The purpose of combos

Originally I thought that combos would allow for better dps. I soon figured out that any successful combo does not top 1 WS from pre 1.120. Before I would tank ifrit with only 1 WS on my action bar cause it was loaded with magic, survival, and enmity skills. Now i have around 8 WS on my action bar and am forced to use them in sequence to try and achieve close to the same damage i could do before.

In conclusion ive found the purpose of combos was not to give us an opportunity to up our dps but give they illusion that the battle is more dramatic. So now i find myself(a gladiator) using much more WS then before and consequently doing less DPS. The extra focus on these.

on ifrit my riot blade would hit for 450, now it hit for about 125. Of course i combo it and the combo buts me in the ballpark of 300-350 total.

Obviously its a new system and needs some balancing so i expect the dev team will be reading these threads regarding the combo system.

To make the battle appear to be more epic I think SE added the combo system so we could spam more WS one after another instead of making it the tactical combo system that would truly reward WS successions as some may of thought.

what i would do to improve
tp gain on pug should be faster since they have to be closest for AA to work
damage should = 75% of skills pre1.20
(i was originally against this but am for it now)have positioning only affect bonus.
have the same combos work from different positions for different bonuses
give mages mp reduction bonus, or mp siphon bonus
reduce several recast timers(the damage isnt that good to justify massive timers)

if combos remain as is, id like to see damage bonus for linking combos together, that wuold be pretty cool imo

My biggest concern with the combos is the lack of choice. Before, I could use what I wanted when I wanted (assuming it was off cooldown), but now I feel I'm being forced to play a certain way. For me, combos come down to this: Choose one of 2 WS to open, Choose 1 of 2 to combo, Maybe get one more combo based on the last choice. And don't forget to get in position or your choice is taken away. That's it.

Positioning requirements also irk me. I don't mind them being in place for the additional effects, but the various elements involved in battle make it difficult to hit the positioning requirements for continuing the combo.

Here's what I would do.
- Keep positioning for additional effects but remove them for combo initiation/continuation.
- Classify each WS by where in a combo it appears (Opener, Middle, Closer).
- Allow any opener to combo to any middle, and any middle to combo to any closer. This adds a larger element of choice.
- Allow cross-class WS to be included in combos for more choice, but additional effects stay exclusive to original class.

I think these changes would alleviate a lot of the frustration with positioning, while adding a lot of room for choice, which is what the system is seriously lacking in its current state.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlaiseLallaise

My biggest concern with the combos is the lack of choice. Before, I could use what I wanted when I wanted (assuming it was off cooldown), but now I feel I'm being forced to play a certain way. For me, combos come down to this: Choose one of 2 WS to open, Choose 1 of 2 to combo, Maybe get one more combo based on the last choice. And don't forget to get in position or your choice is taken away. That's it.

Positioning requirements also irk me. I don't mind them being in place for the additional effects, but the various elements involved in battle make it difficult to hit the positioning requirements for continuing the combo.

Here's what I would do.
- Keep positioning for additional effects but remove them for combo initiation/continuation.
- Classify each WS by where in a combo it appears (Opener, Middle, Closer).
- Allow any opener to combo to any middle, and any middle to combo to any closer. This adds a larger element of choice.
- Allow cross-class WS to be included in combos for more choice, but additional effects stay exclusive to original class.

I think these changes would alleviate a lot of the frustration with positioning, while adding a lot of room for choice, which is what the system is seriously lacking in its current state.

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correct, there is no choice. You have to use 3 skills now to = 1 old skill. the focus has been applied to spamming WS instead of buffs and survival skills. I know that some of these have been added into the combos. the fact that archers have no positional requirements and they are ranged give them a huge advantage once again. I hope we dont have to wait 3 months to get some balancing done.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlaiseLallaise

Here's what I would do.
- Keep positioning for additional effects but remove them for combo initiation/continuation.
- Classify each WS by where in a combo it appears (Opener, Middle, Closer).
- Allow any opener to combo to any middle, and any middle to combo to any closer. This adds a larger element of choice.
- Allow cross-class WS to be included in combos for more choice, but additional effects stay exclusive to original class.

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I'd rather they nix all cross-class WSs, there's really absolutely no point to having them. (< to touch on that a bit more, I think all WS should be class exclusive, and I'd like more use of the incap function currently in-game.) Otherwise I like your ideas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belial

I'd rather they nix all cross-class WSs, there's really absolutely no point to having them. (< to touch on that a bit more, I think all WS should be class exclusive, and I'd like more use of the incap function currently in-game.) Otherwise I like your ideas.

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i dont like cross class ws either, never did

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Originally Posted by syntaxlies

i dont like cross class ws either, never did

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Yea, since the ability/action revisions, whether exping, spiritbonding, strongholds, primal fights, whatever - I have yet to come into a situation where I would ever use a WS from another class.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belial

Yea, since the ability/action revisions, whether exping, spiritbonding, strongholds, primal fights, whatever - I have yet to come into a situation where I would ever use a WS from another class.

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yea, i never had a reason to use a nerfed ws, except a long time ago i used to use con blow when fighting wights to knock their heads off, i even did it on mage,lol.

freedom or not, the combo sistem isn't there to "make more damage after 1.19", but to make dps in a more dynamic way instead to standing still accumulating tp. Also, you can choose a combo for their enfeebling propeties, since normal debuffs are gone now

heres another thought, leave combos how they are but give an extra damage bonus for linking combos,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yukikaze_yanagi

freedom or not, the combo sistem isn't there to "make more damage after 1.19", but to make dps in a more dynamic way instead to standing still accumulating tp. Also, you can choose a combo for their enfeebling propeties, since normal debuffs are gone now

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that's exactly the point of my thread "the point of combos", its merely a way to make people feel more engaged in battle by having a ws spam fest instead of the old way. IM not opposed to combos, don't get me wrong, but they do need adjusting. Imo they should do more dps since it takes longer to perform one then the old way.