My summary of why I hate the 7.05 Viper changes

[LisseyCrowe]

My summary on why I like the Viper changes:

Dots and/or Pseudo-dots are lame and they don't add any difficulty anyway, just clunk during phases with changing targets.

On the other hand, the large majority of people arguing for the mechanic to come back don't do so because managing a DoT/Pseudo-DoT was difficult or particularly engaging on it's own. Rather it's the way it tied Viper's kit to be more than pressing the next button and how it added micro-decisions during combat. Should it have been replaced by anything of similar effect, I believe there wouldn't be nearly as much push back.

Case in point imo, much fewer people (though they exist) are arguing against the combo ender buff duration changes. Despite also being a 40 second timer you had to track, it wasn't nearly as much of a decision, since it's quite frankly a given that you will finish your combo eventually (even if you absolutely could drop it).

[M1SF0RTUNE]

On the other hand, the large majority of people arguing for the mechanic to come back don't do so because managing a DoT/Pseudo-DoT was difficult or particularly engaging on it's own. Rather it's the way it tied Viper's kit to be more than pressing the next button and how it added micro-decisions during combat. Should it have been replaced by anything of similar effect, I believe there wouldn't be nearly as much push back.

Case in point imo, much fewer people (though they exist) are arguing against the combo ender buff duration changes. Despite also being a 40 second timer you had to track, it wasn't nearly as much of a decision, since it's quite frankly a given that you will finish your combo eventually (even if you absolutely could drop it).

I wanted to chime in on this. This is a large part of it, yes, as it felt like it took skill and a solid understanding of the kit to properly maintain that debuff amidst your natural flow of play. Those who understood the kit well could maintain it very easily.

But three other big problems were that 1. They didn't warn us this was a change they were going to make, and as far as we all knew they were considering positionals only to change their mind and tweak something completely unrelated, 2. What used to be a free-flow combo where you got to choose how to traverse your combo (rewarding good play) is now forced alternations that don't end, pause, or break at any point. You're forced to follow the glowing button endlessly now to maintain optimal damage which is patronizing and hand-holdy, and lastly 3. Removing NG ends up disconnecting a bunch of the kit from itself, so DreadVicewinder serves no good purpose other than jump-starting your buffs if you let them both fall somehow (or die), and Reawaken now takes no skill or effort outside of brainlessly following the glowing buttons to execute.

The job actually demanded some skill, forethought and even some basic reading to engage with the nuance in it. Getting double-Reawakens required planning and proper setup and timing with your debuff, so you were forced to learn how to use your tools to maximize Reawakens' potential and get the big payoff of landing them both in one go under the debuff. Current Viper isn't rewarding at all to pull off Reawakens, it might as well just be on a fixed timer to execute and is a distraction from the follow-the-neverending-glowing-buttons if anything.