Former WoW player: Suggested changes to FFXIV Raiding end-game

[Jojokomoko]

From what I can tell, both classes and fights are very static, almost everything is designed around a boss doing a set rotation of mechanics then enraging. Almost all arenas are just a flat, symmetric shape...
Almost all classes seem to have a set rotation, minimal procs, zero item effects beyond flat stats.
It's all just so damn "sterile". It feels like, in terms of bosses and class combat, the game really lacks a "soul", any lump of uniqueness or specialist use being hammered out in the name of balance. In my option, being so balanced just isn't worth it.

I Think you need to look at FFXIV from a different perspective as to why classes and fights are design in such a way.

It is true that FFXIV gear is extremely linear. Jobs are pretty static. But what you get in return is the player being able to choose what to play and not worry about being a "bad" class. You get to play what you enjoy.
It also means devs don't have to worry about balancing every single possible spec, and instead on designing fun combat encounters and raids.

It is infinitely easier to balance based on FFXIV's systems and jobs than in WoW. Which ultimately also seems to fit with their philosophy, that the great barrier for entry into the content of the game, isn't suppose to be maximizing your class, it is suppose to be interacting with the mechanics of the encounter.

Of course then you have savage and ultimates where they can be more demanding in both regards of ALSO asking you to maximize your class and push everything you got, which again, is easier to tune towards, because you have a very defined image of what classes bring and how they fit into the game.

Imo FFXIV does a way better job than WoW there, gives you "different options" to customize it's probably the reason why WoW it's a NIGHTMARE about Classes Balance (not to mention how stressful and boring it is to obtain the gear you really wants). And what's the point to have "different options" if people are always going to aim the best ones for Damage?, "Multiple options" it's just a facade and a false variety. FFXIV had more options before and still have some with 4 different gears, materias etc. But in the end of day everybody goes to which one deals more Damage.

And hey, this game does have broken powerful systems, but they're in the side content such as BLU, Bozja/Eureka. There players have the freedom to change Lost Action specs or think of the most busted Blue Mage spell build.

Very few fights focus on environment interactions, space management, add management, reactivate game play etc.
There are minimal movement tools, minimal tools for moving and controlling adds, seemingly zero CC beyond role actions, zero kiting, zero off tanking...

Most of these can be found in extreme trials, savages and ultimate fights tho. I guess you want normal content to be more challenging? Also I don't understand what do you mean in terms of "minimal movement tools". We have jump, gap closer, back dash, rescue, sprint etc. A lot of mobility and movement to go around in the fight.

And, while I'm ranting, so many of the ingame systems and external websites feel so clunky and janky to interact with. It's like the game can't decide if it's a huge budget MMO or not.

Now this I absolutely agree, we could use a bit more variety in terms of boss arena, not to mention that crappy website need a complete overhaul for a long time.

[Shurrikhan]

But I would also end up questioning how having it as a separate gear stat would be an improvement over simply adding it as a trait with a set effect.

Which is a fair point. Personally, the best use I can imagine for something like "Mastery" is if you had a mechanic which you really need for a job to be cohesive, but beyond a certain critical juncture, it's more likely to turn players away from the job than further engage them. You therefore set the trait's potency (and thus one's obligation to play around it) low enough that players who aren't trying to perfectly optimize their damage can, to some crucial degree, ignore it, while those who do like it can bank into it further, with some notable capacity differences from Crit and Haste (let alone pure %throughput modifiers like Det).

It gives you a faint but notable lever of customization by which to broaden the zone of attraction available to a job, similar to past FF's iterations' unique gear effects by which one might accentuate any other feature/constraint (for features and constraints, rewards and penalties, are always just two sides of the same coin when you approach optimization) of a given job or character.

And hey, this game does have broken powerful systems

The problem with "broken powerful" systems, though, is they give very little effective choice. They mostly come down to visual fluff -- big numbers in place of having more numerous options, if one were ever to optimize among them.

BLU, for instance, has a painfully stale playflow when played at its full potential. Admittedly, that's because cohesion and depth were never a priority; it's a mini-game in which progression rewards the ability to break, or at least greatly quicken, FATEs and old content, albeit often to the detriment of other players or reward balance.