Culling and restructuring skills to make room for 5.0 abilities

[Shurrikhan]

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Assuming for a moment that it was possible for virtually every job to double-weave (or at least, let's say, 1.7-weave for a high-speed Monk or SkS-burdened NIN), would you prefer that some DPS CDs were multi-stage, allowing for a more frequent function normally, but doubling into a secondary function when pressed again within a short span, with that secondary function on a much longer CD if necessary? This secondary function could have a particularly short animation-lock, beneath the standard .7-ish seconds of most (maybe uniquely clipping the first shorter in a reuptook or continued animation or just fast in general).

B&S and BDO each give examples of this, but if job gauge integration is acceptable, then Geir/Nostrond -- or, a slightly more bankable/controlled version thereof, without such a long burst phase to potentially go to waste -- may be a better example yet.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Assuming for a moment that it was possible for virtually every job to double-weave (or at least, let's say, 1.7-weave for a high-speed Monk or SkS-burdened NIN), would you prefer that some DPS CDs were multi-stage, allowing for a more frequent function normally, but doubling into a secondary function when pressed again within a short span, with that secondary function on a much longer CD if necessary? This secondary function could have a particularly short animation-lock, beneath the standard .7-ish seconds of most (maybe uniquely clipping the first shorter in a reuptook or continued animation or just fast in general).

B&S and BDO each give examples of this, but if job gauge integration is acceptable, then Geir/Nostrond -- or, a slightly more bankable/controlled version thereof, without such a long burst phase to potentially go to waste -- may be a better example yet.

Could be interesting. While far too complex for the devs to likely consider, I have always fancied a system where the order of our combos change the final result. An example would be: Full Thrust --> Vorpol Thrust --> Chaos Thrust. Instead of that being a broken combo, have Chaos Thrust become something else. It'd be a neat way to upgrade the combo abilities without taking up more hot bar space. Been ages since I played BnS and BDO but I believe they do something similar.

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Once again, Warrior and Dragoon are more or less the same. While Storm's Eye combos off Maim, it serves literally no other purpose than to give you a 10% buff. You will never touch Storm's Eye unless it's to refresh that buff. Which is precisely how Heavy Thrust works. Unless they're adding another GCD to press, this is simply taking away a button because people can't be bothered to pay attention and keep Heavy Thrust up.

[Shurrikhan]

Could be interesting. While far too complex for the devs to likely consider, I have always fancied a system where the order of our combos change the final result. An example would be: Full Thrust --> Vorpol Thrust --> Chaos Thrust. Instead of that being a broken combo, have Chaos Thrust become something else. It'd be a neat way to upgrade the combo abilities without taking up more hot bar space. Been ages since I played BnS and BDO but I believe they do something similar.

Oh, heck yeah. I've been pushing for that since 1.8, though in varying iterations, and heavily after ARR dropped. (Oddly enough, the Battle Regimen system that was abandoned when Yoshida took over was probably the closest we've gotten, though it was more for Skillchain-esque party variations thereof, replaced thereafter by wholly linear combos.)

I'm just not sure if I prefer arbitrary combo trees or simpler embedded effects that synergize with different 'paths'. Additionally, it may be difficult to get the most out of such a system while still using a fixed GCD, rather than animation-based uptime usage.

Aside/for others' reference: In BnS and BDO, "combos" are simply whatever abilities can animation-flow (animation-cancel from a shared anchor/return point) such that the time taken to complete a particular sequence of actions is less than the normal sum of the individual actions' time taken. BnS and BDO also to some degree allow for secondary effects to be applied by lower-cooldown skills, with that effect then going on a longer, separate cooldown. For instance, a sidestepping leg-chop could normally be there just to evade and deal damage, but its first use or first doubled use might apply a hamstring effect and superarmor (see Dysidia) over the animation as well. The skill itself would be spammable, but the effect would have about a 12-second cooldown.