Please do NOT REMOVE Hissatsu: KAITEN

There are already a plethora of posts like mine, but I figured, if I don't voice my opinion in any way, I don't have a right to complain afterwards.

As the title already says, I don't think that removing Hissatsu: Kaiten is a good idea - for many reasons.



For one: Job identity. Not only does the animation look cool, especially when combining it with the Iaijutsu animations, but also the fact that SAM is designed to deal high damage. Here, Kaiten functions as a windup mechanic, that makes the Samurai job feel agile and fast, before you enter your Iaijutsu cast. I think this balances very well with each other - going fast to then slowly "casting" your most powerful skills.
Removing Kaiten will make the job rather slow, which doesn't feel good when playing, but also throws off the balance mentioned above.

Did I mention the animation looks cool! (I actually went ahead and recorded it, in case we will never see it again...;___; Please don't let this happen!)



Player agency: I actually enjoyed managing Kenki. Even though this is the minimum amount of thinking that should be expected when playing a job, it was fun keeping an eye on when I should invest my resources into Movement (Hissatsu: Gyoten, Hissatsu: Yaten) or when to use Hissatsu: Shinten. Having not enough Kenki for Kaiten to enhance your Iaijutsu is a great feedback for the player in that they need to adjust their Kenki management (so were pre-Endwalker SAM's positionals - you gained Kenki if you hit your positionals correctly).
It teaches the player to improve their playstyle in a very clear and effective way.

It also enforced commitment. If you used Kaiten and then didn't use your Iaijutsu, you wasted gauge (let's say a mechanic is happening and you need to move, so you can't stand still and cast). While this might seem punishing, it gives the player agency to find ways around this predicament.



"Action/Button bloat": I don't think SAM has an issue with any of that and I am playing on a controller - I have my AoE buttons on a different hotbar (using this for dungeon packs), as I mostly don't need them for raiding.
And if there is an issue going forward - there are certainly different candidates such as Hissatsu: Senei/Guren, Ikishoten/Ogi Namikiri, Shoha/Shoha II, that can be consolidated into a single button. This has been done with Paladin's Spirits Within/Expiacion. Just attach a Trait to the skills, that will upgrade them at certain levels and add falloff damage for the AoE variations.

Important note: Senei animation way cooler than Guren. :D



All in all...I like pressing Kaiten. It is core to the loop of the rotation, and an ability that the SAM player uses very often. Removing it would make the job feel way slower and will just leave an empty space on my hotbar (although I don't plan on removing Kaiten, even should it not have any functionality attached to it anymore).
Please let me twirl my sword before I use Iaijutsu. Please don't take away player agency.

I second this post. It's like I am reading history going back in the forums, people already pleading to not remove Kaiten, and lo-and-behold now it's removed? a ton of Samurai's are displeased with the change... I wonder how many " Don't remove Kaiten " posts I can find...