Dancer Gameplay Speculation

[Nominous]

I expect them to be broken, first off. But before that, Melee DPS is the best example to look at for what to expect, since I think this demonstrates the way I think they want balance within the sub-roles.

NIN- Low DPS/High Support
DRG- Medium DPS/Medium Support
MNK- High DPS/Low Support
SAM- Higher DPS/No support

In Magical Ranged you already see this playing out too. RDM being similar to NIN on that spectrum, SMN being most similar to MNK, and BLM most similar to SAM. With physical ranged, I think you'll see it looking like this:

DNC- Low DPS/High Support
BRD- Medium DPS/Medium Support
MCH- High DPS/Low Support

That being said... What I expect?

I fully expect DNC to have something that rivals Trick Attack. Or, considering their different dances, maybe MULTIPLE ridiculous buffs.

Even though I think their gameplay won't be remotely like AST, I expect and think that's the most similar to what I expect from their buffs/debuffs. At minimum, I expect party-wide Haste, Damage Buffs, and maybe even significant CD reduction on skills (like Arrow used to be, but far more powerful).

I expect Slashing-Damage type, because I don't think they're willing to give up on damage-type debuffs yet. I think their exact line of thought will be that by bringing DNC, you naturally have no reason for DRG, therefore it's smarter to bring a NIN or SAM. Wonder if NIN gets to keep it's slashing debuff :thinking:?

I have no reason to believe, even in the absolute worst-case scenarios, that DNC will not be an immediate lock-in for parties, much like NIN. If I'm being honest, I think if DNC has good enough buffs, NIN might finally be dethroned. In the worst case scenario though, NIN is still good enough to where the meta party ends up being a toss-up between NIN/MNK/DNC/BLM (or SMN), and NIN/DRG/BRD (or MCH)/BLM (or SMN*)
*Bonus points if we have HW parties again, if MCH is busted.