Quote Originally Posted by aozoranoyume View Post
BLM should be stronger, but SAM is literally nothing right now compared to the other 3 melee. NIN & WAR have been locked meta slots since 2.4, how is removing their slashing debuff "shattering" their rotation? May as well give PLD and DRK slashing debuff too, otherwise their rotation is shattered.

SAM is more of an outcast currently than 3.x PLD was, because at least people wanted a tank, even if it wasn't optimal. There's literally 0 good reason to take a SAM to anything right now. A few people have already suggested giving SAM 15% slashing debuff as a potential compromise if NIN & WAR get to keep everything + their slashing.
But, why? Why of all possible buffs to samurai would you firstly aim to debuff NIN and WAR? Why bother with a uniquely strong version of a ubiquitous ability after Stormblood just removed all hybrid vuln strikes?

By all means, buff Samurai, but why should it need to be kept solely because of unwarranted and arbitrary punishment to other jobs or for a gimmick tank buff.

Hell, 5% extra damage is more than Samurai even needs personally (such as if given through Jinpu). A unique form of Slashing would provide an extra ~4.2% DPS to every PLD and NIN, ~4.8% to every DRK, and +5% to every WAR, atop ~4.6% more Samurai DPS. Compare this to the ~1.4 to ~2% rDPS bonus of Trick Attack over time, albeit to all allies; even affecting just three allies, it'd already beat the beast of rDPS. Samurai would become mandatory, and for reasons that don't make Samurai itself more attractive. It just becomes a compositional check. Got our SAM? Okay, then we're allowed to raid.

BLM falls again completely out of meta. MNK falls out of meta. WAR gains an even greater lead. You've replaced one issue with three because you decided to buff the job by buffing something outside the job.