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

Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

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

If everyone can be useful for mechanics then why take the job with a lower DPS?

Perfect balance is impossible in MMORPGs, no amount of homogenization and streamlining will ever solve it...

Still not really hyped...

I don't even read the interviews anymore so ty for the summary OP ^^

They've already suggested that they're going to trim a lot of the clutter and ensure that each role has access to the same tools that they require across the board. As far as PLD goes, this needs to be reflected in AoE capability as well, I feel. So I'm glad that they're in agreement that the Flash ability is lacking. A PLD who wants to get the ARR relic weapon is in for a frustrating time with the light farming phase. Even something as simple as Satasha unsynced can be infuriating due to the lack of AoE they can dish out. So you pull everything you can, use Circle of Scorn and then...you pretty much either have to wait to recharge or slowly pick off each enemy with direct hits. A WAR or DRK, by comparison, can simply spam their AoE and trim a lot of time off of it as a result.

If they upped the PLD's defenses, wouldn't it be interesting if they were given "tank buster" utility. Like an ability which allowed them to shave 1 buster stack on them or the ability to have a time based action which allowed them to retaliate dmg when a tank buster ability is being used, "Double Dmg if covering the person who is being tank busted".

I feel like being creative with the way PLD could increase their dmg output would be a god idea rather than giving them a straight att boost.

I think one of the biggest issues is that 'regular' content is very easy outright for many players with a decent amount of experience with the game. Many encounters are very generous in regards to not punishing players for their mistakes and a lot of players have access to gear that increases their damage and health to a point where they easily survive most things that the game throws their way. I've seen people soak up multiple AoE's and survive due to an attentive healer - and it isn't unusual for a dungeon to involve pulling multiple enemies at once and then killing them with AoE.

I'd like to see more engaging content that takes a similar approach to the higher floors in POTD. You need to be cautious with how many enemies you pull at once, there's traps to watch out for and every enemy has at least one special ability to watch out for. At the very highest floors getting hit by any AoE at all will result in death. So the stakes are high and the rewards are actually pretty decent all things considered. Unfortunately actually getting there is needlessly tedious - you need to first find three other people to team up with who will be around at set times. You also need to tackle 50-100 without a single wipe which isn't too difficult in itself and most people wanting to do the higher floors will have already done already dozens of times over. One of the biggest challenges is finding people with a schedule that aligns with one's own. A lot of players in this game are very flaky in that regard.

the "dps meta" isn't a the problem.
the problem is that what works for the pioneers is often enforced on the majority.
more damage for a faster clear was never the issue, but asking ppl to do more damage without understanding the fight itself. you often see midcore ppl or pugs try to skip certain things, cause it's too hard to learn something. though you could simply do the mechanic and deal with it. and after you understand the fight you can still try to optimize and do more damage.
just look at zurvan and soar. it's such an easy mechanic but instead of learning how it works and just assign positions before the fight, ppl were asked to skip it with damage and later in the fight to cheese is with tank lb. broken seal is the tougher mechanic.

Originally Posted by Ryel

Snip

Very good write up! I suggest people read this one.

Idk what people expect, it will always be a DPS meta, and they'll always be a meta comp. Best the devs can do is close the gap between jobs being viable, as it stands now every job is viable but the gap is too large, ie casters, monks, paladins and white mages.

Originally Posted by Shougun

stuff thats cool...

My fantasy of 4.0 PLD change is we become like ninjas in our stances with some skills getting added effects. Flash is one of the main skills I see getting that treatment. Mind you its all in my head and not anything more.

Flash: As it is.
Under Sword: Adds damage.
Under Shield: Adds a DoT.