XIV EW Job-Gameplay is Terrible... Why?

[Colt47]

If they want to make the jobs play better then they have to stop making raw damage output as the most efficient way to clear fights and challenges. It really comes down to that because otherwise they will constantly be trapped in a feedback loop where people will keep obsessing over simplifying and streamlining for easier DPS rotations, while minimizing the utility skills down into patterns. That's why they ended up having a 2 minute window: So people had an easier time maxing their damage output to efficiently clear fights.

For example, what if there was a fight where if you dps the boss down too fast a more powerful one ends up appearing, and the goal is to move objects from one side of the arena to the other?

At that point snares become more important than damage output, so people no longer care about the DPS they are doing: The most efficient way to clear is to snare and hold the existing boss while dealing with the primary objective.

[Niroken]

If they want to make the jobs play better then they have to stop making raw damage output as the most efficient way to clear fights and challenges. It really comes down to that because otherwise they will constantly be trapped in a feedback loop where people will keep obsessing over simplifying and streamlining for easier DPS rotations, while minimizing the utility skills down into patterns. That's why they ended up having a 2 minute window: So people had an easier time maxing their damage output to efficiently clear fights.

For example, what if there was a fight where if you dps the boss down too fast a more powerful one ends up appearing, and the goal is to move objects from one side of the arena to the other?

At that point snares become more important than damage output, so people no longer care about the DPS they are doing: The most efficient way to clear is to snare and hold the existing boss while dealing with the primary objective.

At one point certain fights had a negative impact if you pushed your parties DPS too high, you can see some small mechanics still used today as in if you kill too many smaller enemies they explode and you get AoE damage and potentially wipe the party. That no longer became a DPS mechanic, rather it became a heal check. If I remember correctly they don't really limit DPS anymore because "it felt bad".

[Colt47]

At one point certain fights had a negative impact if you pushed your parties DPS too high, you can see some small mechanics still used today as in if you kill too many smaller enemies they explode and you get AoE damage and potentially wipe the party. That no longer became a DPS mechanic, rather it became a heal check. If I remember correctly they don't really limit DPS anymore because "it felt bad".

Of course it feels bad the majority of people are so used to DPS = Good they feel like they are getting slapped in the face. And that is because of lazy game design from other MMOs that this one took inspiration from. If they don't put in things that force some kind of limit to the damage in a fight the red jobs just become a giant molase of the same thing.

[AmiableApkallu]

At one point certain fights had a negative impact if you pushed your parties DPS too high, you can see some small mechanics still used today as in if you kill too many smaller enemies they explode and you get AoE damage and potentially wipe the party. That no longer became a DPS mechanic, rather it became a heal check. If I remember correctly they don't really limit DPS anymore because "it felt bad".

There's a big difference between "please don't play your best" and "please be tactical about where you direct your damage."

Arbitrarily holding yourself back feels bad; letting loose but having to be intelligent about your choice of target(s) could be fun an interesting.