2000 matches in and R30 - My thoughts

[Zydeko]

Just as a heads up I am primarily a caster DPS and so my view may be slightly biased. But this is how I feel how things are and I thought I would share accordingly. These are my thoughts after 2000 matches.

I will actually cover my thought on how melee is being handled first:

I would consider most melee DPS to be pretty spot on to where they need to be right now if not for a little room for improvement. There needs to be an easier way for melee to close in on casters outside of handing them an i-win root ability. With the way pvp mechanics work with interrupts this is just silly. My biggest problem, that I see from a caster observer, is that in order for most melee dps to start being viable is that they have to spend the time to farm action points to negate directional requirements in PVP. While "Behind" requirements are likely not an issue, because I spend 80% of my time running from melee, any requirement that requires a flank seems to me like it would be absurd. The only time I can see that being viable is when the target is crowd controlled in some fashion.

Paladin/Gladiator:
- A bit less useful DPS than a MRD/WAR (that said, I HAVE seen some really good dps by some PLDs but its few and far between)
- Please provide more damage abilities than what is currently provided. The current setup is to weak unless you can block - in which case you can't because no one really targets you. A way to adjust this would be to allow for Shield Swipe to be usable w/o blocking but at a reduced potency (160?) if an attack is not blocked prior to use. (Remember this would not mess up your combo rotation)
- Allow for provoke/flash abilities to actually work by forcing the encumbant to force target the attacker once under the effects of taunt. My suggestion for effect duration is 9/4.5/3. This would allow for proper "peeling" off targets which would be incredibly useful for tanks. Especially PLDS so they can actually make use of blocks

Marauder/War:
- Storm's Eye needs to be reduced to 20% and not stack with Miasma
- Holmgang needs to be fixed that if the target is moved out of placement of the HG that the Mar/War regains control. If the target is purified the WAR/MAR also regains control
- Beserk attack power buff needs to be adjusted to 30% and remove 5 second pacification
- Maim needs to be lowered to 10% extra damage

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Monk: (One of my normal partners is a monk, Shin Fayte, and DPS seems to be spot on with the utility they bring.)
- Some easier means to keep Greased Lightning available either via activated pvp ability (Enliven?) or some new cheezy low potency ranged attack similar to a distanced ki strike of some kind. I find it odd that any class would have to constantly jam one attack to keep up a buff to perform other dps. At least for pvp that seems like to much effort.
- New move: Ki Strike - Range 15y Radius 0y Recast 45s Potency 80 - Refreshes Monk ability Greased Lightning to full duration
- Dragon Kick should apply a 10% heavy (stackable with caster heavies) in addition to blunt damage resistance debuff.

Dragoon:
- Either Chaos Thrust or Plebotomize (butchered that spelling I'm sure) should have a heavy 10% (stacks with dps caster heavies only) added for the duration of the bleed.

Bard
- Remove ability for dots to interrupt casting
- Range check for distance to target needs to be re-evaluated for interrupting spells. The drop off point should be closer and for greater penalty at longer range.

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Summoner:

- Miasma needs to have the heavy / heal debuff knocked down to 20% and to NOT stack with Storm's Eye. Watching my healers heals go from ~1000 to 250 is a bit too much. - I can't take LongNu's spears in the behind for that long when I can't be healed more than most auto attacks.
- I do not agree Enkindle needs to be removed. Spur and Rouse need to just have their buffs lowered to not be 40% a piece, but maybe 40% total when both are active. Also Rouse needs to be FIXED as the pet can still be CC'd while the buff is active.
- Fester damage I will agree is a tad high. Knock potency down to 80 a dot and we'll talk.
- Miasma 2 needs to have the heal debuff component removed and heavy knocked to 20% (stacks with melee 10% heavy I mentioned before)
- Summoner pets should be allowed to be changed to "Obey" without having a target

My argument for the Fester nerf is for this, while I know its 3 times a minute, a BLM cannot be mobile and even attempt this amount of damage within that amount of time frame. While Flare can do some mega damage you can either swift cast it once or get interrupted trying to cast it standing still. SureCast is unreliable as chances are you'll be cc'd while using it. In addition you have to manage to get two or three Astral Fire stacks for it to be viable in the first place.

Black Mage: (The main focus for what I am going at is to increase the ability for a BLM to be mobile against a target or not be shut down completely by being poked with AA)
- Sleep remove initial duration to 18 seconds and add Sleep Resistance to work with 2nd/3rd application of the spell.
- Manawall should block ALL auto attack damage and absorb a barrier that nullifies two physical attack abilities. While available all CC driven from physical attacks is negated (stuns) and cannot be interrupted while casting.
- Manaward same CC immunity as above, but from magic based attacks
- Freeze is a joke compared to Tri-Disaster - Lower the cast time to 2.5 - Potency on this type of effect is irrelevant as thats not what it should be used for. Blizzard 2 is still a better choice in most scenarios!!
- Umbral Ice and Astral Fire should not be removable
- Lethargy should be on a 15 second cooldown. This move is pretty pathetic compared to miasma/miasma 2 of which both have no real recast timer, longer effects, stronger effeects, and longer duration.
- Blizzard III should have a 20% heavy (stacks with melee 10% but does not stack/overwrite blizzard 1 heavy effect below) ((An Ice spell with no heavy component? lame!))
- Blizzard I should have a 10% stackable heavy up to 30% (stacks with melee 10% and equalizes out with umbral ice 3)
- Aetherial Manipulation should be allowed when bound


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White Mage:
- Same sleep changes as above
- If Eos/Selene should be nerfed. So should regen/medica 2.

Scholar:
- Same miasma / miasma 2 changes as above
- Please do not touch SCH pets. They are easily killed / CC'd. The extra healing done by pets still doesn't compare to a regen/medica 2 spam party.
- SCH pets should allow to be changed to "Obey" without having a target
- SCH pet heal, Embrace, should be usable without Obey.

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CC Gripes:
- For some reason not every "bind" type spells seems to be treated the same. In some instances when I am bound I cannot cast spells on targets that I am facing while bound yet for others I can.
- I do not agree sleep needs any major nerf short of a fix of the 2nd/3rd application of the spell to not be affected by resists. The initial application of sleep should be dropped to 18 seconds instead of 30. Having a good healer and keeping your team spread out against BLMs can avoid most problems with sleep.
- There should not be any instance where heavy is more than 40% - This would allow for melee dps to sprint and still maintain viable distance to casters
- Stuns are fine - do not touch
- Blind could use a slight buff to be more viable in PvP.
- Provoke/Taunt needs some love. Force a target to only be able to focus a tank for 5 seconds perhaps.
- See previous comments in regards to Healing received debuff

Interrupted Casting:
- Please remove the ability for unaspected DD spells to interrupt casting. There are matches where all I do to lock down some healers is just initiate auto attack and spam ruin 2. This is slightly stupid and works in most cases.
- The check against bards needs to be re-evaluated to see what the % is for interrupting casts. This needs to be slightly lower than it is now based on range to the target. two bards pinging a caster with auto attack can shut down most casters.
- Auto Attack should not interrupt spells and only activated abilities should interrupt casting. I don't feel the need to have to explain this one

Please also either adjust the damage reduction of morale from other players or increase vitality as whole by about 20% across the board for pvp items. This would eliminate most over burst problems that exist today.

My only other laundry list item is for melee... Please remove the range limitations that once an attack is executed that they can miss due to a target simply moving out of range counting as being "line of sighted". I think this would fix most issues with the coveted, "Bunny Hop," that seems to fly around these forums.

Please just remember these are my opinion and everyone has a right to one. I am just sharing my experiences with 2000 matches under my belt. I have been an avid pvp'er since UO and these are issues I see could be easily adjusted. I do feel there is hope within the FF14 PVP community and it just needs a little love.

Also, please open the battle servers to be more broad or just simply have PvP work across all servers. Oh, and matchmaking, ladders, blah blah, all the stuff that will eventually get added in the future I'm sure anyhow.

BTW LongNu I know you are out there and will read this. <3 your team. Probably the most competitive I've come across. I tip my mage hat off to you guys.