Job Stances

[Shurrikhan]

I feel like if this was possible, they'd have already done it, but instead we got the Double X Hot Bar to help with skill bloat coming with the next expansion.

There's a lot they could do that they haven't. Fusing mutually exclusive abilities into a single slot/bind is just the simplest of them. A more extreme example:

• Different hotbars for targeting an enemy vs. targeting an ally
• Different stance bars (e.g. for Cleric vs. regular).
• Attack spells on an ally automatically targeting (1) their target, (2) the enemy within x yards (based on target ally role) with the most allies attacking it, or (3) any non-CCed enemy attacking the ally
• Healing spells on an enemy can be key-modified to, user configured to, or automatically heal the (1) the lesser %HP of self or target of target, given anticipated HP loss from any attacks the enemy is casting against the target with less time until completion than your healing ability, (2) enemy's target - always -, or (3) self - always.

The result would be that you essentially need ~7 fewer binds on any given Healer (DoTs, directs, AoE, heavy), OR there's no need to target swap about with FT and ToT.

On Topic:

1. More ways to play a job rather than just one "right" way.
2. Since the stances would replace job skills, it would save from "skill bloat" by giving us more, but not overflowing our hotbars.

1. This is a GREAT goal, in my opinion, but stances aren't necessary to get the results your looking for, and making stances the means to such for all jobs will likely make them feel even more homogenized than they do now.

2. Note that stances also require a button, and using them as a means to deffer button-bloat will cost immediate access to certain (especially -now- cross-stanced) skill functionality, likely making things feel more clunky and packaged, especially where these skills affect the skill functions we already have, and are used to having (near-) immediate access to. In the end, that's what button-bloat comes down to: points of manual control. Combating button-bloat then comes down to (1) investing more significance and points of interest (altogether, general attractiveness) into each bind or their combined button-flows through ability rework, and (2) finding intuitive ways to package the various capabilities of a given class into maximal access with the least total keys needed -- e.g. the least feeling of control loss, hopefully with the benefit of increased intuitiveness, fewer obligatory and uninteresting key presses, and improved button-flow. Stances are just one of many, many packaging methods; the skills themselves, depending on their buffs, can actually be yet another, for instance, while revamping skills to use shared resources which can be manipulated in a variety of ways (one manipulation abilities taking the job of multiple direct or utility abilities), or their means of casting (e.g. Fire I, II, or III determined by cast length, or automatically using the currently positioned Opo-opo, Raptor, or Coeurl skill) are yet more such methods.

I honestly think its best solutions may eventually come down to the user interface side, where the same capabilities may be given through 13 total keys or 35, as per user preference, with the prior about as precise and reliable in most situations as the latter, rather than universally modifying the specs themselves. I don't see why one person should have to play with the same abilities on screen as I do, as long as their Monk still has the same total and accessible functionality as mine, etc. I honestly don't care if one person's experience looks more like XIII while mine looks more traditional as long as the prior doesn't sacrifice too much ready detail of control for its more hands-off or "cinematic" feel, as to create two different levels of players. Multiple ways of play, in the game and unto the game, all viable.