Tiered Spells, in a game which has a limited number of actions that can be used, are a waste of space. There are more inventive and strategic ways to vary the spells than making a more potent version. We could have instant cast spells with a reduced potency. We could have spells with a longer cast time that has greater potency. I would take actual variety over tiered spells any day of the week.[Concern]
Removal of tier spells: Hate management is going to be terrible...being forced to cast "cure III" instead of tossing out a cure I to keep the tank going. Forced into casting the strongest nukes instead of lighter nukes to keep off hate....
MP Cost: I haven't leveled DoM classes high enough for the higher tiers, but if the MP cost is different between tiers a mage won't be able to fall back to Fire when they don't have the MP for Fire II.
[Request]
Make traits learnable by individual classes, but let traits be equipped regardless of current class. Someone who trains to run fast doesn't become slow when doing another action, they still have the ability to run fast. Traits should be a reflection of knowledge gained from using a certain class, but should be "character-centric" instead of "class-centric". Just because it's learned from a certain class doesn't mean it should only be available while that class.
There are abilities now which affect the potency of your next cast. I would like to see those given more reason to exist. Tierless spells accomplish that.
The traits being locked to a class is necessary to keep class roles separate. Why invite a PUG when a LNC does everything the PUG can do, but from a greater distance. Traits will add utility to each class, and allowing them to be cross-classed will only make everything more scrambled. We need identity, not homogeneity.
These changes are intended to add more teamwork and strategy to the game, and I think that if you thoroughly review today's announcement, you will see that they do just that.