Break the Trinity System Please

[Duelle]

Do you remember what it was for? Im thinking it was something to do with shields.

Shields, shield blocking and so on. The shield blocking skills GLA and PLD currently have are based on some of the stuff you got from Sentinel.

You forgot Bard, most do. If there is a BLM/SMN in your party a Bard can directly affect DPS by using Foe Requiem ballad for, I think, 10% boost to dmg taken by mobs from magic damage. It could also be used to increase a healer's DPS if you really wanted to, but that could get questionable and/or risky depending on how much healing they need to be doing.

This only applies if everyone in the raid were a magic user, which is not always the case. If the group is caster-heavy (as in, your DPS are all either BLM or SMN) then yes, a BRD with Foe's Requiem up will notably affect damage output.

The context of what I'm talking about is stuff that affects everyone. NIN pretty much has the only debuff in the game that increases everyone's damage. That's akin to Icy Talons (+Haste rating to everyone in the raid so long as the DK kept it up), 4.0 Blessing of Might (increases everyone's main stat by X%), or 3.0 Sanctified Retribution (directly increased damage taken from all sources by the mob).

[Felis]

Wasn't there like one class in very early FFXIV that was solely for supporting shields that eventually got rolled into GLD because it was redundant? I think that's how any support would happen I think.

Sentinel was not a real class. It was more like a invisible subclass bounded to shield you leveled up the moment you fight with a shield.
Access to the Sentinel and his shield skills had Gladiator, Conjurer and Thaumaturge.
You could level up Sentinel to 50 with Thaumaturge and then have all Sentinel skills ready for lv1 Gladiator.

The Sentinel skills were Guard (1), Aegis Boon (10), Shield Bash (14), Outmaneuver (20), War Drum (30), Aegis Boon II (40), Shield Bash II (44) and Deflection (50)

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/S...Fantasy_XIV%29

Before the job system came ingame the classes were more like weapon skills. Level up a class was more like level up a weapon and the Sentinel level represented your shield level.

Yoshida thought that confuse the players and removed Sentinel. But forgot to give THM some shield skills. I'm sure the real reason he did it was to nerf THM. No solo kill on Dodore anymore.

[Deifact]

I could see the current trend of hybrids like bard continuing. Dark Knight might be a tank with a buffing element (like a party endrain effect, or a party phalanx effect etc.). Geomancer could be a healer/buffer with aura spells. I agree that pure support would be difficult to balance (even though I love pure support myself). But hybrids seem to work OK.

[Delily]

I disagree. As soon as you add a dedicated support or debuff class, one of two things will happen. Either the class will be very effective, become Required (TM) and the game encounters will be designed around it, thus completely negating the intended purpose, or the class will have little impact on the end game content, and will no one will play them, outside of a few fans. Inevitably, raids will ask those players to switch to a more useful class. It make seem counter intuitive, but the trinity system gives designers more flexibility when designing new classes. The bard is a great example of how a support role works. They're capable of providing some useful (but not required buffs), but are competent damage dealers.

[Steady]

DCUO did 4 roles pretty well.

Healer, DPS, Tank, Controller. The fourth role did crowd control and had an ability to "pump out" power regen to other roles. Basically it was a job that did refresh/regain. The job also did things like DOT's, Stuns, group shields, as well as a decent amount of damage.

Then again every Job (Power) had two roles... Healer/Tank/Controller or DPS.

[Tiggy]

I'm going to put this in the list of things that isn't going to happen. You'll get hybrid jobs eventually and that's as good as it will get. The trinity system has it's place and it works. Games that get rid of it turn into silly zerg fests with no strategy.

[Garlyle]

For some reasons stated very early in this thread, I don't really want a Support role.

I do however support the inclusion of more potent supportive spells and abilities.

[Amatsuhira]

True Support Jobs would serve this game so well.

Bard, Dancer, Time Mage, mmm.

The premise behind a True Support is just exciting.

What do you all think?

I tried to plea with them about this back in 1.0. I hope you break through to them.

[NolLacnala]

Supports will most likely be hybrid X/Support like Bards, which keeps small parties strong and functional. As long as it doesn't reach City of Heroes levels of hilarity where eight support can tackle all the content...

[Staris]

I have been saying for a long time they need to add a support flag, and make the raid Qs have 1 mandatory support.
The main role of this support should simply be a class with mana and TP regen.

For now its only bard, but it should be required. It is semi-retarded duty findering coil or some primals and not getting a bard. Not that it makes them impossible, but it makes them so much less forgiving it is dumb.

But some minor additions would need to be made.
DPS archer soul - ranger maybe
Another support with mana/tp regens, Red mage for example, and perhaps a maurader soul too.