Addressing the current Problems with the Dungeonfinder / Ex roulettes and Playerroles

[TaranTatsuuchi]

Well....


Perhaps we'll get a healer and a tank in 5.0..
Please look forward to it!

[OmegaStrongtan]

I'm all for a 'allow unusual party size' Checkbox for already cleared content and daily randoms. No tank or heal available, no problem just send in 4 DD's but mobs will hit softer. Too many DD's in Queue, have 1 tank/heal and lots of DD's. Just give the mobs more HP for each extra DD. You can't even argue this will trivialize content since it is already super easy to begin with and you already cleared it to unlock said checkbox.

[Zojha]

And it's not the fun factor that keeps people from tanking or healing. It's the aversion to responsibility and the fear of underperforming. Anyone can squeak by on dps and most people won't notice.

In other words: The innate pressure on tank and healing jobs makes the roles less fun to play. Duh. That can't be changed, though, so it's pointless to even discuss - it's in the nature of these roles. Constructive discussions need to focus on things you actually CAN change. Fear of failure is not among them as it's a personal issue, neither is the responsibility for people's lives, because that's the very job of those roles. The only way to ease that is to make those roles pointless, i.e. not mandatory, in which case... why even take them into groups?

Further, the issue isn't new - it's just more pronounced right now. We've always had more of a 20/20/60 split, rather than 25/25/50, so it's not like going back to the old status quo, even if it does happen, would make changing things less worthwhile - it's long overdue and shortsighted that the devs haven't done so when developing Stormblood in the first place. We've always had a DPS surplus.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/a...527001&thumb=1
http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/Eorze...N_Census_L.PNG
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/tekitou_m...1/810b43c8.jpg

Need I say more? The issue should have been addressed long ago. It's just a hotter topic right now.

[Araxes]

Well....


Perhaps we'll get a healer and a tank in 5.0..
Please look forward to it!

Samurai should have been the tank, many people thought and suggested it would be the new Tank for SB. Samurai is the job i always wanted to have and play so i dont think any new introduced Tank will change that for me.

[CapricaLangley]

A couple quick words from a main DRK. Tanking is not fun, and is obviously the most repetitive mechanic in the game. Even mechanichs you can build as a developer around tanking are boring. So what you can do? Think about Summoner. Imagine the summoner with his current rotation, with shickwave and akh morn being Skills coming from him and not the bahamuth egi. Would he be appealing as the current summoner? This is to point out how small QOL changes such as visuals can dramatically improve the perception of a job. DRK visuals are horrible. There,s nothing except the bloodspiller animation and sound that is appealing. Same for WAR. I think that the devs have to look into things like that, which seem small but are HUGE in attracting players.

[KisaiTenshi]

I'm all for a 'allow unusual party size' Checkbox for already cleared content and daily randoms. No tank or heal available, no problem just send in 4 DD's but mobs will hit softer. Too many DD's in Queue, have 1 tank/heal and lots of DD's. Just give the mobs more HP for each extra DD. You can't even argue this will trivialize content since it is already super easy to begin with and you already cleared it to unlock said checkbox.

Doing that should not reward experience or tomes (and I don't believe any do, as I've only solo'd the 1-50 content that doesn't have a duty-fail mechanic (eg Titan)) it should only be for farming gear/cards/music/materials. Which is what it does currently. It can also be used to clear content to see the cutscenes (Nobody would ever queue for Coil turn 3, so that was the first time I used it. Solo.)

As it is, if you allow this, then people will just not play Healer or Tank at all, because the content isn't being played with the right balance. The entire point of the undersized party box is basically do a boss rush. If you farm gear, you're likely to just turn it in for GC seals rather than keep it, since you can't sell most of the dungeon gear.

[Feidam]

I suspect in time I won't be alone, but right now there are two new shinies, and people are playing with them. Dedicated tanks will be back. DPS that only tanked because they could stance swap to DPS won't.
.

This right here sums it up. Most of the people I know who only tanked because they could play more like dps are the ones irritated. The ones that expect to spend more time in dps stance than not. They will be the ones that do not return or do it begrudgingly because they don't like dps queues.

SE has pretty straightforwardly shown us they expect the roles to do their primary function first and foremost imo. Healers got the same treatment. The player base will adapt eventually.

[Niyuka]

snip

This is not a black-or-white matter, its a matter of degrees. There is no simple solution, otherwise this issue would not plague every trinity MMO ever. However, the DEGREE to which it plagues those games is different. There is a HUGE difference between DPS queues of 10-15 minutes in HW, and upwards of 45 minutes and more in Stormblood. Those are the actual numbers right now on Shiva EU, one of the more populated servers. I am sure its even worse on the big NA servers, especially since in my experience, the american audience tends to skew towards more DPS and less tanks in comparison to EU players in the past (I ve been playing MMOs since 1998).

You are right, some issues cannot really be solved. But some can, and it would be of tremendous help if the queue times were down to 15-20 minutes, instead of "you cannot play some content at all during your playtime in the evening" 1 hour or more.

Making tanks and healers more attractive to play, more fun to play, more impactful, more cool-looking, is a big part of this. IMO, put tanks at 80% of a DPS damage output at least. Give them big hits, big crits, big moments. Go and increase all boss HP, adds and all that to account for the increased party DPS, same for healers, so content doesnt become easier. Make open world mobs hit harder, to force a bit of downtime on DPS, so it feels like healing and being able to mitigate damage MATTERS. Give our chocobos more DPS when we play tank or healer roles. Give us QUALITY OF LIFE. Give the DRK a cool, Darth-Vader-like grip animation that sucks a ton of health out of the mob, give the warrior a subtle screen shake and much bigger numbers when he crits with a Fell Cleave, give a Paladin a "XXX damage prevented" popup when his shield is done.
Make us feel cool when we do a good job, and when we use the signare abilities.

And FFS, dont give us crap abilities and pointless combos that only generate additional enmity as to service the DPS. If my aggro combo had a nasty 3-tick dot, or a nice debuff of sorts, or just a big fat hit on top, it would feel much more satisfying than just adding abstract enmity so the SAM can burn more carelessly.

Make playing a healer or a tank feel like a rewarding fun experience, not like being support content for the DPS players. Adjust the game accordingly to account for that, and I am sure you will see a lot more tanks. Not enough, maybe. But FAR more.

[ErikMynhier]

Would be great to get a mid 4.x series Tank (& healer). Would love it if Nero made us the MCH (uses Garlean Tech) of tanks with a two handed Hammer like him.

No worries though folks, I'll be spamming my tanks all my two days off to catch up from being at work since TUES. I'll tank for as many of you as I can.

[Gravton]

SE has pretty straightforwardly shown us they expect the roles to do their primary function first and foremost imo. Healers got the same treatment. The player base will adapt eventually.

Or they will find something else to play. This isn't Everquest where the tank should be a sponge so everyone else can have fun in the fight. There is no reason take away the dps aspect if that's what players enjoyed. That is the point right? To have fun? If the Devs want me to be a tank then give me something to do other than tank swaps. The fact is that all of this content is designed for dps to have fun when the tank is just ment to stand there.