Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Long CDs with highly specific use cases (basically hit Button X only when you see Cue X; if no Cue X, Button X mostly goes to waste) are just an utter waste to me. (Much like inflexible 123 combos, Cleric Stance existing just to grey out one half one's kit or the other, most actions --like Lucid Dreaming-- that exist solely to be hit on CD, purposely sabotaged macro systems, etc.)
I agree with this. Stuff that should arguably be baseline. Lucid as a button made sense when it was a thread tool, but now the only time it's practical is if you use it right after being raised for wipe recovery, but that implies you were HOLDING IT for that. Moreover, several healers have tools like this in their kit; Aetherflow, Rhizomata+AG spender, Draw/Astrodyne, Thin Air/Assize, with some of those (Thin Air and Rhizo come to mind) working far better since those two particular abilities aren't used on CD and can be better saved (Thin Air due to a second stack, Rhizo due to how rarely you really NEED another AG). Anything you have to use as part of the rotation/economy doesn't become optional to hold, so it makes more sense to simply make it baseline.

Likewise, stuff that, as you say, is only for VERY specific instances should probably have something combined with it/be a combined effect. Expedience has a damage reduction, but Lilybell and Panhamia are both longish CDs useful for fairly specific things (multi-hit things, in the case of Lilybell, that specifically hit the WHM), and while they can be useful for other things, it might make more sense if they were combined with something instead of just being their own abilities. A lot of DPS have this same thing with "button you press once per 60/120 sec but that doesn't actually have any reason to exist as an independent button" cases.

It's always hard to be sure, though, since some people will insist "Me having to press Mug every 120 seconds is engaging gameplay!", but there's probably some middle ground. The PvP abilities are highly lauded, but have tons of combinations AND (for the most part) relatively short CDs. Seraph is kind of a Holy/Misery and Protect and (sorta) Cure 3 and (also sorta) Icarus. Afflatus Purgation is what you'd get if you combined Misery, Holy, Temperance, and Medica 2 into one button and made it a line attack.

But you get some people wanting to die on the hill that Undraw is engaging gameplay. So there's kind of a weird give and take there.