Dancers have been done dirty yet again

[Shibi]

....but yeah a bit more DMG or a better Heal would be nice. Or even a Raise Tango.

A Raise Rumba would be very nice.

[elioaiko]

They should really consider making Improvisation gain stacks via using Curing Waltz gives you stacks.

Personally DNC kind of stole BRD's niche as the party buffer in the phys ranged category, so I guess this is retribution for pretty ruling Shb.

But idk I like DNC's gameplay, though it's hectic during burst windows, and I personally like the proc changes.

I think what's missing is that support aspect balanced with their personal damage. BRD has party buffs and is a ranger of sorts.

So I'm hoping SE leans more on utilizing debuffs (kinda like how DNC was in Octopath Traveler or like Saboteur in 13).

But of course adding more support abilities would upset their balance if it's too strong, not to mention healers being miffed.

[Welsper59]

So I'm hoping SE leans more on utilizing debuffs (kinda like how DNC was in Octopath Traveler or like Saboteur in 13).

Debuffs are an odd one to work with in this game. As a BRD main back in ARR, it was stupid fun to see how strong the job was... until the nerfs came. Manageable, but lost a lot of the damage output due to the party buffs (that's not even including the reduction in damage during songs). With HW, turning BRD into a turret from their free mobility was the dumbest idea, especially when you consider MCH was basically the replacement "mobile" BRD at the time that did more damage initially (MCH still functioned like a turret but was slightly more mobile if I recall). Replacement outside of prog anyway. BRD has long been the bastard child of the game because there is no support role. Now DNC is suffering much of the same problems that BRD did, but clearly nowhere near as misguided. The game is not designed to be so complex as to involve debuff and support focus.

As a result, the devs don't know what to do with the jobs who are balanced around their supportive roles. The concept of an actual debuffer, to have the same impact as a support buff skill, is basically opening up Pandora's Box with this game. Bosses are widely scaled to match the capabilities of parties without (much) reliance on support skills. To add an actual debuffer, their impact would have to be noticeable and scaled with a cap, making them no different than a regular buffer... arguably worse. We obviously can't include certain enfeeble type mechanics either, as that would make them far too strong (e.g. paralyze that works on bosses) or generally useless if typical restrictions are placed.

Unless they basically design combat difficulty around having a debuffer of sorts, which indirectly necessitates the inclusion of a new support role category (at least in raids), support abilities should basically never be used to determine damage output of a job that is categorized to do damage. It's the same argument I had back in ARR and especially HW, when they were essentially killing off the BRD player base. This is me, coming from almost 2 decades of experiencing FFXI where they have proper support jobs who usually fulfilled the role in their own way.

[MsQi]

I can count on one hand how many dancer weapons there are that looks decent and those are just way too clunky/ have way too much going on for my taste.

Sounds like nothing could beat the starting weapons for you.

Also I hope you are not judging any of the weapons by how they look in the preview.