Revisiting the 10 year roadmap

[Semirhage]

Good balance revolves around good content design. XIVs problems. Is the content design is so strict and linear...

For want of an analogy you have 3 cars.

Car A has let's say 9/10 acceleration, 6/10 top speed. 4/10 handling.

Car B has 4/10 acceleration, 8/10 top speed. 8/10 handling.

Car C has 5/10 acceleration, 10,10 top speed, 4/10 handling.

In the final fantasy race course where everything is strictly linear that track is basically just a super boring long straight line... in which case Car C is massively OP and broken. There is no balance..

However if they through some corners and hills on that race course then suddenly not only do all 3 cars become a lot more balanced despite having completely different stats and abilites but that track also. becomes a lot more fun..any of those 3 cars could win the race thus balance Is achieved.

It's much worse than that; the jobs aren't balanced where A is good at X, B is good at Y, etc. Look at current Warrior. It's typical to see one or two of those every expansion. Best self-sustain, best damage, easiest to play, best at everything. Even if we had a track with dips and curves, you'd be hard-pressed to find one that WAR wasn't either best or second-best on. The fact that FFXIV's combat system only ever looks at one of those variables exacerbates the problem (homogenization magnifies it too), but it's not the root cause. In what way does RDM truly outshine SMN? Where's WHM's truly unique niche other than "it's popular"? What curve in the road would give BRD limelight when DNC is just more mobile, easier to play, has stronger buffs, and is frequently better at everything?