Evolved Skills Feedback

[Voidmage]

I am not sure yet.
On the one hand the button reduction feels very wrong, given how they have simplified the jobs till now.
On the other hand...let's not pretend that what we have now is really complex anyway.

Imo it feels like evolved trades the skill expression of handling many skills for skill expression for on the fly thinking (PLD counter, DRG positionals).
With the DRG high jump and it's damage reduction, it is a step in the right direction for job identity.
I can see what they were going for, namely streamlining without taking away complexity.

Though I also have to say that there is a bit of a bad taste in my mouth given I had expected more of a "job rework" but that's on me probably.

Right now I need to see more. Imo, jobs like BLM or SMN can't be made any simpler anyway and Tamaki / Mr Prime was responsible for the better things in the game like PVP and PCT so I at least look forward to better job identity again.

More buttons doesn't necessarily mean more complex but it does mean more potential failstates.

Edit:
Though I have to say, the removal of the cast times on the WHM attacks makes me very worried for the other casters.
It's something that I was scared of the most and I really hope it's not something that happens to BLM and PCT.

I am really not sure yet.
On one hand some additions they had shown are great, on the other hand it really feels like even more simplification and personally there was way too much talk in their reasoning of "making it easier to get in", "for people who don't have time" or "how it would impact some fights".
I can see this as either a step in the right direction or as a way into even more simplified gameplay...

[TempusFinis]

I will personally reserve my own judgement until after I've played with it, but I am definately concerned of an "overcasualisation".
Some of the hotbars in that demo were frighteningly empty. The thought doesn't appeal for any of my mains as of fitst impression that's for sure.

I understand completely that having to go back and run non-levelcap content and instantly loosing a bunch of your skills is not at all a perfect way of handling things. But surely there has to be a way that isn't making your current Job practically gameplay complete at level 50. What does someone have to look forward to at level 110 from that point over some varient actions that will activate when I keep pressing the same button and passives?

The people I really want to hear from are those who (actually) run ultimates and the like. I always enjoy watching them because I know that they've:
!) Mastered their rotations and can keep them going when needed under a high pressure situation.
2) Mastered mechanics and the individual fight with a group.
I will be very interested how many of the high end people engage with Evolved, and how many of them continue playing long term after it drops.

It looks like they took the feedback from completely new players and made these changes right away. At least from the international reviews from the FF14 mobile version, new players did not want to study an encyclopedia to play the game, and I think Evolved mode and starting on a new Icy world (The 4th) that no one has been to yet solves this undesired encyclopedic game preparation problem for completely new players.

Also, for new players, this may be their version of heavensward in 2027, while the old players can still enjoy the old system. I think it was an excellent decision on the developers part and may keep FF14 running for far more than 10 additional years…

[Lannister]

I feel like since 2014 game is just getting more casual and easier.
If you remember 2.X, game is not the same at all when it comes about : rotation, Savage, crafting, gathering. Most of you dont know blood4blood was a cross spell.
They want to implement a new difficulty tier. Your job result to smash 1 or 2 buttons. I’m curious to see where SE bring us after 12 years

[Sekundessounet]

I feel like since 2014 game is just getting more casual and easier.
If you remember 2.X, game is not the same at all when it comes about : rotation, Savage, crafting, gathering. Most of you dont know blood4blood was a cross spell.
They want to implement a new difficulty tier. Your job result to smash 1 or 2 buttons. I’m curious to see where SE bring us after 12 years

I played in ARR and gotta admit, most of the difficult stuff was difficult because 1- nobody knew how to play the game and 2- design was wack all over the place. Think Haymaker existing, some jobs being only functionnal if you level up 2 other jobs, rotations being combo spam, etc

[Arrius]

I definitely need a own playtest for this to get a feel for the system here.

[Erinellza]

but also with limited button bloat.

There's a difference between removing button bloat and removing 50% of the buttons. This is just sad tbh. Combat will be a snoozefest, just like in WoW.

[Miradelle]

while the old players can still enjoy the old system.

No, they can not. Removal of 2 mins changes reborn mode completely, because it removes the component that also makes evolved mode troublesome: no buff windows to maximize your burst during. There is no pooling of gauge, no funneling resources back-to-back to fit into the 20 second window, no more making sure to get everything off during your 2 mins while mechanics are happening.

They're also highly likely going to remove reborn mode in 9.0, because it's extra effort to maintain two systems. I might've believed them maintaining the two systems if evolved was like 5% less damage than reborn, an option for people who want a simplified and dumbed down rotation.

[Sekundessounet]

There's a difference between removing button bloat and removing 50% of the buttons. This is just sad tbh. Combat will be a snoozefest, just like in WoW.

In these most buttons are situationally activated. Think Stardiver changing to Starcross. Few abilities are getting removed and their effect placed somewhere else/compensated in Evolved, like Bulwark.

[Kirutsuki]

Here's my take, people are looking at WHM and thinking it's all about simplicity. For one WHM is already a simple job at it's core, these changes wont effect the overall gameplay all that much, but still make WHM feel like it's doing something different than cast glare 100times cause all your shit is on cooldown.

Bard and tanks show that they're afraid of adding in unique situational things to play around with and that also should mean that not all healers will be the same anymore. Maybe WHM is the healer that stores dmg from healing, because largely people do want a pure healer.

But on the flipside you could very well bring back more complexity to abilities on Astro, Scholar or Sage while reducing the button bloat. You could bring back more RNG for Astro due to consolidating buttons elsewhere with a new gauge meter or whatever.

And my real takeaway from this is that in the long run Reborne mode will probably be removed, once they start adding cool buttons to use on Evolved mode due to the instant cast stuff certain jobs might be in a situation where despite this they have nothing to press.

Also with two minute meta being gone, you have to start thinking what kinds of things will replace those buttons, and buffs. Will they all be entirely gone or will there be an alt use for such actions?

I'm relatively optimistic about all this.

[Reimmi]

There's a difference between removing button bloat and removing 50% of the buttons. This is just sad tbh. Combat will be a snoozefest, just like in WoW.

I can safely say you don't play wow if you think that way.
Wow has about the same amount of rotational buttons as the evolved jobs but way more complexity than dawntrail classes.

Button count =/= complexity