How much do we really want Customization and Coordination?

[Shurrikhan]

I've been thinking a lot about what could be done to try to give a greater sense of identity within one's own character and between it and others, especially within combat, but I come constantly across an obvious question, "Is what I'm looking an outlier among the wants of the larger community? Are there elements I want that most others will not, or elements that a majority of player desire that I have not encompassed?"

I'm presently working on a poll to try to better quantify and visualize these things, but I could use your help in adding categories, lest every section end in "something else". If you'd be so kind, I have a few questions for you:

1. What are the elements of combat you most enjoy in this game? Moreover, what makes a particular run of a fight memorable?
(For that matter, what do you most dislike, and is there ever a factor necessary atop the rest to make a particular combat experience go from average to excellent?)

2. Assuming it were possible to balance jobs and any customization therein such that no person's time spent leveling and gearing a given job should ever be wasted going into a given piece of content, and each build usable for a majority of content, to what degree would you be interested in seeing customization for jobs and classes?
(How could increased complexity or esoteric knowledge be minimized while bringing forth maximal identity and attachment to one's character? How might this affect the burden of knowledge as to what other jobs are bringing to the fight?)

3. To what degree would you like for your in-combat decisions to be made with reference to your allies' actions? How much dependence and synergy would you like to see, and how might you imagine that would look, or what (kinds of) mechanics would bring that into play?
(If there are both negative and positive impressions that such a system may give, e.g. "dependence" vs. "synergy", how might one make the positive more present or ostensible than the negative?)

[Shurrikhan]

I'm reserving this slot below for some of my own thoughts on the matter where I think they may better focus discussion.

Please understand I never mean to be defensive in anything I write back; I'm merely trying to move forward certain paths of inquiry through examination and feedback.

[Khalithar]

1. What are the elements of combat you most enjoy in this game? Moreover, what makes a particular run of a fight memorable?

The elements of the combat I enjoy most? It's hard to put it in to words and this is extremely subjective obviously so bear with me. I love how the combo system and timing on certain cooldowns/boss abilities gives a very "rhythmic" feel to every fight. Each fight in the game lately has a certain ebb and flow to it and while it does allow you to know what's happening, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to handle it easily.

A good example of this is the final boss of the Vault with his hefty AoE damage. Certainly you can be aware of it and what is going to happen in the second phase when he starts throwing his mechanics at you all at once, but that doesn't always mean you can handle it or that your group will execute the fight correctly, people make mistakes, they lag, etc. I've brought new healers through this fight tons of times and even when I warn them they tend to underestimate it and fall behind and people start dying.

As for what makes a fight memorable to me? Once again very subjective. One of the most memorable fights to me in all of HW is the Singularity Reactor. That fight is easy, really easy. But between the music, fighting all of the knights as they use their signature attacks, the graphic effect when he uses his ultimate, and then after when he's winded as he realizes he threw everything at you and you still stand? That was incredibly memorable to me because, despite the very low difficulty, the fight "feels" very epic.

Another memorable boss fight to me was fighting Ultima the first time when Maker's Ruin plays and you slowly strip away the absorbed primals and leave him vulnerable while Hydaelyn assists you in making him vulnerable. Once again, the fight "feels" like an epic battle to me even if the difficulty is really low. As for fights that are more difficult, when Sophia EX first came out and learning that fight and farming it later a new thought dawned on me. The sorrowful tone to the music, the soft singing, and Sophia's almost gentle voice during the fight, it creates this weird dichotomy between what you hear and what's happening for a very unique experience.

2. Assuming it were possible to balance jobs and any customization therein such that no person's time spent leveling and gearing a given job should ever be wasted going into a given piece of content, and each build usable for a majority of content, to what degree would you be interested in seeing customization for jobs and classes?

I would want to see some varying playstyles within each class by having a "build" that de-emphasizes some aspects while placing a greater emphasis on others. To help you visualize let me give some examples of what I could think of off the top of my head:

A) A build for smn that significantly boosted the Egi's capabilities and made it the focus of your DPS and giving up DWT and and Deathflare. The class would lose it's backloaded burst but gain more consistent damage over time.

B) A build for Brd that removed songs/minuet and placed a greater emphasis on being an archer, increased damage per shot at the loss of party utility and abilities like Steel Jaws that refresh your DoT's.

C) A build for Blm that focused purely on using only Fire spells but requires much more careful management of your MP such that if you mess up and use too much, you bottom out but if you use too little, you've lost dps. Placing full agency in the hands of the player on how well they do.

I'd rather not customize stats, I'm perfectly fine with one set of optimal gear.

3. To what degree would you like for your in-combat decisions to be made with reference to your allies' actions? How much dependence and synergy would you like to see, and how might you imagine that would look, or what (kinds of) mechanics would bring that into play?

Hard to say. As someone that plays tanks almost exclusively, my decisions that I make in reference to someone else's actions are only when I need to save someone or pull an enemy off of them. Synergy is an interesting thought, we see it a little bit already. Drg and classes that use piercing, Nin/War and classes that use slashing etc. But I definitely want to see more buffs/debuffs. More things akin to drk's sole survivor PVP debuff, imagine if pld had something like that but striking an enemy restored HP/MP. By having classes bring more buffs/debuffs (but keeping them balanced in a way that one doesn't become overpowered) and learning the right time for these it could be fun.

"Burn phase, drk use your debuff everyone blow your dps cooldowns!"

"Boss about to cast aoe, pld cast your healing debuff to help the healers!"

You get the idea. This isn't something I've generally thought about. But that's what comes to mind.

[Reynhart]

1. What are the elements of combat you most enjoy in this game? Moreover, what makes a particular run of a fight memorable?

I'd say the fast (but not too fast) combat system. Yes, the GCD can somehow feel slow, but you usually have enough oGCD to use inbetween to not feel like "waiting". What makes a fight memorable is seeing a choregraphy done perfectly, even though I'd like less scripted encounters.

2. Assuming it were possible to balance jobs and any customization therein such that no person's time spent leveling and gearing a given job should ever be wasted going into a given piece of content, and each build usable for a majority of content, to what degree would you be interested in seeing customization for jobs and classes?

I think jobs should have, at least, two builds. The easiest to picture for me are "main tanks" and "off tanks". Depending what role you have, you don't need the same skills. So, it would be interesting to build your character around the role you're most comfortable with. Since you can level all jobs on a single character, you could always chose one tank as your "specliazed OT" and one as your "specialized MT" if you want to coordinate in preformed parties.

3. To what degree would you like for your in-combat decisions to be made with reference to your allies' actions? How much dependence and synergy would you like to see, and how might you imagine that would look, or what (kinds of) mechanics would bring that into play?

I'd like more synergy between jobs, like DRG and BRD/MCH or WAR and NIN. I also have the (apparently pretty unpopular) opinion that roles should also synergize better at their core. For example, I'd have DPS hit much much harder overall and generate a lot more enmity, to the point that tanks would actually have to manage it properly to give more room for DPS to go full power. I'd also like my decision to have an influence on the enemy's movement, poiting again to less scripted fights.

[Leigaon]

What are the elements of combat you most enjoy in this game? Moreover, what makes a particular run of a fight memorable?

For me it's odd, I like using certain abilities and timing them right such as Virus, or when a PLD times a Divine Veil just right. Though debuffing / buffing isn't as big in this game as I'd like..maybe that will change? Or not.

Which relates to the second, for customization. I'd like to be able to have certain boosts applied to abilities to enhance them depending on the situation. More like how BLU had points in XI you had everything but couldn't use everything. But maybe that's a pseudo thing, since any customization will be turned into a staple by the masses that love their math. For example, I think supervirus should be okay for those who choose to. Or Graniteskin for healers. Have some other things we can place points into so that we can adjust for raid content or for leveling.

Synergy between classes, I am not fond of relying on things like "Slashing resistance down" but I do like how Ninja can help with Enmity balancing. Though combat isn't that in depth, I don't think there's much to go like Ninja. I sort of miss targeting individual body parts. Like the tail from the one of the earlier dungeons. Get the tail or that poison can make for a bad time.