They are gutting Black Mage even more in 7.2

[Mawlzy]

Future battle design may cause difficulty with casting spells, so we have shortened the cast time for a variety of actions. Furthermore, the effect expiration of Astral Fire and Umbral Ice has been largely detrimental to attack power in situations where players must interrupt casting to address battle mechanics. For this reason, these statuses will no longer expire.

In Patch 7.1, Ley Lines became a charge-based action, which has resulted in movement restriction lasting longer than intended, so we have reduced its duration.

In light of all these changes, we have generally amplified black mage's firepower by increasing attack potency and adjusting the trait Enochian.

Since I don't main BLM, the thing that really worries me about this is that it suggests future battle design is going to rely even more on running to safe spots.

[Jeeqbit]

Since I don't main BLM, the thing that really worries me about this is that it suggests future battle design is going to rely even more on running to safe spots.

Yes, I was thinking of you when I read that, so it seems to confirm they are going fully in that direction for the foreseeable future.

[Daralii]

Like, if he was actually serious about that statement, and they have legitimate plans to overhaul the jobs to restore their senses of identity in 8.0, how does he think tripling down on homogenization during the 7.x patches will help that? They’re simplifying the jobs to cater to the more challenging raid content, but if they actually do a serious overhaul of the jobs in 8.0, they’ll want to revisit the encounter design again after that because the overhauled jobs will no longer “fit” with the encounter design.

This is why it’s a fools errand to try and work on encounter design in a vacuum separated from job design. The two are intrinsically linked, and if you don’t build one with consideration for the other, you end up in a cycle of “fix encounters-fix jobs-fix encounters-fix jobs…” ad infinitum.

The last time I played an MMO that promised an emphasis on class fantasy in an expansion, it deleted at least a dozen skills per class and gutted its talent trees. I'm expecting every job to turn into VPR or SMN.

[Khutulun]

I think he was talking specifically about the content design, not the job design. And it's the content he's trying to address at the moment.

But since he has declared 8.0 as the expansion that will focus on job design in a number of ways (skill tree tease, making them unique tease, etc), they'll have to confront this sentiment eventually.

Begs the question why they even bother making such drastic BLM changes now, considering it simplifies the job and they'd hypothetically be uprooting the changes in the very next expansion to address the over-simplification they've brought upon their current job design. There's the cited issue of future encounter design... but even the blurb doesn't sound confident it will be a genuine issue or not. Feels like SE is out of touch with dedicated players, and is in a total creative rut in terms of encounter design (relying way too much on just dialing up encounter speed).

Tbh, all of this seems like a big waste in dev time. Just taking BLM as an ex, they introduced unpopular changes in 7.0 that had to be addressed via subsequent patches. They're now creating brand new unpopular changes in 7.2, which may very well have to get addressed AGAIN in patches. ...And then they'll hypothetically be making big changes in 8.0 anyways? How fast is 7.3+ content going to be that the devs needed to gut the timers before big job changes in 8.0?

[Illianaro]

The last time I played an MMO that promised an emphasis on class fantasy in an expansion, it deleted at least a dozen skills per class and gutted its talent trees. I'm expecting every job to turn into VPR or SMN.

Good lord, perish the thought. Which MMO was that?

Now I get to imagine the 8.0 rework being so disastrous that we look back at the 7.x job design fondly...

[Bekuta]

I've been playing Black Mage since Shadowbringers, and this change was the 'straw that broke the camel's back' for me. I'm not outright quitting the game, but I definitely won't be resubbing until 8.0 comes out and shows that it's made significant strides towards being an actual game and not just a visual novel that you're not allowed to fail. Black Mage was the only job left that I felt had any sort of difficulty in its design, you had to learn a fight to know where you could stand to get the most out of your rotation, and when to utilize your limited mobility buffs. Genuinely disappointed in the direction this game's been headed, and while I hope it can change its course and win me back over, WoW has been doing well enough that I can hop into that for the time being.

[Kozh]

Like, if he was actually serious about that statement, and they have legitimate plans to overhaul every job to restore its sense of identity in 8.0, how does he think tripling down on homogenization during the 7.x patches will help that? If it were up to me, I would think it would make more sense to start restoring job identity piecemeal during the patches before the "big leap" in 8.0. From all appearances, they’re simplifying and homogenizing the jobs to cater to the "more challenging raid content," but if they actually follow through on a serious overhaul of the jobs in 8.0, they’ll want to revisit the encounter design again after that because the overhauled jobs will no longer “fit” with the encounter design.

This is why it’s a fool's errand to try and work on encounter design in a vacuum separated from job design. The two are intrinsically linked, and if you don’t build one with consideration for the other, you end up in a cycle of “fix encounters-fix jobs-fix encounters-fix jobs…” ad infinitum.

Maybe they make 7.x job feel so bad that people will love 8.0 "rework" haha

/j in case (but also not really)

[Illianaro]

Maybe they make 7.x job feel so bad that people will love 8.0 "rework" haha

/j in case (but also not really)

The newest, boldest strategy! "If we make the design absolutely terrible across the board, then revert it back to ShB/EW era design, it'll look like a rework!" pointing at side of head meme

[Mecia]

This is so sad, Feo Ui play Little Dark Age BLM edits on loop.

[Auro_Seldaris]

When you all told SE "make encounter design" better, what they heard was the old George Lucas chestnut... "Faster, and with more intensity." Classic "Misunderstanding" (TM).

Problem is, if make fight faster, job not able to do fight. So, have to make job move more.

That's the only way they know how to develop. So, to make the fight "better" they have to ruin the job.