The Wanderer's Minuet and class-design frustrations

[Khalithar]

Why must WM be an all or nothing affair?

Because if you get rid of the cast times for Brd there is no reason to have WM any longer. But for the sake of not having to change reward for the level 52 Job quest, it will probably be reworked in to something else with the same name.

Oh I grasp it, but I don't think that should be where the skill ceiling needs to be. In response to that adding skill I suggest you read this post which in my opinion is the best in the whole thread:

The issue is that the confluence of (WM + River of Blood + lots of other oGCDs) just doesn't function properly. It's anti-synergistic and leads to a myriad of decision points that - while yes, in a vacuum more decisions means more skill - some of these judgment calls are frankly bulls**t in nature and have no place within the design philosophy of this game.

Trying to figure out on the fly whether a DoT tick that started a refresh animation that finished some variable tenths of a second later, came before/during/after a half-second window on your cast bar, and then responding appropriately within the next half second - that kind of thing belongs in competitive fighting games where people count frames, not an MMO that ostensibly uses a 2.5s GCD to allow room for forethought and attending to mechanics.

Now, I understand that Cetonis is NOT arguing for the removal of WM, but for the reasons she listed above, I actually think it's a better argument for why WM is a poorly designed mess and needs to be scrapped with a new mechanic in it's place.

In relation to your point about the brd rotation being braindead simple, I can sort of see where you're going with this. But I assert that just because something is "simple" that doesn't necessarily mean it's "easy."

Bear with me on this, if they were to remove WM right now and there were no more cast times to deal with, good players at a class will still stand out compared to the average one. The great brds that know how to perfectly time their dots to prevent clipping, maintain maximum dps while doing mechanics, and don't stand in fire will always stand out among those that don't play nearly as well. I don't believe that turning the class in to a caster is the solution. I can totally get behind the idea that you want a real distinction between a good player at a class and a great player at a class, that is a completely valid viewpoint to have and I can go along with it. However, I think there can be a different way of doing that while leaving brd the mobile DPS it is until 52-60. Now, I don't know what that could be, I'm not a game designer or an expert on ranged dps classes. But I believe it can be done.