What are your thoughts on FFXIV's combat?

[ReynTime]

RPGs have gear and build choices outside of a straight vertical ladder, they have niche abilities that add flavor even when they're not used 100% of the time, story choices you can make to affect the story, enemies that actually try hard to kill the player, battles that bar your progress until you learn the game a bit more, dungeons with more than one hallway, etc., etc..

This game is more like Dynasty Warriors with a visual novel attached.

Funny thing is there are some remnants of flavor actions in the game still, but you quickly notice the way encounters are designed whether you use them or not makes no difference, and that sucks. Easiest example are Paladin targetted mitigation actions. Since there is no encounter where you run the risk of a non-tank player being randomly made more vulnerable to lethal damage with no specific mechanic to mitigate it even if they play right, those actions only exist as emergency band-aid for player screwing up mechanics or not dodging.

[Atelier-Bagur]

My opinion on FF14 combat, after drinking a bit and thinking drunkenly about stuff: it's the most boring shit ever. It's not fun, it's not inspired, it's an extension of being a football team and calling your plays on the field, which have a strategic workflow that works for some people, but doesn't work for me. If I can find something more interesting, I'll drop this piece of crap in a hot second. Why yes I am a pleasant person in real life, why do you ask?

Oh ok, as long as we know you're pleasant c:

[Sunhwapark]

I find that the majority of player combat is nothing to write home about.
I do like how they generally design encounters though.

[Caster-LB]

To me good combat solely depends on job design and how engaging / flexible job mechs can be on top of having some weakness to keep you thinking

BLM levels well and new skills feed into and add a bit more depth / layers to UI \ AF phases with sharpcast giving some flexibility and early despair if needed ect.

NIN I feel is ok but lacks some engagement past ARR mudras no longer interact with huton , ninki and meisui similar, why can't NIN spend ninki to augment mudras in the same way as katssatsu ? Same for meisui but phantom kamachi is a nice touch I suppose

GNB I also feel lacks some depth, cartridge system doesn't really expand or add any layers . . .why can't it have another combo to proc another kind of cartridge ect.

Overall wouldn't say the combat is great since my old job is gone now . . . And don't really find any other jobs engaging other than BLM, while I like it I don't really have the skill to pilot it well enough so I think I go back to crafting / gathering

[Jessica_VS]

The combat is fine. I would give it a 6.5, maybe a 7 out of 10. It does what it needs to do but is nothing special compared to the combat in other MMOs.

I like the design of most encounters, and I feel that is what makes the gameplay feel fun for me.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Everybody will tell me Im wrong, but I think Playing a Healer is very fun and rewarding
I love White Mage. I like Scholar now after lv 86, Ast is interesting but think it does need work in a few areas. And it always LOOKS cool and fun, but I dont like playing Sage.

I like Paladin, but I think Tanks overall need more responsibilities, at least in Trails. Maybe more in Raids. I dont feel like Im doing enough to think Tanking is fun...which is funny because back in the day I had tank anxiety thinking Id have lots of responsibilities...but now I feel like I dont have hardly any.

DPSing is fine IMO. But of course some Classes arnt my favorite while others I love.

I like FFXIVs combat. But I wish I could be good enough for Current Savage when it happens, and be more able & Patient enough to do Ultimites.
But thats more of a ME problem then FFXIVs combat.

[Supersnow845]

Everybody will tell me Im wrong, but I think Playing a Healer is very fun and rewarding
I love White Mage. I like Scholar now after lv 86, Ast is interesting but think it does need work in a few areas. And it always LOOKS cool and fun, but I dont like playing Sage.

I like Paladin, but I think Tanks overall need more responsibilities, at least in Trails. Maybe more in Raids. I dont feel like Im doing enough to think Tanking is fun...which is funny because back in the day I had tank anxiety thinking Id have lots of responsibilities...but now I feel like I dont have hardly any.

DPSing is fine IMO. But of course some Classes arnt my favorite while others I love.

I like FFXIVs combat. But I wish I could be good enough for Current Savage when it happens, and be more able & Patient enough to do Ultimites.
But thats more of a ME problem then FFXIVs combat.

Can you explain why you like healing and find it rewarding in a way that doesn’t devolve into “it’s nice to have people rely on me”

I’m honestly not trying to sound rude here I’m just curious what you find rewarding about healing in its current form compared to older forms or healing in another game, the act of being a healer feels rewarding (it’s the only reason I still play them) but the design in this game feels absolutely horrid, wouldn’t having more to heal or doing a more complex damage application system make what already feels rewarding about healing even more rewarding

Idk I’m just kinda rambling here but I really can’t think of what specifically about current design healers feels more rewarding than say HW SCH other than just the act of healing in general feels rewarding no matter the application

[Payotz]

I think if I would've started playing the game in Endwalker, I wouldn't be as harsh on the PvE job design as I am right now.
I would probably be far too busy learning about core basics, like double weaving, slidecasting, melee uptime, etc...

But since I've experienced the previous job design, the current PvE job design is so bland, soulless and sanitized to the point that it felt like I'm being served plain white bread when I was eating grilled cheese 4-5 years ago.

A stark contrast to the PvP job design. PvP felt like I was being fed steamed chicken breast for a long time, and then suddenly they decided to serve me Korean Chicken.

PvP job design is like hotpot full of flavor and meat and veggies and seafood and tofu, while PvE job design was just soup, bones and meat in Shadowbringers, but they took out the meat in Endwalker, and we now know they're going to take out the bones next expansion. They're gonna serve us hot water in 9.0, and then just plain tap water in 10.0, and people are gonna applaud the dev team for it, thinking it's the best stew they've ever had.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Can you explain why you like healing and find it rewarding in a way that doesn’t devolve into “it’s nice to have people rely on me”

I’m honestly not trying to sound rude here I’m just curious what you find rewarding about healing in its current form compared to older forms or healing in another game, the act of being a healer feels rewarding (it’s the only reason I still play them) but the design in this game feels absolutely horrid, wouldn’t having more to heal or doing a more complex damage application system make what already feels rewarding about healing even more rewarding

Idk I’m just kinda rambling here but I really can’t think of what specifically about current design healers feels more rewarding than say HW SCH other than just the act of healing in general feels rewarding no matter the application

It has nothing to do with ego, and is more akin to, "I feel useful"
Best way I can put it atm because I cant think of a better phrase at the moment. Overall I feel more satisfaction keeping people alive then doing Big-D-DPS.

I feel healing is rewarding in each Expansion. I dont feel any less useful or like my role has gotten any worse....at least not as a White Mage main. Its kind of like Black Mage imo, it always stayed good. Probly the worse thing that happened to me is I lost Aero 3
Thats your opinion (and others opinion) but I just dont feel that way. I like healing in this game. Id rather play healer then play a Tank or a DPS in this game.
Other games are other games, Im playing FFXIV, so I dont account for how it works in other games.

[Supersnow845]

It has nothing to do with ego, and is more akin to, "I feel useful"
Best way I can put it atm because I cant think of a better phrase at the moment. Overall I feel more satisfaction keeping people alive then doing Big-D-DPS.

I feel healing is rewarding in each Expansion. I dont feel any less useful or like my role has gotten any worse....at least not as a White Mage main. Its kind of like Black Mage imo, it always stayed good. Probly the worse thing that happened to me is I lost Aero 3
Thats your opinion (and others opinion) but I just dont feel that way. I like healing in this game. Id rather play healer then play a Tank or a DPS in this game.
Other games are other games, Im playing FFXIV, so I dont account for how it works in other games.

So essentially your opinion boils down to “I like the act of healing and I don’t really care how badly it’s designed”

About what I expected, my quest to find someone who can actually explain to me why ShB healing is actually well designed continues