The Culling: Moving into 5.0

[Kabooa]

I like lilies just as they because they aren't relevant. Initially, SE got it into their head that EVERYONE needed a class gauge of some sort which I vehemently disagree with, and honestly I think SE realized it wasn't necessary either. I believe SE gave WHM a gauge that was intentionally low impact so as not to cause any drastic changes in game play for WHM and I am thankful for that. I like WHM as it is (and as it was prior to Stormblood). I would not want to deal with some weird mechanic like the BLM gauge on WHM.

Gauges are literally just timer and resource trackers that aren't aligned to your buff bar. A quick at-a-glance of your job specific mechanics that wouldn't get lost in the plethora of buffs that get tossed out on a constantly shifting bar.

[Brightamethyst]

Gauges are literally just timer and resource trackers that aren't aligned to your buff bar. A quick at-a-glance of your job specific mechanics that wouldn't get lost in the plethora of buffs that get tossed out on a constantly shifting bar.

Only sort of. It also gave rise to new, and often pointless mechanics just because they wanted to give everyone a job gauge. Things like Ninki and DRG gazes and the fairy gauge, which seem to exist solely because some dev thought the UI wasn't flashy enough.

[Kabooa]

Only sort of. It also gave rise to new, and often pointless mechanics just because they wanted to give everyone a job gauge. Things like Ninki and DRG gazes and the fairy gauge, which seem to exist solely because some dev thought the UI wasn't flashy enough.

Hey man, if you'd rather have a small icon with a number 0-100 for your stuff on your bar, more power to you.

[Brightamethyst]

Hey man, if you'd rather have a small icon with a number 0-100 for your stuff on your bar, more power to you.

That's not what I'm talking about. I do like seeing most of that info more prominently. That part is pretty nice (though I do use the simplified versions on almost all job.) What I'm questioning is why some of the systems exist at all. Ninki, for example, feels like it only exists because some dev said "NIN needs a job gauge" and then had to invent skills and traits around it. That's not innovation, just pointless bloat.

[Kabooa]

That's not what I'm talking about. I do like seeing most of that info more prominently. That part is pretty nice (though I do use the simplified versions on almost all job.) What I'm questioning is why some of the systems exist at all. Ninki, for example, feels like it only exists because some dev said "NIN needs a job gauge" and then had to invent skills and traits around it. That's not innovation, just pointless bloat.

Fundamentally, Stormblood has felt like a transitional period more than a standalone when it came to job mechanics. I honestly do see TP being phased out in 5.0 and the mechanics introduced so far being tweaked and expanded upon.

Scholar and Summoner, in particular, I can see being a split focus revamp at some point in the future, as they both suffer by being tied to Arcanist as a base.

[Jandor]

Scholar and Summoner, in particular, I can see being a split focus revamp at some point in the future, as they both suffer by being tied to Arcanist as a base.

They used to, don't really see how it's an issue these days.

[Shurrikhan]

Fundamentally, Stormblood has felt like a transitional period more than a standalone when it came to job mechanics. I honestly do see TP being phased out in 5.0 and the mechanics introduced so far being tweaked and expanded upon.

Scholar and Summoner, in particular, I can see being a split focus revamp at some point in the future, as they both suffer by being tied to Arcanist as a base.

There's not a single thing they can't differentiate between the two jobs at this point. They've already shown that actions and traits can both be trimmed or added from the Arcanist arsenal as it applies to one job or the other. Everything level 30 and before can be retroactively changed at this point. There's nothing left that hasn't shown precedence for manipulation. The only remaining fundamental change is to prevent duplicated experience gains across the two jobs. They remain as close as they are for convenience and because the devs haven't found anything they'd rather replace the skills in common with.

[Sylvain]

snip

yeah there's only a few skill that remain shared, add a few skill rank upgrade and they're 100% different beside Aetherflux, Physick and Rez, which are skills I don't suspect to get new ranks.

But the exp share is an issue imo. There's no reason for someone leveling SMN or SCH to get the other job without even playing it. You can litterally be lv 70 SCH without even knowing what Adlo is. (Which is pretty much what happened to me at lv 60)


Gameplay wise, I consider that Aetherflux isn't adapted to SMN anymore, it doesn't bring anything. The mechanic doesn't feel interesting (but that's just me).
Unlike SCH, there's very little to no management of the Aetherflux with the SMN, at best you need to keep one stack for an eventual DoT split. Actually the place I manage those stacks the most is in dungeons. While I'm not expecting such a drastic change, if they were to separate the job I wish SMN would be the one being the Stand alone and get a new replacement mechanic.