New Abilities/Limit Breaks?

[Mars_Feroshia]

I think it would be pretty neat to add "Band" Abilities to this game. Seems pretty bland that its just Braver/Bladedance/Final Heaven for DD limit breaks.

For anyone who doesnt know what band abilities are, they were introduced in ffIV: the after years. Basically its like a team based limit break where 2 or more people were incorporated into the attack. Example, if 2 dragoons are in the party instead of getting Final Heaven it would be a different ability specific to 2 drg being in the party. Since I dont foresee these people adding in Skillchains or Magic bursts from ffxi I think it would be a pretty nice way to put more emphasis on your specific teams jobs, instead of lets bring only X job because its the only DD worth bringing ect.

And as they add new classes/if they add new classes the system would be able to keep expanding due to the number of possible job combinations that would be able to exist in a party

[Combinatoric]

I like the concept, and sadly I think you may be right about SC/MB. If they could come up with something that's a mixture of both it would be awesome.

I'm thinking something like: when anyone hits a limit break, it opens a 2-3 second window where any other player in the group can hit their limit break action too. The final result of the limit break is then based on what combination of classes used the action during that window. I.e., 2 DRG > crazy jumping single target damage; 1 DRG + 1 PLD > moderate single target damage plus moderate stun. The combinations could be pretty interesting.

I just worry that there may end up being an "always best" combination of classes to use. Maybe make the combination determine elemental type of the damage? I.e., use DRG + WHM for wind damage against titan.

[Mars_Feroshia]

And I just thought of something to add to this, it doesnt even have to be a limit break, it can be an ability that would normally be on your hotbar w/e it's called sorry. Anyway essentially the ability can just change depending on the jobs present in the party and for everyone who plays something other than mnk(since mnks combo system is a little different) you notice when you've opened the window for a combo action it becomes bordered with moving half lines.

Well I propose that possibly with band abilities, the "band" action will not highlight(allowing you to execute the action) unless certain actions have been performed by party members.

[Mars_Feroshia]

(my internet at work is absolute shit so it may be awhile inbetween posting...i was at 4.6k characters ): )

For instance, having a regular pt setup and there is a MNK and WHM in your pt. MNK uses HOwling fist and whm uses holy within a short window after or before the mnk used howling fist(extremely similar to skillchaining but not skill chaining) the combo window would open and the MNK woudl gain access to a say 300/400 potency attack at the cost off 500/700 TP.

Another example this time with two WHMs, both casting Holy within a certain window of each other, combo window opens allowing the execution of Holy ray, dealing high potency light damage to all in aoe range.

[Mars_Feroshia]

They'd be significantly weaker than limit breaks(considering DD lb's have retarded high potency) but still stronger than a normal attack so that its actually worth using. Can set the cooldown on it to like 5 minutes + or something so it cant be continuously abused. And these abilities could range wildly depending on the jobs/classes present since every job has unique abilities. Also they'd only be able to work if the skill is native to your job. Like for instance restrict them so that Even thoguh I can equip say Invigorate on MNK, my INvigorate would not be able to open a combo window for a band ability involving Invigorate. Only LNC/DRG's invigorate would open the combo window(im trying so hard not to say skill chain.)

[Mars_Feroshia]

I realize that having tons of LBs in the system would be weird and maybe not the best since its generally only used once a battle maybe, and having so many different options might clutter things in a sense. And thats why I posted this because it seems more realistic to me after thinking over my first post. There can still remain the LBs, but we can also have band abilities balance them so theyre completely worth using when you can, gives you more incentive to have people be on the job they prefer to play because in this sense diversity is a beautiful thing instead of stacking 1 specific job, and keep it so LBs are always superior and also balance them so no band ability is so superior that you would want to only stack specific jobs, defeating the purpose of band abilities; to further diversify play and welcome all jobs on the field.

[Mars_Feroshia]

One last thing about damage, you could either make it static or Dynamic, static in a sense that no matter the users mod'ing stat for that type of skill dmg would stay the same, dynamic depending on who closed the combo by executing the skill it would be enhanced by their stats

[Mars_Feroshia]

...Or make it way complicated and make the attacks effects depend on the executor's stats. For instance, 3 Drg using jump, spine shatter dive, and dragonfire dive, opens band ability window. Whoever executes it gives the ability an additional effect. If the Drg who executed it had higher DEX than STR the target enemy would receive an acc down buff, or with STR > DEX monster receives an attack down buff and so on. It would open acceptance to have different builds rather than stacking all points into a certain stat or just splitting them between your main stat (H2H/STR ect) and VIT for hp.

[Mars_Feroshia]

Though this probably would not work since you can't macro gear into skills like XI so building for anything but the stat you specifically use is practically useless and would be useless for anything but the band abilities if you chose that way to do it, but then again thats whats so nice about macros, situational shit, macroing in a specific set for a specific ability that you wont be using all the time. But again this games not really built around situational shit its really just stack 1 stat and win, but thats another argument for another day.

[Mars_Feroshia]

Again that was just an example, but in general i'd really like to see a band system implemented in this game. Forgive any spelling errors I made because there are probably tons.
Sorry it took so long to post it all, this net sucks :/