They are gutting Black Mage even more in 7.2

[Illianaro]

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.

And thus, if the 8.0 job "rework" is an actual rework and not just gutting the jobs further (I expect the latter and not the former, sadly), then they will have completely broken the ability of the reworked jobs to engage with the encounter design, so they'll need to "fix" the encounter design.

Or, even if they rework the jobs, they will get right back to homogenizing them once they realize that reworking the jobs broke the encounter design.

[Auro_Seldaris]

And thus, if the 8.0 job "rework" is an actual rework and not just gutting the jobs further (I expect the latter and not the former, sadly), then they will have completely broken the ability of the reworked jobs to engage with the encounter design, so they'll need to "fix" the encounter design.

Or, even if they rework the jobs, they will get right back to homogenizing them once they realize that reworking the jobs broke the encounter design.

Translation: This game's screwed either way.

Meanwhile RDM is still the same since SB release only with Potency buff, some tweaks on the gauge and manafication and more finisher

Yeah, and BLM used to be that job that only kept getting better every expansion. See you in 8.0, RDMfriend...

[Illianaro]

Translation: This game's screwed either way.

While I'm not sure I'm ready to outright call the game screwed yet, I'm extremely frustrated by the chain of decisions that are, if not outright bad, at least seem shortsighted and out of touch. I can understand why people are increasingly reaching this conclusion. The more time passes, the harder it is to see how these issues can be resolved without effectively going back to basics with the job and encounter design and starting from the ground up, and the harder it will be to go back to basics. The problems are now endemic, hard-baked into the foundation of the combat system.

SE would have to be willing to make a bold move, to decide what they want this game to be, and to take a firm stance on it. A true job design/encounter design rework cannot be a half-measure. It requires acknowledging the missteps that have been taken and leaning into those missteps to learn from them. Once they start, they can't waffle on it. Again... no half-measures. They would have to be prepared to alienate part of their player base - but since that's already happening, maybe the current direction is their "firm stance" and I just happen to be in the portion of the player base that's being alienated by the changes.

Class/Combat is core to the experience of any videogame. I don't think there are any easy answers or solutions here anymore. SE has developed themselves between a rock and a hard place, and I think any real, successful, lasting solution is going to require a lot of hard work to resolve.

Or, as I previously said, they've already determined their direction, are content with it, and I just happen to be part of the demographic that they are willing to alienate with their changes. In which case, I guess we are where we are.

[Auro_Seldaris]

snip.

Brother, how many MORE bad decisions must they make before it's enough? How many MORE times must they lie, or obfuscate, or just not give you what they promised, or innovate, or fail to deliver on what little they ALREADY do, before you're done with it?

They've already decided that mechanical designs of fights cannot be anything else but "The same thing but faster" and decided that jobs must therefore be more simplified and mobie to compensate. Basically, putting ALL the difficulty in the "fake difficulty" of the DDR dance pattern, and simplifying the jobs into oblivion. That's it, they've already shown you where they're going. The same way that "one-off changes" in prior expansions weren't acutally a fluke, but an indicator of the future. How many times does a pattern have to repeat before people see it?

[Illianaro]

Brother, how many MORE bad decisions must they make before it's enough? How many MORE times must they lie, or obfuscate, or just not give you what they promised, or innovate, or fail to deliver on what little they ALREADY do, before you're done with it?

They've already decided that mechanical designs of fights cannot be anything else but "The same thing but faster" and decided that jobs must therefore be more simplified and mobie to compensate. Basically, putting ALL the difficulty in the "fake difficulty" of the DDR dance pattern, and simplifying the jobs into oblivion. That's it, they've already shown you where they're going. The same way that "one-off changes" in prior expansions weren't acutally a fluke, but an indicator of the future. How many times does a pattern have to repeat before people see it?

Hey, look, I totally hear where you're coming from. At this point, the thing that is drawing me most to this game is crafting and gathering. I still enjoy that a lot, and frankly, it's my favorite way to wind down after a long day with work and the kids. *starts putting on clown makeup*... I'm sure they're not going to gut crafting and gathering to ruin that for players now, will they? ...*adds clown nose*

I will say that I have a while before my sub runs out, but I have not added time to my sub and turned off auto-renewal.

[Lorika]

Yeah, and BLM used to be that job that only kept getting better every expansion. See you in 8.0, RDMfriend...

Here the thing : this is one the most stable and polished job of the game... Also one of the job with the most strongest identity of the game.
I mean, they don't know what to change or had except the finisher.

RDM design is simple yet very effective : everythng resolve around Dualcast and filling a gauge to use your melee combo and finisher.
RDM player have only few complaint about it (lack of damages, loss of Dualcast when you use your melee combo and some others minor issues) that can be resolved easily... But since RDM player don't really care (thoses issues are more of some little annoyance and inconvenience than game breaking one) and are now used to it... Because : This job is still freaking verFun and verStyled (and we have the best Job Armor )