Consolidated White Mage 4.0 Feedback Thread

[Evumeimei]

Raiding is the only content where balance matters.

Nothing else hits even remotely hard enough for anyone to care what isn't "good" outside Savage and Extremes.

I think the problem is more that the raiding meta becomes law in this game. Doesn't matter whether or not you're competent as a player. Don't play that one job that happens to be a bit more optimal? Can't join a group. I realize that's a generalization, but you get the idea.

A majority of the community doesn't do top-tier raiding, but they still follow that raiding meta as if it's the only way to do things. That, in turn, puts pressure on the people who enjoy the jobs that happen to be seen as "worse," when the jobs are perfectly viable at the level of play of 80% of the player-base.

[Yorumi]

A majority of the community doesn't do top-tier raiding, but they still follow that raiding meta as if it's the only way to do things. That, in turn, puts pressure on the people who enjoy the jobs that happen to be seen as "worse," when the jobs are perfectly viable at the level of play of 80% of the player-base.

All the more reason to have actual balance. The raiding meta is not some arbitrary dictate, it's based on the balance of the classes. While casual content is easy, it's still a heck of a lot faster and easier with proper classes. Technically all classes can clear raid content, and yet we pick the best ones to do the job. That's human nature, people don't pick for pity. The people saying we shouldn't balance for raiding are the exact ones who are making it so that certain classes don't get picked for any content. You can't stop people from discussing what's the best way to play a class or clear content, but what they can do is ensure the classes are properly balanced so no class is excluded.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I think the problem is more that the raiding meta becomes law in this game. Doesn't matter whether or not you're competent as a player. Don't play that one job that happens to be a bit more optimal? Can't join a group. I realize that's a generalization, but you get the idea.

A majority of the community doesn't do top-tier raiding, but they still follow that raiding meta as if it's the only way to do things. That, in turn, puts pressure on the people who enjoy the jobs that happen to be seen as "worse," when the jobs are perfectly viable at the level of play of 80% of the player-base.

It doesn't. People were far more willing to bring Summoners and Black Mages into groups despite neither being optimal. The difference is both are strong. White Mage suffered this tier because it offers virtually nothing an Astro isn't capable of. Can it clear content? Absolutely. And at the more casual level, people generally don't care. Once you step into upper midcore, it changes because these are players who want to down content quickly for loot. Bole is incredible for prog since you can see more mechanics and Balance is, well, Balance. Even giving White Mage access to Stoneskin II during combat and a Raise that doesn't apply weakness would have been huge for prog at least. Sure, Cure III is nice but Creator didn't hit hard enough for groups to favour it over what Astro offers. Another factor is the ease of transition. You'd be silly forcing your Monk to play Ninja because "meta" if said Monk can push out monstrous numbers. Healers lack the same complex rotation, making it significantly easier to bounce between each.

Outside Savage, most people don't care. You almost never see the "meta" for Extremes. And once the odd number patch or echo comes out, most play whatever they feel like. It's the initial release where people hype certain jobs because we're all technically below the ilvl, thus whatever extra edge you can bring helps. Yorumi summed it up well. People are always going to discuss the best. The devs should aim for each job to be similar to where casters were this tier. Not necessarily "meta" but strong enough only speed killers really care. White Mage just isn't there, which is why more people look down on it.