#FFXIVHEALERSTRIKE

[Bun_Vivant]

Genuine question, but isn't this the original goal of the trinity: different responsibilities that each role needs to enact to ensure joint success, and any role failing will cause a cost (e.g. a wipe) for the group?

I doubt it. For one thing, every job has to be able to clear the solo content of the MSQ in a reasonable amount of time and with only a modest level of skill. So "tanks" and "healers" need to have decent DPS, and DPS needs some survivability. Unless you want the kit for a job to change radically when you enter multi-player content, this inescapably leads to the roles of the trinity becoming less distinct.

Alolalo Island (sp?) is an interesting example. The kit is modified, of course, but I found clear times didn't vary much based on which role I or my spouse used (or between solo and group runs). Clear times do vary by class in other content of course: in a ridiculous example, I can't match the 7 second clear time we can get for Howling Eye Extreme on a pair of unsynced WARs when we do it on other classes, but that's a way-off-the-norms case.

[Loggos]

I doubt it. For one thing, every job has to be able to clear the solo content of the MSQ in a reasonable amount of time and with only a modest level of skill. So "tanks" and "healers" need to have decent DPS, and DPS needs some survivability. Unless you want the kit for a job to change radically when you enter multi-player content, this inescapably leads to the roles of the trinity becoming less distinct.

Alolalo Island (sp?) is an interesting example. The kit is modified, of course, but I found clear times didn't vary much based on which role I or my spouse used (or between solo and group runs). Clear times do vary by class in other content of course: in a ridiculous example, I can't match the 7 second clear time we can get for Howling Eye Extreme on a pair of unsynced WARs when we do it on other classes, but that's a way-off-the-norms case.

Hm tbh I don't agree with this because if you want to commit to a trinity system then I don't think that solo content should be able hold group content "hostage" like this. If solo content is the weak link then I'd rather have solo content be adapted than group-based classes having to be molded in a way to accomodate the occasional solo duty in the MSQ. In the end the foundation of this MMO is still group play. Even in trusts you still play with an NPC party. So in the context of a trinity design I think orienting class design towards group content should take precedence.

I don't know how many people truly think MSQ solo duties are all that fun anyways (or at least on par with the much more common group content). I think healers struggling in solo content should be tackled differently. For example by adding extra skills as you can do in variant dungeons. A DPS in a solo duty could get a heal button like the pvp recuperate skill and healers could get an extra dps button. Is this the pinnacle of game design and fun? Definitely not. But I'd rather have group content be fun than the rather rare solo duties that often feel kind of forced/contrived anyway.

Or you could also take a bit of an eccentric route and use PVP classes for solo content including pvp actions like recuperate, purify and guard. With pvp classes you already have kits that make every class a viable dps with survivability readily available while being relatively simple. So you wouldn't have to develop anything new. It could also be a nice advertisment for pvp because people would be exposed to its gameplay flavour within the MSQ and might have their interest piqued.

I'd actually really enjoy it if the pvp kit design was appreciated and applicable in some limited contend beyond pvp since I do think they are really well executed. Certain solo content (with the necessary adaptations) could be a good place for this.

[Gemina]

I doubt it. For one thing, every job has to be able to clear the solo content of the MSQ in a reasonable amount of time and with only a modest level of skill. So "tanks" and "healers" need to have decent DPS, and DPS needs some survivability. Unless you want the kit for a job to change radically when you enter multi-player content, this inescapably leads to the roles of the trinity becoming less distinct.

This post is several pages back now, but I wanted to point out that FFXI had a solo instance to break the level cap at lv 70 against the NPC Maat. This fight, the tactics used, and requirements to win changed based on the job you faced him with. This is not an argument against you, but rather an expression on how fight design in solo instances could be made to exemplify and distinguish the roles from each other. The dev team wouldn't even have to make the solo instances different for each job, but rather based on the role. They could do this if they really wanted to. This would have been fantastic when facing Zenos at the end of EW.

Now, this was present in the form of job specific questlines prior to ShB, and they went away from it in favor of role quests, but this happens only once per expansion. I am not saying the dev team has to do this for every solo instance in the game, but it would be nice to see it used more often like once per patch, or even every other patch as a show of good faith that they care about the longevity and integrity of the trinity. This would go a long way towards showing healers that they are valued.