Physical Ranged (Also SMN) "Freedom of Movement" Tax

[Connor]

I still appreciate HW despite all it's job design problems, they were still trying. Now it's just have a damage list.

Melee/BLM > Ranged > tank > healer.
Anyone who breaks these rules gets nerfed.

I unironically liked HW’s caster Bard. Was it an undeniable mess of lazy implementation? Absolutely lol. Do I think they still could’ve salvaged it if they just put a bit of effort in? I’d like to think so lol. Not that there was anything wrong with Stormblood’s Bard, but I personally didn’t like all of Bard’s songs being turned into ogcd abilities with cool downs and left the job by the end of the expansion. Heavensward jobs feel like they came from some entirely different design team to what we have now lol.

Now though it’s like they can’t even be bothered giving physical ranged a general identity lol. Are they DPS? Sure but not as good as literally anyone else lol. Can they support? Sure, but so can literally anyone else lol.
And, I feel like the ‘raid buffs’ barely count as ‘party support’ anymore, since it’s not like anyone actually thinks about them except when the 120s window appears lol. I mean, the entire combat system is designed around you not using any raid buffs outside of the same 120s window every else has.

So now they can’t be good dps, can’t really be good supporters, and generally share a lot more equivalents with each other than any other role. Like, imagine if they give every melee a skill that’s literally the exact same thing for them all but with a different skin? People would be apoplectic lol. But that’s totally acceptable design for physical ranged?

Edit: Justice for Troubadour, Shield Samba and Tactician, they don’t deserve to be a literal role skill disguised as a real one lol