hello final fantasy 14 development team. let me first start by congratulating you on your success with final fantasy 14 the game is by far my favorite mmorpg for PVE game play.
now on to my purpose. I am writing to give a suggestion for a new job (class). I feel you've done an excellent job of creating unique playstyles thus far, my hope is that I might help contribute to this legacy.
the job
without further ado. might I suggest?
a voodoo class.
there is a plethora of untapped possible game mechanics for a class based around voodoo rituals. and luckily for you, a voodoo doll using black mage by the name of lulu in ffx has proven that the idea is one that the final fantasy community will accept. further proof of concept exiting in the series is the puppetmaster type class *(cait sith is a popular example) though this is not a direct copy of either of these characters they do serve as stepping stones to what i propose! it could be implemented as a puppet master class with a voodoo job tied in, as that would be an easier sell to hardcover fans (puppetmaster + black mage = voodoo). it's also important to note that this style of play is non existent in current mmorpgs.
I will offer a few ideas of my own on basic mechanics I think would be cool but will leave creative development up to the professionals, should they choose to use the idea.
ideas
- Most offensive skills will be based around using a voodoo doll to maim/burn/slash/poke/prod/incapacitate. to create a voodoo doll of a target you need to get into melee range and use a create doll skill. this gives a unique flavor to a range class, it makes positioning more prevalent then it is for most ranged classes I'd also consider having damage buffed the further you are from the target (oposite of how bard works in pvp). this would force movement for optimization of dps. much like melee have to.
- another idea that would be neat. if the doll deteriated as you used skills that involved abusing the doll. durability could start at 100% and deteriated 10% at a time until the doll was destroyed which would cause massive damage, used to set up burst in burn phases etc. and it would cause the player to have to create a new one forcing him out of his comfy back row ranged spot. perhaps an ability to postpone the hurt and repair the dolls durability could be implemented giving you further control of burst and when you have to migrate to your enemy.
- it's safe to say that instacasts or movement speed buffs would be nessesary to be able to keep dps up while positioning yourself. or unique skills could make up the difference.
example,
using the "create doll" skill causes a debuff for 5 secounds causing damage to the enemy for every 5 yalms of distance you can put between the enemy and yourself. like a dot that ticks based on distance.
inversely
when you plan to come in to make a doll have an ability, let's call it "Demi" or "gravity" 2.5 sec cast, players can move while casting. damage scales with the distance the player moves during the cast time. (I know you guys are itching to implement Demi. this is a non traditional way to do it)
- unique limit break idea. as a dps it would be dmg related, with a twist. I'll just get right to it as its difficult to articulate.
name: myriad (I think it's fitting) creates 4 large dolls around the target for 30 sec. these dolls are targetable by all party members and any damage to them will be applied to the initial target. basically would make all aoe dmg hit your main target (example 100 potency AOE to 4 dolls and 1 target would = 500 potency hitting the target).as for balance with other limit breaks, it should be scaled to do more dmg then melee LB only if you have strong AOE dps classes in your group. if your AOE is weak or you have a DPS down then melee LB would out damage it. higher rank LB = more dolls. this would make it useful in certain situations but not have it replace current LBS.
I'm sure I could come up with a lot more interesting ideas but I'd rather not overstep for now
in closing
it excites me to think of the possibilities for a class such as this, in the hands of the team responsible for one of the biggest comebacks in video game history. and it might be the 4 AM or the 5 cups of coffee talking but I think this would be a fun, unique class to play.
cheers
ps spelling and grammar mistakes are present, I don't plan on fixing them, so don't bother posting about them. do bother posting criticism or feedback or ideas pertaining to a voodoo class!
*credit to Akiza for comparison to puppet master class