[To the Developers] Bring back Holy/Umbral damage spells to Thaumaturge/Black Mage!

[Kisagami]

Am I the only one who misses this? Dia, Banish, Bio, Scourge, Damnation, and Stygian Spikes were all big parts of the original class only to vanish with A Realm Reborn.

This is one of the key issues I've had with the re-release. I miss variety, I loved having two dozen spells to choose from to cast and not being limited to casting Thunder II/III then Fire III then Fire, Fire again, Fire yet again, Repeat until out of MP then Transpose or Blizzard III and repeat again. It's boring... It's beyond boring. The only time we have any variety is when facing multiple enemies then we use Fire II a few times then Blizzard II and it's just an endless cycle. The fact is my partner was complaining about this far before I bothered to notice but he's right, the classes/jobs are boring now with no spice to hold the attention.

So to the developers I ask you this, at least give us back our other spells but ideally reinstate the choice system that allowed us to use skills across classes without restriction. A Gladiator with Fire, a White Mage with Circle of Scorn, etc. Give us back a choice and stop forcing us into an endless skill cycle.

*Edit* I meant Astral not Holy, though they are essentially the same thing.

[ispano]

Uh, we lost those long before ARR even was in alpha.

[Kisagami]

It was an example Fey. And to Ispano, I didn't stay all the way to the end. I was there when they were part of the game and I loved that variety, I could use a dozen different spells and not have them chain together and force me into a cycle. Granted that was pre-1.21 (the introduction of the Job system) but still, it was better than doing the same thing over... and over... and over... and over...

[ispano]

It was an example Fey. And to Ispano, I didn't stay all the way to the end. I was there when they were part of the game and I loved that variety, I could use a dozen different spells and not have them chain together and force me into a cycle. Granted that was pre-1.21 (the introduction of the Job system) but still, it was better than doing the same thing over... and over... and over... and over...

See that's part of the problem. While I don't mind having the choice to use just about any skill I want, if you want to do most anything with other people, you will be mostly pigeonholed into a specific setup. It happens in any mmo where you have choices. It's just an illusion.

[Kisagami]

But that's the thing, it wasn't that way in the original. Many of the spells had the same base damage but different effects. Like Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire; each had a different effect. Blizzard would slow the enemy while Thunder stunned and Fire could damage those around it. Banish and Scourge? Same basic attack but different elements and made the enemy weak against that element. Bio reduced attack power/spell power, Dia reduced defenses, Damnation absorbed MP. Everything had secondary abilities that made it more effective to pick and choose based on what you were fighting. Fighting a magic creature? Then use Absorb Int and make it's attacks weaker. Fighting a high defense creature? Dia away and watch your party stomp it into the ground.

[ispano]

But that's the thing, it wasn't that way in the original. Many of the spells had the same base damage but different effects. Like Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire; each had a different effect. Blizzard would slow the enemy while Thunder stunned and Fire could damage those around it. Banish and Scourge? Same basic attack but different elements and made the enemy weak against that element. Bio reduced attack power/spell power, Dia reduced defenses, Damnation absorbed MP. Everything had secondary abilities that made it more effective to pick and choose based on what you were fighting. Fighting a magic creature? Then use Absorb Int and make it's attacks weaker. Fighting a high defense creature? Dia away and watch your party stomp it into the ground.

And early 1.0 was horridly balanced because of that. The more "utility", especially for certain types of creatures, that you give a class, the more people will take that class over other classes. So you say, let them cross class the skills. But then people will require you to bring certain skills. That's the problem really. If you want a game to be balanced so as to not have massive amounts of class stacking, you can't have these things half the time. As soon as you give one class something that people feel is NEEDED on a certain boss or fight, there goes the chance for anyone else of that role to get the spot. Like the Dragoon stacking that happened in early Ifrit.

[whoopeeragon]

And early 1.0 was horridly balanced because of that. The more "utility", especially for certain types of creatures, that you give a class, the more people will take that class over other classes. So you say, let them cross class the skills. But then people will require you to bring certain skills. That's the problem really. If you want a game to be balanced so as to not have massive amounts of class stacking, you can't have these things half the time. As soon as you give one class something that people feel is NEEDED on a certain boss or fight, there goes the chance for anyone else of that role to get the spot. Like the Dragoon stacking that happened in early Ifrit.

Remember days of THM solo-ing Dodore? xD

[Kisagami]

It wasn't horridly imbalanced, that's pure opinion and what people "demand" of you has little consequence. This is a videogame and we should treat it as such. If I enjoy using Astral and Umbral spells instead of Fire and Ice I should be able to.

[Stanice]

I actually don't think 1.0 balanced the skills very well but I liked the diversity in them, however .. 2.0 has very specific rotations for DD to deal the best damage and %90 of the time you spam the same thing over and over. Beyond boring.

[NeoAmon]

Yeah, I wish we had more black magic stuff, more Thunder type dmg spells would be good, also some Giga spells for fire and ice would make BLM less boring ^^.

I agree and pressed like ^^.