Thread: Warrior 4.0 Concerns

The Ugly

Loss of Identity
The biggest problem I have with WAR moving into Stormblood is the lack of a unique identity.

The battle system changes have shoehorned WAR into a Fell Cleave / Decimate bot that brings nothing unique to parties anymore.

While I'm glad that Storm's Path was changed and that SAM and NIN can each easily apply their own slashing buffs now, these changes in conjunction with the battle system rework leave WAR in an awkward position.

PLD and DRK are each getting their own high damage burst abilities (Requiescat with Holy Spirit for PLD, Bloodspiller and Quietus for DRK - although the latter look like they could use some help), so while WAR will be able to land six Fell Cleaves or Decimates, our burst is no longer a unique selling point outside of AoE situations.

Furthermore, many of WAR's new abilities are largely muddled clones of existing abilities. Onslaught is a confused version of Plunge. Upheaval is a copy-paste of Spirits Within. Shake It Off is a better version of Tempered Will, a very situational PLD cooldown.

Finally, with the changes to Path and Eye, and the addition of Intervention for PLD and The Blackest Night for DRK, WAR no longer offers any unique utility to groups that other jobs don't already have access to. When coupled with the loss of Bloodbath and penalties to stance dancing, the only thing WAR seems to have going for it compared with the other tanks is higher AoE burst damage.

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Conclusion

Having said all of this, I think tank balance is in a much better place right now (albeit with PLDs looking like they'll be riding a wave of overtuned potencies for a while. They're overdue some much needed love, so go nuts! ).

I expect that WAR will still be competitive in Stormblood and Omega, it just won't be an auto-include in statics anymore.

No, the sky is not falling, but WAR could use some unique touches to make it stand out from PLD and DRK in 4.0.

Barring any drastic changes between now and the launch of Stormblood, I'm still going to be maining WAR.