Thread: 3.3~ Job Feedback & Future Changes

All in all, most jobs are about where I'd like to see them in terms of capabilities now, apart from DRK OT support feeling a bit weak in longer forced swap scenarios. I feel that Bard was faintly overbuffed, and in some of the least useful areas at that. Paladin now occasionally leaves DRK in the dust; loving those buffs, though some speed a bit misplaced there as well. However, some still feel a bit underutilized, uneven in internal stances/skill distribution, or a bit short of what their identities otherwise point at.

Sidenote: I also still don't why Dark Knight was given a skill-set that locks it into very particular mitigation CD combinations or else risks reverse-synergy. I imagine it's just because it'd somehow be too strong without that reverse synergy, and locking in those CD rotations through those conflicts seemed a better solution than individual nerfs? At any rate, certainly no signs of that changing. The PvP adjustments were good, at least. /shrug

Originally Posted by loreleidiangelo

Astrologian's Spread: it would be nice if the cooldown on the skill started the moment that you save the card, not use it from your deck. That way, you could draw something nicer than what you have in Spread, burn the card that's already there, and save the better one right away.

In truth, I'd prefer a total rework to the card system, but this has been hotly debated in other threads and most seem happy with the job the way it plays now, so I'm focusing on QoL suggestions instead.

Celestial Opposition should also play more nicely with Nocturnal Sect.

The same could be said for Draw in that case, though I imagine they simply found that new coding unnecessarily difficult for a similar output increase compared to simply cutting the cooldown in half.

The card system is one of those "no one's quite satisfied" issues that make me hope there might someday be specializations or ability adaptations. For instance, let's say you have 3+ different choices for how the cards and related system work. Not all are mutually exclusive.
1. Current
2. Spread is replaced by, essentially, a second Draw deck. Both begin cooling immediately, but cooling is slowed by 33% for each card active. Drawn cards do not time out. Shuffle is now a modifier, affecting either deck's drawn card.
3. You now have two Draw options, splitting RNG by half, where each holds 3 of the possible effects. However, you no longer have access to Shuffle.
4. Royal Road now stores its effect, releasable at will, however it does not begin cooling until released.
5. [ご想像に任せます]

To be honest, I'm still not sold on Spear, Spire, or Ewer.

I feel like Spire and Ewer should be combined and should have a higher cap to total TP/MP restoration based on TP/MP consumed during its duration—in other words both a base TP/MP Goad and a cost reduction, to a particular cap. If all classes made some use of both TP and MP alike I wouldn't have that issue with it, but at present only Ranged support is typally split; they'd already done away with all ARR Healer composition-based dps-support contribution differences with Fey Wind, so it doesn't make much sense not to do the same with AST.

Spear I think should also increase cooling speed over its duration, so that it can be used both before and after mass CD usage. (I realize this may cause issues with CD syncing, as an initial Spear would not, but most in-fight Spears also would.)

Neither Time Dilation nor Celestial Opposition's buff duration extensions do much of anything for Nocturnal Sect. I feel like Celestial Opposition should buff Nocturnal Field buffs by ~25% of their base shield value (favors Det) or 20% of their original shield value; 5s of a 18s Regen would have been a 16.7% or 33.3% potency increase, after all. Time Dilation should set aside the Nocturnal Field currently on the target, allowing you to place a second Nocturnal Field effect. No one attack can consume both effects. The larger will be consumed first.

[Food for thought] What if AST could swap Sects mid-combat?


Further changes I would have wanted to see:

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Bards:

DoTs overbuffed needlessly. The only reason I can imagine for this is the tiny RNG-independant advantage MCH might have had in being able to quickly apply mass DoTs at very high potency before focusing a main target. In 3 GCDs, they can apply 1350 base potency. A BRD would previously typically take twice as long, albeit to apply 1920, at an average of 320 potency per GCD, down from 450. However, has half of one's (SS-modifiable) crit rate's chance per 3 seconds to refresh a 150 potency attack, already more than making up that difference. I'm not sure why they needed to further make Bards masters of DoT cleave.

However, I would have been more than happy to have QoL changes to Heavier Shot, either by improving its proc chance from, say, 20% to 25%, or using a dynamic chance that starts significantly higher, but decreases per proc before recharging over time (rate adjusted by Skill Speed). Naturally, I could go for the same concept with MCH Shot skills, or by changing out Hot Shot to be a potential burst skill using Gun Heat, twice as much of which is generated when a Shot fails to proc its combo.

Don't leave Repelling Shot in the dust... Buff it to more than Blunt, even if that means slightly nerfing Blunt Arrow.

Both still could benefit hugely from a reduction to the Wanderer's Minuet / Gauss Barrel lock-in duration, say from 15s to 10s, modified by GCD recast time as to always equal exactly 4 GCDs. (Same concept for Defiance, Deliverance, Grit, Darkside, Cleric Stance, Geirskogul, etc.)

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Monk:

Could definitely go for:
- Meditation's pseudo-GCD scaling with current GCD, or at least Skill Speed.
- Purification's CD being cut from 120 seconds to 90 or 60 seconds. You're still spending valuable GCD time preparing it, so why lock it out?
- Faster activation speed for Fists of ~. Fists of Wind buffed to NIN base movement speed. Cooldown removed except on the same Fists of ~, as to prevent accidental doubling, and at only 2 seconds.
- Tornado Kick potency increased to be faint dps increase at the tail of a CD after having reapplied all DoTs during its buff window. Cooldown removed, or reduced to 12-15 seconds as to prevent 3 TKs within a single CD window.
- [Food for thought] Reduced Perfect Balance cooldown from 180s to 90s. It can now function as a DPS CD to a larger degree, along with providing a much more frequent margin of safety. Still an emergency tool, but now inviting more use and subsequent risk. Revert the most recent buff to Demolish in exchange.

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Dark Knight:

- Soul Survivor can now be used on an allied target, granting part of your parry chance to the target over 15 seconds. While active, all self-healing done and parry procs generated are shared between both you and the target. Should either die during the duration, the other receives 20% HP and MP. (This should solve Reprisal OT issues while giving a sort of Brothers in Arms / Surviving Legacy take on Cover mechanics. Not nearly as strong, but still potentially powerful.)
- [Something, something Dark Dance something... Maybe give it a guaranteed Parry or a 20% physical shield on application, or change it to additionally increase Parry chance based on the average of % max HP and % current HP damage that would have been dealt, while generating further parry chance for each attack attempted against you or parry made. (The LD synergy would be strong with this one...)
- The amount of health required to remove Walking Dead shouldn't increase (nearly as much as it does) with item level. Set it to or average it with a level 60, i145 tank's max HP. Or just actually allow negative HP, as this always should have been.
- Souleater absorbs 50% damage as healing regardless of stance. Soul Devourer doubles it to 100% in Grit.
- Grit increases self-healing done by 25%. (No longer a self-healing loss to spam DA-AD in Grit, just a dps gain. Grit Souleater now effectively a 125% heal.)
- Grit MP cost reduced from 1326 to 550. (41.5% of current)
- Darkside MP cost reduced from 440 to 380. (86.3% of current)
- Dark Arts MP cost reduced from 1768 to 1450. (82.0% of current) (Saves ~954 to ~1272 MP per minute)
- Syphon Strike MP generation decreased from 884 to 780. (90.5% of current) (Up to 700 less MP generated per minute.

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Scholar:

- Dissipation still feels a tad weak, but honestly just something like a 10% to 12% Spell Speed boost after would help a lot, and would go a long ways to fit the 'emergency' vibe. Or, give a triple to quadruple Fey Wind for eating Selene, lasting 15 seconds (Fey Whirl), and cause Galvanize to increase player Defense and Magic Defense by ~20% of its shield amount for the next 15 seconds (Fey Pact). Can remove the PvP extension in exchange.

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White Mage:

- Holy potency increased to 210. MP cost reduced by 4%. Now the same potency in spam as Diurnal Gravity, though still significantly less potency-per-second/MP, especially during Lightspeed (wherein Gravity costs only a maximum of .5 seconds, while Holy clips the GCD).

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Paladin:

- Just so much stuff to do with this... Could easily take out Sword Oath from regular use so that PLD's on par with DRK, and make Sword Oath a situational cleave stance at TP cost, no longer mutually exclusive with Shield Oath... Could allow for Shield Swipe refreshes, could empower Shield Bashes, could do tons of things. The job is strong, very strong, but it can just be a bit... off in design, like a clearly double-weave class on a laggy night, or like a plan drawn up during heavy drinking. It doesn't feel like it utilizes it skills as well as it should.

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Warrior:

- Technically a general change... Effects increasing healing received increase healing received from ALL sources, not only Spells. In other words, Defiance now again affects Lustrate, Essential Dignity, Tetragrammaton, etc.. As does Convalescence and Mantra.
- Equilibrium's self-healing has been adjusted to 900 potency to compensate, dealing 10% less on average, but 5% more when paired with Convalescence.