Thread: DualShocker Interview - 3.5 pt 2 next week, supposedly

Originally Posted by Kit-Kat

Unless they made 4.0 fights more intense for damage/tank busters and heals, which I highly doubt they stepped out of their comfort zone and went ahead with changes, this change to pld is kinda useless. DPS is the meta and fights are scripted, any tank can perfectly do the job, so people will pick the one(s) with highest damage anyway.

I think the problem is, and I could be completely wrong, but it feels like they're still following the same 2.0 raiding format. Back then, you had to mostly take one of each job anyway, so it was automatically balanced as long as each job was good at it's role.


It's come to the point now where you can customize your party the way you want it, and since all jobs can still clear content easily, it comes to which one does the most DPS. Things won't automatically balance itself anymore, we have more of a decision now. What SE needs to do is either balance raiding so that it can't be steamrolled with a full offensive party composition and actually requires a mixture of hard mitigation from multiple jobs and hard healing, or give the more defensive jobs (PLD, Monk, WHM etc) extremely good utility to the point where you'd take them despite their lower DPS.

Either way, something has to change in raiding that forces players to mix job compositions. To bring a mix of offensive and defensive kits. I'd hate to see yet another full offensive meta take over for another entire raid.

Originally Posted by Zojha

Not much to be done there except forcing every raid party to take X, Y or Z job just in order to clear. Mitigation and Healing are artificial additions and as a consequence only ever as useful as they are required, there's not much you can do about that - You can require more or less of it or you can invalidate Damage as Winning Condition. You don't have more options.

Every "utility" you give jobs is measured by the same standard. As such, the "defensive jobs" as you call them need either more direct DPS done by themselves, or indirect DPS via party buffs. It is as simple as that.

With the simple combat system that we have and how fights are designed with DPS checks as one of their foci, you are correct.

Change how things are created, and you change that mentality.

Since Yoshida will not create content requiring a single job he present, we will maintain the status quo.

Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

A lot of things can change based on tool kits available and the Cross Role skills system changes will likely change that.

Pacification use is currently a no go in Raid content because only Paladin has access to it.
Harpooning use is currently a no go in Raid content because only Warrior has access to it.
Buff stripping is currently a no go in Raid content because only Monk has access to it.
Sleep use is currently a no go in Raid content because only White Mage and Black Mage have access to it.
Knockback requires in fight mechanics to use because only White Mage, Summoner and Machinist have access to it inherently.
Bind use is limited because Black Mage is the only Ranged DpS without it.
Silence use is limited because Paladin, Scholar, Monk, Ninja, Bard and Machinist are the ones that have it but you can build viable* comps that will have trouble silencing due to Monk/Scholar.

*"viable" being a comp with 2 tanks, 2 healers, 2 melee dps and 2 ranged dps all of different jobs.

Putting several of these effects in various Cross Role skill lists will allow the devs to design fights that require them.

That's all well and good and sounds nice but, but how does that get PLD, WHM and to a lesser degree, MNK to the point of not being unwelcome in top tier content?