The problem with WoW-type raid-focused gameplay.

[Sapphic]

*snip*

DPS checks are gear/skill checks for DPS. As the typical is checks for gear/ability of the tanks and healers. No DPS checks then just throw tanks and healers at it instead.

To the rest of it, no you wont. Even in FFXI, DDs maximised their damage output through gear. Ever heard of burn parties? Or stacking certain jobs to burn things faster? AKA THF and SAM. Stacked because they outputted the most damage.

@OP you cant have pure support jobs, as the are even less popular than tanks and healers. Also how would they l;evel? It would just make it even less popular is to level you basically sat there while everyone else killed stuff for you. Some may like, but not enough, not anymore.

Also you would prefer jobs to not be balanced? You enjoy being excluded from content because you don't have that job you dislike levelled and geared for it? But instead prefer t o play a different job, simply because you enjoy it? How popular do you think it would be if you are forced to level and Jobs you do not enjoy whatsoever just so you can do content? Yep, not at all.

If you are going to come up with an idea, try and look at the while picture, the reasons why FFXIV is popular, how it would affect the game. Would it chance it totally (aka your idea would)..

The easy solution: Rip BRD apart. Just...destroy it and throw the person who keeps suggesting its a DPS in the board meetings out the window and make it what its supposed to be. Replace it with Ranger and add in BRD as a 100% support class. The only thing they would have to do with an actual BRD is make its support buffs, especially any damage buffs, make up for the loss of DPS.

AKA no-one would play it. How are you going to level? Unable to do anything unless some others held your hand through everything? You like not playing the game and have others carry you through content because the job you have is pure support and can't do anything, which is what you are asking. Oh design content to level to require a BRD. Then you have the problem of not enough want to play pure support as proven time and time again with older MMOs, getting hold of support jobs in FFXI for content was harder than getting a tank or healer, much harder, pretty much every LS was always wanting support. They would have to redesign the game from the ground up to implement a pure support role. Even FFXI BRD with the right subjob could do damage, of course not as potent as a DD job, but still.

So how much would their buffs do? You would have to make it increase the DPS by more than 1 DPS job could which would make it overpowered and over needed for any content as it would need to be designed for bringing a BRD.

This is not and never wil be forced party content for everything. That playstyle is dead and gone. Also most jobs in FFXI where designed as multi role, it was the playerbase that shoehorned them into singular roles. RDM, refresh bot, SCH stun bot, BRD song whore, NIN tank or sub for tank/soloing. SMN, healer. DNC sub job. All of those jobs where capable of much more, but the playerbase said no, not the developers.

Simple fact is upport jobs where never that popular and stymied party play because content had to be designed around having them. You think it's hard to get tanks? Try increasing that by 20 fold if they added pure support, theres a reason they split support amongst other roles in any MMO in the last 10 years.


Tl/dr Bad ideas are bad.