Skillchains

[Catsby]

A lot of really good points were brought up about skillchains that point out a lot of deeply seated problems in the game's fighting systems and UI;

-Players cant see each other's TP unless they use the unofficial windower and its plugin. This is silly since not being able to see a party member's TP is counter productive to the system's intent to be used tactically. The time spent using a macro or typing out your TP to coordinate a skillchain is effectively "lost TP" and time.

-Skillchain damage usually doesn't make up for the lost TP or time, moreso if aftermath effects are taken into account.

-Damaging weaponskills aren't balanced enough to warrant producing a skillchain.

-The difference between a weaponskill used at 100% TP and 200% TP is marginal both in damage and utility. Two weaponskills used at 100% will generally outperform a weaponskill used at 200%.

-There aren't enough utility weaponskills and the currently existing ones aren't potent enough to warrant using when you have the option to simply use TP to damage your opponent.

-Skillchains are a collaborative effort but results are driven almost entirely by the person closing it. A skillchain that opens with a 1 hit point damage weaponskill and closed with a 3000 hit point damage weaponskill will not be the same as a skillchain opened with a 3000 point hitter and closed with a 1 point hitter.

All these points will unfold into even more deeply seated problems if you explore them. Fixing everything is of course costly and a bandaid fix is probably the path the development will take. If it were me I would have the skillchain not only increase the effectness/accuracy of magic following but damage the monster's script. For example, if the monster is weak to darkness and the party puts together a darkness skillchain it may result in a spell or ability being locked on the monster. This could be expanded upon but I don't feel like being creative at the moment.