Melee ineffective in 7.1 Frontlines

[DolphinsFan]

Played a frontline today as part of my daily roulette, and thought I should share that in my team, there were a grand total of 4 melees present (myself included). The other teams were a little better with 7 each. Even beyond a meta conversation, it's clear that for the average player, melees in their current state are not fun, and it seems at this point most have dropped them.

[Mawlzy]

Played a frontline today as part of my daily roulette, and thought I should share that in my team, there were a grand total of 4 melees present (myself included). The other teams were a little better with 7 each. Even beyond a meta conversation, it's clear that for the average player, melees in their current state are not fun, and it seems at this point most have dropped them.

Be interesting to see how far this trend goes.

[Exmo]

Played a few games of FL today. About 7-9 melee dps on my side each game which is not bad. I played as reaper a bit and didn't have any major issues.

I will say though, in my experience playing in a party with zero or one melee and I'm ranged DPS, I find it harder to get assists because the team lacks overall killing power. So I get the feeling overall that although melee is riskier to play, the presence of a few on a team does make a difference in balance.

[IDontPetLalas]

Played a frontline today as part of my daily roulette, and thought I should share that in my team, there were a grand total of 4 melees present (myself included). The other teams were a little better with 7 each. Even beyond a meta conversation, it's clear that for the average player, melees in their current state are not fun, and it seems at this point most have dropped them.

Well, it's not surprising when the pendulum has swung from one melee being able to take on 5 ranged with ease, to a melee needing to think first due to their being CCed, or required support, otherwise they' could be in trouble. So if someone really enjoys melee, and/or enjoys a challenge, or is with a premade- they'll probably still be on a melee.

Otherwise, they'll likely switch to whatever they find easiest. I agree, Square tends to overcorrect, however sometimes, some players also tend to overreact, instead of trying to see if they can adapt to a job that they like, they'll just give up and/or ask for other job adjustments straight off, without giving the changes enough time.

[Mawlzy]

Well, it's not surprising when the pendulum has swung from one melee being able to take on 5 ranged with ease, to a melee needing to think first due to their being CCed, or required support, otherwise they' could be in trouble. So if someone really enjoys melee, and/or enjoys a challenge, or is with a premade- they'll probably still be on a melee.

Otherwise, they'll likely switch to whatever they find easiest. I agree, Square tends to overcorrect, however sometimes, some players also tend to overreact, instead of trying to see if they can adapt to a job that they like, they'll just give up and/or ask for other job adjustments straight off, without giving the changes enough time.

I think the playerbase divides into "this is the PvP job I play" (either because they like it, or because they really don't give a crap beyond rewards), and padders who find the job that gives them the best numbers. The exception would be the subset of premades who prio win-rate, and build a comp to do that.

Agree that players tend to be too quick to ask for job changes, but I think this time round the primary issue isn't the kits but the way they apply. Anything that has to play at melee range that also has long animations simply feels like crap. Hard to get motivated to put in the work to play such jobs well when they're not going to be fun.

[Mawlzy]

Played a few games of FL today. About 7-9 melee dps on my side each game which is not bad. I played as reaper a bit and didn't have any major issues.

I will say though, in my experience playing in a party with zero or one melee and I'm ranged DPS, I find it harder to get assists because the team lacks overall killing power. So I get the feeling overall that although melee is riskier to play, the presence of a few on a team does make a difference in balance.

I think that's likely true. A big issue is that as the number of tank/melee drops within a team, the job gets increasingly difficult to play because the enemy crowd control gets focused on you even more. Which is why I can see the numbers of players on such jobs continuing to drop.

[IDontPetLalas]

I think the playerbase divides into "this is the PvP job I play" (either because they like it, or because they really don't give a crap beyond rewards), and padders who find the job that gives them the best numbers. The exception would be the subset of premades who prio win-rate, and build a comp to do that.

Agree that players tend to be too quick to ask for job changes, but I think this time round the primary issue isn't the kits but the way they apply. Anything that has to play at melee range that also has long animations simply feels like crap. Hard to get motivated to put in the work to play such jobs well when they're not going to be fun.

I agree, that's an excellent point regarding the animations, it doesn't affect every job equally and that deserves some reflection, and some acknowledgement by Square, it likely unjustifiably feels like crap on some jobs.

[Blinding_Awesomeness]

DRG and PLD are the only jobs I play because I love them, and I've been playing DRG since it was a glass canon in 6.1 (I discovered PLD a bit later). Since 7.1, I feel like I'm putting in so much work without much reward, and it's frustrating to infuriating. I'll be a DRG–PLD to the end, but the situation is causing me to barely play FL anymore because it's not worth feeling disgusted every time.

We don't have to have pre-7.1 tankiness, but there should be some compensation for close-range jobs because they take more risks trying to get in range compared to long-range jobs. Furthermore, the nerf hurt solo melee-range queuers disproportionately, whereas it barely affected deathball premades.

[IDontPetLalas]

DRG and PLD are the only jobs I play because I love them, and I've been playing DRG since it was a glass canon in 6.1 (I discovered PLD a bit later). Since 7.1, I feel like I'm putting in so much work without much reward, and it's frustrating to infuriating. I'll be a DRG–PLD to the end, but the situation is causing me to barely play FL anymore because it's not worth feeling disgusted every time.

We don't have to have pre-7.1 tankiness, but there should be some compensation for close-range jobs because they take more risks trying to get in range compared to long-range jobs. Furthermore, the nerf hurt solo melee-range queuers disproportionately, whereas it barely affected deathball premades.

You know, that's a valid point. I have seen this compensation in the form of skills such as gap-closers for melees - or a specific melee job can get a teleport. I don't a problem with that, as long as they're on a reasonable CD. Just as in some cases a specific ranged job that tends to get focused can get a teleport.

[Sunhwapark]

I don't like playing Monk that much anymore because the new hit detection makes it feel like I'm pressing Six Sided star from PvE over and over, and that thing has a 4s recast time.
Are there any jobs that feel like they haven't been slowed down by the hit detection patch ?