Endwalker GNB Discussion

[Absurdity]

But I'd still counter the point of there being too many oGCDs. IDK, I was never too bothered by SB DRK and it's "DA spam" personally, and I didn't feel like it impacted my ability to tank. Did I have to learn how better to time out my cooldowns if I needed to use them in raids and I was going in to a burst moment, or just forego the damage and focus on doing the mechanics the fight required me to do? Sure. I can think of several instances where being a GNB is painful. E2S as I mentioned before it's painful for your 2nd No Mercy. E5S during the "add" phase(s). TEA. But those things can be worked around.

Except weaving DA was never a problem because you always had the option to delay it, using DA for either Syphon Strike, Soul Eater or Bloodspiller was dps neutral (until the point where the ability you used DA on didn't crit but the other ones did, but you had 0 influence on that). So you could always delay DA by 1-2 GCDs or worst case use it during your next Soul Eater combo, you had a lot of flexibility in which GCD you would use it on. This could potentially cost you one use of DA under raid buffs but it was 1. very rare and 2. only a loss of what, maybe 40 potency? Whereas losing Continuation is a loss of 260-300 potency.

Continuation doesn't allow for that flexibility, you either weave it after the Gnashing Fang or you lose it and unlike DA you now have to wait 30 seconds before you can use it again, not just until your next 1-2-3 combo. The only ability that allowed for some limited flexibility in case you needed to weave defensives was Burst Strike, because it didn't break your Gnashing combo and allowed for 2 weave slots. Adding Continuation to it removes that flexibility because now you have 1 of Burst Strikes' weave slots taken up by Continuation, leaving you with the exact same problem that Gnashing Fang has.

The problem isn't that GnB has too many oGCDs, it's that it has too many forced oGCDs that can only be used after a specific GCD and in a specific order. All this does it add more frustration to the job if the boss mechanics don't align well with your rotation, they could've literally made Hypervelocity a basic oGCD instead of a Continuation ability and it wouldn't be an issue because it leaves Burst Strike untouched.

I don't know about everyone else here with Gunbreaker and its soon to be difficulty with it over all GCD/oGCD conflict but I like that. If everything is built to be streamlined and work together flawlessly then its intensely boring and you just run it on autopilot. Having to make decisions between when you do or dont poop all those oGCDs out or having to hold one for a moment to give yourself a bit of space to drop some mitigation, heart, etc. is nice once in a while. Also, I am ok with having to re prioritize what goes into No Mercy since it at least changes it up even if it turns into another cycle of consistent repetition. Extending No Mercy will just wind everything back to effectively being Shadowbringers. I am sure they can find more elegant solutions as time goes on.

The main issue is that you have no choice to hold them. You either use the oGCDs or you weave defensives instead and gimp your damage because they're now unavailable and you just threw away free damage. The only tool that allowed you to hold them for a moment was Burst Strike, which will suffer from the exact same issue in Endwalker.

[Ixon]

snip

100% agree. To again reiterate, the main concern is not the total number of actions pressed. If they want GNB to be the highest APM tank that's fine, though there does come a point when it's an absurd amount for a tank. We won't know if Endwalker GNB will be that way till we get there. I enjoy GNBs current playstyle, that's why I main'd it in Shadowbringers. The main concern is the oGCDs you are forced to use before your next GCD otherwise you suffer a decent chunk of damage penalty purely because there is no flexibility with it.

Currently there only 3GCDs that force an oGCD that you have to use every 30sec. That's fine, a headache at certain times, but completely workable. In fact, one of the workarounds was to use a Burst Strike mid Gnashing Fang combo to double weave or move a boss, and they completely stripped that away. Double Down/Sonic Break only give us two chances during 1min bursts, but even then we are already double weaving during those bursts as is, and those aren't even an available option for the Gnashing Combo in between No Mercy bursts like Burst Strike is.

Potential fix: Keep Hypervelocity an oGCD Continuation after Burst Strike, but put it on a 30sec or 60sec cooldown with an increased potency of 600-1200 depending on the cooldown, and whatever would make sense for using it only once in a while instead of after every Burst Strike. We still get the cool move, it's still a continuation after Burst Strike, but reduces the total number of forced oGCDs to a more manageable number.