Shields & Parrying in 1.19

[Baxter]

i think with the implementation of autoattack you should still keep a defend/raise shield mode. This lends to that final fantasy series feel as in almost every offline you could defend. You could adjust it to where you cannot autoattack in shield mode or something.

[Stufoo]

I see you posting this a lot, and I'm happy to see people posting their observations. The problem, however, is that it seems that the only testing you've done is "Just eyeballing it," which isn't enough..

Go do it yourself then. It has been STR since the alpha of this game and it still is as of 1.19a. You saw plenty of times GLA with scutums missing blocks with no STR allotted, and GLAs that never missed a block with high STR, and 0 DEX, while every single time you get imperiled you can miss a block even with a scutum. It's currently STR, period.

If the dev is talking about the game currently, he is wrong. It probably got lost in translation and they are planning to change it to dex, or they made a mistake.

Oh, and this: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...entry?e=260665

[Ricky]

http://ffxiv.zam.com/en/item/4030204/Cobalt-Katzbalger

This is a Gladiator item which gives Parry.. why?
It's even a sword, so the "Marauder item" argument doesn't work.

[Alhanelem]

I'm on THM, and I am just eyeballing this but I see absolutely zero benefit to block rates by adding STR (ignoring the fact that it doesn't really help anything else on THM either). Granted, I can't add that much- 15 with the traits mages learn and a little bit on oddball gear- Only way I can add much more would be materia.

(I had set these traits in the futile hope that it would help basic and TP actions but it didn't do much of anything for those either)

[Brannigan]

I'm on THM, and I am just eyeballing this but I see absolutely zero benefit to block rates by adding STR (ignoring the fact that it doesn't really help anything else on THM either). Granted, I can't add that much- 15 with the traits mages learn and a little bit on oddball gear- Only way I can add much more would be materia.

(I had set these traits in the futile hope that it would help basic and TP actions but it didn't do much of anything for those either)

To really test something like this you not only need to add enough of the stat to make a big difference (I'd say 15-20% at least) but also a large sample size (like 500 or so hits at least)

[Rydin]

http://ffxiv.zam.com/en/item/4030204/Cobalt-Katzbalger

This is a Gladiator item which gives Parry.. why?
It's even a sword, so the "Marauder item" argument doesn't work.

You can play Glad with no shield, I guess.... And honestly, you have to think if Parry procs more than Blocks, then that might not be a bad idea

[Alhanelem]

Yes, I agree with you, i'm just saying if it does affect it, most people aren't going to notice- and it's not as simple of a task to get lots of STR to test this stuff when we don't have point allocation anymore.

[Andrien]

Perhaps adding a Shield Mastery trait for gladiator will help. The size of the shield will govern the amount of time you block, and the amount of damage mitigated.

I want to block magic and range attacks too.

side note: It seems every monster and animal have some kind of range attack ability. even goats lol

edit: shield users should be able parry as well.

[Kiara]

I find this to be a huge balance issue.
Having both my GLA and MRD at 50 I have used both as tanks now and in the past.
However now with the ifrit fight being one of the few challangeing content out, I feel very sad to see that yet again MRD is by far the superior tank.

Why? Well MRD can mignate about 20-30% incomming damage with parry alone, does about 3 times the damage while tanking(defenderII up) then a GLA and has easier time to maintain hate (basicly hate is silly easy to keep on MRD while as on GLA you actualy have to put effort in) thus making it easier just to focus on damage and survivial.

But GLA can block right? Normaly yes, but you can't block Ifrits attacks for some reason, me and 3 other LS GLAs have fought Ifrit many times and I've yet to see any block procs, making shield skills useless.

So what does GLA have over MRD as a tank? Around 50defence 300 hp and about 50mp.
Meanwhile MRD reduced alot more damage taken, does alot more damage and holds better hate.

Please SE look into balancing this, I leveled my GLA to tank and when my MRD is doing it much more efficiant I feel like GLA is a useless class to have, the only times I bring out my GLA is for casual stronghold farm content...

Its a simple fix as well, either let shield users parry, or improve block to the point where it acutaly feels worth it to bring a GLA to any highend content.

Well said Choyi.

I agree with most everyone's sentiments on this thread. I switched from Gladiator to Marauder tank this past week (and I normally don't even play Marauder), and the difference in tanking on Ifrit was night and day: I took far less damage with Parry activating more often, could hold hate far more easily, and do more damage than Gladiator as well.

There's no comparison.

I guess it's ultimately about where Team Yoshida and the Battle Team want to take the evolution of Gladiator ("Paladin") and Marauder ("Warrior"). One would think that Gladiator > Paladin would be the main Tank Job in this game, but at this rate, it's not even close. Gladiator is far outstripped by Marauder for tanking on Ifrit.

If they want to make Gladiator > Paladin the main Tank class, then they need to increase Block Rate, allow Parrying and Evading (all 3 facets of Defensive maneuvers), or at least make Blocking proc far more often with higher defense on Gladiator.

Thanks.

[Rydin]

I guess sometimes you just have to find the extremes before you can find balance... At one point blocking was very significant... almost God-Like in some cases.... and now it is almost non existent....
I do agree though... A GLAD should block noticeably more than a similarly geared MRD parry's