Quote Originally Posted by Duelle View Post
[a] This is understandable. I've always been a fan of resources being a way to differentiate classes from one another, and ideally I would like PLD, DRK, WAR and DRG to have their own unique takes on STR TP instead of being held to a universal system.
[b] The intent with my suggestion is to have DEX TP work similar to how Energy works in WoW. As you know, it's a resource that is spent quickly but regenerates quickly to reward the player learning how to pace themselves. Admittedly this is the intent behind the current iteration of TP, but it hasn't worked out due to several factors.
[c] What I was aiming for was for MNK building up momentum and then focus on keeping that momentum. It wouldn't be that different from what they currently have, except that instead of Greased Lightning dropping all three stacks once the timer hits 0, you just lose stacks over time.

Non-sequitur:
Chakra as a whole is flawed and something I'd love to see scrapped and redesigned. The main flaws are that a) fifth chakra is the only one that matters and b) you have to spam a button to attain fifth chakra. I equate it to character dialogue that breaks the flow of gameplay in a platformer/action game. The system breaks the flow of gameplay for MNK.

Real-life Chakras all mean different things and have different properties. The 7th/final Chakra is not the only the only one that matters like in-game, and I think a MNK should have skills determined by what Chakra they've activated.
[a] I get that too. I just want that resource system to work atop what we have now, rather than being a limiter for it, if that makes sense. If TP is going to prevent you from being able to use the rotations you know and maybe even enjoy, that seems unnecessarily problematic to me, especially if it's not almost entirely sure to produce a preferable result.

[b] Makes sense. I just wonder at that point how it'd be any different than the original stamina bar, except that the stamina bar at least toyed (for all of one beta build) with the idea of regeneration speeds decreasing with progress/fill, and damage dealt via TP-spending moves increasing with fill, so you had a haste vs. damage mechanic. If it were like stacking a skill speed resource to be used when you want, and otherwise rotations go on as normal, then it feels like augmentation rather than a limiter.
(I'm faintly reminded of the fatigue system, where you could potentially reach half or more level max level classes (if not for the obvious leve issues those days after skill-farming was removed) faster than when the system was replaced with bonus exp. Bonus exp felt faster, but unless you were disinterested in leveling more than a couple classes, that wasn't necessarily true; it just depends on the actual exp rates more than the system. Nonetheless, it was that feeling that condemned the first and praised the latter, more so even than people specifically wanting to focus on a single class.)
My only other potential issue here, and this is a stretch, is that an energy bar is basically a redundancy (with the simple GCD) unless it creates additional gameplay components as a result. Things like holding onto a GCD, and its variable energy costs, while waiting for a DoT to reach the brink of falling off (or the pandemic / roll-over) are things that require a energy system that ensures that the holding time won't go to waste. But at the same time, without a sense of compromise between the two system, it adds no more complexity than the GCD system alone does, especially once you attach issues like combos (wherein to take advantage of the filler space before refreshing a DoT, you might have to be even later in refreshing it) or preferred abilities and syncs (such that the DoT is worth waiting a half GCD, or to clip an oGCD into the GCD prior, to perfect). As long as energy always binds you, you will always wait that X duration remainder for the debuff's perfect refresh. There's no decision.

[c] (Non-sequitor) [RANT] Yeah, it's hard for me to really even envision where they were going with the Chakra system. Meditation's failure to scale with the GCD, even after having its recast reduced, means it would only be viable in combat if Tornado Kick and Forgotten Chakra were each buffed, at which point it would be usable after Tornado Kick used at the tail of your CD-window after refreshing all DoTs and unloading all oGCDs so that the amount time spent prepping damage in terms of a fifth each of a Forbidden Chakra would be a smaller portion of the GCD (1.4s of 2.38s or so, instead of 2.15 or less). And even then, it'd probably be more of a TP-efficiency alternative than the optimal choice... Purification being attached to that system would seem to make sense, except that it has a long cooldown, meaning that you can't use it for extended AoE any more than one would a Form Shift spam between Twin Snakes (or DK-TS-RB only if focusing a single target with all AAs). I get that they didn't want us to have unlimited TP by Purifying between every pull while our Bards are forced to Swiftsong instead of restore their own TP and Machinists only get mild contribution from tossing out and promoting their Rooks every 5s or 2 bonus ticks as we run, but it makes the ability feel more like a capacity change than any sort of job ability. During downtime, once per Invigorate period, you get 67% more Invigorate...
When I first heard about the Chakra system coming into play, I imagined it either be gradual gates of release or a series of gameplay-affecting mechanical additions, each adding a higher priority mechanic that effectively or entirely replaces the last. Instead its a stack charge system used only for an opening oGCD and then more Invigorate or another opening oGCD during each encounter break thereafter.

But hey, I still dislike that Form Shift doesn't even have any uptime single target uses. It has AoE TP efficiency implications as long as you absolutely would bottom out and clear the AoE pack more slowly without it (rarely the case). It has downtime uses, for returning to Coeurl or Coeurl minus whatever GCDs' worth of duration of GL remains and you'd rather open with something else. But never uptime single target.