a skillchain that only does the element that you need rather then a higher skillchain.

Yellow: Manabursting the correct element off of a level three skillchain has a decent chance of procing the weakness.

Blue: Close a level 3 skillchain using a weapon with the damage type you need. The chance would be much higher if you use the same weapon as the one needed to proc.