PvP (should casters even bother?)

Hi everyone,

As is the thing to do lately, i've been going through the patch notes for 2.1 and i have to wonder about something they set into the pvp-ruleset, namely the aspect in bold.

Quote:

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The following battle mechanics have been changed specifically for PvP:
Casting will always be interrupted upon receiving direct damage.
Damage dealt by bows will vary depending on distance from the target.

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As a summoner, i have a few instant cast abilities (siphon, bio, miasma II, ruin II and technically fester) and my pet (Though it's damage is negligible, and can be killed easily if not titan). Though, a majority of the things i will want to cast and really, the things i will end up -needing- to cast have a cast time(As fester will be useless without Miasma and Bio II on the target); As do the other casters.

With the rule that casting will always be interrupted by direct damage, it will make it almost impossible to fight competitively against any class as direct damage would encompass all things aside from DoT effects; Which means a bard, while their damage will change at range can effectively lock any caster down by simply auto-attacking, or any melee class can use their ranged attack as an interrupt against a heal or snare.

The lead Dev may claim to have been an avid PvP'er, but even given my limited experience in pvp, i know that this change alone shows that he knows little to nothing of balancing pvp content; And i seriously doubt they will be taking this feature out. It's sad to see that pvp is by default going to be dominated by and favourited towards anything without a cast bar.

I'd love to know what other people think about this? Do you agree, disagree?

That right there actually has me considering just leaving. I didn't expect the pvp to be great since it's a pve game and that freaking GCD but the having spells interrupted no matter what and I can't run and cast ._. Not to mention it takes 2.5 seconds to cast anything! Who knows what Yoshi P was thinking with that. I can understand casting being interrupted if someone crits on you but ugh.

I give.

I'm waiting till I'm seeing it in practice before complaining, however with that being said it shouldn't be that if you get hit it's a guaranteed interrupt. This is going to create easy mode DPS, they don't need to worry about stunning or interrupting healers.

It should be a push back. If the healer gets hit the casting time gets pushed back a second or half a second or something.

You want to know what people think about it?

I think you should try waiting until the update is actually out instead of freaking out over a single sentence and decrying the entire system as a complete failure that no one should bother playing.

It should be noted that you casters will have the ability to sprint and gain distance that others cant really do freely. :P

Remember that casters have sprint, which melee can't really use without screwing themselves over damage-wise for a little while.

It all depends on what "direct damage" means. If only melee attacks interrupt casters, I don't think it'll be that bad. Casters have sprint, surecast, snares, sleep, and knockbacks from PvP specific actions which should help them gain distance. But if ranged attacks from bards and other casters also interrupt spells then I don't think playing a mage or healer in this game will be very fun.

But I don't think that's what they meant by direct damage. I really *hope* it isn't. Plus, what would be the point of stuff like Bard's blunt arrow in that case, if they could just interrupt anything with a regular Heavy Shot?

I think casters are forgetting about all the binds/knockbacks/sleeps/cc in general they have available to them. The only ones that that will be able to annoy you really are brds, if their shots are interrupting you due to their ranged. It's not melee you have to worry about. Its your own ranged kind lol.

PvP (should anyone even bother?)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninix

But I don't think that's what they meant by direct damage. I really *hope* it isn't. Plus, what would be the point of stuff like Bard's blunt arrow in that case, if they could just interrupt anything with a regular Heavy Shot?

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That would just mean Rangers become a priority target to free up the casters. Rangers are going to have to be on the lookout for Dragoons, Monks, and Warriors to lock them down, as Mages will be pressing heavily out of range, and Bard's Toolkit for getting out of danger is limited in comparison to the gap closing capabilities of say, Dragoon in particular.

If it wasn't, then the Mages would purely become the priority above all other targets to begin with. Letting ranged interrupt them muddies the waters of priority between who to kill first and who to simply slow down.

The way I see it there's no reason for me to bother with XIV's PvP Arena when I can play Smite instead.

I'd rather see something like a Final Fantasy PvP sport instead, like Blitzball. Because the chances of the Den being more fun to play than all the other games out there (MOBAs, FPS games, RTS, etc.) is 0.

Meh, I'll accept the challenge. I like to think I can get good DPS out and be quick on my feet (thanks to many Titan HM runs). It'll be fun seeing how I can utilise spells to get one over on melee. Gonna do a lot of experimenting over the next few weeks! I've had a bit moan and grumble over the SMN nerfs, but gonna play around and see what I can do. :3

Find a PLD buddy their Cover and Provoke are gonna help :p

Compared to most games out there, melee have very little in the way of consistent gap closers bar running at the person, so it will be interesting to see how this works out.

If it is anything like the general class quests, you will need to focus down the Black Mage of the group first, as they just cause havoc but are difficult even for a full blown healer to keep up when getting whacked, then onto healers before finally trying to deal with physical damage dealers and the tank. Burst is always useful in a PvP battle, while consistency can be a weakness unless you are focusing on purely hindering a player.

If a Summoner or Black Mage isn't prevented from casting, they will basically be able to ace a team I think. Glass cannons in the truest sense of the word with crazy spike damage - and range.

Time for everyone who hasn't already leveled a bard o level a bard.

It's going to take strategy.

Don't freak out so early.

From a healing perspective, I'd have to say no.

I had been semi concerned that there weren't enough interrupts and stuns to effectively control healers/casters while focused, but this is honestly beyond stupid. This actually makes healers even more of bait than they are in WoW, which is really saying something.

I can easily see Bard and Smn being the two most powerful in Pvp.

With direct damage always interrupting a caster. Smn can wipe a party insanely fast by making titan attack whm and the summoner itself attacks a black mage if the party has one.

Bard can just run and shoot the whm.

Heres hoping it's an error in translation or something. I've got a long and successful history of pvp across a multitude of mmos and I'm certainly not tainting my track record by trying to play through stupid mechanics such as what this threatens to be.

Does accuracy play any role in PvP? (I skipped over the PvP notes). I don't think it would be terribly bad if it was possible to miss because then it wouldn't be permainterrupt.

With BLM being my main job in the game, I'm trying my best to hold off on judging it till I experience it myself. Part of me keeps saying "Yoshida wouldn't completely screw over BLM. Right?.......right? RIGHT?!?!" o_o;

Plenty of times I've seen ideas that look amazing on paper, but were poorly implemented. Maybe this is one of those rare occasions when the idea looks bad on paper - err text- but implemented really well.