Gladiator Changes (hopefully for the better)

[buritoslicer]

Circle Slash usually didn't cut it for me. Had to Provoke and Taunt to take aggro from a damage dealer. Against a Curaga, I resigned myself to using Cover on the healer instead.

On the Marauder side, Storm's Path dealt good damage to a wide area of enemies on a short cooldown. Broad Swing and Full Swing let me rack up the TP to hit the skill down again. Brandish could fill in the gap if needed. Holding enmity, dealing good chunks of damage, high HP, life was unbalanced.

Started mentioning another mmorpg about balance, removed.

Highly looking forward to the new Gladiator and hoping to make it work!

Yeah, I'm hoping so too... I'm one of the few Gladiator enthusiasts :P

[Nanaya]

The problem with Gladiator was it's basically the poor man's FFXI Paladin. It does well enough against a single target, but this is FFXIV, a game where roaming parties are pretty much the only way to exp, and fighting several different mobs at once. We get very little in terms of viable AoE tools, War Drum wasn't all that effective, Circle Slash is garbage, they utterly destroyed the blocking system to being trivial, Warmonger is weaker than on MRD, the list goes on for days.

Whereas with MRD, they have a wide array of AoE abilities and weaponskills, Storm's Path alone could allow you to tank for most fights, pretty good defense, and far from terrible HP. I really would love to hear the dev's reasoning behind the changes to these two jobs in 1.19, and how someone didn't stand up and say, "...wait, isn't this terribly unbalanced?"

Regardless, the "Oh shit, let's rectify our mistakes yet again" patch that's coming up looks fairly promising for Gladiator. Enmity should no longer be an issue, even with a large group of enemies, and defense seems to be beefed up even. I am only curious as to if they fixed blocking, that will make or break the job. If you use an ability like Deflection, you damn well better be getting at least a 50% proc rate on it.

[kro]

Don't forget MND being a useful stat for gla, (dmg and heal potency) so those heals will last a little bit better too :3

This part bothers me a bit. As the main tank class, GLA should be pumping VIT. However, only MRD gets the bonus to AA damage from VIT.

Is it really worth pumping MND for a little AA damage and a better Cure?

Pumping STR seems to be the better option since that increases AA damage as well as adding bits of attack and improving WS damage.

Maybe pumping MND will be better than STR once we get Paladin, but until then I don't think it is worth it.

[buritoslicer]

This part bothers me a bit. As the main tank class, GLA should be pumping VIT. However, only MRD gets the bonus to AA damage from VIT.

Is it really worth pumping MND for a little AA damage and a better Cure?

Pumping STR seems to be the better option since that increases AA damage as well as adding bits of attack and improving WS damage.

Maybe pumping MND will be better than STR once we get Paladin, but until then I don't think it is worth it.

Because of this I'm a bit concerned about my point allotments.... I am uneasy on spending my points in 1.20, especially with the fact that you can't reverse it yet. : /

[buritoslicer]

Regardless, the "Oh s***, let's rectify our mistakes yet again" patch that's coming up looks fairly promising for Gladiator. Enmity should no longer be an issue, even with a large group of enemies, and defense seems to be beefed up even. I am only curious as to if they fixed blocking, that will make or break the job. If you use an ability like Deflection, you damn well better be getting at least a 50% proc rate on it.

I really hope we can finally block properly again... It's completely ridiculous how it is now... My shield is useless!

[Kiara]

This part bothers me a bit. As the main tank class, GLA should be pumping VIT. However, only MRD gets the bonus to AA damage from VIT.

Is it really worth pumping MND for a little AA damage and a better Cure?

Pumping STR seems to be the better option since that increases AA damage as well as adding bits of attack and improving WS damage.

Maybe pumping MND will be better than STR once we get Paladin, but until then I don't think it is worth it.

Hi kro,

Some great points. I was thinking that myself.

And don't forget DEX (helps with Accuracy, Block Rate and Parry), so there's 4 stats (STR, VIT, DEX, MND) that potentially can really help Gladiator. It'll be interesting to see everyone's tests and findings on how effective each stat boost is for Gladiator.

[Physic]

i dunno, unless im missing something, mrd basically lost its aoe strength, no access to AOE tp gaining moves, and slower tp in general for the one tp move that has aoe now. Soooo the only people with decent aoe options are maybe lnc and thm. if this is accurate then that alone makes gld better at taking multiple monsters. But since so much is going on at once, i guess we ll see in a couple days.

[buritoslicer]

Hi kro,

Some great points. I was thinking that myself.

And don't forget DEX (helps with Accuracy, Block Rate and Parry), so there's 4 stats (STR, VIT, DEX, MND) that potentially can really help Gladiator. It'll be interesting to see everyone's tests and findings on how effective each stat boost is for Gladiator.

It's gonna be difficult for me to figure out my point allotments.... I'm definitely going to be scratching my head for a good hour or two :S

[Orophin]

It's gonna be difficult for me to figure out my point allotments.... I'm definitely going to be scratching my head for a good hour or two :S

Same here. I get the feeling Gladiator is still going to hit like a wet paper sack and won't rely on pure damage so much for tanking, so I may just split my points between VIT and DEX for survivability.

[buritoslicer]

Same here. I get the feeling Gladiator is still going to hit like a wet paper sack and won't rely on pure damage so much for tanking, so I may just split my points between VIT and DEX for survivability.

I'm thinking VIT primarily, some dex and then if I feel comfortable with it some MND