Gunbreaker gameplay hope and expectations

[Skullhack]

Not sure I've seen any post speculating on the gameplay of gunbreaker (GUN ?) itself, so here I go.

I'm simply asking what you people expect for this new tank. It can be anything, I just want to kill time while I wait for it.

I'll give my personal list (can be long). Before I begin, let me just say this : I think this expansion is the one where SE tries to create really different and new things. Between the areas and races, all the way to the jobs. I think (and hope) GUN and DNC (if it come as heal) will be very different than the already existing one : melee healer for DNC and... different tank for GUN, leaning toward a DPS style. Why I think that ? Because it's something people ask, if I'm not mistaken, and because we already got 3 tanks and heals that feel sometimes too close to each other. There is no risks to take by creating something different.

So, now my wishes :
First, the most important. Since GUN is one-handed with no off-hand, make it fast. Like SAM for example, with a buff. Either refreshed by a combo, or better, by using one or more of these ammos we heard about. Either way, we need a fast tank, we already got 3 of them that are slow af, as a NIN player, switching to PLD feel like dividing the speed of the game by 2. That alone will make me play GUN a lot, probably even as main.

After that, what I wish the most is for GUN to have a rotation that is more complex than other tanks. Ammo management looks like a good idea already, I hope there is one that give/refresh a buff (speed plz), one that put a DoT if it's not on another combo already, probably one for mitigation, one or more for a big damage cd that you have to plan and use on cooldown (Tempetus Est, the cross-shaped attack ?), and other used as dump (simple explosive slash ?).

I think giving all of that will reduce it's utility, but I don't picture myself how a Gunbreaker could have some sort of utility. Perhaps one ammo can be shot on a ally to shield him ? Making it a good OT to help mitigate TB. What other utility can you imagine ? I'm dreaming of a dps utility but let's be honest : giving a rDPS cooldown to a tank will make it mandatory in any composition, so I can't see that happen.

Last, the LB3. I'm pretty sad we won't see any offensive LB for GUN since Squall and everything, but what do you guys imagine ? Maybe deploying some sort of advanced turret that creates a big barrier around us ?

Voilà ! That's just my wishes, but I think GUN is the good job for an offensive, complex tank that borrow some concept from DPS. Since the GUN tank or DPS question was so important, maybe it's the good idea. This will probably attract a lot of DPS, myself included. Make DNC a melee heal then I'll stop playing DPS I guess

Feel free to answer my expectations, give yours or ignore my post ! (or everything ?)

[Kaedan]

Well, aside from the standard enmity builders, I'm expecting the ammo mechanic will work similar to how NIN's ninjutsu works, actually.

What I'm thinking is we'll have different ammo "abilities" that we will activate, and that will cause our "trigger" skill to light up. Then you pull the trigger and the effect activates based on which ammo you selected.

So for example, you use the "shield" ammo, it lights up the trigger skill and then you gain a defense buff. From the trailer, I think we can also expect a "fire" ammo, which will cause an explosion. Likely we will have a ST damage ammo as well as an AoE damage ammo. Probably a "napalm" ammo as well, which could cause an AoE DoT.

It sounds like Yoshi-P also knows that people don't care for tank stances, so we might have a larger variety of defense ammos for use on TBs, etc. I imagine that either the ammo or the trigger skill will be oGCD.

Finally, I think there's a possibility that we'll be able to mix ammo. So you might be able to activate a combination of ammo and then "trigger" it for larger effect, not unlike NIN's mudra mechanic.

[SenorPatty]

I'm expecting Renzozuken to flash across my screen and failing every prompt just like back in the days

*comforts 14 year old self*

[Skullhack]

Well, aside from the standard enmity builders, I'm expecting the ammo mechanic will work similar to how NIN's ninjutsu works, actually.

What I'm thinking is we'll have different ammo "abilities" that we will activate, and that will cause our "trigger" skill to light up. Then you pull the trigger and the effect activates based on which ammo you selected.

So for example, you use the "shield" ammo, it lights up the trigger skill and then you gain a defense buff. From the trailer, I think we can also expect a "fire" ammo, which will cause an explosion. Likely we will have a ST damage ammo as well as an AoE damage ammo. Probably a "napalm" ammo as well, which could cause an AoE DoT.

It sounds like Yoshi-P also knows that people don't care for tank stances, so we might have a larger variety of defense ammos for use on TBs, etc. I imagine that either the ammo or the trigger skill will be oGCD.

Finally, I think there's a possibility that we'll be able to mix ammo. So you might be able to activate a combination of ammo and then "trigger" it for larger effect, not unlike NIN's mudra mechanic.

Oh didn't think about that ! As a NIN main, I'm in ! The trigger spell should be on GCD, but not able to "fail" like the ninjutsu if you use another spell before triggering the combination. That way you can prepare your trigger during your combo and have time to plan ahead.

[Mansion]

As long as the Ammo is not another Dark Arts, then I'm fine with whatever they can come up with.

[CaedemSanguis]

More Complex Rotation than other tanks

Positionnal

Some range GCD offGCD

Faster GCD than other tanks

[Kaedan]

Oh didn't think about that ! As a NIN main, I'm in ! The trigger spell should be on GCD, but not able to "fail" like the ninjutsu if you use another spell before triggering the combination. That way you can prepare your trigger during your combo and have time to plan ahead.

Yeah, that sounds about right. The trigger would be on GCD with ammos off-GCD. And yeah, wouldn't make much sense to "fail" an ammo load like ninjutsu can fail. I like the idea of being able to load ammo and keep it there until you need it. Then some complexity can come in when you have to consider the timing of boss TBs, etc.

[Skullhack]

More Complex Rotation than other tanks

Positionnal

Some range GCD offGCD

Faster GCD than other tanks

You summed up my long post ! However, how do you think positional could work on a tank without forcing them into OT as much as possible ?

Yeah, that sounds about right. The trigger would be on GCD with ammos off-GCD. And yeah, wouldn't make much sense to "fail" an ammo load like ninjutsu can fail. I like the idea of being able to load ammo and keep it there until you need it. Then some complexity can come in when you have to consider the timing of boss TBs, etc.

Exactly ! Seems to be a good way to implement the system and adding a complexity layer for GUN !

[Bright-Flower]

Poisitionals on a tank I'd say no thanks, tanks should, 98% of the time, have enemies facing them. Sure, if you're off tanking, or the boss is doing a hard cast, you have time to hit positionals.

But most of the time the boss is facing you, and you can't hit positionals. And sometimes when you COULD, you still don't want to be dancing around because tanks should position the boss and move around as little as possible.

I'm all for making GUN more intricate than paladin but I think there's a good reason the current tanks don't use positionals specifically.

[CaedemSanguis]

Guess in order to do positional as Mt, boss have to cast