Quote Originally Posted by NegativeS View Post
I don't think it's any surprise that the WoW class dev brains are light years ahead of FFXIV's job dev brains. Of all the problems with WoW that people complain about, I don't think their class design philosophy (read: separate from balance, which is an issue in every game ever) has ever been a very prominent one. It's why the game still has such a strong endgame scene despite the story, leveling, and metagame being kind of middling.

Except for that one time when they butchered Survival Hunter. The brains must have been on holiday.
I renewed my sub there (I really dislike this xpac THAT much) and you're right. On my paladin, not only does it "feel" like a paladin with all the things I'd expect a paladin to be able to do (heal wounds, smite the wicked, protect the allies), the abilities and skill tree are well thought out, flow together, and there's no buttons for the sake of having more buttons. Everything fits neatly into my two main hotbars and I have plenty of spaces for "Extras" I might want to use.

Contrast that with Paladin in XIV. There's no class fantasy. No identity beyond "tank with sword and board". No versatility. My bars are littered with a bunch of buttons, some of which are just "press once every ~30 second cooldown" because that's supposedly engaging game play. Just more buttons.

In XIV I find myself looking FAR too much at the hotbars and timers and far too little at the encounters themselves. This design is laughably bad.