4.0 abilities

[RiceisNice]

I extended the description a bit since you last posted. Check on it when you have the time.


As for introducing new skills to expands on Jobs the merit/modification can do that assuming effort and consideration how it changes certain skills and combos was put into it. As other have said there is a point when adding more skills does become a burden than actual growth of a character and completely changing a gameplay style for the job from what it was can have some negative effects as we saw in 3.0 when they completely changed the game play for Bards.

This is where they need to put their thought process to the work. There's really little reason for BRD to have the exact same mechanic as MCH, minus being initially designed with it in mind. The merit system is fine, but by itself I'd hardly justify it as something that expands on your character for the next 10 levels.

I'm not buying into the idea that my MCH "grows" by having their turret (which already has few interaction) doing more damage, but rather something that allows me to interact with my turret through the form of trick shots or micro-management, much like how I didn't buy how my BRD "grows" by having cast times slapped onto their ranged gameplay, essentially turning them into a caster. In general WM and even GB to an extent feels like a hot mess that had very little play testing to see if it was viable (and it wasn't, considering they were actually a dps loss to a degree on release) and if it worked with the job's gameplay.

Not to mention they may start running out of ideas on how to expand a Job's combo as we see with paladin's 4th combo skill introduced in 3.0 being a simple 350 potency direct damage skill with no Tank Job effects on it other than pure damage.

If they are running out of ideas, then they're out of their league when it comes to content design and the game has no business passing off another expansion. Rather than new combos, add in both ability pruning (getting rid of unwanted abilties) and add in oGCDs that work as a inter-combo; Abilities and buffs that interact with each other rather than being a standalone that adds no depth. A stationary melee does that moves to rear/flank via abilties and spot dodging.