Blue Mage and Summoner responses worry me

[Volcano]

So summoner actually being a summoner would require a lot of skill so that's why they can't really do it? what's wrong with having a job sololy for skilled players?

[HakuroDK]

I definitely believe there would be a fair amount of logistics involved in the creation of BLU and the retweaking of SMN to make sure they're as true to their jobs as possible without throwing balance out the window.

The only way I could see BLU working in the current state of the game is by learning Blue Magic through job quests and only having five Blue Magic spells available to them, each of which fitting into one of the four roles: Tank, DPS, Healer, Support.

[Yukiko]

In an older LiveLetter they promised to make Ifrit and Titan Egi more useful, but i guess the redesign will come with new egis on 3.0 ... sad
It feels like current problems are carved into stone!

[Dotsusama]

With classes, there is little depth to playing them and their responses are they have no desire to add any for any class.

I see it as streamlining. I raided for years elsewhere. When it came time to prepare for an encounter there were so many details to hash out in advance. Did tanks have off-tank gear and skill to "stance dance"? Do healers and DPS have differing specs so that no two player's buffs are 100% the same?

In my observation, adding more layers to the mechanics of classes and inviting complexity invites the kind of end-game min-maxing attitude that I'm not fond of -- I had enough of it in WoW and FFXI and I don't think it belongs in XIV.

That environment has the attitude that you must be 100% dedicated to playing a certain way to benefit the group. There is no flexibility or place to improvise.

That will turn a lot of people off from running content with anything short of the most accepting FC, so you can forget about DF or PF.

[Fendred]

For Blue Mage, think about it: the abilities you learned in FFXI made it to where you could, in theory, play just about any role in a party... but you were still a Blue Mage.

Apply this to queuing up for duties, and I'm sure the dilemma is obvious. You would get a BLU in a party, but perhaps they don't have all the skills needed to fill a support slot. Or they only have mitigation/tanking abilities active. Or maybe they hate healing, etc. .

Yeah, we get that, but the objective should be to make the combat system work around the way Final Fantasy jobs traditionally worked, not shoehorn them into roles they were never meant to exclusively fill. The jobs are already suffering as a result of this. Paladin's can't heal effectively when that is part of what a paladin does, warriors can't do the kind of damage a fan would expect them to do in their intended gear, and black mages have lost a great deal of their original arsenal.

Does it break the game? No, but it does cheapen the whole experience. Most of the players that left fairly early often reported "not being able to play the way they wanted," which probably has a lot to do with the way he's doing the game's classes/jobs.

Perfectly balancing a game makes it sterile. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is not something Final Fantasy games were known for.

[Dotsusama]

So summoner actually being a summoner would require a lot of skill so that's why they can't really do it? what's wrong with having a job sololy for skilled players?

There is a difference between having a job that REQUIRES skill and having jobs (as they are now) where skill simply makes things easier and makes you stand out as a good player.

The devs likely do not want a high cost of entry to play a job --> a "you must be THIS AWESOME to play this job in a group, ever" sign. Think about how that sounds.

[Dotsusama]

snip

Opinion time: healing as a Paladin to generate enmity was the STUPIDEST THING about tanking as a Paladin in FFXI and I'm honestly glad it does not exist in this game.

/ahem

Also, since Flash has all but outlived its usefulness at endgame, I often find myself using Stoneskin on myself and allies with low health pools (looking at you, healers) when I'm not being punched in the face or running around, and it has saved many lives. Isn't that the whole mantra of the classic FF Paladin? Take the big hits, protect the weak, all that jazz. I don't think it's a cheap experience at all.

[Dyvid]

Does it break the game? No, but it does cheapen the whole experience. Most of the players that left fairly early often reported "not being able to play the way they wanted," which probably has a lot to do with the way he's doing the game's classes/jobs.

Then you look at the other side of the coin were players from v1.0xxx hated the open ended class development and wanted more rigid defined roles. PLD are tanks not healers. WAR are tanks not dps. BLM did lose spells like stone and aero but did get a unique play style that requires you to switch up spells instead of just casting one over and over.

[Fawkes]

Q36: In a previous Letter from the Producer LIVE you mentioned that you might be making changes to the class/job system. Can you tell us about this?

A36: Right now there is no information that we can share. However, there will be changes as we will be increasing the level cap.

I saw a translation of this question somewhere else that was significantly more depressing.

[Taruranto]

A22: Controlling the pet would require a lot of player skill so it might be hard to find a good overall balance.

Is he basically calling us stupid?

Also not surprised about Blue Mage, the system in this game is too rigid.