Any plans for Skillchains?

[syntaxlies]

IMHO the biggest mistake they did with BR is that they didn't explain clearely how it works, otherwise i find it much more casual friendly than SC.
Let's face it, when we started using SC we didn't know what to do, personally i found that really confusing and really hard to perform. Doing a correct SC in Dunes was hard as hell. Where's the difference? That back in XI we always had in party someone experienced that told us what to do, even when we were noobs. There were always someone with a macro anticipating the SC in the chat log before doing the WS, so we knew what we had to do and we learned how it works.

In FFXIV we are all still pretty noobs so except a few people that enjoy testing things with linkshell mates, most of the players don't know how everything works. With pick up groups usually i was the only one knowing how BR works, so if I saw it was taking too much time to queue the skills and that they were all messed up i just explained everyone what they had to do and then everything went fine.

Imagine if everyone has a macro for BR saying something like "Regimen of Ruing starting in 5 sec - queue normal attacks" or "TP ready - Battle Regimen starting in 5 sec - queu WS" when they stack the first skill, like we did back in FFXI, wouldn't it be much easier than the SC system?
It won't be as powerful as a BR in a well trained party, but that's what I love about BR system: we the right knowledg it can be easy and useful in pick up groups and hard and devastating in static parties, it's relly versatile.

It is explained very clearly on lodestone.

Playguide-battle-effect inducing tactics

[Molly_Millions]

IMHO the biggest mistake they did with BR is that they didn't explain clearely how it works, otherwise i find it much more casual friendly than SC.
Let's face it, when we started using SC we didn't know what to do, personally i found that really confusing and really hard to perform. Doing a correct SC in Dunes was hard as hell. Where's the difference? That back in XI we always had in party someone experienced that told us what to do, even when we were noobs. There were always someone with a macro anticipating the SC in the chat log before doing the WS, so we knew what we had to do and we learned how it works.

In FFXIV we are all still pretty noob so except a few people that enjoy testing things with linkshell mates, most of the players don't know how everything works. With pick up groups usually i was the only one knowing how BR works, so if I saw it was taking too much time to queue the skills and that they were all messed up i just explained everyone what they had to do and then everything went fine.

Imagine if everyone has a macro for BR saying something like "Regimen of Ruing starting in 5 sec - queue normal attacks" or "TP ready - Battle Regimen starting in 5 sec - queu WS" when they stack the first skill, like we did back in FFXI, wouldn't it be much easier than the SC system?
It won't be as powerful as a BR in a well trained party, but that's what I love about BR system: we the right knowledg it can be easy and useful in pick up groups and hard and devastating in static parties, it's relly versatile.

Still it needs some fixes, i'm ok with the core system, but the debuffs we have are pretty boring :/ I'd love to see more combinations, like combo attacks or elemental attacks.

I'm not sure if you know this already, but those macros would cause confusion if for no other reason than light attack => light attack => light attack doesn't work, niether does WS => WS => WS.

the correct cominations go something like this:

light attack => light attack
heavy attack => heavy attack
light attack => light attack => magic attack
heavy attack => heavy attack => magic attack
WS => WS
WS => WS => Spell
Spell => Spell
Spell => Spell => WS

I think there are one or two more but three of the same type of attacks in a row will break the BR as will two weapon skills from the same class one after another.

[Spuffin]

The current BR system is completely useless.

Granted the mob does receive stat debuffs if you invest the time in trying to execute one and you pick the right moves to use you will debuff your mob and or do more damage. Great. BUT, the time and effort isn't even worth it.
The mobs don't even last that long for you to even have a decent fight. They are either zerged down by your party within seconds and or zerged down yourself solo within seconds because of your TP spam. BR will only prolong your fight to maybe see some stat effect take affect and then die shortly after.

BR also needs flashier animations! We need to be visually satisfied just like we were the Skill Chains. We need to see some bad ass animations be manifested out of using WS -> WS -> BOOM {{insert epic animation here}} *mob now is paralyed*

BR should not have to be queued. Why spend 30 seconds queuing up BR to have the same result as if you did not have to wait

IE:
wait wait wait wait BR wait wait wait wait Skill wait wait wait wait Skill wait wait wait wait BRwait Execution -> Animation / Status Effect

or

Skill wait wait Skill -> Animation / Status Effect

[Tempestmoon]

I've used it quite a bit, and from what I understand there is a damage bonus applied to additional attacks added to the BR. It only really seems to be worth it if everyone is coordinated and the BR is joined up to and executed right away. Otherwise you stand around doing nothing, unable to even heal yourself, while you're waiting for everyone else to get in.

Oh yeah, and I prefer the skill chain system. I wish they'd implement that in this game.

maybe BR will be better with auto attack. Having your toon continue to attack even when waiting for others to Que up their skill for BR.

[giftforce]

The BR concept is ... ugh... really retarded. It belongs in a turn based game, not a real-time MMO.

SE mentioned they are working on a combo system, so perhaps that will tie in with multiplayer gameplay.

[Chardrizard]

SC belongs to slow paced battle. nobody used it post-ToAU when everyone melee burns.

[Ferth]

SC belongs to slow paced battle. nobody used it post-ToAU when everyone melee burns.

And the overall skill level of the general population of FFXI suffered because of it. Near the end of my tenure in Vana'diel I did hardly anything with a group larger than 6 people (a few dynamises with 10-12.)

And for 6 people to take down things like Byakko, or to do Salvage skill chains were a big asset.

Hell, we even did some samurai soboro parties where we did three part chains to speed the killing along. No, it wasn't ideal to sit and wait for everyone to have tp. But all it took was one person who knew the mechanic for skill chains to make them effective.

It wasn't the skill chains themselves that made them inefficient for exp parties, it was the nature of tp, and the tremendously different rate of growth every body had in FFXI.

[Wolfie]

Battle Regimens could work, but they need to be redone almost completely. Having to enter a new combat mode, queue up attacks properly, confirm the right order, and then LEAVE the combat mode makes for very awkward and slow execution.

If anything, I would like to see something like the following done:

- Two combat modes, Battle Regimen mode and Skill Chain mode. When you enter combat, your last mode is picked automatically. Switching between the two should be instant and done with a keyboard or controller shortcut. There should be no other delay or penalty for entering one mode vs the other.
- Combatants in Skill Chain mode will create skillchains for additional physical/elemental damage automatically after using TP skills, and can magic burst with spells on skill chains. Same as FFXI. Can self-chain.
- Combatants in Battle Regimen mode will create status effects on monsters automatically after using any skills in rapid succession. No confirmation needed. No penalties. Nada. Can self-chain.

This way there's a choice for having your combos either do more damage, or give status effects.

[northernsky]

The major downside about BR is that you need to queue actions from all the pt. Why not keep the basics of the system and make it more free like skillchains were? Incapacitation is a cool idea, they may complexify it with damage bonuses, additional debuffs or elemental stuff, IMO it just needs to be activated more freely through the pace of battle.

I guess it was initially planned to be an easier alternative to SC but it does not seem it turned out that way.

[syntaxlies]

BR will work better with auto attack, as long as your character continues to attack. That being said i still dont like BR in the current form but i do think the system could be salvaged.