
Originally Posted by
LineageRazor
For the record, I'm of the opinion that SAM would serve VERY well as either a tank or a DPS. I'm leaning toward DPS, ONLY because we already have two sword-wielding Tanks, and I'd like to see a sword-wielding DPS. That is really my only reason.
But my hackles as a FFXI vet were raised at the following, and I felt compelled to speak up.
Overwhelm wasn't at all a useless trait. It was, in fact THE BEST optional trait a SAM could select, and until SE nerfed it so that points beyond the third produced diminishing returns, an SAM without 5/5 Overwhelm was either a bad SAM, or one that hadn't built up enough limit points yet. (And after that nerf, any SAM without 3/5 Overwhelm was bad. :P)
In FFXI, frontals and conal attacks weren't nearly as much a problem as they are in this game. Outside of a VERY few exceptions, there were no "cleaves" intended to kill anyone in front of the mob who wasn't a tank. Frontals and conals did ordinary damage, or inflict status. Sure, players frowned on players who stood in front of mobs for no good reason - but SAMs were an exception because they DID have a good reason. SAMs were the DPS that stood in front of the mob. It was where they performed the best. This was known and accepted - healers did not complain about the modest amount of extra damage or status they needed to clean up, because the SAMs were putting out enough hurt to make it more than worthwhile.