Thoughts on PVP balancing - before nerfing war/rdm/drg/etc

[Fourbestintoner]

No, absolutely do nerf warrior, white mage, red mage first, I don't care about anything else, after making it to crystal I just stopped because I didn't want to deal with them again, they SUCK the fun out of the mode.

[KouYanagi]

No, absolutely do nerf warrior, white mage, red mage first, I don't care about anything else, after making it to crystal I just stopped because I didn't want to deal with them again, they SUCK the fun out of the mode.

I feel that WARs don't need a nerf. Maybe their ult but other than that, other Tanks just need to be brought up to WAR's level.

[Velnora]

I feel that WARs don't need a nerf. Maybe their ult but other than that, other Tanks just need to be brought up to WAR's level.

Primal Rend needs a nerf.

[Dogempire]

Hot take, but I don't actually think Dragoon needs a nerf because the damage makes up for the fact the kit has 0 cc (Damage reduction for just the dragoon only doesn't really count)

With the amount of BS like AoE stuns on a 15 second cooldown and uncleansable status effects at least you get a chance to hit your heal button or react to getting burst combo'd

If we were allowed to queue as a group I guarantee the meta would be running all CC heavy jobs because crowd control comes up so fast you can just mindlessly spam it and it'll eventually work on someone and spell out a free kill if everyone just focuses them down

[Dogempire]

I feel that WARs don't need a nerf. Maybe their ult but other than that, other Tanks just need to be brought up to WAR's level.

The AoE stun needs to be nerfed somehow, it comes up twice as fast as the cleanse skill does and whenever you get hit with it you almost always have to cleanse it off otherwise you'll be in the line of fire of various different cleave skills because you're being burned down like dungeon trash mobs

The rest of the kit is fine IMO, just the stun is ridiculously disruptive when it has no business being so disruptive, if they kept the AoE damage but made the stun only apply to the intended target that would be fine IMO

[Ransu]

WAR and WHM need to be nerfed into the ground. There is ZERO excuse for the way primal rend functions right now and WHM LB charges TOO FAST for the amount of utility it does. The LB needs to charge slower and it needs to lose several of its functions.

[KouYanagi]

The AoE stun needs to be nerfed somehow, it comes up twice as fast as the cleanse skill does and whenever you get hit with it you almost always have to cleanse it off otherwise you'll be in the line of fire of various different cleave skills because you're being burned down like dungeon trash mobs

The rest of the kit is fine IMO, just the stun is ridiculously disruptive when it has no business being so disruptive, if they kept the AoE damage but made the stun only apply to the intended target that would be fine IMO

Maybe a slight nerf, make it 20 sec instead of 15. Then remove the damage received increase from Onslaught.

[Dogempire]

Maybe a slight nerf, make it 20 sec instead of 15. Then remove the damage received increase from Onslaught.

I honestly don't think that would change much since it'll still be a braindead "Use it when you have it" button

CC across the board needs to be increased to at least a 30 second cooldown so that it's more of a "Use it to secure a kill" button and not a "Use it because it's always up anyways lol" button

[Amenara]

I honestly don't think that would change much since it'll still be a braindead "Use it when you have it" button

CC across the board needs to be increased to at least a 30 second cooldown so that it's more of a "Use it to secure a kill" button and not a "Use it because it's always up anyways lol" button

Like it was before the PVP changes in 6.1? I don't disagree, I'd love to have a stun button back instead of tying it to other things.

[Kabooa]

So, I've got thoughts.

Currently there seems to be quite the design split between jobs that burst and jobs that pressure, but the pace of CC and the HP of all jobs push it heavily in favor of burst. Black mage and monk can output monstrous amounts of pressure - But you're still better off just outright killing someone before they can use their Recuperate rather than drain it to 0 and then kill them.

There's also the matter of some quite clear shortcomings of certain jobs, so this post will focus mostly on that.

In CC, it's the name of the game. Hard CC wins. Every class is dealing more or less similar amounts of burst, though tanks and healers have less sustained damage in exchange for, theoretically, more utility in the kit, which are far more impactful in PVP modes. I'll focus mainly on some upward tank, Black Mage, and lateral MCH changes I'd like to see here as that's what I've got experience with at the moment.

Gunbreaker
Lacks pressure, pick, and peeling capability. LB is too easy to counterplay in addition to being shut down.

1. CC Immunity during the Limit Break. Tanks are about controlling space. A Gunbreaker spinning to win in your face should be something you A) want to get away from and B) Cannot easily shut down with the 80 different CCs available.
2. Add a 30% movement penalty and dash disabler to Gnashing Fang. This gives the Gunbreaker much needed PPP - Pressure, Peel, and Pick, while still leaving counterplay open to the target in question.

Paladin
Lacks the stun on Intervene.

1. Give them the stun on Intervene and let them be your least favorite opponent to have to deal with. Warrior being the primo-engager is fine, while Paladin having the ultimate peel is thematic as well.

Dark Knight
Design is fun, but being low health in a mode all about hard CC and burst is...well. Ill advised.

1. Blackest Night should scale higher as the target's HP lowers. Grants the Dark Knight improved protection to both itself and allies, while allowing itself to be safer at lower HP levels to exploit Bloodspiller.

2. Salted Earth should just straight up bind upon pull in. Game's janky enough without having to slam S/D to get your bind off.

3. I, personally, think you would get more value out of Eventide as a HP to Shield converter instead of as a Living Dead invuln. To clarify: You would sacrifice 100% of your HP, deal damage based on that HP, and then gain 100% of maximum hp as a Shield, while retaining the bonus life restore on weaponskills. Combined with 1) you have a monsterous shield that enemies need to work through while you're restoring your HP. You are far less likely to end this Superstate at death's door.

Black Mage
Takes too long to get rolling.

1. Give Paradox 2 charges. This allows them to start setting up pressure out of the gate without monstrously improving their burst.

Mach
Frustrating RNG is unsatisfactory on both receiving and giving ends.

1. Chainsaw Analysis no longer executes. CC is a mode of deterministic outcome, and just an RNG chance to swing a fight is not only a trap given how little it works, but also goes against the design when it does. Analysis instead improves Chainsaw damage by 25% and causes it to bounce between nearby unique targets instead of being a line AoE.

2. Bioblaster is moved out of the tool rotation to its own button. It still shares charges. Bioblaster currently is a tool you dump as using it to its utmost efficiency exposes you to the greatest danger. It's really something you want total control over instead of something you're looking for safe opportunities to cycle.