[Dev Team] Please Re-consider Medicine Items Cooldowns/Effectiveness.

[RygaenYuui]

Howdy,

So I do understand that the development team is always looking at "balance" in regards to combat related content in FFXIV:ARR, and that you guys were highly concerned about players being able to solo through content by stocking up on medicines and pretty much using them to solo difficult content back in 1.0.

Thus said, now we have items implemented which look like this:










The concept is awesome, but the use of most of these are not at all practical with how the game's current mechanic works.

Honestly? 1.0's mechanic was much slower than ARR's. Kinda feel as though there really isn't much of a reason to use medicines as it stands except for rare specific instances. I'm not saying that these kinds of items should ever replace the need for a main healer, but it would be nice if other party members could give them a helping hand. There are many instances in certain fights where the healer may have to make a tough choice and decision between making sure the tank is topped off and other DPS don't die from DoT from some stray AoE attack they failed to dodge or evade.

Is there any possibility that the cooldowns might be lessened in the future or that crafters will be able to craft special medicines that lower the cooldowns on these kinds of items? And if for whatever reason if the cooldowns are unable to be shortened, can the effects/duration at least be doubled without upsetting too much of the game "balance"?

I think, if say, stat+ potions were doubled from 15 to 30 seconds, the 5 minute cooldown could be justified, or even increasing the cap of hi-ethers to 24% (max 240~ points). But as it currently stands it's kinda ridiculous.

[Skyy]

I agree with the effectiveness part of what you're saying. A High-Ether for example returning a max of 120 mp does absolutely nothing. As a blm it doesn't give me enough mana do to anything useful outside of casting bliz3 after a flare if convert is down which is not really necessary since with transpose it's a few seconds for the first tick anyway.

From a whm perspective it does absolutely nothing and since there's a half second command freeze it's detrimental to even fire off in an emergency situation.

x-ether does 420 mp and high elixer 460 mp only. Still not enough to cast a single fire and only enough for 1 heal on whm. I would prefer a longer cooldown like 15 minutes and have a much more effective medicine that restores 1000-1500 mana and actually contributes to my ability to cast spells in.

[Ryuko]

I can understand your concern about medicines not being too useful. To be honest, OP, I didn't realize what their point was either... But then when I started doing the first Coil, and now especially the second Coil... their uses are becoming more and more clear. Sometimes, using mainstat pops, mp pots (so bards can squeeze out more dps by not ballading), and potent poison pots can mean the difference between hitting a hard enrage (death) and beating a fight before you are insta-killed. As an example, we brought a bard into T8 the other night who didn't really have any gear from coil. He was a friend and took our static bard's place for the week. We had a lot of trouble beating T8 because of lack of damage -- partly because of his lack of gear. We were able to clear it with ease before bringing him in, but to make up for that lack of dps, we all started using pots (more people than before). I can pop two or possibly even three int pots in that fight if I time it right. With potent poisoning potions being on a less than 2 minute cooldown (hq), you can pop at least five. I pop pots on every fights, but not every person was because it wasn't needed -- but then we were at the fine line of needing it. Before people received more and more gear from earlier second coils, these medicines were needed to beat the tight dps checks of the later turns.

These medicines really don't get much use outside of situations where you REALLY need to push everything you have, although I have noticed myself using MP pots (for healer) in situations where I am starved for MP. For example, I might be doing Titan extreme and wasting a lot of MP on raises... but our bard is dead so I don't get ballad. So, I can pop a mana pot in addition to shroud or energy drain.

Considering the balance needed regarding the tight dps checks on the harder fights, I don't think they should change the pot cooldown.

[dspguy]

Some items need either a lower recast or a higher effect (ethers). Some of the x-potions though... I use a lot of x-potions of vitality. They act as a free cooldown for me on warrior. It is nearly as good as thrill of battle. The fact that I can pretty much add an extra cooldown to my rotation is pretty nice. I can see not changing that. However, the other potions (str/dex/int/etc), they should certainly have a lesser cooldown.

[ruskie]

I'd like to atleast let them group restorative(mp/hp) pots vs debuff(poison/paralyze etc) vs buff(str/vit/dex) in separate cooldowns. As it is I have a choice of dex pot(which I use often when AoEing or during burn phases) or a hi ether or similar(when ballading and I see I'll need to run it a bit longer).

[RygaenYuui]

the weird thing about that is that they kind of already do this but HP and MP pots and Antidotes, Echodrops, Spinedrops, Attribute potions all share the same timer, while Debuffing potions do not.

[Parawill]

Fun fact: Potions share the same CD with several fun items like fireworks.

[Ooshima]

I'd like to atleast let them group restorative(mp/hp) pots vs debuff(poison/paralyze etc) vs buff(str/vit/dex) in separate cooldowns. As it is I have a choice of dex pot(which I use often when AoEing or during burn phases) or a hi ether or similar (when ballading and I see I'll need to run it a bit longer).

THIS.

The only problem with "medicines".

The reason why people doesn't think highly of medicines is because they overlap with the use of buffing medicines. As a BRD, during progression sometimes I debate whether I should use an X-Ether or not because my MP is 0-ed after a full Foe Requiem and shit happened, healer died and raised and without MP. Should I X-Ether and play Mage's Ballad or should I use X-Dex later?

X-Ether and X-Elixer do have their uses in coil. Especially when you are raised, it gives you some resources to start with something. IF ONLY it doesn't overlap with buff medicines because you might have just used one earlier and it is still on CD or you could not use it now because you need to use X-stat potion to push phases soon.

If anyone hasn't noticed yet, Antidote doesn't overlap with other potions. You could use an Antidote and a X-stat potion right after. SE should totally separate healing medicines with buffing medicines and players will see their worth.