Gladiator Changes (hopefully for the better)

[buritoslicer]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post476429

So, I have been one of those players who have stayed faithful to a broken class... So with changes listed above for Gladiators, do you think that we'll finally have a chance to be reliable tanks?


I personally hope so, because it sad that in 1.19 Gla have the worst dmg, unreliable hate generation and a ridiculous amount of reliance on other classes.

[Velhart]

It looks a lot better. It looks like the only class we really could benefit from is MRD. Also with JOB's coming out, we won't have to rely on other class abilities for party play.

[buritoslicer]

It looks a lot better. It looks like the only class we really could benefit from is MRD. Also with JOB's coming out, we won't have to rely on other class abilities for party play.

Thats what I'm hoping on... Mix class combinations should be optional anyway, for some reason SE made it so that it is necessary. When jobs come to play I will be overjoyed that I can rely on just one classes abilities.

[Orophin]

The big reasons Marauder were so popular in 1.19:

* Their WS's did so much more damage, equating more enmity
* Their main defensive mechanic, Parry, wasn't horribly broken like Block

It wasn't explicitly mentioned in the patch notes, but I sure hope they fixed block somehow. I still think Gladiator is still going to do piss for damage, but they have a combo for enmity up as well as a lot of their abilities generate enmity, so hopefully threat isn't as hard to establish and maintain. I do wonder though once a fight is on farm if Marauder might still be a better choice for tanking since they can output more damage which leads to a fight ending faster.

[buritoslicer]

The big reasons Marauder were so popular in 1.19:

* Their WS's did so much more damage, equating more enmity
* Their main defensive mechanic, Parry, wasn't horribly broken like Block

It wasn't explicitly mentioned in the patch notes, but I sure hope they fixed block somehow. I still think Gladiator is still going to do piss for damage, but they have a combo for enmity up as well as a lot of their abilities generate enmity, so hopefully threat isn't as hard to establish and maintain. I do wonder though once a fight is on farm if Marauder might still be a better choice for tanking since they can output more damage which leads to a fight ending faster.

A tank doesn't necessarily need to do top damage to keep enemy aggro, lets use WoW for example (I used to play Warrior tank), the warrior tanking spec never did a whole lot of damage, but they had high Enmity attacks that made up for the lack of damage. I'll be satisfied if AOE tanking becomes easier, and the Gla class has better damage mitigation.

[Orophin]

A tank doesn't necessarily need to do top damage to keep enemy aggro, lets use WoW for example (I used to play Warrior tank), the warrior tanking spec never did a whole lot of damage, but they had high Enmity attacks that made up for the lack of damage. I'll be satisfied if AOE tanking becomes easier, and the Gla class has better damage mitigation.

That was the whole problem though; Gladiator didn't really have the tools at its disposal to spike its threat up really fast like Marauder could. Not to mention one of Marauder's WS's had enmity built into it. Riot Blade was the same more or less, but it did 25% of the damage Storm's Path did AND pacified you so you couldn't use any abilities after you used it. Marauder allowed parties to use WS's much sooner and more frequently without the fear of taking threat, therefore reducing the time it takes to clear the encounter.

I'm not saying Gladiator couldn't tank Ifrit. I did it once, but the difference in ease between using it and Marauder was like night and day. I prefer the sword and board tanking style myself and I really hope the class changes don't extremely favor any of the tanks more than the other.

[buritoslicer]

That was the whole problem though; Gladiator didn't really have the tools at its disposal to spike its threat up really fast like Marauder could. Not to mention one of Marauder's WS's had enmity built into it. Riot Blade was the same more or less, but it did 25% of the damage Storm's Path did AND pacified you so you couldn't use any abilities after you used it. Marauder allowed parties to use WS's much sooner and more frequently without the fear of taking threat, therefore reducing the time it takes to clear the encounter.

I'm not saying Gladiator couldn't tank Ifrit. I did it once, but the difference in ease between using it and Marauder was like night and day. I prefer the sword and board tanking style myself and I really hope the class changes don't extremely favor any of the tanks more than the other.

Exactly what I have been dealing with, I have the hardest time with Ifrit just because of the broken aspect of being a Gladiator. Also the fact that when the Gladiator dies, it's near impossible to get threat back. If SE can make it to where a Gladiator doesn't do a whole bunch of damage, but has high emnity attacks, I will be 100% satisfied with the direction they are going!

[Orophin]

Exactly what I have been dealing with, I have the hardest time with Ifrit just because of the broken aspect of being a Gladiator. Also the fact that when the Gladiator dies, it's near impossible to get threat back.

Don't feel bad about that, that's any tank really.

If SE can make it to where a Gladiator doesn't do a whole bunch of damage, but has high emnity attacks, I will be 100% satisfied with the direction they are going!

Amen! I don't care if Gladiators don't do much damage. I just want them to be able to hold threat with as little effort as the other tanks.

[kro]

The new skillset definitely seems like it would make Gladiator useful again. Just in terms of AoE tanking:

GLA gets

-Flash: AoE enmity generation and blind on 30 sec recast
-War Drum: the new AoE Phalanx on 60 sec recast

MRD gets

-Whirlwind: Most likely the new Storm's Path on 80 sec recast (ouch)

Both classes can use Rampart for the massive AoE hate spike, but only GLA can extend the defense bonus to other classes. Even if MRD still manages to hold hate via pure damage output, at least GLA can contribute with the passive defense bonus from Rampart and the blinds from Flash.

The more likely case is that in a typical Stronghold party, GLA will be the one holding hate at the start with Flash while MRD takes it in the end after Whirlwind because it seems like it will actually take some time to build 3k TP now.

[buritoslicer]

The new skillset definitely seems like it would make Gladiator useful again. Just in terms of AoE tanking:

GLA gets

-Flash: AoE enmity generation and blind on 30 sec recast
-War Drum: the new AoE Phalanx on 60 sec recast

MRD gets

-Whirlwind: Most likely the new Storm's Path on 80 sec recast (ouch)

Both classes can use Rampart for the massive AoE hate spike, but only GLA can extend the defense bonus to other classes. Even if MRD still manages to hold hate via pure damage output, at least GLA can contribute with the passive defense bonus from Rampart and the blinds from Flash.

The more likely case is that in a typical Stronghold party, GLA will be the one holding hate at the start with Flash while MRD takes it in the end after Whirlwind because it seems like it will actually take some time to build 3k TP now.

If a Gla can get to the point to be competitive over emnity with Mar, I think that will be the proper point. We also need to take into account that GLA will have higher health and Mana pools for better self sufficient heals and abilities. Let's hope this patch get's GLA back in the game!