Please Share Updates on 8.0 Job Design

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Originally Posted by Raikai

I just want communication on a more philosophical level. Let us know what issues you think the game has, let us know what kind of direction you plan. Nothing concrete, I just want to understand what those game designers are thinking.

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While It would be nice, I'm at a point where trust is so low, concrete information is needed.
It's not like the last expansions action trailers were good hype points for the game either.
We can't even trust the fanfest (SGE second dot hoax)

While they absolutely should do this there’s no way in hell we’re getting anything other than an extremely brief, extremely vague comment during one of the fanfest that answers nothing. Oh, and a trailer of the ‘new actions’ that tells us literally nothing except ‘LOOK EVERYONE BIGGER EFFECTS’

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Originally Posted by Naraku_Diabolos

Yoshi-P is going to talk about 8.0 in the future, and will not mention it before a 8.0 reveal because that WILL steal the thunder for the rest of the Patch 7.x cycle. For the graphics upgrade, we were shown that before 7.0, but it was a necessity because it affects everything in the game. Job identity is an aspect and feature for future game content, but it’s not in the same category as how the graphics needed to be upgraded.

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Not sure how 'the design of the jobs you use to experience every aspect of the game' doesn't count as 'affects everything in the game'

For example, if WAR was given the Healer treatment, so it'd have only Storm's Path (with no combo), Storm's Eye (with no combo), Inner Release and Fell Cleave (but no gauge, so you get 3 FC's a minute and none from your rotation)... That'd affect 'everything in the game' for a WAR player, because they use WAR as the vehicle to experience the story, fight the raids and trials, etc

We aren't asking for 'here is what you will be given next expansion, and here is the potency, cooldown, MP cost, all already mathed out', we're asking for a general overview of 'what is the dev team using to guide the design of the jobs'. For example, with Healers, what is it that they're drawing inspiration from, that resulted in Seraphism existing? (despite clashing with the established lore of the job so much that even JP was asking 'why this')

If I were the one who would be giving the talk about Healers going forward, I'd go with something like...
'Originally, SGE was announced to be a Healer that has a higher focus on doing damage, and that it'd have ways to heal allies by dealing damage. Furthermore, it was announced that it'd be able to 'augment its own abilities'. Both of these are technically true of the current SGE, but we believe we can go further, and expand on these design ideas to make SGE feel much more unique in how it heals. This might involve reworking the effects of some actions, but rest assured, the strength of the job will not be decreased. If anything, SGE will be stronger, both at healing and at dealing damage, and more versatile in how it responds to healing requirements in content going forward. Please look forward to it!'

At no point in that did I commit to anything, beyond saying that the general vibe of 'SGE heals by dealing damage' would be made more of a focus of the gameplay. But that could mean almost anything

Bring back old SMN, please ty

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Originally Posted by Connor

While they absolutely should do this there’s no way in hell we’re getting anything other than an extremely brief, extremely vague comment during one of the fanfest that answers nothing. Oh, and a trailer of the ‘new actions’ that tells us literally nothing except ‘LOOK EVERYONE BIGGER EFFECTS’

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Bigger effects is the most we'll get 100%

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

Bigger effects is the most we'll get 100%

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I can't wait for SAM to get a Gekko upgrade that consists of T-posing while a crescent moon that's big enough to fill the screen is superimposed over the target.

The shitty character animations for newer skills bugs me to no end, but I guess it's irrelevant when the particle effects mask everything.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

I can't wait for SAM to get a Gekko upgrade that consists of T-posing while a crescent moon that's big enough to fill the screen is superimposed over the target.

The shitty character animations for newer skills bugs me to no end, but I guess it's irrelevant when the particle effects mask everything.

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Glad to know somebody else felt something similar. I first noticed this on MNK's filler combo new animations. It feels like they're overemphasizing the particles without taking account how silly some movement looks when you remove all of that. They had no weight in it. The closest analogy that I could think of is like playing Ph.Berz from OC where all of your hits are AA slaps but they certainly do damage...yes...lol...

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Glad to know somebody else felt something similar. I first noticed this on MNK's filler combo new animations. It feels like they're overemphasizing the particles without taking account how silly some movement looks when you remove all of that. They had no weight in it. The closest analogy that I could think of is like playing Ph.Berz from OC where all of your hits are AA slaps but they certainly do damage...yes...lol...

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GNB's entire not-Confiteor combo is like that, and the crown jewel is that it has almost no sound effects, which is another annoying trend.

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Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe

Not sure how 'the design of the jobs you use to experience every aspect of the game' doesn't count as 'affects everything in the game'

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It doesn't effect the game's main audience: RPers and Limsa AFKers

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Glad to know somebody else felt something similar. I first noticed this on MNK's filler combo new animations. It feels like they're overemphasizing the particles without taking account how silly some movement looks when you remove all of that. They had no weight in it. The closest analogy that I could think of is like playing Ph.Berz from OC where all of your hits are AA slaps but they certainly do damage...yes...lol...

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Did they ever address the Medica 3 issue where you snap to the floor halfway through the animation (as you transition from 'casting' to 'the actual spell animation')?

Also shoutout to the Chaotic Spring/Heavens' Thrust animations on DRG, they look absolutely ridiculous. Drakesbane is okay though

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Glad to know somebody else felt something similar. I first noticed this on MNK's filler combo new animations. It feels like they're overemphasizing the particles without taking account how silly some movement looks when you remove all of that. They had no weight in it. The closest analogy that I could think of is like playing Ph.Berz from OC where all of your hits are AA slaps but they certainly do damage...yes...lol...

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Does anyone actually like elixir burst over elixir field

That’s gotta be one of the biggest downgrades and I’m not even a MNK player

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Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe

Did they ever address the Medica 3 issue where you snap to the floor halfway through the animation (as you transition from 'casting' to 'the actual spell animation')?

Also shoutout to the Chaotic Spring/Heavens' Thrust animations on DRG, they look absolutely ridiculous. Drakesbane is okay though

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I was also thinking about Dragoon's weird animations. For the longest time, Disembowel seemed so slow and goofy. I had to look up a video to make sure I knew what animations were associated with which actions cause I don't play Dragoon, but it looks like they updated Disembowel to not look so goofy? It didn't seem as slow and awkward in the video I found. Though turning your back to do a through-the-armpit stab is still such a strange way to use a spear and not a very effective way to disembowel anyone. But one action that looks absolutely pitiful particularly because of the particle effects is Coerthan Torment. There's like a dozen slash effects that emminate from you, but you only swing your spear twice. Also the two swings you take make no sense for a piercing weapon: a headsplitter and a spear uppercut. Do dragoons think they have an axe?

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Glad to know somebody else felt something similar. I first noticed this on MNK's filler combo new animations. It feels like they're overemphasizing the particles without taking account how silly some movement looks when you remove all of that. They had no weight in it. The closest analogy that I could think of is like playing Ph.Berz from OC where all of your hits are AA slaps but they certainly do damage...yes...lol...

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God, I hate the new MNK animations so much. You leap into the air and start swiping your arms. What is so great about that? Bootshine was rapid punches with both hands, it made sense, and felt good.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

Does anyone actually like elixir burst over elixir field

That’s gotta be one of the biggest downgrades and I’m not even a MNK player

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I also prefer Tornado Kick over Phantom Rush. Wish we could choose the visuals tbf

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Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe

Also shoutout to the Chaotic Spring/Heavens' Thrust animations on DRG, they look absolutely ridiculous. Drakesbane is okay though

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Chaotic Spring is a massive downgrade from Chaos Thrust and Heavens' Thrust looks kind of goofy but Drakesbane is easily one of the worst animations in the entire game. I'm astonished how that one made it into the live game.

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Originally Posted by ty_taurus

I was also thinking about Dragoon's weird animations. For the longest time, Disembowel seemed so slow and goofy. I had to look up a video to make sure I knew what animations were associated with which actions cause I don't play Dragoon, but it looks like they updated Disembowel to not look so goofy? It didn't seem as slow and awkward in the video I found.

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Personally I think Disembowel is a fantastic animation. It looks cool and really sells the weight and impact of the lance. It was replaced with Spiral Blow which is also good but would be better if they trimmed off the pointless wave to the side at the start IMO.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

The shitty character animations for newer skills bugs me to no end, but I guess it's irrelevant when the particle effects mask everything.

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Disesteem is complete ass. Whats with the wings, why are they copy pasted lazily, are XIV classes evolving into variations of WHM like some kind of carcinization? Where is the sound? Why is it an almost straight rectangle with no attempt to blend the edges?

https://i.imgur.com/qActlTH.png

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Originally Posted by Mecia

Disesteem is complete ass. Whats with the wings, why are they copy pasted lazily, are XIV classes evolving into variations of WHM like some kind of carcinization? Where is the sound? Why is it an almost straight rectangle with no attempt to blend the edges?

https://i.imgur.com/qActlTH.png

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Wings truly are the carcinization of the entire FF series.

Is this just a discussion on animations? Because if it is I truly give up on the playerbase.

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Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe

Also shoutout to the Chaotic Spring/Heavens' Thrust animations on DRG, they look absolutely ridiculous. Drakesbane is okay though

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I want what you're smoking. Drakesbane is the worst weaponskill in the entire game, it's slow, it takes way too long to apply the damage so you have a good chance to miss it if its your final gcd before a boss jumps away like bahamut in ucob and garuda in uwu who loves jumping. It also feels terrible to use there's no impact to it you might as well be hitting the boss with a wet noodle.

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Originally Posted by Altina_Orion

Is this just a discussion on animations? Because if it is I truly give up on the playerbase.

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It’s not supposed to be a commentary on animations. It’s just a tangent that’s developed.

The main purpose of the thread is to emphasize that job design has been in a very poor state, Dawntrail has only continued to break the trust of players who care about job design, and we want to know if these vague talks of job identity in 8.0 will do anything to course correct from this runaway train of oversimplification.

I think a live letter around 7.3 where Yoshi P can elaborate on what he and the designers see as the identity of each job and a rough idea of how they plan to fix each job would be huge. I want to see open communication, transparency, and a willingness to listen to feedback. When you announce you’re gutting Viper 6 days into Dawntrail’s launch and everyone tells you “please no!” Maybe reconsider?

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Originally Posted by Ajisaii

I want what you're smoking. Drakesbane is the worst weaponskill in the entire game, it's slow, it takes way too long to apply the damage so you have a good chance to miss it if its your final gcd before a boss jumps away like bahamut in ucob and garuda in uwu who loves jumping. It also feels terrible to use there's no impact to it you might as well be hitting the boss with a wet noodle.

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I wouldn't say it's the worst, that honour goes straight to Storm's Path (it's literally 3 autoattack animations stapled together).

In fact, in terms of 'what your player model does', my top 10 worst animation nominations would be:

1: Storm's Path
2: Medica 3 (the bug is still there)
3/4: Chaotic Spring/Heaven's Thrust (they're kinda equally awful)
5: Sepulchre (the PLD Atonement combo move)
6/7: Scarlet Delirium/Comeuppance (they end so abruptly, it's like they forgot to make part of the animation)
8: Ikishoten ('I have the power of god and anime on my side')
9: Shadow of Death (why am I hitting the enemy with the handle of the scythe)
10: Drakesbane probably goes around here, tied with a couple other garbage animations like Leaping Opo/Pouncing Coeurl for MNK, and Raiju for NIN (how do you take Chidori and make it look so... weird)

But since it's visual aesthetics related, it's all subjective anyway. Special shoutout to Pouncing Coeurl on MNK though, for having that atrocious MGM lion roar every time you use it. Pretty impressive for an action to look bad but also sound bad

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Originally Posted by ty_taurus

The main purpose of the thread is to emphasize that job design has been in a very poor state, Dawntrail has only continued to break the trust of players who care about job design, and we want to know if these vague talks of job identity in 8.0 will do anything to course correct from this runaway train of oversimplification.

I think a live letter around 7.3 where Yoshi P can elaborate on what he and the designers see as the identity of each job and a rough idea of how they plan to fix each job would be huge

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I do worry that 7.3 will be a massive downturn in player count, even compared to what we've seen thus far. These simplified Job designs are meant to allow for the encounters to be 'the source of the complexity', but said complexity source (Savage/Ultimate) won't be in next patch. It'll just be the usual, 24man and an EX trial, unless they give us another Forked Tower (which would be a bit odd to pull out so soon after the previous one IMO). So we'll be going another 4 months before getting content that the Job kits are actually designed around, which might be too long for a lot more players

... am I the only one who don't like VPR reawaken combo? >_>
I appreciate they try the very anime "gotta go fast" moveset, but idk doesn't really feel impactful to me (except for the last hit)

Share? Easy : New animations, new VFX, new SFX and some long overdue QoL.... And, also expect some old Jobs getting the DRG/BLM/MNK treatment.
Don't thank me, it's free ^^

Wow, people really don't care about how the game plays, but how it looks. Incredible.

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Originally Posted by Altina_Orion

Wow, people really don't care about how the game plays, but how it looks. Incredible.

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Chill, we're just being out of topic.

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Originally Posted by Altina_Orion

Wow, people really don't care about how the game plays, but how it looks. Incredible.

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We've talked about how the game plays for several years already, usually to the chorus of 'omg shut up if you don't like it play something else' or something to that effect

But when it comes to 'Job Identity', visual and audio design are an integral part of that just as much as the function and rotational place of the action, hence it's being brought up

I can't speak for everyone, but I absolutely do care about how the Jobs play. Why else would I have written this, if not because 'I want the Healers to play more uniquely from one another'

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Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe

I do worry that 7.3 will be a massive downturn in player count, even compared to what we've seen thus far. These simplified Job designs are meant to allow for the encounters to be 'the source of the complexity', but said complexity source (Savage/Ultimate) won't be in next patch. It'll just be the usual, 24man and an EX trial, unless they give us another Forked Tower (which would be a bit odd to pull out so soon after the previous one IMO). So we'll be going another 4 months before getting content that the Job kits are actually designed around, which might be too long for a lot more players

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I understand more than most that pivoting direction in game design is no easy feat, but one of the most exhausting bad habits of XIV is the utter lack of urgency in virtually everything except for the 6.3 Paladin rework for some reason. Everything takes eons to change like the shaping of the planet. Why do we need to wait another year and a half for even modest gameplay improvements? I’m not asking for Pangea II, I’m asking for some shorter cooldowns on attack spells to make Dawntrail bearable enough for me to enjoy it before 8.0.

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Originally Posted by Emitans

God, I hate the new MNK animations so much. You leap into the air and start swiping your arms. What is so great about that? Bootshine was rapid punches with both hands, it made sense, and felt good.

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Leaping Opo? Yeah, that's the worst of the three. Played on slowdown, our characters are performing 3 instances of scratching, two downward, followed by another to the opposite direction. Ignoring the odd animation choice, there's also the fact that the VFX used as a 'carry' to the aesthetic here doesn't deliver it (to me) either. They don't necessarily line up with the actual scratch - it feels like they're just floating in front of the character irrespective to what they're actually doing.

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Originally Posted by Kozh

... am I the only one who don't like VPR reawaken combo? >_>
I appreciate they try the very anime "gotta go fast" moveset, but idk doesn't really feel impactful to me (except for the last hit)

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To me they're messy, and another instance of heavily relying on VFXes. Taking an example of their first AoE move in their 1-2: Steel Maws. The animation shows the character doing 3 sword swinging. But the VFX used laid on top of them are showing 9-12(????) slashes and none of them necessarily lines up with the angle.

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Originally Posted by Altina_Orion

Wow, people really don't care about how the game plays, but how it looks. Incredible.

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Speaking about healers specifically, you're about 5-7 years late to say that at this point. The gameplay has been an endless talking point with its fair share of "shut up nobody cares about healers but also pls nerf <insert job> because MY job is in the rut..!!" or "Lol clear high end ur opinion don't matter/think of the cashools!!!"-kind of responses.

That being said, visuals can be an important bullet point for players, too. That's part of the reason for good amount of SCH players took an issue when it's revealed they're giving SCH Seraphism, not just because how it functions to forgo what makes a SCH SCH, it's also severely clashing with the job fantasy of being a genius military strategist being made to wear chastity robe of all... for what? Only Creatively Bankrup Unit 3 knows the real answer.

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

That being said, visuals can be an important bullet point for players, too. That's part of the reason for good amount of SCH players took an issue when it's revealed they're giving SCH Seraphism, not just because how it functions to forgo what makes a SCH SCH, it's also severely clashing with the job fantasy of being a genius military strategist being made to wear chastity robe of all... for what? Only Creatively Bankrup Unit 3 knows the real answer.

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I don’t know if you remember this or not, but I imagine most viewers won’t recognize this. But during the job actions reveal for Heavensward when Summoner got Dreadwyrm Trance, they talked about the future of Summoner being to gain the power to transform into Bahamut, which was met with a lot of “where’s Ramuh/Leviathan/Shiva?” And “remember when Summoners actually summoned things in FFXI?” And then two years later during the Stormblood job actions reveal, where Demi-Bahamut was introduced and players cheered, they commented on how they received feedback that summoner players did not want to become Bahamut; they just wanted to summon him.

You know as I started writing this, my point was to go “what happened to those devs?” But then I recalled that Stormblood was also where they responded to White Mage players asking for buffs to compete with Astro, and said that would ruin the job fantasy of White Mage. So I guess cherry picking has always been a hobby of theirs, and healers are just never on the VIP list.

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Originally Posted by ty_taurus

I don’t know if you remember this or not, but I imagine most viewers won’t recognize this. But during the job actions reveal for Heavensward when Summoner got Dreadwyrm Trance, they talked about the future of Summoner being to gain the power to transform into Bahamut, which was met with a lot of “where’s Ramuh/Leviathan/Shiva?” And “remember when Summoners actually summoned things in FFXI?” And then two years later during the Stormblood job actions reveal, where Demi-Bahamut was introduced and players cheered, they commented on how they received feedback that summoner players did not want to become Bahamut; they just wanted to summon him.

You know as I started writing this, my point was to go “what happened to those devs?” But then I recalled that Stormblood was also where they responded to White Mage players asking for buffs to compete with Astro, and said that would ruin the job fantasy of White Mage. So I guess cherry picking has always been a hobby of theirs, and healers are just never on the VIP list.

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The devs don't even cherry-pick anymore, they just completely ignore.

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

That being said, visuals can be an important bullet point for players, too. That's part of the reason for good amount of SCH players took an issue when it's revealed they're giving SCH Seraphism, not just because how it functions to forgo what makes a SCH SCH, it's also severely clashing with the job fantasy of being a genius military strategist being made to wear chastity robe of all... for what? Only Creatively Bankrup Unit 3 knows the real answer.

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It feels like they frequently just blend WHM and SCH together when designing and naming things. Remember when Liturgy of the Bell was named Lilybell because they forgot that it was the actual name of the WoL's faerie?

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Originally Posted by Daralii

It feels like they frequently just blend WHM and SCH together when designing and naming things. Remember when Liturgy of the Bell was named Lilybell because they forgot that it was the actual name of the WoL's faerie?

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Even in the beginning, I'd argue that the name "Sacred Soil" sounds more in line with the Conjurer identity than Scholar. Then when White Mage got its gauge, they went with lilies as opposed to literally any other flower despite the fearie's name being "Lily." PVP White Mage has Seraphic Strike despite Scholar having had access to Seraph since the LB3 update in Heavensward. We have the Liturgy example you mentioned. I'm not sure if I'd say the priestly elements of Seraphism are innately White Mage. Final Fantasy's token healer has rarely taken on the more religious context that D&D's Priest or other generic healer classes often do, and XIV especially focused more on a nature theme, but it's certainly not a match for the combat medic or city of nym themes that were previously established. Personally, I feel like it's something out of Bloodborne more than anything Final Fantasy.

To be fair sacred soil in Japanese more correctly translates to “temporary fortress of safety” or “safety tactical camp”

I was thinking about this earlier today when running some stuff but I used to love bouncing between different jobs for different content. Even doing the usual roulettes would be a fun time on an engaging job, or if I'm challenging myself on something I don't play as much like old BLM. Now the jobs are so simple and homogenized I was looking at the job list earlier before queueing and had an overwhelming sense of apathy like "what's the point?" What a bummer.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

To be fair sacred soil in Japanese more correctly translates to “temporary fortress of safety” or “safety tactical camp”

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Sounds like what an Asylum would look like-

Oh wait... :rolleyes: :p

In terms of animation, VFX and SFX, let's not pretend the past actions were any better. Even going back to Paladin's Savage Blade, the animation was 1 horizontal slash, but the VFX showed 3 slashes done at the same time. Take a look at Monk's The Forbidden Chakra, you mean to tell me those first 2 weak punches have the same energy that the SFX is giving off? How about Twin Snakes? Has anyone actually looked at the animation? The WoL is crouching, arms outstretched, barely infront of the front leg, with their wrists bent backwards and head looking to the floor. It is nonsense.

As for the comment on Dragoon's Coerthan Torment, 1 'slash' having multiple effects isn't uncommon, Fast Blade for example has at least 2 'slashes' per slash, but it also isn't the first time 1 slash has had multiple slashes even for Dragoon, Fang and Claw, the first part is one upwards slash with 3 separate 'waves', then the thrust has multiple effects of different designs. If you want the best one though, Samurai's Higanbana has zero slashes and yet produces multiple effects (if you check the animation, the sword never leaves the scabbard).

Now this isn't to say they couldn't do better, but to act like it is only fairly recently the animations have sometimes been slightly off is a bit disingenuous.

On the topic of animation, I guess since I’m the Sage junkie, my biggest gripe with Sage’s animations is I feel like the attack animations aren’t really capitalizing on the “cool factor” of a sci-fi laser mage.

Dosis is fine on its own but hideous and choppy when casted repeatedly. Theres no grace or fluidity. Dyskrasia is very bland, and I’m not a fan of the point blank AOE route for healer trash mob buttons.

Toxikon and Toxikon II are quite different and both animations are very nice. It’s just a shame II replaces I instead of being something different.

Pneuma is fantastic, but it’s not really a DPS action so I never see it. Not that it’s a bad healing action or anything, but in normal content I am drowning in Addersgall that I’m desperate to find uses for, so I never have room to fit Pneuma into my healing plan outside of savage.

I don’t like Psyche’s animation. I just see a giant holy circle which isn’t the vibe I want especially when I’m starved for DPS actions. The DOTs are… inoffensive, but otherwise unremarkable.

It’s a shame that all of Sage’s best animations rarely get used. Phlegma is great, but I feel like the ranged visuals are lacking in style and grace for what Sage sees most of the time. I’d really like to see more style in DPS coming from Sage in the future. Something I’ve talked about in the healer discord is wanting to feel more like Nu-13. Another example would be taking some inspiration from Nier Automata’s pod attacks.

All that said, if the gameplay remains dull and monotonous, animations can’t fix that. And I worry that whatever 8.0 has in store will end up being all show and no substance as others have said. It’s what their current design philosophy implies will be the case.

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Originally Posted by ty_taurus

On the topic of animation, I guess since I’m the Sage junkie, my biggest gripe with Sage’s animations is I feel like the attack animations aren’t really capitalizing on the “cool factor” of a sci-fi laser mage.

Dosis is fine on its own but hideous and choppy when casted repeatedly. Theres no grace or fluidity. Dyskrasia is very bland, and I’m not a fan of the point blank AOE route for healer trash mob buttons.

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On the subject of Dyskrasia's animation...

Spoilers for some 7.2 content (in case OP hasn't done that content/seen it yet)

Howling Blade's second phase has a 'deal damage to all nearby enemies' kind of attack, where he does an in/out (here's the 'in' version, and here's the 'out' version). Why couldn't we do something like that, and have our nouliths just orbit us in a ring, while emitting energy in a sort of blade? Why do we do this... Gatorade rain dance? I suppose the 'in' version is kinda similar to what Toxikon 1's animation does, but that gets overwritten by Toxikon 2 pretty quickly via levelling.

In fact, the combination of how relatively simple each mechanic is in P8S phase 1, combined with the sheer speed at which he chains them back to back, is exactly the vibe I wish that SGE had in its gameplay. Effortlessly weaving Kardia amplifying abilities like Soteria, throwing out Addersgall moves to mitigate and heal like Kerachole and Ixochole, and all while throwing out constant attacks of our own to keep on the offensive. I wish that, when Metem comments on his speed, that I could say 'Yeh, he's fast. But keep your eyes peeled, Ref, cos I'm even faster', and that be reflected in my gameplay

I think that certain actions could stand to have a bit more... 'randomness' to their animation? For example, let's imagine that we have a new action for Sage, where the nouliths 'slash' the target with energy beams. Rather than the path of the noulith being the same each time, if there was some variance in the angle at which they slashed, such that each time the animation played it was a little different, it'd break up the visual fatigue a bit despite being 'the same button'

Another example would be something like Broil, something with multiple projectiles. Not every one of Broil's fireballs needs to hit at the same time, do they? What if, sometimes they all hit at once, but sometimes they hit in sequence, or in pairs, etc?

What if the animation was modified slightly, when we got a Crit? For example, Broil again, what if a Crit had the fireballs all meet before hitting the enemy, combine into one bigger fireball and then slam into the target? The natural randomness of 'whether we crit or not' would make 'when the different animation appears' more unpredictable, and seeing it go off during the burst window gives an immediate feedback to the player that 'hey, special animation, you hit big number' rather than looking for how many exclamation marks follow the damage number in the floating text

You know, one question I'd love to ask Yoshi P directly is: "If you let players choose which version of Astrologian to use for the job moving forward, which version of Astrologian do you think they would pick?"

SCH is the job where the designer puts on a blindfold and throws a dart at a board and whatever the dart hits is what you get. I still remember how memed on SCH got in the EW job preview where nobody could tell what they got except what looked like a sprint.

Also I would pick HW AST.