Job Personalization: Can I Have It?

[Gilthas]

also adding new zones with the intention of being required party/FC areas, also with content having relevant rewards/regular updates for doing said open world content and a system to optimize your character with a newer version of materia system could work btw.

"New zones with the intention of being required party/FC areas" would be the exact same thing as our current dungeons and raids except you can bring more people along with you. These would still require jobs to be balanced if you want them to have relevant rewards.

[Mathazzar]

Always interesting to see cries for talent trees, when most games are getting away from them.

[Kallera]

Always interesting to see cries for talent trees, when most games are getting away from them.

I think its less embracing a specific brand of customization, than a desire to get away from homogenization.

[justinjarjar]

I think its less embracing a specific brand of customization, than a desire to get away from homogenization.

But which one? Since everyone has already voiced concern for FF11, wow, rift, and many other mmos skill trees.

[Kallera]

By that logic we should have no new jobs ever, or even as many as we do now.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

By that logic we should have no new jobs ever, or even as many as we do now.

Why don't we do that? That way the current jobs can get more awesome abilities.

[Izsha]

By that logic we should have no new jobs ever, or even as many as we do now.

And you see all the complaints about how homogenized classes have become? Because the more different something is the exponentially more difficult it becomes to balance. Ueah, at a certain point there is no point to adding new jobs because it will disrupt balance or just be a reskin of existing jobs. You could have a shield healer and healing healer (sch and whm), because having 2 complimenting jobs when there are 2 slots is easy to balance. Same with war and pld. Soon as the added a 3rd wheel, suddenly the all became more similar. You think that was an accident? It was done to maintain balance with any combination of 2 outta 3.

War had lock down on frequent busters via IB. Pld had lock down on sustained mitigation via shield. Now war had a boss sustained parry ability (super high uptime) pld got a 1 hit spike reduction they can spam lime IB (shelltron). Same deals with heals. Sch got strong aoe heal. Protect and shell are everyone's toys now. Etc.

the more jobs you add things can only move in 1 of 2 directions.

1: homogenization. Classes stay balanced because they become more alike.
2: increased uniqueness. Game becomes unbalanced because you add more variables. Every new unique class creates exponentially more combinations of powerful unique abilities. Players will discover the synergies between them and create overpowering combinations that cannot be mimicked by other combinations leading to imbalance, favoritism and exclusion.

Skill trees, customization, more unique jobs all fall smack into #2. There is absolutely a point that adding classes is pointless. They either become dev intensive reskins or wreck game balance. Skill trees just shove down the unbalanced road, unless the differences are so miniscule that they offer no real change at all. But at that point it's the same a new job reskin. Bunch dev time for no gain.

nope nope nope.

[Kallera]

I just don't see the point of making everything bland and predictable.

[Dhex]

Apparently some FFXIV players like a bland one-dimensional game and don't see the point in wanting anything more.

[Gilthas]

Apparently some FFXIV players like a bland one-dimensional game and don't see the point in wanting anything more.

And other players refuse to acknowledge the more than likely negative consequences of the things they want.