Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LI (06/03/2019)

[Ralmevia]

Job Actions Trailer

We’ve released a trailer showcasing some of the new actions for all jobs, including gunbreaker and dancer.
* Some of the following details are also listed in the Rebalancing Player Roles section.


Gunbreaker
Gunbreaker is designed around the concept of pulling a trigger after using a weaponskill combo to charge a cartridge. This trigger mechanic is an homage to how you would pull the gunblade’s trigger when performing a slashing attack in FFVIII.

Bard
We streamlined many mechanics of bard in order to simplify the job’s management elements.
Its overall playstyle hasn’t changed drastically, but the adjustments make it easier to move around while using actions.

Dragoon
Dragoon’s playstyle remains relatively unchanged. We reduced the number of management elements, and made Jump much quicker.

Black Mage
Black mage also remains relatively unchanged. One notable change is that you will be able to cast Umbral Ice spells with no MP cost while in Astral Fire III. Additionally, Polyglot now stacks up to 2 times and can be consumed to activate a new spell.

Astrologian
Astrologian's card effects have been reworked so that all cards increase damage dealt in some way. However, knowing which cards should be given to certain party members remains a key point in using cards effectively. There’s also a new action that changes depending on the card you combine with it.

Samurai
Samurai is mostly unchanged, though we’ve emphasized Iaijutsu as the core mechanic of the job.

Warrior
Offensive stances have been removed from all tank jobs. In the case of warrior, Deliverance has been removed. Otherwise, there are no major changes to the job's core mechanics. Using Infuriate will grant a buff called Nascent Chaos, which allows you to unleash a powerful new attack. This new attack has the highest potency of all tank job actions, and hits even harder than Fell Cleave!

Red Mage
Red mage may have changed the least of all the jobs. Displacement now shares its recast time with a new action, which allows you to perform a quick flip in place if you don’t want to perform a backstep.

Monk
Monks are now able to go into Greased Lightning IV. We’ve also made it possible to maintain Greased Lightning even without an attack target.

Paladin
With the tank stance changes, Sword Oath has been removed. Paladin gained a few new actions including a rush attack, but the overall job and playstyle remains relatively unchanged.

Requiescat grants a new buff that allows you to ignore the cast time of spells, making them easier to execute. Sheltron is now duration-based and more flexible in usage. As a side note, Rage of Halone will be upgraded into a higher level action later on.

Ninja
Kassatsu is now a charged action. Ninja's most notable addition is Bunshin, which calls out a shadow form of yourself that mimics your actions. Check it out in the job actions trailer!

White Mage
The Healing Gauge has been reworked and will now automatically accumulate Lilies over time. White mage will also be able to throw objects other than stones, and even sprout wings!

Scholar
The pet system is being reworked. The actions for Eos and Selene have been consolidated, so you can simply pick which fairy you would like to use based on its appearance. Additionally, scholars will now be able to summon Seraphim for more potent healing.

Summoner
Summon is now an instant action. You’ll be able to quickly switch between pets, allowing you to change pets based on the current situation, which may be closer to the players’ ideas of summoner. And finally, you’ll be able to call upon the mighty Phoenix!

Machinist
The adjustments have made machinist almost a completely new job. Various changes and adjustments were made to machinist, such as the removal of Gauss Barrel, and the addition of a robot companion.

Dancer
Dancer is a support-type job designed around dancing various steps to apply buffs. It’s a unique job that allows for a refreshing new style of play.

Dark Knight
Dark Arts has been removed. Dark knights unleash their inner darkness to fight alongside them, which is quite the sight to see!


Rebalancing Player Roles

■Job Synergy

(1:45:54)
Job synergy will not be completely removed, but its effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
This will help reduce the perception that certain job combinations are essential to party composition. You may be wondering if dancer and its supportive actions will become a necessity. However there’s no need to worry, as dancer is designed around providing buffs to party members, instead of synergy with specific jobs.

■Tank Role Adjustments

(1:50:01)
Many adjustments were made to the tank role. You can confirm the main points in the image above.

We had a long debate regarding the main tank and off tank roles. After considering role effects on party composition, we decided to make all four tank jobs, including gunbreaker, suited for both the main and off tank roles. All tanks will share three basic capabilities: providing a party-wide defensive buff, providing a defensive buff to the main tank when playing as an off tank, and a short defensive buff to themselves. The difference between the tank jobs will be conveyed through their individual playstyles.

Tank stances have been changed, and should now be active at all times when playing as a main tank. You will no longer require specific combos to increase enmity, so you can maintain the same skill rotation regardless of whether you are currently main or off tank.

Generally, the role of a tank will be to provide defensive buffs to protect party members, as well as using a skill rotation optimal for the battle in order to deal damage.

■Gunbreaker Gameplay
(2:02:39)
We showed some live gameplay footage for gunbreaker. Gunbreaker has a rush attack, and you’ll gain cartridges after completing a 3-skill combo. The job mechanic is based around using cartridges to change your combo rotation, and feels very different from the other tank jobs.
There are also skills for self-healing and invulnerability. It may be difficult to get used to the job at first, but it’s definitely one that is enjoyable with more practice.

■Healer Role Adjustments

(2:07:43)
We focused heavily on balancing the three jobs within the healing role.

White Mage
Many of white mage’s most potent healing actions required cast times, and consequently it felt slower than the other healing jobs. We addressed this by increasing its instant healing capabilities, and made it easier to plan ahead as well move around while healing. At higher levels, consuming Lilies will accumulate a Blood Lily, which can be used for a powerful attack.

Scholar
Most of scholar's capabilities weren't significantly changed. However, its shield-based playstyle has been shifted to include more direct healing, and makes it easier for scholar to focus more on a heal-oriented playstyle. Instead of focusing on dealing damage while relying on the other healer to provide healing, both healers will be able support each other in the healing role. Additionally, Embrace can no longer be used repetitively, as we’d like to move away from using macros to repeatedly cast Embrace.

Astrologian
As mentioned earlier, astrologian’s card effects have been completely reworked. Both stances have been adjusted, and you now have an ability that allows you to receive the effects of both stances for a short period of time. All card effects increases damage dealt in some way, but selecting the appropriate recipient for each card is still crucial. At times you may feel it would be better to Redraw in hopes for a card that better suits the situation.

Also, the recast time for Draw and using cards have been separated and will be easier to use.

■DPS Role Adjustments

(2:20:24)
The DPS role was mostly split into two groups during adjustments: some remained relatively unchanged, while others received changes to their core mechanics.

The jobs that received changes to their core mechanic had elements that were difficult to control or manage, and in some cases weren’t very fun to play even at a high level. The scale of changes vary for each job, but some have had their mechanics reworked to the point where they may feel like entirely new jobs.

Additionally, advantages/disadvantages of job gauges were sometimes difficult to understand, especially so in the case of machinist's heat gauge. As such, all job gauges have been streamlined so that a full gauge will indicate an advantageous situation.

Monk
You’ll now be able to activate Greased Lightning IV while in Fists of Wind. We were concerned that increasing the speed of skill rotation would widen the disparity in player skill, so we decided against adding Greased Lightning IV in 4.0. However, we came to the conclusion that having fun was the most important aspect, and so we’ve added Greased Lightning IV this time around, as per popular request. In order to mitigate the disparity in skill, we have also added a new stance that allows you to maintain Greased Lightning.

Please be warned that as attainable skill speed values increase with the new gear introduced in each patch, it may become incredibly difficult to keep up with the skill rotation.

Dragoon
The skill rotation has been streamlined with the removal of Heavy Thrust. Other quality-of-life improvements include adjustments to the requirements for Mirage Dive, and the increased speed of Jump.

Samurai
Samurai was originally designed around being straightforward to use, so we didn’t change need to change much. Hagakure was making kenki management difficult, so we’ve removed it and focused on using Midare Setsugekka more often.

Ninja
As a result of the tank stance changes, actions that affected enmity have been removed. New features include access to higher tier ninjutsu under certain conditions, and the addition of Bunshin.

Black Mage
We've showed some live gameplay footage of black mage.

The new action, Umbral Soul, when used under the effect of Umbral Ice, will grant additional stacks of Umbral Ice. This makes it easier to maintain firepower even when there is no target.

Other adjustments include the addition of higher tier spells, the increased duration of Astral Fire, a new single-target spell similar to Flare, and being able to use Blizzard III even when your MP is at zero. Polyglot can now be stacked up to 2 times, which is a requirement in activating a new action.

These adjustments aim to allow black mages to continue to deal damage while still moving around. As a side note, though not limited to black mage, Mana Shift has been removed from magic ranged DPS role actions.

Red Mage
We've also shown some live gameplay footage of red mage.

Similarly to black mage, the job remains relatively unchanged. One of the new instant abilities that was shown in the job action trailer allows you to flip in place instead of using Displacement to leap backward. It shares a recast timer with Displacement, and consumes gauge to attack while moving. Other instant cast spells have also been added.

Additionally, the combo indicator for red mage’s area attacks has been made more discernible. This is also a change we’ve made with other jobs as well.

Bard
The playstyle hasn’t changed much, but we made a number of changes to make bard more straightforward to play. With the job synergy changes, we’ve removed critical hit rate increasing effects from each song. Repertoire no longer accumulates through critical hits, and will proc through damage over time skills instead. At higher levels you’ll unlock the Soul Voice Gauge, which can be charged to unleash a powerful action.

Machinist
Up until now, machinist's playstyle was heavily influenced by being a gunner. These new changes redefine machinist’s identity as a job that uses a variety of mechanical weaponry. Both Gauss Barrel and Ammo have been removed.

Summoner
Requirements for Ruin IV have been changed and it will now be usable whenever a pet uses an action. Pet actions have been reworked into player actions and are now easier to activate on demand.

Summon is now an instant action, allowing you to swiftly change pets to adapt to various situations. Also, the need to gain full stacks by using Aetherflow before each encounter has been removed.

Dancer
We've showed some live gameplay footage.

Dancer is a support-type job based around dancing specific steps to apply various buffs, and features a new system which allows you to select a party member as a “partner.” Your partner’s actions will increase your Esprit gauge, which is used to activate the powerful Devilment.

Dancer has two types of dances: Standard Step which consists of two steps, and Technical Step which consists of four steps. During these dances, you’ll be unable to use actions other than steps.

Using the correct steps as indicated will grant a buff, and you’ll be able to battle rhythmically as the steps slowly increase in speed. This new system may seem difficult at first, but you simply need to use the actions as they proc.

Dancer’s offensive options involve using an area attack centered around yourself, and a ranged attack. It’ll be crucial to know when you need to get in to close range of the target, and when you should maintain distance.