Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LXVI Digest (9/30/2021)

[Voltenyne]

Magical Ranged DPS



(02:22:09)

As a change to all magical ranged DPS jobs, Addle will also reduce the amount of physical damage dealt by the target. As you might expect, the amount of physical damage reduced by Addle will be lower compared to the melee DPS action Feint.

• Black Mage
  
  
  
  (02:23:08)
  
  One major adjustment is that Enochian will be changed into a trait. This was heavily debated, but maintaining Enochian was confusing to understand and widening the disparity in damage between players, so we decided to make this change.
  
  As with samurai, black mage will be adjusted in a straightforward manner as a pure DPS and therefore won’t have access to Raise. The duration of Fire III and Thunder procs will be extended, and the AoE rotation will change with the addition of upgraded versions of Fire II and Blizzard II.
  
  Additionally, Sharpcast will be changed into a charged action with two charges and a recast of 30 seconds, making it an aspect where your proficiency will make a difference.
  
  
• Red Mage
  
  
  
  (02:33:06)
  
  The supportive aspect of red mage will be expanded with the addition of the new defensive party-wide enhancement, Magick Barrier. There will be various other changes, but a key point will be the reduced black mana and white mana costs of enchanted combo actions. A single use of Manafication will be enough to use the full combo, which will allow you to enter the opening burst much earlier. However, changing only that aspect would result in using the enchanted combo too frequently, so the rate at which black mana and white mana increase will also be reduced.
  
  Additionally, we received a lot of feedback about how Displacement was hard to use in certain battle areas, so its potency has been unified with Engagement. Furthermore, the recast of Embolden will remain at 120 seconds, and the recast of Manafication will remain at 110 seconds.
  
  
• Summoner
  
  
  
  (02:39:52)
  
  Summoner will be changed the most out of all the jobs, to the point it could almost be considered an entirely new job.
  
  The summoned entities will be named Ruby Ifrit, Topaz Titan, and Emerald Garuda. The idea is that the primals’ powers are being transferred during the summoning, rather than summoning the actual primals themselves.
  
  Summoning one of the three primals will augment the summoner with elemental properties. The flow of summoner’s rotation will be drastically different from the cycle of summoning Demi-Bahamut, summoning Demi-Phoenix, then entering downtime, which had been in place thus far. Moving forward, the rotation will involve summoning Demi-Bahamut to gain elemental aether, followed by summoning Ruby Ifrit, Topaz Titan, and Emerald Garuda to fight using their elemental powers, then summoning Demi-Phoenix to regain elemental aether, and so on.
  
  The three primals can be summoned in any order, and the effects they grant to the summoner will be slightly different from each other, which you will need to consider as you adapt to various encounters. We made full use of actions that swap with each other, which resulted in a huge reduction in the number of buttons. We heavily debated over whether or not to keep Resurrection, and in the end, it has remained.
  
  As with Demi-Bahamut and Demi-Phoenix, the size of each of the summoned primals can be changed. This is something that can be set by the viewing player, not the summoning player. You will also be able to change the appearance of egis as before. As the summoner progresses in level and job quests, their pet will take the form of egis, but can be changed to appear as carbuncles instead.
  
  Summoner was showcased through gameplay footage, which can be viewed in the video.
  
  The three primals will use a follow-up attack upon being summoned and have unique characteristics in their attacks.
  Summoning Ruby Ifrit will allow you to use powerful attacks with long cast times and a gap closer. These long cast times will mean that you will want to plan for when to summon each primal depending on the enemy’s attack pattern.
  Topaz Titan will allow you to execute actions on the go and allows for greater mobility.
  Emerald Garuda will allow you to set a persistent AoE.
  
  For maximum firepower, all three primals should be summoned between summoning Demi-Bahamut and summoning Demi-Phoenix, so keep that in mind when planning your rotation!

Healers



(02:58:56)

As we’ve previously announced, with the addition of the new sage job, white mage and astrologian will be categorized as “pure healers,” whereas scholar and sage will be categorized as “barrier healers.”

For the most part, the cast time for offensive spells will be reduced to 1.5 seconds. This should help with situations where using abilities would clip with the global cooldown.

• White Mage
  
  
  
  (03:01:58)
  
  White mage will be adjusted in a straightforward manner. An upgraded version of Holy will be added.* There will be various other changes, such as Fluid Aura being removed, and Divine Benison being changed into a charged action, but the job should feel the same as before.
  
  * Edited on October 5, 2021 at 6:48 p.m. (PDT)
  
  
• Astrologian
  
  
  
  (03:04:05)
  
  As of Patch 6.0, astrologian will be categorized as a pure healer. However, Neutral Sect will still have its barrier effects, so astrologian won’t be completely losing access to barrier healing.
  
  Divination’s activation requirements will be reevaluated to address frustration due to damage enhancements relying on luck. Seals of Arcana will instead be used for a new self-enhancement effect which relies on them.
  
  Instead of being changed into a charged action, Redraw will become an ability that can be used every time Draw is used. Other changes include adjustments to Minor Arcana and a new AoE spell which has both healing and offensive effects.
  
  All healer jobs will have an offensive spell that will be easy to use on enemies in dungeons, equivalent to the white mage action Holy. We considered adding stun effects to the attacks for scholar and astrologian as well, but decided against it since it would make the jobs less unique.*
  
  * Edited on October 5, 2021 at 6:48 p.m. (PDT)
  
  
• Scholar
  
  
  
  (03:09:50)
  
  Scholar will maintain their playstyle as a barrier healer. Although adjustments will be made to pet behavior, many of the adjustments to scholar are unlikely to drastically change how the job is played.
  
  Perhaps the biggest change of them all is a new enhancement action which will temporarily increase the movement speed of party members even in combat and also reduce damage taken. The increased movement speed will be equivalent to using Sprint but will not stack with its effect.
  
  In addition to these, all healer jobs will also have a new powerful enhancement that will be usable on a single party member.
  
  
• Sage
  
  
  
  (03:13:50)
  
  Sage, the newest addition to the healer role, will be a barrier healer. As one of their primary characteristics, they will be capable of attacking an enemy while simultaneously healing a specific party member. Another feature is that by using a particular action, the effect of another action will change from dealing damage to dealing damage over time.
  
  Sage might be considered a barrier healer with a technical playstyle. They will be able to consume a certain resource accumulated over time in order to execute an instant barrier heal and will also have a gap closer. Sage was showcased through gameplay footage, and can be viewed in the video if you’d like to see and hear what their job actions will be like.
  
  As with reaper, sage will feature a new mechanic that has yet to be seen on other healer jobs. It should be quite the fun job to master, so we hope you’ll give it a try.

Battle Adjustments




(03:49:52)

The Raid Finder, which is used for matchmaking in high-end duties, will function the same as before with the exception of the healer role category. We understand that some of you would like the matchmaking settings to be divided even further to avoid being matched with other players of the same job. However, encounters are generally designed to be completed with any party composition and splitting the roles even further would lead to longer matchmaking times, so only the healer role has been divided.

Miscellaneous Battle Adjustments





(03:58:28)

The new ground targeting settings should be a huge improvement for those of you playing with a controller. Of course, you can choose to stick with the current ground targeting settings, so be sure to try them both. These new settings were showcased through gameplay footage and can be viewed in the video.

0% HP bars for incapacitated players will be made visible in order to locate incapacitated players in the field more easily.

Battle-related balancing adjustments for level 90 will be conducted right up until patch release. As such, Unreal trials will be temporarily removed with Patch 6.0 and will return in Patch 6.1 with a new trial.