besides RDM, which jobs actually need these fancy gauges to function?

i feel like SAM can get worked different ways, maybe each of those sen can be icon rotating on the ground?

kenki thing, im not sure why it even exists tbh, just overcomplicating things for the sake of it. make them cost mp or just give higher cooldown

obviously i havent played all jobs to 70 yet, but i cant help but feel the gauges were like last minute addition to add to stormblood features list

Although I feel the Guage for blm isn't necessarily needed, it does help keep track of things easier. Before it was a matter of watching cool down times, and duration times... Now it's all located in one lil area.

I feel like with the change to WAR the bar is needed now.

Don't you dare touch my Kenki bar. The resource management aspect of it is my favorite part of SAM.

SAM's Kenki guage feels like a early stage of a Demon Blade/Muramasa Blade Guage mechanic by having it start was basic energy but maybe in a future expansion SAM may have to max that energy to activate the Demon Blade/Muramasa Blade Guage which may change the animations of SAM's combos attacks with increase potency and the main function is to maintain the Demon Blade/Muramasa Blade Guage and prevent it from hitting 0 by using the SAM's combos and Sen Skills.

I like the BLM gauge. It makes it easier to keep track of AF3 and UI3.

MCH definitely needs it with heat. Having said that I feel like most people who played MCH pre-stormblood prefer the old MCH and people who didn't like it before find it more fun to play.

Drk is a lot easier with it.

Drg isn't necessary per se, but I think the meter is much easier to see than a timer on a buff. Same with Nin.

(cough) WHM is probably the most pointless, but at least it's pretty.

Most are just easier to read UI elements of already existing systems. Red Mage just takes full advantage of it and the lack of PS3 restrictions limiting memory.

If they didn't add the gauge, RDM's system would probably work as a status effect with White and Black magic stacks we can burn for moves instead of a detailed gauge. Like a cross between Dreadwyrm Aether and Greased Lightning.

The gauge is super useful as an Astro. It helps me manage my cards better, in a much neater way.

The new hud gauges are a pretty smart design. It may actually get the facerollers to pay attention to their skills affecting the hud.

I like the SAM kenki, the class is fine but one thing I would change is Seigan, why require merciful eye if it already cost 15 kenki and it's not that strong either lol I feel this was a "we can't think of anymore skills so let's just use Seigan from eleven but make is useless"

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Originally Posted by Oxmodial

MCH definitely needs it with heat. Having said that I feel like most people who played MCH pre-stormblood prefer the old MCH and people who didn't like it before find it more fun to play.

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We don't need it as MCH except that it gIves a damage buff. They could easily buff the spells and be gone with it. I do like it but we could easily work without if we got a damage buff.

The bard's song gauge is definitely needed. Especially for Army and wanderer. Helps keep track of how many crit procs we gotten.

Like the above said, Bard definitely needed it since it lets you track the new procs and tells you perfectly how much time left you have.

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Originally Posted by Albinosmurfs

We don't need it as MCH except that it gIves a damage buff. They could easily buff the spells and be gone with it. I do like it but we could easily work without if we got a damage buff.

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That would make MCH the most boring class in the game by far. Currently they took away a lot of extra abilities and our dot which removed depth. If they took away the heat bar too we'd have basically nothing to pay attention to.

I absolutely hate the AST one. Before I could just watch my status effects to see what was going on now I have to watch a gauge on top of everything else which as a healer adding more things to distract me on top of HP bars buffs cooldowns the boss's cast bar and what is under my feet is the exact opposite of what I wanted.

I have a love/hate feeling for AST as I don't need it to tell me what the effects do, and thus just gets in my way, but I'm sure it helps new ones. SCH, however, is an eyesore. I immediately shrank that and moved it to where the Aetherflow buff icon used to be. Waste of space. I don't have the Faerie gauge yet to decide on that one...

I can't really say the job bars are needed but they add a visual element so you don't have to stare tiny buff icons as much.

It seems pretty useless on SMN and WHM.

In general the gauges are there to make keeping track of tasks easier on all jobs. in 3.xx the skill gap between hardcore and casual was rather extreme and it was mostly due to the "intense" nature that 3.xx added to rotations.
As such these gauges are there to assist in keeping track of various aspects of jobs easier.

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Originally Posted by Ibaraki

(cough) WHM is probably the most pointless, but at least it's pretty.

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You play SCH or AST yet? It's purely an aesthetic change.

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Originally Posted by Oxmodial

That would make MCH the most boring class in the game by far. Currently they took away a lot of extra abilities and our dot which removed depth. If they took away the heat bar too we'd have basically nothing to pay attention to.

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Just our buffs, procs, and cooldowns. We'd be fine. The dot didn't add depth it was literally hot shot into lead shot. That isn't depth; it's lazy design.

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Originally Posted by Albinosmurfs

Just our buffs, procs, and cooldowns. We'd be fine. The dot didn't add depth it was literally hot shot into lead shot. That isn't depth; it's lazy design.

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I agree with this. You weren't watching for Lead Shot to fall off, you were waiting for Hot Shot to. Lead shot was always after Hot Shot so it was effectively 2 GCD's for the monitoring of 1. Design wise, nothing was truly lost from the loss of Lead Shot.

Whm's probably isn't the most needed, but as someone who does use direct heals as part of my toolkit, I'm glad to have a quick and easy way to ensure I use my lilies at the best time possible.

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Originally Posted by Greedalox

I agree with this. You weren't watching for Lead Shot to fall off, you were waiting for Hot Shot to. Lead shot was always after Hot Shot so it was effectively 2 GCD's for the monitoring of 1. Design wise, nothing was truly lost from the loss of Lead Shot.

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I really wish heat would have been made more punishing but give us ways to manage it. The heat gauge now is just boring since there really isn't a downside.

I feel with DRK, the bar isn't necessary. I just need the numbers and I'm good.

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Originally Posted by Zarabeth

It seems pretty useless on SMN and WHM.

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It's pretty pointless on WHM, but on SMN it actually came with a set of nerfs/adjustments. Can't use Aetherflow or any abilities that require stacks while either waiting for or in Dreadwyrm Trance, if Aethertrail is taking up any spots that many Aetherflow stacks cannot be replenished, and failing to land an Aetherflow-based ability removes the ability to get to three Aethertrail without reusing the whole chain.

I know it's all part of rebalancing, but it certainly feels like we lost a lot of functionality and replaced it with a shiny gauge.

Bard MUST pay attention to their gauge, it's fairly clear the entire job was redesigned around their existence. A Bard that doesn't pay attention would essentially be missing the entire point of the job in the first place.

The split second decision making we have to make to maximize our damage output is pretty insane, and the gauges are also the reason why Bard DoTs got buffed to 30 seconds. It's a delicate balance between deciding whether or not you should throw DoTs on more enemies hoping for more procs, or go into blazing machine gun mode.

Honestly, I feel SB Bard is actually harder to optimize than HW Bard, but failure to optimize SB Bard doesn't result in your DPS dropping as much compared to HW Bard.

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Originally Posted by SaitoHikari

Bard MUST pay attention to their gauge, it's fairly clear the entire job was redesigned around their existence. A Bard that doesn't pay attention would essentially be missing the entire point of the job in the first place.

The split second decision making we have to make to maximize our damage output is pretty insane, and the gauges are also the reason why Bard DoTs got buffed to 30 seconds. It's a delicate balance between deciding whether or not you should throw DoTs on more enemies hoping for more procs, or go into blazing machine gun mode.

Honestly, I feel SB Bard is actually harder to optimize than HW Bard, but failure to optimize SB Bard doesn't result in your DPS dropping as much compared to HW Bard.

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That sounds like good design at least. Some of the gauges seem well integrated and others just so everyone gets a gauge.

For MNK the new UI elements are completely useless and makes tracking buffs even harder than before.

Pre-SB i only had to look at debuff list and buff list to see all things going on. Now i look at GL3 UI, Chakra UI, enemy debuffs and own buffs. If there was a way to turn it off i would gladly accept. The sound when all 5 chakra are stacked is a nice addition though, helps me remember when to fire off The Forbidden Chakra.


I do have a faint memory of the devs saying they were working on simplified UI elements for Jobs. This i would accept as well if it meant overall cleaner look over what is now.

I like the huton pinwheel, more interesting to look at. And the ninki gauge is a fun mechanic. I had no idea how much I ignored auto-attack during big pulls.

I honestly love the Bard Song Gauge.

I'd love the dot timers to be on it, the lines on the notation to change depending on straight shot, and when we "activate" the proc of each song for a unique sound effect each time that would totally cement the deal for me. I'd also love peloton, refresh and tactician to have different sound effects to the current "machinist" sounding noise xD

I think RDM absolutely does not "need" it, it could very easily be an icon on the parameter bar that has the number beneath it like any other buff. Same for MCH as it can have its icon change colour throughout the heat levels or have a change in icon as it goes through.

The gauges aren't needed whatsoever, they should be completely optional and not forced. It's made some of my jobs more annoying to play, for no reason other than somebody wanted to add flashy looking UI elements... I was fine with them before 4.0 released as I was under the impression they were optional - oh how I wish that were so.

I am desperate for an update that can let me return to full display of icons on the parameter bar; the nice clean, concise, arranged and not unsightly and gaudy parameter bar.

Would be great to get a best to worse use of the new mechanics so they might fix the really bad ones

AST's meter is good for the AST, but bad for party members, as their drawn cards are no longer shown to the party as a 'buff'. The others? I could honestly take or leave them. I'm hoping we get less ornate design options in the future, but for the most part, they're a nice addition.

Pld seems pointless.