MRD Maimed by 1.18a

[Holyomen]

It appears that MRD has been once again "exposed" by another patch.

But before I go down this familiar path of class ranting, let me talk about some positive changes that are happening in 1.18a.

Congrats to PUG for getting almost all their abilities enhanced for greater damage.
I can see Seismic Shock has a really nice DPS ability now as long as the PUG is able to keep their MP up. The reaction abilities of PUG are getting stronger and stronger, which can make them more of a viable DPS/Evasion tank.

Already being a top tier DD, the LNC gets another boost to their already top notch deadly weapons skills like Doomspike and Chaos Thrust. And now with Feint being even stronger than before, hit or miss it's still a win win for LNC.

I'll be fair and point out that my favorite LNC weapon skills did not get a boost; Twisting Vice, Leg Sweep, and Heavy Trammel.


Now let's take a look at what treasures were bestowed upon the mighty MRD.
Skull Sunder, our main DPS WS received a boost.....oh wait, no it didn't. It got left to the wayside just like the MRD class as a whole gets treated. But hold on, PUG got 2 of their reaction abilities powered up, that would mean Fracture should get tweaked as well right? Negative ghostrider, it remains as is.

So what did we get?
Well LNC got 5 abilities enhanced, and PUG came out nice with 6.
And for some reason MRD was given the least with a total of 4.
One of those 4 is Trunkspiltter, which is really great cause there are sooo many plant mobs in the game that no party would dare venture in Eorzea without a MRD in it.

The other 3 abilities, Brutal Swing, Maim, and Storm's Path are cool, I can't really complain, but I'll try.
I thought I had found my purpose in life as a MRD once I got Maim. But then it was nerfed to oblivion. The nerf was done very early so many of you may not even be aware of it. It was around the time when the first 50's on the servers started happening. Before then if you landed Maim on a mob it was dead within seconds. Maim was so useful in killing mobs that most parties didn't even want you to use it for fear we wouldn't get enough SP off the mob(back when SP was random).
But the Maim we have currently pales in comparison. Honestly, I the difference in damage seems almost insignificant once the "exposed" effect is in and for 2000+ TP you really have to question if it was even worth it.

So I said all that to say, thanks for the boost in dmg on Maim, but really if I want to do more damage I'll stick with Skull Sunder spam. And for Storm's Path, since I'm going to be utilizing this skill constantly as a tank, anyway the extra damage now is a nice touch.

If the goal of 1.18a was to help melee with DPS since ARC is OP on dmg while being out of harm's way, why was MRD not really compensated?

[Lienn]

Totally agree. At same time its noce improving these WS damages, the current "usable" WS from MRD are the only ones not enhanced...skull sunder and fracture. With the dead slow TP gain is just crazy they putting effort enhancing the WSs you actually will never use...1500 TP for storm path? 3000 for maim? They're myth now...if you use storm path you will be able to watch other DDS use 3+ WSs before you have TP again...and maim just never happen anymore.

At same time i do think its fair to have LNC as the best ingame DD (its a FF game afterall...all others than FFXI had lance users as the best DDs) and that is ey good for PGL, i really feel like it was just a joke what they did (again) to MRD.

[Hikozaemon]

dont worry the JPs are bitching up a storm about this so hopefully it will change......


On a side note SE is focusing far too much on making MAR a secondary tank w/ some of its abilities that its making the class a watered down dank class that doesnt shine in any role. Least warrior in ff11 had great tp attacks acc/attk boost and double attk to make up for slower attk and misses.

[Lienn]

dont worry the JPs are bitching up a storm about this so hopefully it will change......

I hope so, man! All battle team needs to do is balance basic actions' recast...once MRD once again have fully access to Heavy Swing and Broad/Full Swings it can start rolling again! Because the basic actions are the TP generator of MRD..different from PGL or LNC, heavy/broad/full swing are just as important to MRD as invigorate, feint and chaos thrust are to LNC or taunt, featherfoot and haymaker/jarring/simian are to PGL....and as important as multishot, trifurcate and light shot are to ARC...

MRD basic attacks are the heart of the class. I already even gave up suggesting them basic attacks rebalancing...i'm in a point where "begging" is the more correct term. I wish more people, instead of trying to adapt the gameplay to this DRK wannabe it became after 1.18, would raise their voices asking for bringing the original MRD back!

[Holyomen]

Least warrior in ff11 had great tp attacks acc/attk boost and double attk to make up for slower attk and misses.

All is forgiven if SE gives MRD Double Attack.


Wait lemme think about that first.
Knowing SE they would probably make it a 5 min recast to effect your next attack....

Best case scenario SE would make it a R30 trait for Musketeer that other classes would be able to equip.

[Forerunner]

Double Attack trait to return, or Momentum?

Here's an idea:

Momentum: Passive trait that, as your character swings their axe, the force generated is utilised to move the axe around quicker for either quicker attacks (think: Self-haste that increases slowly the more you attack, dropping the attacks from 1 per 4 seconds to 1 per 3 second at max cap? Maybe slower/quicker depending on balance) or an additional attack if you miss (like Zanshin, SAM ability. Could have the name mixed up)

And TP gains to be adjusted would allow MRD to function better. What do you think?

[Holyomen]

Remember this?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Description

The marauder is a combat specialist whose weapon of choice is the greataxe -- a fearsome arm emblematic of Eorzea's pirates. Their approach to battle is one of brute force, relying on strength and steel to crush enemies and sunder weapons.

They are highly sought after for their ferocity and intimidating presence, and are often employed to hunt down monsters plaguing the land, or to turn the tide of battle between warring nations. Throwing axes such as the francisca supplement the marauder's arsenal, making them fearsome adversaries even at range.

While stationary, marauders are able to generate a solid base from which they are able to carry out devastating attacks.

The strength of marauders lies in their ability to control timing and distance to maximize the efficacy of their blows.
____________________________________________________________________________________


Yeah, made me think I was going to play a heavy DD too.....
From SE's description you don't really get the idea of the MRD being a tank or AoE melee class, but rather a peak dmg DPS class that can dish it out from up close or at range.

[Lienn]

Well, double attack prolly won't fix MRD issues...even if its just like WAR double attack was. IMO if its meant to double attack then it should receive an action similar to multishot...so you charge, buff and unleash the multiple attacks of the kind you wanted.

[zaviermhigo]

lnc TOP NOTCH DD? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ok now that i'm done laughing, dds should at least live through weapon skilling and vit stacks low with lnc due to the archaic concept of their distance from the mob mattering which is doesn't. We have archer man, thats a top tier dd, because it does dmg and it is out of range. LNC and MRD are mid tier dds and pug is a off tank with dd capabilities. I mean we just barely have top tier dds, and this is the first of the balancing. Personally the problem with MRD and LNC imho isn't just their ws potency, they over all suck as classes, and maybe its the people playing them combined with what the devs think about the classes, meaning the players think one thing, and the devs think another, but they don't meet up because no one every said "i think this and you think that". We're still dealing with the devs view point of these classes, not ours, and ours is usually based on faulty ass information like the main ffxiv website that doesn't even ring true anymore.

[Lienn]

You say this now...but after patch things might change. Right now no one knows how good the improvements will be...maybe they aren't even noticeable...but maybe they are. ARC never really was considered the best DD because it was out of melee range...it was just a temporary situation (hopefully) generated by 1.18. What made it the best DD does is its DPS, that still is the best one. But depending of how better LNC dmg become, it does might surpass ARC due WS frequency.

But who knows...only monday we will be able to discover if ARC keeps the crown or if it gonna change to LNC head.