Something needs to be done about elements

[Nakiamiie]

I, too, feel there is a huge lackluster on the elemental weaknesses/resistance in this game.

The way I see it, the elemental resistance/weaknesses shouldn't be about damage but bonus effects.

For example, a fire monster/boss. So attacking it with its opposite could give a small perk, such as self-heal penalty, a slow effect, etc.
An extra effect you wouldn't get otherwise. And that effect would tip the fight that much would still help a bit (especially considering the monsters/bosses build up immunity).

As for players, same. Boosting an elemental resistance would also boost a status resistance (sleep, slow, silence, ...)

That would allow to have a more meaningful elemental feature in the game, while leaving it somewhat underpowered as the developers wanted (and some players want).

Simply hovering your cursor over the element in your profile window would display which status is tied with what element.

What do you think?

N.B.: Also, by being able to pick up attacks from other classes, it would allow other jobs/classes to have access to some elemental spells too. So it wouldn't be restricted to BLM/WHM.

[BlueMage]

So you see a Bomb, and to defeat it, you use...

Fire?

Come now, SE, this is Final Fantasy. You use Blizzard to kill bombs, not Fire. Fire heals bombs, and yet in this game, elements (or "aspect", as the tooltip calls it) means abso-freaking-lutely nothing. Thunder? Earth? Wind? Don't care. Potency is where it's at.

What's the point in elements? Just to justify the elemental materias and reduce the likelihood to get vitality and critical materia?

Bombs have always been weak to Fire...

I get your overall point, but your example is facepalm for someone trying to lecture about the way an FF is supposed to work.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Bombs have always been weak to Fire...

I get your overall point, but your example is facepalm for someone trying to lecture about the way an FF is supposed to work.

What are you smoking? Bombs in the series have always been weak to ice or water. They always absorbed fire.

[Itseotle]

What are you smoking? Bombs in the series have always been weak to ice or water. They always absorbed fire.

Iirc, bombs in II and XI were weak to fire. Using XI in this example because a lot of people here seem to be using XI as there baseline.

Source: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Bomb

[Kitru]

Iirc, bombs in II and XI were weak to fire. Using XI in this example because a lot of people here seem to be using XI as there baseline.

I seriously have to wonder why some people seem to think that FFXI somehow amounts to the entirety of the series. This actually goes over all of the various iterations of bombs throughout the series and you'll note that a massive majority of the time, Bombs are fire elemental, which, even if they're not weak to ice or water, means that they're immune to fire.

Going through the mainline games one at a time...

• FFII: weak to fire and lightning
• FFIII: weak to ice and water
• FFIV: neither strong against nor weak to any element
• FFV: neither strong against nor weak to any element
• FFVI: absorbs fire, weak to ice and water
• FFVII: immune to fire
• FFVIII: absorbs fire, weak to ice and wind
• FFIX: absorbs fire, weak to ice, water, and wind
• FFX: absorbs fire, weak to ice
• FFXI: weak to fire, strong to everything else
• FFXII: absorbs fire, weak to water
• FFXIII: absorbs fire, weak to ice
• FFT: absorbs fire, weak to water, strong against ice
• FFTA: absorbs fire, weak to water and ice

That's 2 occasions where bombs are weak to fire, 2 occasions where they're weak to nothing, and 8 cases where they absorb fire and are weak to either ice or water. So, yeah, the people that think that FFXI defines the entire series need to get it through their heads that FFXI is in no way a game to use as a basis for examining something across the entire series. FFXI is a massive anomaly in so very very many ways.

[Mardel]

They could fix this by making THM lore state that you are not really using "Fire", "Ice", "Thunder" but instead are shaping aether into elements that are considered destructive. This technique is called... a loophole!

[Mimilu]

Sorry to detract from the Bomb-Element-Weakness-And-Resistance debate (BEWAR, for short) but, while I understand Bombs were the OP's opening example, we've sidetracked FAR behyond the actual subject of this thread; The implication of elemental weaknesses and resistances: Gotta Have It vs No Way Jose.

[Mardel]

I think in current MMO(s) elemental weaknesses really serve no purpose outside making a class OP or weak. Thus it doesn't need to be implemented. Like I've said in many posts they should just change the lore on BLM and conjurer to state that the "elemental" spells we cast is simply the mana we use taking that appearance.

Now had they made the game accommodate elements from the start of 2.0, I would be okay with it. However since summoners functions the way it does; adding elemental damage would break more than fix. To the point where they would have to almost make a 3.0 In other words the ends wouldn't justify the means for them as a company. Their time would be better vested in discovering how to make each class/job more unique w/o the use of elements.

Side note: they should make apocatasis just be a flat magic damage reduction buff, instead of being for specific elements.

[Ordoric]

you keep bringing up XI well I was a blm main the ONLY spells that where used where ICE spells and Thunder spells THATS IT. so please explain to me where the problem is? besides that can some one remind me who had water fire earth wind thunder and ice based spells in XIV.1 was it not CNJ? I remember THM using DIA BIO Scourge absorb TP?

[Mihael_Longclaw]

FFXIV: ARR is the only Final Fantasy game I know of without elemental affinities, that goes for nearly every RPG I know.

It's a worse game off for it too, it makes the combat more bland than it already is.