Does JP culture affect class balance on some level?

So I got to thinking earlier today, and please bear with me because this is NOT intended to be racist at all, that Japanese culture might tie in to class balancing.

So to kick things off Ninja has been good for quite a long time. Basically every raid group wants one and it really feels like SE is putting a lot into making sure it's a staple. Next we can look at the new SAM. The damage is absurd, and maybe rightfully so if it's supposed to be the new MNK, but even then the class is quite good right out of the gate. What do these two classes have in common? That's right they are both within Japanese culture and are well respected concepts at that.

The whole reason I started thinking about this was because it's baffling to me how they let MCH through patch 4.0 being SO bad after they did it in early HW. Well if you take a look at JP culture they do not respect guns at all. You're not allowed to own a gun. While it may be true they have similar laws regarding weapons in general there is still a stigma around guns that's unparalleled.

Then we can look at BLM which has literally always been a really good class. Interesting to say that Yoshi himself plays this class. So I feel like as much as they may try to be objective it's POSSIBLE that culture/personal bias leaks in somewhere.

This is not a troll and I'm not that well versed on japanese culture, but I just thought it was an interesting thought in any case.

Uh... no. For many reasons, no.

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Originally Posted by MisterLucie

Uh... no. For many reasons, no.

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So just coincidence then that SAM/NIN are fantastic and BLM yoshi's class is also fantastic? I mean you don't find that at all interesting in any way?

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Originally Posted by Oxmodial

So just coincidence then that SAM/NIN are fantastic and BLM yoshi's class is also fantastic? I mean you don't find that at all interesting in any way?

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BRD has always been a staple. WAR was disgustingly strong all throughout HW. WHM was a staple for the longest time before getting phased out by the raiding culture shift and overboard AST buffs. SCH was the same way until SB. RDM seems like it's incredibly strong. Every class goes through ups and downs. For the longest time after the release of HW people absolutely hated BLM and rerolled SMN. SAM and RDM haven't been out long enough to make any judgements on whether or not they're going to suffer the same balance rollercoaster that affects every class in every MMO ever.

Beyond that, even the idea that a company would somehow allow a bias towards a specific selection of their customers while intentionally shafting the others when they all pay the same amount is silly. They're not going to purposely do anything that'd alienate or drive away people that are paying them.

I can't find the source, but Yoshi-P stated in an interview he made SAM and RDM that way on purpose because of AST and MCH reception, because it takes time for people to change their views regarding jobs. By making them more powerful at the start, it helps to put that in people's mind, that SAM and RDM are strong. What I dislike is it makes my MNK look powerless in PoTD though.

EDIT:

Source: https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/13...ew-Translation

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We'll talk more later, but there certain areas where we've looked back at the new jobs we implemented in Heavensward and made decisions to make the new jobs somewhat stronger this time because it took a while for the new jobs to truly shine with Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by YitharV2

I can't find the source, but Yoshi-P stated in an interview he made SAM and RDM that way on purpose because of AST and MCH reception, because it takes time for people to change their views regarding jobs. By making them more powerful at the start, it helps to put that in people's mind, that SAM and RDM are strong. What I dislike is it makes my MNK look powerless in PoTD though.

EDIT:

Source: https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/13...ew-Translation

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That's the unfortunate truth. People rather like to parrot information without checking for themselves. >_<

I see what you mean. A short-sword-and-shield-wielding, plate-armor-wearing, holy-magic-using, knight-in-shining-armor PLD is totally a Japanese archetype. Obviously they were buffed in 4.0 because of cultural bias. :rolleyes:

"This isn't intended to be racist, but...." is usually what someone says when they're about to say something racist.

That being said, it is nothing more than a coincidence. Pretty much every job at one point or another has gone through a phase where it's the best at what it does.

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Originally Posted by Rymm

I see what you mean. A short-sword-and-shield-wielding, plate-armor-wearing, holy-magic-using, knight-in-shining-armor PLD is totally a Japanese archetype. Obviously they were buffed in 4.0 because of cultural bias. :rolleyes:

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I wish I could like a post more than once.

Reporting in from a Japanese server to confirm that people do, in fact, play jobs other than Ninja and Samurai over here. If anything RDM is getting more play than SAM from the new jobs on offer, and everyone and their dog has a White Mage levelled up.

Also YoshiP recently said he loves MCH (and has been wearing their AF in various in-game representations for well over a year, despite his BLM preference).

Your idea isn't entirely wrong in that cultural assumptions do play a large part in how the game is designed and when things work badly overseas that's sometimes related, for example, on Japanese servers healers usually DPS naturally, but nobody would ever dream of telling one to do so so they don't need to be so strict about design until things go live and they realise it's not working. But sweeping generalisations about a design bias towards traditionally Eastern roles? Nope.