Classes and Rotations to be "Easier" in 4.0. Predictions, Concerns, and Discussion.

[Khalithar]

That's the thing, though. Not every job should be about stacks or buffs or <insert other overused mechanic>. You can have jobs with varying levels of difficulty or focused on certain mechanics while excluding others. When ROG/NIN was implemented, some people expectedly switched mains because ROG/NIN was not chained to positional attacks the way MNK and DRG were. This is also why people lost their shit when the devs talked about wanting to add positionals to NIN; the very thing they were trying to get away from was being forced on them through lack of alternatives.

I was thinking about these very same things myself today while mulling over the xpac we're getting and fanfest and I have to say I agree. Why can't we have a melee with no positionals? Why can't we have a dps class that doesn't have to manage stacks/buffs/debuffs? Why does every ranged class have to have cast times to their abilities?

Hypothetically, assuming nin had no positionals, I highly doubt it would suddenly cause everyone to start playing nin because maybe that person really does prefer mnk or drg. However if they got rid of positional attacks on one class and every person suddenly switched to it? I'd hope SE would take the hint. I personally hate the entire positional concept, I personally have always preferred the tried and true method of melee dps just hitting the boss from the back. I don't think the extra layer is needed by throwing on positionals.

[Nama]

They could start experimenting with positionals giving bonuses that are not just potency increases. Perhaps replacing potency bonuses for other bonuses could be better. For example on drg using wheeling thrust from the back could increase blood of the Dragon by 20sec instead of 15. Other modifiers they could try over potency, tp reduction, increase debuff duration or reduce cool down timers are certain abilities.

[Kiteless]

I'd like to see melee DPS classes (new or retooled old ones, I'm looking at you, Ninja) that rely on some gimmick other than positionals. There have got to be other ways to make DPS interesting without attaching it to the shimmy.

[RiisWolf]

-Paladin: Cleave, ultra flash, or faster attack speed.
-Warrior: Remove parry or make parry better to justify having defiance buff it. Other than that, make wrath easier to rack up. Also make Fracture OBVIOUSLY useful.
-Dark Knight: If you're going to make everything spam AoEs and disappear every 3 seconds then please remove DRK's over-reliance on getting hit to restore MP (Blood Price). And also please remove Grit penalty on Blood Weapon.
-Black Mage: Enochian is the worst thing to happen to this job even with the increasing number of enemies who excessively forces you to move and/or wait. Remove it please and make thunder great again.
-Summoner: Please don't do bahamut powers again, unless its an egi more focused on exploding everything. Summoners should rely on their summoned minions to do the work, not the other way around.
-Machinist: It's a gun. Please remove cast times.
-Bard: Make buffs and Dots longer, or add more helpful songs. It's fun being immune to certain attacks.
-Ninja: Make hiding work. Cut back on the excessive timers and combos, cause this amount of work is absurd for the weakest melee DPS.
-Monk: Add ki blast.
-Dragoon: Change Fang&Claw and Wheeling Thrust so they are NOT identical attacks with the exception of positionals.
-AST: Make AST a NOT Discount WHM/SCH
-SCH: Make carry fairy better. Make Barriers stack.
-WHM: Keep accuracy off gear.

[Khalithar]

-SCH: Make carry fairy better.

Eos is actually pretty powerful already but to really bring out sch's full potential you need to make macros. With Eos on obey and the right macros commanding her to heal every single time you cast a spell? She really shines. The fact that sch is really the only class that "needs" macros for max efficiency is a separate discussion though.

[bardaboo]

I mean... easier?? I've seen lvl 60 dragoons that don't even use heavy thrust. It's a fukking lvl 12 move and they can't figure out it's actually useful. And we want to cater to these people? God help us all

[RiisWolf]

Eos is actually pretty powerful already but to really bring out sch's full potential you need to make macros. With Eos on obey and the right macros commanding her to heal every single time you cast a spell? She really shines. The fact that sch is really the only class that "needs" macros for max efficiency is a separate discussion though.

This topic is a question/wishlist about making classes easier, NOT if someones doing anything right and/or efficiently. So that is best left for another topic.

[Konungarike]

I am actually extremely worried that they'll change my favourite job(s) in ways that makes it less enjoyable to me. I try not to dwell on it, but it's hard... I've always been equally worried when new mechanics are added to YuGiOh for example, but at least then I would always be able to keep my old decks. Come 4.0, SMN as I know it might be gone.

That said, I try to stay positive. There are SMN skills I never even touch. Virus is great but I don't want to lock it from the healers, so I never use it. Tri-Bind doesn't even exist to me. So if they got rid of such spells and/or replaced them with something worth using for the job I wouldn't mind.

I just wanna keep having fun

[Connor]

I really really hope this just means condensing skills and Quality of Life stuff. I'm a Bard main and it has enough problems without the already very simplistic dps rotation being made even easier. And considering how easy healing is as a mechanic, the idea of it becoming even easier is terrifying.
That said, for Bard I can see them removing Bloodletter procs, removing Venomous / Windbite, having Irons Jaws apply the DoT itself, all songs become instant cast (because wtf Bards aren't meant to spend time singing!), maybe Raging Strikes / Hawk's Eye consolidated into a single dps buff. Which would completely kill the job in terms of being fun to play, but it's honestly the only way they can make the job easier.

[bardaboo]

The only reason "simplifying" jobs would be valuable is if they plan on adding a bunch of new moves later on. Which is going to happen at some point. So i get it... new moves get added and old moves either become irrelevant or the rotations become even longer. I don't like smn/sch because you can't really play those classes well only using two hotbars. Every other class i play i worked into two. Maybe it'll just be 1 or 2 new moves between 60 - 70.