Astrologian 5.0 Discussion

[Suishouhime]

I agree with you that its imbalanced, but I think the main reason they balance base on those high end players is because it matter at that point.

It matters at all points. Just because non-Savage content isn't parsed or optimised doesn't mean that content is worthless; in fact, the entire appeal of FFXIV is in how accessible it is to casual players, because there's so much content for them to do. Why is "I want to have fun playing this game with a class that feels enjoyable" any less valuable a goal than "I want to make my FFLog numbers slightly bigger for 1% of the available content"?

You don't seem to understand what I'm saying. Your attitude of saying that only the meta Savage playstyle "matters" is the problem. Making design decisions that ruin the fun for 99% of people just to inflate rDPS numbers that're recorded on software that's technically banned by the game is farcical, and that's why it's being met with such resistance by people actually playing this class.

Can you imagine if someone watched GDQ and decided that, because the speedrunning community uses a skip to optimise completion speed, they should patch out every part of the game that was skipped by those speedrunners? Sure, it's more efficient, but it would completely miss the point of why most (non-speedrunning) people play those games, and also undermine the skill behind what the speedrunners do. Everyone would lose out.

Maybe a more relevant example: does completing the ARR/HW Savage raids unsynched give the same satisfaction as completing them synched? Does having higher rDPS for unsynched Savage content make it more fun, just because the numbers are bigger? Does skipping a phase unsynched make you feel just as skilled as skipping it synched? If "no", you already acknowledge that simply having bigger numbers for your FFLogs isn't what matters - it's the experience of actually playing engaging content which challenges you that matters.

The challenge of AST in Savage content, then, was to aim for an ideal Balance while also making sure you get at least some utility out of your cards, regardless of whether it was a Balance or not. Replacing that split-second improvisation with a mindless "ranged or melee" binary decision might result in more consistently high rDPS, but it doesn't feel earned. It doesn't feel like you had any input. It doesn't feel like your skill level made any difference. You might as well have not been there.