Quote Originally Posted by Alcide View Post
Actually it's a bit more elaborate than that.

There are different type of BR depending on the skill combination: physical def down, magical def down, TP generation down, boost class affinity and boost damage. Note that if you put the skills in a certain order you can add more than one debuff on the mob with a single BR.

Also there are some rules on the boost damage BR:
1- in order to get the max boost you can't put two skills of the same class next to each other: Moonrise>Punture>Moonrise daes A LOT more damage than Moonrise>Moonrise>Puncture.
2- If you change type of BR in the middle of the queue the damage boost stops: Moonrise>Puncture>Pummel>Moonrise the boost stops at Puncture, because the BR is boost damage typ at Moonrise>Punture and TP down type at Pummel>Moonrise.
Moonrise>Puncure>Moonrise>Twisting Vice(performed by an archer) the boost stops at Puncture, because Moonrise>Twisting done by an archer turn the BR into a class affinity type.
3- if you have good timing and good communication (aka voice chat) you can join the BR even if you don't queue you're skill: when the BR is released there's a short window where every skill performed is boosted. This means that the healer can join the BR by throwing a nuke at the right time and also that those opening the BR can throw in another WS at the end doing really massive damage (usually it's lancers or archers since they can build TP quite quickly)

I don't think the BR system is perfect, it has many flaws, being unintuitive, definitely not casual friendly and quite bland talking about the different types of debuffs, but I think it is much more interesting than the SC system, I'd rather seeing it improved into a combo system rather than going back to FFXI. It has much more potential and is much more versatile than the SC system.
Thanks for all the information Alcide. I don't know that I would have ever caught all these rules and nuances by just trying out BR's in the game.

What I liked about the skill chain system was that I could choose to set up a chain myself by just watching what my other party members were doing and executing the right skill based on their actions. Sometimes I could even anticipate their moves and launch an opening weapon skill at just the right time which I knew they would chain with. With skill chains, a skilled player can still use them to benefit the party without requiring everyone to be on top of their game.

Pick up parties are rarely coordinated enough to use the current BR system, and if I try I end up standing around for so long that any damage bonus I received would be far less than what I could have done without being locked into BR mode. Sometimes I nearly die even as I'm unable to act while other people are joining in.