Quote Originally Posted by Risvertasashi View Post
Again, please remember:

This thread is not here to request puppetmaster be added to the game.
But what DO you want then? Your example is flawed; PUP's complexity is an illusion that only serves as a gil-enforced barrier to entry. Actual PUP gameplay is extremely shallow, (hit a maneuver every like 20-30 seconds, weaponskill with TP) actual FFXIV gameplay is extremely deep. The simplest BLM rotation is "Fire until no mana, then Blizzard," but in order to attain competitive DPS there are a LOT more factors, spells, and decisions being made every moment. The same goes for every other job in XIV; they are all simple to PICK UP, yes, in order to cater to new players, but by design they are all much more difficult to master than the ones in FFXI were.

FFXI combat is shallow; all the decisions are made BEFORE a fight via what gear you have access to and what macros you've made for them. In all honesty DNC probably had potential to be the most complex job from FFXI, but even that was ruined when it was eventually turned from dps/healer/support to pure DD; DNC rotations now are fairly simple like the other DD jobs.

As an FFXI BRD main, literally the only choice made available to me was where to stand, and if I wanted to bother using Pianissimo. I sing the same songs for the same groups over and over for the duration of a fight: March/Madrigal for melee, double Ballad for casters, and if I was feeling frisky, Pianissimo Minne for the PLD. That's it.
BRD of course is the example of the worst of the worst, but people need to stop pretending that FFXI had 'depth.'



I will agree that customization would be cool; it would be nice to have something akin to talent trees in order to slightly "color" the way you play your job, e.g. one Bard with a passive chosen to remove the DPS loss while singing, another Bard that instead keeps the penalty but has a passive buff that increases damage dealt while singing, stacking for each consecutive second spent singing. The first can sing whenever he feels the support is wanted, the latter would be encouraged to wait for when a single song would be effective for the entire duration.