UI: what does a skill really do?

Here's a problem I have with the user interface. Let's say I want to add a skill to my bar, let's go with stoneskin. Well what exactly does it do? I know it blocks damage by use but how much damage does it block? How long does it last? You don't get a lot of info on the skill pop-up.

Or let's say I want to use a weapon skill. Circle slash perhaps. How much damage does that sucker do? How much more will it do if the mob isn't targeting me? Again, you don't really get a lot of info.

Or take cure. It now costs 45mp. But how much healing do I get for 45mp?


I really think that the skills in this game should give you a more tangible idea of what they really do. For example if circle slash does +200% of your auto attack on a normal hit and +300% of your AA on a hit where you aren't being targeted, it should say so. If stoneskin only blocks 200 hp worth of damage, it should say so.

Hi Winterclaw,

This is a level of transparency I would like to see in the game mechanics.

How effective is one weapon skill? What type of damage should we expect from it? How much impact is a debuff having on the enemy.

A community rep responded with a step in the desired direction. Here's hoping for increased transparency.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...411#post258411

I'm thinking that unfortunately the tooltips can't be that black and white. What if Stoneskin wasn't a simple "200HP blocked" and was actually "(500 base dmg blocked + (MND*0.3) - (Enemy ATK*1.3))". Do you really want to see that shit on a tooltip? lol

If SE had a formula that twisted for an ability, I would be worried hahaha.

A decent tooltip with a ballpark estimate of the base effect. A Cure 1 tooltip might read it restores 100 HP. Whether we have 10 Mind or > 9000 Mind, the tooltip would read the same. This tooltip would at least let us know what level of potency we should expect (i.e. Spinstroke +10% damage when not the target of the enemy, Protect 10% physical damage reduction, etc).

A really nice tooltip would have the updated result in the tooltip. So Cure 1 tooltip would factor that we're not a Conjurer and that our Mind is mush, still saying 100 HP restored. But would update as we enhance the Mind stat, increase our Conjurer affinity, or switch to a Disciple of Magic.

Wishful thinking I know, but it's something I would like to see at the very least with debuffs and buffs.

In ffxi SE came up with some pretty damn complicated formulas for things, wouldn't surprise me at all if they had more of the same in this game.

That being said, the game already calculates those formulas so it doesn't need to show us the full formula to give us a better idea of what our personal outcome will be. Abilities like stoneskin, if it is effected by mnd could still easily say how much damage it absorbs based on our mnd.

I don't necessarily think I'd need to see quite that much information for each individual ability, but I would like to see a reactive change in our stat page. I.E. Protect adds X amount of defense; Defender lowers atk by X and raises def by Y, etc.

IMO the numbers on the tooltip should include things like intelligence, mind, attack power, things like that of which the players have direct control over. For instance, if stoneskin blocks 100 hp + intelligence*5 and we have 20 intelligence, I'd like to see 200 hp blocked. If I have 40 intelligence I'd like to see 300 hp blocked.

The calculations don't need to be shown, just the end result.

For instance if I can see that stoneskin protects more hp than cure heals, it's obviously something I'd want to have on my bar. If I can see that for my stats this one attack will do more damage than this other one in most circumstances, then generally I'd bring that one which does more.

They don't have to give precise formulas. FFXI had some complicated ass formulas, as any of us FFXI-ers will tell ya fast. A basic idea would be nice (more so for DD classes and tank class imo). If it's something like SS in FFXI was, for instance, it could be as vague as "Absorbs damage based on MND." or SS2 "Absorbs an increased amount of damage based on MND". While that's not the only thing it's based on, it would still give non-FFXI-ers a freakin clue. lol.

I think this is more important for DD abilities. "Damage is x% based on STR, decreasing in value for non-lancer/doW classes" or w/e.

If i was to go with one of the solutions presented here I would say Hecate's would be the best. Since with winterclaws idea would need alot more processing, since it will need to process the calculation every x amount of minutes rather than just when the ability is cast. This is because a stat can change during the fight with a drain spell for example which would be unnessasary imo.

The reason the formula seems somewhat complicated is so the battle system is balanced, you dont really want someone who has base stats doing the same amount of healing as the person with a full Mnd build.

But as it stand I dont think it needs anything, you soon find out from use which skill does more damage, haymaker vs jarring strike. Skewer vs Moonrise. Cure vs Sacrifice etc. If it was all laid out on a plate where is the fun in discovery. I dont think too many people would like a map marker for chests for example it gets rid of the fun of exploration.

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Since with winterclaws idea would need alot more processing, since it will need to process the calculation every x amount of minutes rather than just when the ability is cast. This is because a stat can change during the fight with a drain spell for example which would be unnessasary imo.

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It works for Guild Wars, which is getting on in age.