Thread: Request: Move all stances off the GCD, remove all mana/gauge costs, and buff Defiance

I believe this is the only way to give the tanks' stances parity. Right now WAR has too much riding on its Beast Gauge for it to tolerate any cost to it through a stance change.

Unfortunately, most WAR mains are calling for it to simply go back to being costless, which is not a solution; then we are back at square one with PLD and DRK having garbage GCD stance changes.

Here is the solution.

Shield/Sword Oath:
-Remove mana cost.
-Remove gauge cost.
-Move off the GCD.
-Give both a shared recast timer of 10s.

Defiance/Deliverance:
-Remove gauge cost.
-Buff Defiance so that you are healed, such that your current HP remains at the same percentage of your max HP, same as Thrill of Battle. This ensures Defiance provides instant mitigation through the HP buffer, giving it parity with Shield Oath and Grit.

Grit:
-Move off the GCD.
-Remove mana cost.
-Give turning it on a recast timer of 10s and have turning it off trigger this same recast timer, or if this is not possible to code properly, give turning it on a recast of 15s while turning it off remains instant.

Stance dancing is important to your tanking customer base and if you consistently make it feel like garbage for 1, 2, or all of the tanks, the negative feedback is not going to stop. If you want to limit it in a way that is fair, increase the recast timers that I have listed here proportionately (i.e. Oaths 20s, Defiance/Deliverance 20s, Grit 20/30s, etc.) so that the choice still has weight, but doesn't ruin your rotation or make you waste a GCD and precious resources.

Originally Posted by SyzzleSpark

Well then that would be really sad.

If they don't consider it, I fail to see the logic. Its an easy out from a long series of crappy design choices dating all the way back to ARR that have been messily and unevenly bandaged in ways that expertly evade balance and parity amongst 3 jobs that they promised us that they were making every effort to balance in lieu of adding a 4th job to the role.

Parity for them I guess is making DRK have like 200 400+ potency moves yet still doing less damage then PLD/WAR but hey...blackest night /s

Originally Posted by Aniond

Here is the issue. Most of the tanks in this game have no intention of stance swapping. That should made apparent of the ongoing tank dps rage in these forums.

I'd bet money most tanks stay in tank stance most of the time in dungeons and boss fights.

We're not talking ppl posting here. We're talking the entire playerbase. Most of which do 650 dps on average over the course of a raid.

Originally Posted by Kabooa

I find this a little ridiculous because the forums don't come close to representing even 1% of the playerbase, and that playerbase it does represent is mixed all over the skill spectrum, not just the magical 'is gud' part of it.

I'm obviously exaggerating to make a point. Why take it seriously?

Originally Posted by SyzzleSpark

if this is not possible to code properly, give turning it on a recast of 15s while turning it off remains instant.

This could be gotten around by programming in a status effect that has a duration of 10s that prevents using the Grit spell. Something like "Succumbed: You have given in to your Darkside preventing the use of Grit for 10s". That would be a very easy way to get around any coding difficulty so there should be no problem. Literally coding 101 solution.

Originally Posted by SyzzleSpark

Well then that would be really sad.

If they don't consider it, I fail to see the logic

The thing is, this had to come up when they were working on SB. They had two options, nerf WAR or buff PLD/DRK exactly like you're suggesting and they went with "nerf WAR" and made an entire complex system of skills and resources to make it work. They even changed the numbers on two of the stances. That must be the product of many people working many hours getting paid for that entire time.

I suppose they could just throw all that work away one month in and spend some money doing it over again, but if they don't do so this is the reason. Not saying I agree with it, but it's not totally illogical if they don't want to do that. After all, the devs are human too and the budget isn't unlimited.

However, I agree that it's still been extremely poorly executed if for no other reason than a DRK can pull in Grit without any penalty, which is clearly an oversight by the devs, not to mention the massive cost for going back into Grit means people will take bigger risks to avoid doing so. Also, the WAR adjustment is the opposite of everything Yoshida said they were going for with 4.0. It's raised the skill ceiling instead of making the job more accessible regardless of skill. It would be for the best if they just did what you suggest and I support your idea wholeheartedly.