Quote Originally Posted by Quor View Post
I've said it before and I'll say it again; the changes to SAM in this patch feel half-baked at best. None of the reasoning makes sense, and this makes me think that whoever was responsible for it is either a rank newbie or otherwise completely disconnected from any actual gameplay involving SAM. A total theorycrafter who did the equivalent of looking at spreadsheets and making decisions by committee without actually trying the changes in a real game environment, much less considering how actual SAM players would feel.

Neither is a good look. I could forgive a complete newbie; roll back the changes, chalk it up to experience and make sure the newbie knows to get real experience with a job before they go mucking about with it. Still shouldn't have been approved for patch release by the higher-ups though. If it's the other one though? Then there is a dire need for an internal audit of the job balance team to ensure that decisions are being made with regards to how actual gameplay feels instead of simply through this spreadsheet/paint by numbers approach.
At this point I'm convinced it's a decision for some out of touch future proofing, that should be saved for 6.5/7.0

If they wanted to remove Kaiten and make larger overall changes, they should have saved Kaiten's removal for 6.5, and give us the new stuff shortly after in 7.0 while introducing real QOL and skill floor solutions (during 6.1-6.4) like the ones I've suggested.
Warm us up to change like they did with QOL changes on Monk throughout SHB, then make real changes at the next expansion. No one would be unhappy for the early patch cycles, and it would build up trust for a change like Kaiten's removal.
As it is currently it's hard to trust the direction of Samurai's design as it clearly offers nothing in place of 6.0 (every "positive" change is contentious from potencies, crit synergy, to tenka goken, nothing offers a pure improvement in place of what we had before).

Going potentially 5 patch cycles without Kaiten (which is unlikely imo due to feedback) aka 2 years after many locked Samurai in as their main during the 6.0 cycle is beyond ridiculous.
Oh and yes please revert 6.1 Samurai changes thank you.