Originally Posted by
Cynric
Yes I agree with you about the uniqueness among DPS, There isn't much there, at least in terms of game play. Lemme explain what I mean, Dragoon, Monk, and Bard, don't have very much that separates them in terms of play style uniqueness. Bard does Physical damage from far away has slight healer / DPS utility, Dragoon and Monk do basically the same thing from up close. Now while Monk does have a slight difference with having to manage greased lightning and properly position every move, this is pretty average in terms of game play on a DPS class.
Dragoon on the other hand is a very basic MMO DPS class, you have your standard rotation, your advanced rotation and general buff and dot management. A couple of positioning skills and a few skills that root them.
Bard does have a bit more utility than either of those two classes but it's really not what it could have been, which makes it feel more same ish but with less penalties for messing up a DPS rotation.
Now while neither of those classes are extremely unique to each other, they're also extremely basic classes in terms of MMO's. That's kind of what you're missing, Monk is a basic Assassin class archetype, Dragoon is a basic burst DPS class, and Bard is a basic ranged class with some good utility added in.
Some magical ability that only they can use will not change them from being basic. Even with them being basic and the common traits they share, you still have to change your mindset between each job. Monks have to know the encounter to keep GL 3 up and keep downtime from doing damage to a minimum as well as where to pick up on refreshing what when re engaging a boss. You also need reflexes to play either Monk or Dragoon. Dragoon mindset changes to making 100% sure they get that heavy thrust up, which sometimes requires waiting when a boss turns, whereas a monk wont do that, they also have to make sure that when they jump they wont get killed while doing so. Disengaging from a boss inversely doesn't hurt a dragoon as much as a monk so they wont risk life and limb to keep buffs going, as they can refresh them and start over very easily. Bard mindset is even further different, where they worry more about DoT uptime on as many targets as possible as well as monitoring the healer MP, singing Foe depending on composition and singing paeon in longer fights where their melee may be stressed on TP. So a bard will pay more attention to the chat, the party panel, than the AoE circle nowhere near them.
The classes for physical dps may not be super unique between each other due to them being such basic classes for an MMO but they do have to be played very differently. Its not just smack the best rotation and hope for the best.
We go to our Magical DPS now, Black mage is a basic Burst magic class with a cooldown mechanic based into mana regeneration . The fact that in order to keep doing DPS they need to cooldown their damage with a few ticks of recovery makes them play a little different than a normal burst magician class in standard MMOs, makes them decently unique. But they are vastly different than...
Summoner, a basic DoT class with a pet mechanic tacked on as an afterthought.(at least that's what it feels like) This class is super basic in terms of a DoT class, and the pet mechanic doesn't even feel very fleshed out enough to be worth being there. However despite that it is extremely different than a black mage in terms of well, everything. A summoner can even raise party members, adding a different kind of utility black mage(basically pure damage) just doesn't have. That makes the two of them different from each other, and both of these are vastly different from their physical counter parts.
Now for healers. This one is a no brainer.
You have your White Mage, a standard reaction based healing class with quite a bit of AoE damage and healing capabilities , and very little damage mitigation. This class tops you off, regens your health with good HoT's, and saves your life. This is another very basic healing class but it's honestly what I would expect from a class called White Mage.
Then you have Scholar, decent sustain damage, kinda eh healing, but an overall much better pet mechanic feel than summoner. This class wont heal your whole party in same level content like a White Mage can but what it will do is heal one person or a couple of people extremely well compared to white mage, it also has a really good pet mechanic where you can pick and choose what pet you want to run with, then as if all that isn't enough. This class heals you slightly, one person or the whole party, then adds a damage mitigation shield on top of that heal to reduce further damage. Definitely a proactive healer and vastly different than a white mage. A scholar will do much better after knowing the mechanics of a fight where as a white mage can react to things as they come, usually if you have a scholar reacting to things as they come your party is dying. In fact playing a scholar like a white mage and vice versa will probably cause wipes in strong content, or even mediocre content.
Now we've got the tanks.
Paladin is an extremely basic tank, You hit 1-2-3 combo, you use your AoE hate move when you need to, and press a hotkey before a big hit comes. This is a pretty much standard package and isn't wholly unique to MMO's even. I could have imagined better ways for this class to function, but for a class probably meant for players new to tanking. I see why it isn't complicated.
Versus
Warrior, Now this tank here , I wish they could of kept the gameplay more suited to the original style, but Paladins so darn basic tank it was just too Overpowered(ha) compared to the original idea for warriors. However, they still function very differently, a Warrior can pretty much reheal most of the damage they take if they're played properly throughout an encounter, They also have a couple of different combo routes that do different things, something a paladin doesn't get to do. They also have to manage a stacking system and healers have to manage a squishier but higher HP pool. Warriors are a great tanking class that doesn't mitigate very much damage but instead heals it off while mitigating things they just can't heal off. While this class still needs some work, the basic gameplay of this class versus the extremely basic and new player friendly paladin is very different.
And of course it goes without saying that DPS , tanks, and healers are all different from each other as well.
I feel that the sameness you feel comes from the fact that all of the classes are extremely basic versions of staple MMO classes, and don't have a lot of special mechanics or management systems to separate them from each other. But they are in no way vastly similar outside of what their role demands them to do, and they can not be played exactly the same in any way shape or form and expect for you to be performing your role properly.
TL;DR : The classes aren't super unique but they aren't super similar, They're just mostly super basic MMO classes. Nothing special about them in general. A special skill wont change that. The classes actually must "function" differently from the base up in order for them to feel more fun. And for the current classes, without a rework that wont happen. Although if you think scholar and WHM are anything similar, than you don't know how to play one of those jobs right.