New AST from a New Player

[ZeroFool]

Generally, the developer don’t make huge overhauls to any job in the middle of an expansion; they save those for expansion releases. The largest changes they make tend to be things like WAR’s Inner Release change during Stormblood, in which they changed how the skill inherently functioned (same with Shake it Off). The changes they are discussing for NIN—where they’re talking about a major overhaul that will make it feel like a different job—are actually unprecedented in the history of this game.

Very interesting that this will be the first time they plan an overhaul. Two ways it can go is that this is a once off thing we can't depend on happening again, or more favorably, they'll take the momentum of working on NIN and apply it to the other jobs which sorely need it. However unlikely, it's a spot of hope nonetheless.

2 years is a long time for a class to feel bad to play, and being open to making changes as the playerbase demands them (although I wish they'd get a better mechanism for player feedback than whatever distortion gave them the idea that every card except balance was worthless and SCHs were dpsing too much) is a good thing. I just wish healers could get the same consideration.

Two years really is too long, not to mention having to shell out for a sub every month for a game that created such a high barrier to enjoy the rest of it. I'm content with remaining hopeful, however, since this seems to be an issue of just restoring assets they never should have cut in the first place.

Devs fixed things that weren't broke, but all they have to do is put the pieces that fit right back.

[Hatstand]

Two years really is too long, not to mention having to shell out for a sub every month for a game that created such a high barrier to enjoy the rest of it. I'm content with remaining hopeful, however, since this seems to be an issue of just restoring assets they never should have cut in the first place.

Devs fixed things that weren't broke, but all they have to do is put the pieces that fit right back.

Those are the practical barriers, yes, but there are three psychological barriers there, too: pride, a sunk cost fallacy, and the dam on healer changes.

For pride, the devs have been insisting that the new card system is fine for months now, and that just as many people like it as like the old one. Changing it now would mean they’d have to admit they were wrong not only about the changes, but in all those statements, too.

For a sunk cost fallacy, no matter how lazily designed the new AST card system is, it is a whole new system, and taking it all back so soon after release would feel like a lot of work for nothing. Of course, it’s particularly fallacious in this case because they already discarded the old card system which clearly had had more work put into it.

Finally, the devs are always going on about how the healers are finally balanced. If they restore the assets they shouldn’t have ripped away from AST (and hopefully SCH, too) then they’d be right back where they started, and they’d have to admit that balancing the healers properly is going to require significantly more thought and effort than they seemed to want to put in last time. (The proper way to go about it would be to leave SCH and AST alone for the most part except potencies and spend more time improving WHM so that it’s as good as them).

[ZeroFool]

Those are the practical barriers, yes, but there are three psychological barriers there, too: pride, a sunk cost fallacy, and the dam on healer changes.

For pride, the devs have been insisting that the new card system is fine for months now, and that just as many people like it as like the old one. Changing it now would mean they’d have to admit they were wrong not only about the changes, but in all those statements, too.

For a sunk cost fallacy, no matter how lazily designed the new AST card system is, it is a whole new system, and taking it all back so soon after release would feel like a lot of work for nothing. Of course, it’s particularly fallacious in this case because they already discarded the old card system which clearly had had more work put into it.

Finally, the devs are always going on about how the healers are finally balanced. If they restore the assets they shouldn’t have ripped away from AST (and hopefully SCH, too) then they’d be right back where they started, and they’d have to admit that balancing the healers properly is going to require significantly more thought and effort than they seemed to want to put in last time. (The proper way to go about it would be to leave SCH and AST alone for the most part except potencies and spend more time improving WHM so that it’s as good as them).

I hadn't even considered external factors, especially the ones you just listed being particularly pervasive and so core to the direction that they took Every Job in. I simply don't know what kind of influence we as players have to affect these barriers. I may have opted from resubscribing due to the reasons already discussed, but they will only see my absence and not the reason behind it.

And I'm sure others who continue to play but are so put off by the changes that they opted to switch jobs will only show up as numbers the devs can construe as a whole number of things: that they did good work with the 'refuge' job which explains its sudden influx of players; players may have all just collectively burnt out on their main; etc. Whether or not they analyze the data in good faith will never be transparent.

It seems the most effective course of action is the forum, which despite all our activity may as well be background noise they tune into now and then(according to the recent responses we have received). An ideal course of action, as many have suggested and to my surprise has never been implemented in a game as big and ongoing as this, would be an official thread/poll created to directly interface our concern with the devs. Maybe we can start campaigning for this avenue as well?

I'm not sure, but seeing the devs trying new things I am hoping that they can also consider new ways of connecting with the players they're doing it for.