Is SE making more and more anti-melee fights?

[LittleImp]

This tier in particular has been pretty punishing towards melee, and some of the fights are pretty rude to casters as well. 3 ranged comps are pretty common. The game has been notably crawling with PhysRanged lately, and people have even been caught using third-party software to automate their rotations. >.>

Bring back Physranged castbars!

[Theodric]

Bring back Physranged castbars!

No thanks.

[Shougun]

No thanks.

I actually liked the idea for bard because I felt it made it more ranger. And I liked the ranger imagery over machine gun bard, but... I had not anticipated how many loved the hyper mobility until they made the change. Like Samurai I think the cast bar can help emphasize oomph and so I don't think it should be a forbidden concept but no way would I suggest again to do it randomly to a job lol (so slapping that onto a pre-mobile job like that shouldn't be repeated again xD). Definitely the value of giving people an accurate representation so they can choose to like it, or not- rather than like something then have it taken away.

Although I think there could also be some additional interesting play in the concept too, like if we imagined a ranger with the cast bar (not bard) or just like Samurai already has. While charging up their attack there could be other moves to use during that action. Besides obvious ocgd you might imagine Samurai while holding their blade in their scabbard also infusing the scabbard with sigils. Almost like a dancer moment. Duration of charge of course meaning it might just be making one choice or interaction- interaction meaning something to do while charging (like dancer) and choice being more like Ninja where you might be able to add a concept to the ability being cast. Like if it was ranger and you were drawing the bow back for a super line attack and you might choose to widen the cone and distance, or work in some biting poison, yet if there weren't going to last the debuff you might just press the option that increases base potency instead for burst, or the tank is taking lots of damage so you work in a distracting effect instead which reduces their damage, etc. Obviously the charge is only going to be like 1 to 3 seconds, so you can't make too many choices in that period but I think it's something that could be done to add to the idea of oomph but also not just 'watching'.

In general I feel like both casting and dead time can be more diversely utilized in the game, like in the transformation thread / geoknight idea sometimes I suggest calling forth constructs that can operate some of your own spells. Like the void mage calling forth a void, like, sphere and then being able to load it up with a line attack as a boss might, but then be able to also move the sphere in it's own attack (like lobbing it to another location causing damage and repositioning the line aoe as a consequence as well). Also allows for a fairly neat way to expand power and even combine spells, like at level 60 they might gain two spheres which means another cast / dynamic, and having those spheres coalesce or influence each other.

Or like if players are incapacitated (so long as it isn't for cutscene / big spectacle boss moves) there might be skills you can use still, like in WoW there are some PvP trinkets you can use to remove stuns from yourself. Here you might have one job be able to shield themselves if stunned, etc, just be careful not to reward getting stunned lol (spell isn't something you purposefully get locked up and into a sticky situation to use). Another example might be a healer having one skill that can work while they're casting, so if they were hard casting raise they might be able to buy themselves a second by slapping down an emergency aoe shield (during cast). Black mage might be able to go to their ley line even while stunned or casting, which could create a sometimes really handy effect (and mean they might start casting sooner even though their circle still has some bad puddle on it).

[LittleImp]

No thanks.

I mostly jest;

Bowmage was essentially a misguided answer to the fundamental balance issue created by having a set of jobs that don't really interact with fight mechanics on a rotational level.

The most recent answer has been to simply make those jobs do the least damage, though they've also unfortunately decided to reduce the complexity of their rotations as well. I personally think it would make more sense to have unlimited mobility coupled with a really complex kit that's hard to maximize on a purely rotational level.

[Nayout]

decided to reduce the complexity of their rotations .

I think someone remembers the rotation of the Bard very bad lul

[LittleImp]

I think someone remembers the rotation of the Bard very bad lul

I raided with someone off-and-on who was among the top 5 BRD players in the game during HW and some of SB.

The current incarnation of the job is a joke compared to the previous level of nuance involved in optimizing.

[Shurrikhan]

I mostly jest;

Bowmage was essentially a misguided answer to the fundamental balance issue created by having a set of jobs that don't really interact with fight mechanics on a rotational level.

The most recent answer has been to simply make those jobs do the least damage, though they've also unfortunately decided to reduce the complexity of their rotations as well. I personally think it would make more sense to have unlimited mobility coupled with a really complex kit that's hard to maximize on a purely rotational level.

Bowmage was, to me, an unpolished mess. But, it was still the most fun I've ever had on Bard in quite a few situations, and still felt like a Bard, to boot. I enjoyed playing chicken with AoEs and my procs feeling doubly meaningful.

I just think the animations should have been clippable a bit earlier (or the cast should have ended a bit sooner), as not to punish higher-latency players, a second Straighter Shot proc made savable, and the period for which we were locked into WM replaced with a (much shorter) period for which we could not attempt to reenter WM if we left it.

I was seriously hoping they'd move the mechanic from an contradictorily named overlappable Wanderer's Minuet on Bard to a Full Draw mechanic on Archer and would have loved to see what a split job, e.g. Ranger, could have made of it.

[Sylve]

This tier in particular has been pretty punishing towards melee, and some of the fights are pretty rude to casters as well. 3 ranged comps are pretty common. The game has been notably crawling with PhysRanged lately, and people have even been caught using third-party software to automate their rotations. >.>

Bring back Physranged castbars!

I'd love a longbow or rifle wielding physical ranged that used a mix of cast bars and instant shots. That'd be pretty fun in my opinion, But then again, I'm that kind of whacked individual who enjoyed cast bars on Bard (Not MCH, made no sense there. I just head cannoned the cast bars as extra strength draws on Bard bows)

On topic though! I'd be inclined to have some sympathy towards Melee were it not for the abundance of "Melee uptime strats" that revolve around punishing the Healer so the melee don't have to move.