Bring Skillchain System to FFXIV!

[Starlord]

I feel like FFXIV should have Skillchains (SC) from FFXI. I am not saying this because I want FFXI-2. No, I feel like it will add a layer of teamwork to execute SC's. (Like Light/Dark/Scission/Compression/Induration etc).

It's something to think about in the future of FFXIV ( Maybe in the 1st expansion).

Skillchains was one of the best systems that made FFXI awesome in battle for me. I hope they make a comeback!

Ideas from other players:

They could have something similar in FFXIV. For instance, they could have certain attacks put a special "effect" on a mob. If another person sees that effect on the mob, they can use a certain attack of their own, which would remove the current effect and then perform a burst or damage effect of some kind. Maybe even have it so that performing those SCs would build the Limit gauge faster. But they'd have to balance it so that all DPS had equal opportunity to provide the same damage, otherwise you'd start getting groups who exclude people because they don't have the right SC trigger.

Here's an Idea: Give each Class a general action called "Skill Chain" and "Skill Burst" that can be used off the GCD with a 30second cooldown.
Skill Chains can be used to Support the party via damage buffs / healing buffs / defense buffs while Skill Bursts will damage your target / nearby
targets.

Skill chain
If Player 1 activates the "Skill Chain" before using a skill (Skill chain>> Heavy thrust) It places a buff on the party called "Chain 1" for 7s.
If Player 2 activates his/her Skill chain and uses the proper skill (Skill chain>> Twin Snakes) before the buff fades, the buff becomes "Chain 2" and increases party damage by 10% for 10s
If player 3 activates his/her Skill chain and uses the right skill (Skill chain>> Medica II) before the buff fades, the buff becomes "Chain 3" and increases party damage by 20% for 10s

Skill Burst
If player 1 activates the "Skill Brust" before using a skill (Skill burst>> Fire III) the monster receives a de-buff called "Burst 1" for 7s
If player 2 activates his/her Skill Burst and uses the proper skill (Skill burst>> Rockbreaker) the monster will take damage equal to that players potency of 200 and receive a de-buff called "Burst 2" for 7s
If Player 3 activates his/her Skill Burst and uses the proper skill (Skill burst>> Holy) the monster will take damage equal to that players potency 350 and the burst chain will end.

[Myrhn]

How can you put SC on a fast combat system?

[amnie]

How can you put SC on a fast combat system?

they could change it a little and make it more like the fellowship skill system in LOTRO, for example (though I think that neither FFXIV nor LOTRO have a fast combat system. what you mean is 'faster than slow as hell' )

[Shuon]

probably some form of 'party actions' above and beyond just limit breaks (which i kind of love, but i dont mind it being more complex )

[Reiterpallasch]

Skillchains was one of the best systems that made FFXI awesome in battle for me. I hope they make a comeback!

Cool concept, terrible system. They were very rarely used, because you simply did more damage without them. Which is kind of the point to killing stuff really. You generally don't intentionally make a kill go slower just to make it look cooler.

IMO the reason it's not a good system (The XI version of it anyways), is because they'll never be able to balance it properly. It will either be A: Too strong, and will heavily influence party layout to get the best skillchains possible, or B: Too weak, and nobody will want to use it. IF they managed to balance them, people would just go for the easier route, which would be not using them at all.

That said, they tried something similar in 1.0, and it was one of the very first things to get scrapped and removed from the game because it was just that bad.

[Kaedan94]

Cool concept, terrible system. They were very rarely used, because you simply did more damage without them. Which is kind of the point to killing stuff really. You generally don't intentionally make a kill go slower just to make it look cooler.

IMO the reason it's not a good system (The XI version of it anyways), is because they'll never be able to balance it properly. It will either be A: Too strong, and will heavily influence party layout to get the best skillchains possible, or B: Too weak, and nobody will want to use it. IF they managed to balance them, people would just go for the easier route, which would be not using them at all.

That said, they tried something similar in 1.0, and it was one of the very first things to get scrapped and removed from the game because it was just that bad.

Basically this.

The only reason SCs were even in FFXI at all was because the combat was slow-paced. They wanted to give you something to do besides just spam your best WS as soon as you built enough TP. But in the end, they didn't balance it well and it turned out to be better in 90% of cases to simply spam your best WSs.

They could have something similar in FFXIV. For instance, they could have certain attacks put a special "effect" on a mob. If another person sees that effect on the mob, they can use a certain attack of their own, which would remove the current effect and then perform a burst or damage effect of some kind. Maybe even have it so that performing those SCs would build the Limit gauge faster. But they'd have to balance it so that all DPS had equal opportunity to provide the same damage, otherwise you'd start getting groups who exclude people because they don't have the right SC trigger.

[Starlord]

They could have something similar in FFXIV. For instance, they could have certain attacks put a special "effect" on a mob. If another person sees that effect on the mob, they can use a certain attack of their own, which would remove the current effect and then perform a burst or damage effect of some kind. Maybe even have it so that performing those SCs would build the Limit gauge faster. But they'd have to balance it so that all DPS had equal opportunity to provide the same damage, otherwise you'd start getting groups who exclude people because they don't have the right SC trigger.

I like your idea Kaedan! I'll put in the OP .

[Shadex]

As a long time XI player I can say with 100% certainty that with a good group that understood the SC/MB system you could kill enemies MUCH faster than you could without them. The issue was that most players never bothered nor wanted to learn a system as complex as the SC system. They just wanted pew pew. It would be nice to have but this is a very different player base. Ones that will complain they have no money because they would rather pay 400g for a port than walk 20 feet and take a 15g chocobo.

[Ryans]

Snip

It wasn't always faster to use tp moves as soon as you got tp in FFXI. Leveling as blm when sky was still the latest endgame, you could get a rhythm going where you build tp until 70%, skillchain to 50% and MB the rest of the health for a much faster kill than everyone doing their own thing. I know that system wouldn't work in the current FFXIV combat system, but I could imagine having a personal Limit Break bar that is used in conjunction with other party members' limit break bar that could create a skill chain to allow a caster to finish off with a MB type of situation. The damage could all be added up and dealt in the end so that if you use it separately, it does very little damage so it would encourage cooperation. Just an idea.

[DakkonBriefs]

I do miss the skill chains. The combat in XIV is quick but party combos can still be made.

Aion had a great skill chain system that would work good in XIV.