Job changes you'd like to see in Endwalker?

Serious suggestion only please
Changes I'd personally like to see are:

1. Traits that change Fire 2 into Flare and Blizzard 2 into Freeze. At certain levels those spells aren't even used anymore, but we can't take them off our hotbars because we need them for low level content.

2. Removal of Fluid Aura. It's useless and a waste of hotbar space. Other healers don't have a bind, so SE clearly doesn't even believe they need it.

3. Switch the cast time of Scatter/Impact with Veraero 2 and Verthunder 2. Having RDM's AOE rotation flipped from the single target rotation can get confusing. Switching the cast times will match both rotations and line Jolt > Veraero/Verthunder up with Impact > Veraero 2/Verthunder 2.

4. Remove gauge costs for Onslaught, Hissatsu: Gyoten, and Hissatsu: Yaten. No other tanks or DPS jobs require gauge for their tackles or disengagement skills, so it's silly that WAR and SAM do. WAR and SAM can't even use them without screwing up their rotations and losing overall damage because they need their gauge for other skills.

5. A skill like Bane for BRD, please. It's such a pain to apply 2 DOTs to every single enemy in a pull to increase our song stacks faster and do more damage overall, and it's an ability we've wanted for a long time.

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Originally Posted by Firework

Serious suggestion only please
Changes I'd personally like to see are:

1. Traits that change Fire 2 into Flare and Blizzard 2 into Freeze. At certain levels those spells aren't even used anymore, but we can't take them off our hotbars because we need them for low level content.

2. Removal of Fluid Aura. It's useless and a waste of hotbar space. Other healers don't have a bind, so SE clearly doesn't even believe they need it.

3. Switch the cooldowns of Scatter/Impact with Veraero 2 and Verthunder 2. Having RDM's AOE rotation flipped from the single target rotation can get confusing. Switching the cooldown will match both rotations and line Jolt > Veraero/Verthunder up with Impact > Veraero 2/Verthunder 2.

4. Remove gauge costs for Onslaught, Hissatsu: Gyoten, and Hissatsu: Yaten. No other tanks or DPS jobs require gauge for their tackles or disengagement skills, so it's silly that WAR and SAM do. WAR and SAM can't even use them without screwing up their rotations and losing overall damage because they need their gauge for other skills.

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On point 4, WAR and SAM having their gap closers on a gauge not a CD is actually an advantage, it means that they are used explicitly for their purpose of gap closing and not in coordination with their burst phase. It means that you can use them when theyre needed instead, and when using them when needed they are not or are a very minor dps loss at the cost of the utility of the skill. If they were on 2 charges you'd have to save both charges for IR, which can catch you with your trousers down, and there's also nothing more annoying than the dps loss of having to save a gap closer for outside your burst for a mechanic, (which is a similarly small loss to using your gauge).

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Originally Posted by ReiMakoto

On point 4, WAR and SAM having their gap closers on a gauge not a CD is actually an advantage, it means that they are used explicitly for their purpose of gap closing and not in coordination with their burst phase. It means that you can use them when theyre needed instead, and when using them when needed they are not or are a very minor dps loss at the cost of the utility of the skill. If they were on 2 charges you'd have to save both charges for IR, which can catch you with your trousers down, and there's also nothing more annoying than the dps loss of having to save a gap closer for outside your burst for a mechanic, (which is a similarly small loss to using your gauge).

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An alternate option then would be to kill 2 birds with one stone by removing damage from gap closers altogether. People won't be tempted to use them when they aren't needed which also removes the need for a gauge. The only jobs that really make necessary use of the damage are RDM and DRG, which use gap closers as integral parts of their rotations. Gap closers are optional for every other job. It wouldn't be the first time they've done it either. Repelling shot for example used to have damage on it, but it was removed and now people only use it as a disengage ability, so we know it works.

WAR would probably get 2 charges on its gap closer like every other tank. SAM... Idk. I think DNC is the only DPS that has charges on a movement skill iirc.

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Originally Posted by Firework

Serious suggestion only please
Changes I'd personally like to see are:

1. Traits that change Fire 2 into Flare and Blizzard 2 into Freeze. At certain levels those spells aren't even used anymore, but we can't take them off our hotbars because we need them for low level content.

2. Removal of Fluid Aura. It's useless and a waste of hotbar space. Other healers don't have a bind, so SE clearly doesn't even believe they need it.

3. Switch the cooldowns of Scatter/Impact with Veraero 2 and Verthunder 2. Having RDM's AOE rotation flipped from the single target rotation can get confusing. Switching the cooldown will match both rotations and line Jolt > Veraero/Verthunder up with Impact > Veraero 2/Verthunder 2.

4. Remove gauge costs for Onslaught, Hissatsu: Gyoten, and Hissatsu: Yaten. No other tanks or DPS jobs require gauge for their tackles or disengagement skills, so it's silly that WAR and SAM do. WAR and SAM can't even use them without screwing up their rotations and losing overall damage because they need their gauge for other skills.

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SMN becoming a full time 'demi-egi' summoner, cooler looking egis imo would be really good, and hopefully egi glamour perhaps

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Originally Posted by zeylos

SMN becoming a full time 'demi-egi' summoner, cooler looking egis imo would be really good, and hopefully egi glamour perhaps

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I've actually been thinking for a while they should pull back on the focus of DOT's on SMN and go full pet job. DOT gameplay is a leftover mechanic of ACN from the old days and SCH/SMN don't function that way anymore. Shadow Flare is gone, Miasma 2 is gone and now miasma just skips from 1 to 3 on SMN, SCH doesn't even have the ACN DOTs anymore, Fester just feels weird on SMN since they've already made changes to make it a lot more pet-oriented. It feels like it's still split between DOTs and pet. They've also struggled with balancing SMN for a long time and they always adjusted DOT potencies to try to balance. Maybe shifting focus would help with that.

I posted this in another thread, but I'll post it here, too.

I'd like for them to get rid of pets as a system, but still keep the Fairies and Egis as job mechanics.

For Arcanists, when they draw their book, a Carbuncle will appear at your heel and move with you, like it's part of your character model. Instead of Ruin and Ruin 2, your GCDs are attacks that originate from Carbuncle.

At level 30, Scholars lose access to the Carbuncle, obviously, with Eos or Selene hovering over your shoulder, again moving like it's part of your character model. The Carbuncle-themed GCDs are changed to Broil and Ruin 2 (likely changed to just Ruin, since Ruin wouldn't exist anymore in this scenario). Physick can upgrade to Embrace, making it a slightly more potent heal which features both you and your fairy casting it together. And any actions that were originally you commanding your fairy to do them would instead just come straight from you.

At level 30, Summoners keep Carbuncle, as the theme of the job should be to be using your summons and, being your first summon, it should stick around. Egis are instead summoned for powerful oGCDs, attacking like how the Reaper's Void Avatar does in the reveal trailer for it. I was thinking the Egis could be summoned from three abilities, a power single-target, a modest AoE and a support move, likely a shield. Summoners can also have access to a special menu where they can assign any Egi of a Primal they've defeated to these skills, so players are free to choose whichever summon they want for each attack. For Dreadwyrm Trance, I'd make it so that Carbuncle is dispersed with a Bahamut effigy appearing briefly, allowing us to use the form, and when Demi-Bahamut is unlocked, he's summoned along with using the Trance, to make it consistent with Firebird Trance and Demi-Phoenix.

Aside from those two, I want them to make Dark Knight more unique, instead of just "edgy Warrior". I wanted them to roll the effects of Dark Arts into Darkside and make it so that Darkside consumes Black Blood for each action you use. Since Bloodspiller and Quietus consume Black Blood, I would change it so that Bloodspiller replaces Souleater while in Darkside with a larger potency increase, and Quietus can either be a powerful oGCD, or just a GCD you can spam while in Darkside. Delirium can be changed to grant you 50 Black Blood.

I put this in another thread earlier today, but...
I just wanna see all jobs have 32 or less actions/role actions so I don't have to do anything strange to get it all on my controller hotbars...

I know this won't happen, but I kinda wish we'd go away from just having AoE spam and AoE versions of everything that hardly ever get used outside of dungeons and FATEs. I don't really think we need AoE combos, honestly. AoE finishers maybe, and tools that are useful against single enemies that also happen to be AoE absolutely. BLM's Foul was great, but did we really need Xenoglossy?

MCH players know what I'm talking about. Auto-Crossbow and Bio Blaster have no value outside trash mobs 95% of the time. Why not make some kind of combo system with Auto-Crossbow and Heat Blast as well as possibly a 3rd Hypercharge button. And why not make Bio Blaster's DoT longer like 60 seconds (Higanbana length)? I don't like having this separate half-hotbar that I just swap in for AoE circumstances and otherwise ignore.

Dancer has Windmill and Bladeshower as examples of this, but it does a much better job with Rising Windmill and Bloodshower being DPS gains over Cascade and Fountain against single enemies and are granted to you through Flourish.

I get what you mean but I have two reasons I disagree, first I think the animations for AoE abilities are cool, like freeze and I'd be sad to see a lame WoW system where every slash ends up cleaving all the enemies. As for single target replacement abilities like Xenoglossy and Senei are not only cool, but they allow the devs to have some filler abilities, by having these we slow down the change of a class and slow down the need for reworks (hopefully at least)

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Originally Posted by Bacon4Makin

I get what you mean but I have two reasons I disagree, first I think the animations for AoE abilities are cool, like freeze and I'd be sad to see a lame WoW system where every slash ends up cleaving all the enemies. As for single target replacement abilities like Xenoglossy and Senei are not only cool, but they allow the devs to have some filler abilities, by having these we slow down the change of a class and slow down the need for reworks (hopefully at least)

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I get what you mean. I think we don't necessarily need to just delete AoE buttons, just find ways for them to have value outside of just gunning down trash mobs, and I don't think all attacks should just also happen to be AoE. Things like Sabre Dance and Afflatus Misery are perfectly fine and I don't really want to just get a single target button for both of those and call it a day. I also think just having upgrades like how the healers get new animations is a nice touch as well to keep abilities looking cool which can help create a bit more "filler." It just sucks having half a hotbar full of stuff that has 0 value in most boss fights.

Also in defense of cool animations, that's more a reason to want these abilities to have use against single enemies. I love Four-point Fury, Bio Blaster, Gravity, etc. Give me a reason to use them against a boss, not just in a crowd of 7 enemies where I can barely see the animation anyway.

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Originally Posted by Rollout

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Oh, on top of what I said, get rid of Heat Blast on MCH and just make Hypercharge reduce the cooldown of your Split Shot, Slug Shot and Clean Shot to 1.5s, and make them reduce the cooldown on Gauss Round.
Make Auto-Crossbow upgrade from Spread Shot and have it be reduced to 1.5s cooldown when in Hypercharge, too, and make it reduce the cooldown on Richochet.

Rather than going specific to any job (as we have dedicated forums for that), I'm going to approach this from a different angle and tackle UI that every job would benefit from seeing.

Party lists showing the last action a player used, even if it was an instant-cast spell, weaponskill, or ability. This would all exist in the same space as the castbars do on the party list, with their GCD and auto-attack timers potentially being included as an option as well.

Heals having some sort of class-specific indicator that indicates who they are targeting, or their placement if AoE. Ideally hardcast heals would sustain this, but instant effects could briefly flash their indicator as well.

The reason I want this is not because I'm unfamiliar with AoE ranges or cast-times on heals or unable to figure out what another player is doing, It's because the average roulette player doesn't know how to figure this out and I'd like to be able to point out obvious flubs in a rotation or lack of (or proper carrying) effort on someone's part without resorting to the thing we aren't mentioning. It would be nice to say "Hey you screwed up X during Mechanic Y, did you need help?" and be able to point to an in-game reference to explain how I noticed without having to explain the aggro list every time.

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Originally Posted by Grimoire-M

Party lists showing the last action a player used, even if it was an instant-cast spell, weaponskill, or ability.

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Yeah, I don't understand why it's assumed that we'd be interested in the names of every spell with a cast time, but somehow not in any actions done without a cast time... Or, perhaps it really (sadly) is a matter of a UI being created as if by a checklist of essential incidental elements, rather than what said elements are meant to provide. Wouldn't be surprising if so, but... I'd rather keep some embers of faith.

Aside:

One of my largest regrets in going back to WoW, moreover, is seeing what a good UI looks like -- even if it had to be extensively custom-built -- only to then return to see XIV's one-size-fits-all-approach, and its presently, imo, mediocre results. The existing quality would be pretty darn good as a game default... if it were actually tweakable to better effect later. Alternatively, there's much that could yet be improved that would be an improvement to almost literally everyone.

(Please don't take this as a request for any and all addons, or even addons themselves; I find it annoying enough as is that the net-code or the hyper-rigid boss scripts reveal ability timings to third-party programs. I just want to see more finely customizable UI -- and, ideally, a more comprehensive, intuitive, and/or convenient default state thereof.)

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Other thread-specifics:

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Originally Posted by Firework

1. Traits that change Fire 2 into Flare and Blizzard 2 into Freeze. At certain levels those spells aren't even used anymore, but we can't take them off our hotbars because we need them for low level content.

2. Removal of Fluid Aura. It's useless and a waste of hotbar space. Other healers don't have a bind, so SE clearly doesn't even believe they need it.

3. Switch the cooldowns of Scatter/Impact with Veraero 2 and Verthunder 2. Having RDM's AOE rotation flipped from the single target rotation can get confusing. Switching the cooldown will match both rotations and line Jolt > Veraero/Verthunder up with Impact > Veraero 2/Verthunder 2.

4. Remove gauge costs for Onslaught, Hissatsu: Gyoten, and Hissatsu: Yaten. No other tanks or DPS jobs require gauge for their tackles or disengagement skills, so it's silly that WAR and SAM do. WAR and SAM can't even use them without screwing up their rotations and losing overall damage because they need their gauge for other skills.

5. A skill like Bane for BRD, please. It's such a pain to apply 2 DOTs to every single enemy in a pull to increase our song stacks faster and do more damage overall, and it's an ability we've wanted for a long time.

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1. I'd really rather see Fire 2 and Blizzard 2 regain a place both within an intuitive, polished rework of BLM's leveling experience and situationally thereafter, and instead trim such abilities as whose sole mechanic involves the player being able to count whether there is (A) a single enemy or (B) more than one enemy. Yes, that includes Xenoglossy. Make it a trait that augments the damage and animation of Flare when there are no enemies in Flare-range of the target.
   
   
2. Again, I'd prefer to see Fluid Aura reworked (to more than bland status-effect utility) rather than removed. Healers are already more than lacking in unique actions; if any of them can be made more interesting and integral, that is the direction I feel we should be going, not trimming out anything that isn't present already on the others.
   
   
3. ...They don't have cooldowns, though? Also, just remove Veraero-II and Verthunder-II. I realize this may sound contradictory to what I've asked in points [1] and [2], but it is not. Veraero and Verthunder's inclusion as first-step actions deny the space for not only more button-efficient designs but also more interesting ones that could otherwise give some decent nuance and unique capacity into funnel or anti-funnel damage capacity. (More on this point on request.)
   
   
4. No. This is honestly one of the few fair cases for "You think you want this, but you don't." At least, if you want them to be actual gap-closers and not used primarily as oGCD damage to be weaved in their appropriate window.
   
   
5. Let's note here three things:

• You are balanced around that time required to spread DoTs. To reduce that opportunity cost involved in augmenting your rate of Repertoire generation would rightly require a decrease in opportunity afforded.
• Your choices in combat are dependent upon distinct opportunity costs and affordances. By compressing both (by making it take only 3 GCDs to apply DoTs to all targets), you diminish much of the distinction between Quick Nock, multi-DoTing, and focus-target damage.
• And that's to say nothing for the potential of applying 700(n-1) DoT potency (840 relative potency, due to traits) instantly; you are in effect asking for a Hissatsu: Guren (850 potency), 2-minute skill from a melee "pure" DPS, to be given to a hypermobile ranged supportive DPS with... what cooldown, exactly?

To be clear, I do agree that Fire 2 and Blizzard 2 need revision. Trimming them, moreover, is a close second to revitalizing them, as BLM is nearing a point of bloat as is. I just would prefer that more buttons come from a space on integral function, which I think F2 and B2 could support, rather than further cooldowns or empty choices (Xeno, etc.).

Similarly, the Bard-Bane seems like it could be a really great idea, so long as it's introduced in such a way that does not diminish decision-making to nearly the same amount as it improves how fluid and eventful the job feels.

Like the Time-mages, they seem to be heavily inspired on. I would love a rework of the class that go me interested in (FfXiV) in the first place. After learning about Astrologian- back in Heavensward. I picked up a copy of ff14, and gave it a try. I have been playing it since then... until Shadowbringers.

Astrologian- is why I am in this community.

Here are my suggestions:

-Rework the card system for (some) utility-variability. Not just boring dmg-increase. Perhaps concentrate on the (Seals) rather than the 6xcards themselves. However its done. The cards should have mutability, rather than being static. They are core to its identity.

-Work in the flavour of a time mage. (ex. A preemptive-esuna spell; which absorbing a status effect, a Haste-movement speed increase spell, temporarily giving the equivalency of a Sprint to a target, A teleport-like Shukuchi as ff.Tactics Time mages had, to become one of the only healers to have a get-out-of-dodge option) etc...

-If Shields are being removed from Astrologians (alongside the Diurnal and Nocturnal Sects). Perhaps work a dmg.reduction element vs. dmg.increasing element - tied into their Cards to keep this flavour tied in.

Regardless of what is decided. I hope its status as a (Utility)-healer is what is considered.
I'm fine with;
WHM being the largest potency and instant heal regen-caster.
The Scholar being the Split target & Shield caster
The Sage being the Shield -whatever it is, dps?- caster.

But please for the LOVE of the Twelve!
The Astrologian should be known as a Utility Healer (thematically). The one that can flex and occupy (partially) the role of an absent theme on a team. Not just a dps-buffer. There are enough classes that give buffs Dragoons(Thrill of battle and Eyes), Bards/Dancers, Ninja-trick attackers etc...

It is high time, that the Astrologian re-gains its title as a Versatility Healer and re-spruce its own Identity.

General job changes I would like to see; all jobs have their full toolkit by the time the hit level 50(example: 2 XHB on controller = fulltool kit with toggles on a partially filled 3rd XHB), and all levels past 50 get traits sprinkled in that gradually changes the playstyle based on the level cap of each of the expansions endgame levels ranging from reducing cooldown timers increasing effect duration timers, reducing resource costs, and potency boosts...

What I know we are going to get; more abilities getting axed because the devs don't want to modernize actions to be more useable to make room for the "shiny new 80-90 leveling" skills thus making the stat squish pointless...

Would like to see consolidated buttons (not WS-combos) to free up room on controller layout.

Mostly it's the mutually exclusive actions that would be consolidated, and some progressive actions.

Some examples.
BLM:
Ley Lines would change to Between the Lines once activated. BtL can't be used in any situation where LL isn't active.
Fire 4 and Blizzard 4 are mutually exclusive, only one can be active at any given time, so could be the same button.

DRG:
Jump changes to Mirage Dive when used. You can only use MD after using jump, and with the 15 sec duration of Dive Ready from Jump, and Jump's 30 sec cooldown, they can never be active at the same time.

NIN:
Dream within a Dream changes to Assassinate. Similar to DRG Jump/Mirage Dive, one action opens for the second action and they can never be active at the same time.

Others would be giving all tanks a 2-setp AoE by level 50 and make overpower be a circle to match all all the other tanks(also use untargeted), could use the old WAR stun with the round-swing axe animation.

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Originally Posted by DRKoftheAzure

General job changes I would like to see; all jobs have their full toolkit by the time the hit level 50(example: 2 XHB on controller = fulltool kit with toggles on a partially filled 3rd XHB), and all levels past 50 get traits sprinkled in that gradually changes the playstyle based on the level cap of each of the expansions endgame levels ranging from reducing cooldown timers increasing effect duration timers, reducing resource costs, and potency boosts...

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For some jobs, yes please. Doing LV roulette on BLM is really annoying when you have to remember what rotation is possible at what level.

No more homogenization of the jobs please! Bring back the uniqueness of the jobs. Especially the healers.

Something for Red Mage. All we got in our single target rotation in ShB was another spell tacked onto the end, and all that does is make it tighter to fit a full rotation into our Embolden window.

Remove damage from engage and disengage skills. It sucks losing 50 potency (Displacement's 200 vs Engagement's 150) because a fight is too close to an edge or a platform is too small or awkward.

Take Warriors gap closer off that meter.

@Shurrikhan (It won't let me quote because there are too many characters)

The problem with Fluid Aura is it already used to have more use and they reworked it a few times into what it is now. I don't see them reworking it again to give it back some usefulness, and if they aren't going to change unnecessary skills to make them somewhat useful, I'd rather see them removed to free up hotbar space.

I meant cast times, not cooldowns. Thank you for pointing out my error. The AOE combo currently goes Verspells > Impact because of the cast times, which is opposite the Jolt combo. Idk why they added the AOE verspells in the first place either, but it seems they want an AOE rotation rather than just Scatter/Impact spam. They could at least switch the cast times to match the Jolt combo to make it less confusing.

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Originally Posted by Orlen

Like the Time-mages, they seem to be heavily inspired on. I would love a rework of the class that go me interested in (FfXiV) in the first place. After learning about Astrologian- back in Heavensward. I picked up a copy of ff14, and gave it a try. I have been playing it since then... until Shadowbringers.

Astrologian- is why I am in this community.

Here are my suggestions:

-Rework the card system for (some) utility-variability. Not just boring dmg-increase. Perhaps concentrate on the (Seals) rather than the 6xcards themselves. However its done. The cards should have mutability, rather than being static. They are core to its identity.

-Work in the flavour of a time mage. (ex. A preemptive-esuna spell; which absorbing a status effect, a Haste-movement speed increase spell, temporarily giving the equivalency of a Sprint to a target, A teleport-like Shukuchi as ff.Tactics Time mages had, to become one of the only healers to have a get-out-of-dodge option) etc...

-If Shields are being removed from Astrologians (alongside the Diurnal and Nocturnal Sects). Perhaps work a dmg.reduction element vs. dmg.increasing element - tied into their Cards to keep this flavour tied in.

Regardless of what is decided. I hope its status as a (Utility)-healer is what is considered.
I'm fine with;
WHM being the largest potency and instant heal regen-caster.
The Scholar being the Split target & Shield caster
The Sage being the Shield -whatever it is, dps?- caster.

But please for the LOVE of the Twelve!
The Astrologian should be known as a Utility Healer (thematically). The one that can flex and occupy (partially) the role of an absent theme on a team. Not just a dps-buffer. There are enough classes that give buffs Dragoons(Thrill of battle and Eyes), Bards/Dancers, Ninja-trick attackers etc...

It is high time, that the Astrologian re-gains its title as a Versatility Healer and re-spruce its own Identity.

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I don't necessarily disagree with your point for letting AST have more utility, the problem is it already did and all the players cared about was the balance card. That's why they changed it into what it is now. Changing it back won't really do anything, people will still always go for the damage buff

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Originally Posted by Firework

the problem is it already did and all the players cared about was the balance card.

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Because they failed to remotely balance it and all but two forms of that "utility" were just different, worse shades of damage contribution.

If there is literally no way for a card which usually does 60% the contribution of another to do more than 105% the other's, even under perfect play, why would anyone care about it?

That's a balance issue, not a fundamental design one.

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Originally Posted by Lubu_Mykono

Take Warriors gap closer off that meter.

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So that it can be pigeonholed into damage-dealing, rather than functioning as a gap closer?

If it had two charges, Onslaught would be the best gap closer by miles; as is, it's still arguably the best.

"Free" oGCD potency isn't free; it factors into the ppm of the job as a whole and therefore always comes at cost to elsewhere in the kit. A job as a whole may be overtuned over a period a time, but it's not going to be because their gap closers had more potency or less resource cost attached to them. Design for the gameplay you want; the numbers assigned to a particular skill will be ultimately irrelevant except insofar as they influence said gameplay (e.g., through breakpoints by which they change what, optimally, should be prioritized in a given situation).

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

So that it can be pigeonholed into damage-dealing, rather than functioning as a gap closer?

If it had two charges, Onslaught would be the best gap closer by miles; as is, it's still arguably the best.

"Free" oGCD potency isn't free; it factors into the ppm of the job as a whole and therefore always comes at cost to elsewhere in the kit. A job as a whole may be overtuned over a period a time, but it's not going to be because their gap closers had more potency or less resource cost attached to them. Design for the gameplay you want; the numbers assigned to a particular skill will be ultimately irrelevant except insofar as they influence said gameplay (e.g., through breakpoints by which they change what, optimally, should be prioritized in a given situation).

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And the obvious solution to that as already pointed out in this thread is to finally remove potency from gap closers. Let them be what they are supposed to be : utility, and not damaging OGCDs.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlha

And the obvious solution to that as already pointed out in this thread is to finally remove potency from gap closers. Let them be what they are supposed to be : utility, and not damaging OGCDs.

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There's a place for different jobs having different advantages. The closest we get to a truly unfettered gap closer is one which has next to zero net potency change from its use, and such would therefore be advantageous to have in terms of mobility.

Unless we want even more homogeneity, however, there's no need to absolutely standardize all of them to each share that subtle mobility advantage. It's fine for some jobs to have their mobility tools be aimed more purely at mobility and others to offer, through their presence, offer a slightly higher proportion of burst damage to the overall kit or the job's damage profile.

Perhaps more importantly, it's fine for some jobs to have to gameplay through which they weigh the value of that mobility against its windowed potency bonus while others can keep the tool more situationally reserved and therefore straightforward.

My point was only that if Lubu was seeing the gauge cost as holding back Onslaught's mobility affordances, he's got it slightly backwards.

Semi-Fresh off of leveling all four tanks but want to main GNB come Endwalker, I feel GNB could use some mitigation tweaks.

Reduce Aurora's recast from 60s to 30s. Regen potency increase from 200-400, OR just have Aurora upgrade to Aurora II when you reach level 90 with a job trait "enhanced Aurora"
Camoflauge - Mmmm... maybe buff Parry or make it just reflect physical damage on the target for the duration of the skill while taking reduced damage.
Heart of Light increase the reduce magic damage taken from 10%-20%

The DPS kit is fine and dandy. If they get buffs, great!

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

Because they failed to remotely balance it and all but two forms of that "utility" were just different, worse shades of damage contribution.

If there is literally no way for a card which usually does 60% the contribution of another to do more than 105% the other's, even under perfect play, why would anyone care about it?

That's a balance issue, not a fundamental design one.

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It had nothing to do with balance. Yes, Balance card was used over Arrow or Spear cards because the damage was just better, but those were the only damage buffs. Bole, Spire and Ewer were pure support cards and they rarely or never got used because they were situational. Even in situations they would be helpful, they aren't necessarily needed and damage buffs are more valuable to people, therefore Balance is chosen over them. It's similar to the gap closer situation, damage is valued over utility.

If AST is going to have more utility, it can't be tied to cards. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be found useful though. AST used to have other utility such as Disable, but that was also removed. As to why it was, I don't know about that one

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Originally Posted by Firework

It had nothing to do with balance.

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It had both primarily and ultimately to do with balance.

Bole, unless providing a unique or necessary affordance (at which point it becomes either broken good or one should have just been in Noct Sect instead), is ultimately a damage card; it merely allows for more healer offensive uptime. Because its affordances, however, were virtually never (i.e., outside of incredibly particular undergeared dungeon pulls) unique or necessary, it remained merely a lackluster card in the same vein as Balance, Arrow, and Spear, and generally inferior to them. it was not tuned strongly enough to be otherwise.

Arrow, meanwhile, could only barely surpass Balance under absolutely perfect conditions on two jobs. While it could improve healing throughput, no healing requirement would be uniquely met by a mere 10% increase to Spell Speed. Thus it, too, ended up merely an inferior Balance.

Spear is scarcely worth talking about. The first design was fundamentally flawed in its requiring all CDs to be readied to maximize its use. This had unique affordances (such as an extra Hallowed per run), but was too finnicky for typical use. This design, I'd argue, could have nonetheless been saved. The second design, however, was literally just a slap to AST players. A 10% increased chance to do some 40 to 60% more damage averages a mere half a Balance, and carries zero unique affordances. It was in every way just an inferior Balance.

To put it another way, balance doesn't just require parity in granular, on-paper strength; it also requires parity how useful the given increase in a given capacity is likely to be in context.

For instance, if there were both a "magic tank" and "physical tank" which were equally strong towards their types, but only the magic damage were likely otherwise to one-shot the eventually necessarily CD-empty tank, then it'd be by far the more useful in a given fight. If, however, magic were not so threatening and physical damage was instead, or if neither was and physical damage dealt a greater portion of the overall damage or damage events that must be immediately healed beyond scheduled oGCDs, then it'd be the more valuable. That's still with exact parity on paper.

Here, that parity runs instead between the different ways through which cards have contributed -- damage, healing, mitigation, increased ability refresh speed, mana, and TP. There is no threshold to the usefulness for a damage buff, since all fights in XIV are ultimately won through damage and, with zero regenerative phases or the like, no damage is ever wasted. But there are significant thresholds in buffs to all else and below those thresholds they amount solely to far less direct damage increases.

If the other card effects were nonetheless balanced for such in most situations (e.g., if a Bole placed on the MT before a particularly damage-dense 30-second period were to provide as much damage from extra healer GCDs available as would be produced from a Balance on your best 30-second period of DPS on any given ally or halved across the whole raid), that could have still been okay, as it'd at least reward game knowledge instead of simply remembering whether a BLM is (A) melee or (B) ranged. Ideally, though, they should have been balanced around a greater strength that'd allow those effects to cross a significant threshold, or, at minimum, a RR rework that didn't always favor Expand nor nerf Empower and thus could take advantage of strength enough to reach such a threshold where the opportunity arose.

But they didn't. The game increasingly moved to rewarding less healer action per %mitigation over time, through the increased portion of oGCD healing, devaluing Bole; RR remained painfully imbalanced in its favoring Expand, offering nothing of value to Extend by disallowing multiple cards on the same target, and by making Empower a mere trap; and no tuning polish was done at the level of all cards together (to better reach useful thresholds for more context-limited effects) nor between the individual cards in view of what those different effects would actually amount to in context. Both directly and indirectly, they failed to balance the cards.

I'm not really a huge fan of abilities that are essentially just weaker AoE versions of ST abilities, they get used when walking between actual fights but other than that their purpose seems to be to just take up space.

I'd like to see jobs either get an "AoE mode" that switches their ST skills to AoE equivalents, or just roll the AoE effect into the ST skills. i.e. "Deals damage with a potency of 300 to target and 150 to all enemies nearby it."

The biggest change I want for Summoner is a rework that makes pets more integral to the rotation. This I would accomplish by establishing five primary abilities that interface with pets, as follows below. These abilities would transform into the appropriate pet's spell that the summoner casts. When I say integral, I generally mean that they have at most a minor cooldown or have a wow factor like Enkindle. In other words, make Egi Assaults be primary spells instead of two-charge cooldowns.

Ruin
Outburst
Egi Assault I
Egi Assault II
Enkindle

GAMEPLAY LOOP

• Summoner chooses a pet for current situation.
  - Garuda/Emerald = ae; Titan/Topaz = defense; Ifrit = single target[/indent]
• Transformed 'Ruin' spell is primary filler.
• Use Outburst and Enkindle on cooldown.
• Use Egi Assault I and II as needed or on cooldown (depends on ability they become).
• Use Aetherflow OGCDs as needed. (Later on, they help build Trance gauge.)
• Using pet spells builds up gauge towards a Trance. Trance duration depends on gauge.
• Enter a Trance for stronger transformed actions and a powerful summon.
  - Your pet disappears during a Trance. It's all about that advanced primal power, yo.
  - Trances initially give only two abilities, but once the summon is acquired the Egi Assaults and Enkindle become available as well, giving five Trance-summon specific actions. In essence, super pets!

AETHERFLOW
- Energy Drain
- Energy Siphon
- Fester
- Painflare

Below I submit the following just to illustrate the point. These are just made up ideas to showcase how I see it playing out:

Code:

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Garuda-Egi
- Ruin -> Wind Blade                ae damage
- Outburst -> Aerial Slash        stronger ae damage
- I -> Cutting Gale                ae damage + dot
- II -> Slipstream                ground damage
- Enkindle -> Aerial Blast        large ae damage

Titan-Egi
- Ruin -> Rock Buster                single damage
- Outburst -> Mountain Buster        ae damage
- I -> Stone Shock                damage + shields party member
- II -> Razed Earth                ground damage + damage down within effect
- Enkindle -> Earthen Fury        ae damage + shields party

Ifrit-Egi
- Ruin -> Burning Strike        single damage
- Outburst -> Flaming Crush        ae damage
- I -> Crimson Cyclone                single damage
- II -> Embers                        single damage + dot
- Enkindle -> Inferno                ae damage + dot


Dreadwyrm Trance
- Resets the recast on Outburst, Egi Assaults, and Enkindle.
- Ruin -> Wyrmwave                instant cast
- Outburst -> Deathflare        ae damage - does not end Trance
- I -> Flatten                        large single damage - requires Bahamut at 70
- II -> Ability                        requires Bahamut at 70
- Enkindle -> Akh Morn                large ae damage - requires Bahamut at 70

Firebird Trance
- Resets the recast on Outburst, Egi Assaults, and Enkindle.
- Ruin -> Scarlet Flame                instant cast
- Outburst -> Fountain of Fire        ae damage
- I -> Ability                        requires Phoenix at 80
- II -> Brand of Purgatory        explodes after X seconds - requires Phoenix at 80
- Enkindle - Revelation                large ae damage - requires Phoenix at 80

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hmn... as far as changes to jobs made in EndWalker... I would like to see some of the old actions that were deleted by StormBlood release brought back, albeit brought back in a way where said actions will fit into current rotations with comfort, instead of being clunky or just a big oof.