Elements and Their Influence

[Rutelor]

Whereas the elemental / temporal backbone of FFXI was strongly felt, and fun to discern and use, the one in FFXIV seems most of the time like an afterthought... or, like one of those movie-set façades, that stand with nothing substantial behind it.

The elements are said to be tied to the fundamentals of the very structure of Hydaelyn, and however, I fail to detect a solid, consistent connection between them, and my battle skills and their performance. It's not only elemental spells, but weapon skills that seem to have been intended, at some point, to evince certain elemental inclination: Their icons appear colored with their elemental bias and--I think--they seem designed to strengthen under the influx of the elements. However, I have repeatedly tested for evidence of this, and my tests always produce inconsistent, sometimes even contradictory results, for both spells and weapon skills. Also, crucial aspects of the battle system, like Battle Regimens and Incapacitation, seem to ignore completely the elemental pull.

Are the cables behind the elemental structure of the world all jumbled up (because of the current state of the game or any other such cause?) Or is it that the influx of the elements is so subtle, or perhaps intricate, that it shifts on a dime, and it leaves the player wondering whether it is there at all?

If it's the first of those two questions that hints at the correct assumption, are the developers planning to fix the jumbled up cables, or rather are they planning to excise the mangled structure and simplify even further the gameplay? If instead, it is the second question that receives the affirmative answer, then do the developers plan to clarify this influx and enable adventurers to take full advantage of its hold?

These questions could be expanded to include other aspects that traditionally have affected energy in FF worlds, such as moon phases, days of the week, hours of the day, etc... And they appear, to me, to be crucial questions, moving forward.

What do you think?

R

[Leeloo]

I never felt that stats in general worked properly, and if so it's definitely subtle. Seemed to me like their hands were a bit tied on that because of the ability to do all classes on 1 character & the horrible reallocation process. Though some limitations might've been good, god forbid Player A switched to a class that didn't match his stats and totally sucked at it. I doubt that would go over very well.

Sounds like their plans include making stats more significant. Not sure if they mentioned it specifically, but that should include the elemental ones too.

[Rutelor]

This is what I meant to ask in the OP: Whether the elemental attuning was going to be supported moving forward, or not.
I have heard very little mention of this issue, from the new development team. During a recent conversation with a fellow player on my server, he quoted an interview for a Japanese Magazine that allegedly claimed tht with the elimination of the Physical Level, the developers were planning to do away with the elemental points as well; only the points for stats would remain. He couldn't provide a clear source, so I hoped it was a mistaken assumption, and decided to start this thread in case someone had concrete information on the issue, or who knows... perhaps even get a Moderator to comment.