Quote Originally Posted by Neophyte View Post
There is an indication. Cleric Stance will be way less mandatory to do healer dps than it is now.

It's also "the best-case scenario [...] now provide[ing an] optional 'boosts' to existing abilities.", right?

Heavy 40% for 20s, 50 potency, on a GCD doesn't sound very mandatory, too.

Pulling someone over to you every 150s? Mandatory my butt.

Surecast? Mandatory. NOT.

So why jump a horse over the hedge because of Divine Seal or Shroud?

Maybe rezz is not a 7ish s cast, but a normal 2,5s one now.
Then even Swiftcast for AST not mandatory anymore.

Maybe they finally fixed Protect as being the most boring and one of the most mandatory abilities at the same time.

The few things we know all indicate that role-based skills are optional and by way not mandatory to accomplish your given task.
We also know that SCH keeps it's thingies and that one of the goals of all this is to bring jobs of one role in line.
So SCH is another indication that the optional skills will not be mandatory for the other ones as well or that they likely have similar capabilities (or at least any capability) in the specific field.

"I use X ability all the time in Stormblood [and if they're still as mandatory and we don't get any compensation, then DEVS suck balls." is all you need to say right now. Yes, maybe they are. Maybe they are not. We'll see. But asking or assuming if they actually are, before we see, is kinda pointless.

"If they do a bad balance this game will be worse" isn't a moot point.


Even though I know that CS will be a pretty small addition, how could I say now "I won't take it"? Do I know the other options in detail? No.
I'd say you're guilty of cherry-picking, here. Cleric's Stance, based on what we know, isn't mandatory. Surecast isn't. Heavy isn't. Nobody's focused on those, however - we're focused on other abilities that ARE currently mandatory, and don't have any announced changes.

Currently, Swiftcast is mandatory. Shroud of Saints and Esuna are mandatory. Protect is mandatory. That's four of the five role-based slots taken up for a White Mage. We have received absolutely NO indication that SE has gone and modified things to make these abilities less crucial (reduced Raise cast time, reduced need for MP / enmity management with Shroud, fewer fights with nasty status effects, etc.). You can hazard a guess that they have done so, but that's an assumption on your part, one that - as I stated before - places an awful lot of faith in a development team known for making boneheaded mistakes. I don't personally have such faith in SE, nor, it appears, do a lot of other people.

More to the point, however, what I need to say right now is whatever the hell it is I feel I need to say right now. You don't get to decide what is necessary for other people to say - they do. I also don't happen to consider this a pointless exercise. It helps determine whether I preorder Stormblood or not; it helps me identify in advance issues I want to examine when the combat changes release; it helps me release whatever degree of stress I'm feeling over pending changes to a job I've played for years now. It also, theoretically, helps SE identify potential problems a month before this system is finished, so that they can either course-correct in advance, or be readying a fix right from the start. Those are all valid reasons for discussing what I know so far, as well as any resulting concerns, with other people on the forums.

That said, I certainly don't begrudge you the right to remain optimistic. You're welcome to. I have no problem with an optimistic point of view. What I don't like is when people who are more optimistic than others attempt to trivialize the well-founded concerns of people who are feeling more pessimistic or concerned. That is essentially what you've done, in my mind, and it's why this reply is on the snarky side.