What Classes Do You Want to See Next?

[Shurrikhan]

I think we are probably past pets in XIV. I think after years of trying to make them work, the devs have given up and want to focus on making rotations as consistent as possible, and abandoning pets was the easiest solution. Like an elemental system, I don't think they could ever bring it back without (a) players clamoring for all the previous pet jobs to be returned back to the way they were, and simultaneously (b) complaining that the whole transition is more of a regression than an evolution.

I understand that concern but I think all it needs to be averted is a unique, significant offering. For instance, consider an action that you can actually execute, queued, even when in the middle of your (the master's) animation. That's significantly more fluid than even a common oGCD.

I feel the reason the devs were able to remove pets with so little resistance (still hardly "little" on the whole, but far less than you'd see in most MMOs) was that even the initial iteration was so barebone. Going back to that meager allowance would indeed be regressive, but going past it... not so much.

Consider GW2 and their mounts, for instance. Had they merely matched other MMOs' mounts after having centered its experience for so long on having no mounts, it would have perhaps felt a betrayal; but by going beyond it to have one of the most involved mount experiences, it was applauded both by its players and those outside it, forming one of the largest contributing factors, allegedly, to new players joining with Path of Fire (the expansion in which mounts were finally released).

Simply put: Going half-assed will put development on its ass and make it look ass; actually doing a great job, though, forgives nearly all past encounters with a given subject, and often carries its own redemption or innovation story just through the contrast.