The length of battles, the pace of combat... and the overall feel of combat.

[Rutelor]

The pace of battles is a recurring issue in RPGs in general these days. Lots of games are looking for ways to avoid the stereotype of battle systems and thus speed up the pace and/or streamline battle. Square Enix's games appear to be no exception.

One of the biggest criticisms at launch was that the combat system was... well, boring. In response to this, they have made moves to tie it into something more exciting and fast-paced, which of course results in things finishing quicker, allowing you to move on to the next foe.

Sorry buddy, but slow battles just isn't the way things are going these days.

I wish I could agree with what seems to be common so-called-wisdom these days in that speed = excitement. That's a poor imagination's solution for a problem that actually demands quite a bit of ingenuity. And actually, being just one more among the crowd is antithetical to being distinguished. And I think to perceive SE's intentions to distinguish themselves.

R

[Rutelor]

[...SNIP...] granted its better now that THM has instant cast spells.

Yes, but tell that to a MRD or a LNC, with delay-rich weapons.

R

[Rutelor]

As long as leveling up in parties is both faster to level up and more rewarding in general, I don't see the problem.

That said, I agree a lot with the OP.

Yes, AdvancedWind, but therein lies the problem. Parties are not more rewarding right now.

That said, I agree a lot with your post.



R

[Biggs]

I think that grind parties right now are kind of a joke. There is no strategy needed besides making sure you healer stays up. I tank as a glad, and was in an 8 man party the other day for a few hours. With the exception of having a conjurer, the party formation could have been a mix of any jobs and been just as successful. A mrd, or pug can keep hate just as well as I could and just as easily. There is a total lack of strategy right now with just about every aspect of combat in this game with the exception of a few boss fights. I guess we can only wait and see what the next patch does to the combat system, but I am crossing my fingers for more in-depth fights that require team work and strategies instead of just mob mentality getting the job done.

[Andrien]

(IMO) The combat and pace of battles is fine for regular monsters, otherwise EXP chain system will be null. Strategy and difficult battles is good for bosses, high lvl monsters, and NM. Do you want strategy for grinding on regular exp mobs @_@??? I don't agree

[Estellios]

I think that grind parties right now are kind of a joke. There is no strategy needed besided making sure you healer stays up. I tank as a glad, and was in an 8 man party the other day for a few hours. With the exception of having a conjurer, the party formation could have been a mix of any jobs and been just as successful. A mrd, or pug can keep hate just as well as I could and just as easily. There is a total lack of strategy right now with just about every aspect of combat in this game with the exception of a few boss fights. I guess we can only wait and see what the next patch does to the combat system, but I am crossing my fingers for more in-depth fights that require team work and strategies instead of just mob mentality getting the job done.

That's kind of how the game is set up for XP parties. You can roll with whatever classes you have available and easily make a successful party even without a main healer as long as your party knows what they are doing. XPing is a means of advancement for everyone and should remain accessible to everyone no matter what class they are, lest we return to the days of searching for hours for a Healer/Tank/MP Refresher. We just need more involving fights through quests, dungeons, and other events throughout the levels as an alternate means of advancement for those that want something more tactical so they can be properly rewarded for their efforts.

[Biggs]

That's kind of how the game is set up for XP parties. You can roll with whatever classes you have available and easily make a successful party even without a main healer as long as your party knows what they are doing. XPing is a means of advancement for everyone and should remain accessible to everyone no matter what class they are, lest we return to the days of searching for hours for a Healer/Tank/MP Refresher. We just need more involving fights through quests, dungeons, and other events throughout the levels as an alternate means of advancement for those that want something more tactical so they can be properly rewarded for their efforts.

Oh I definitly don't argue with the fact that it should remain accessable to all. I have no desire to spend hours looking for a party (unlike now where we do only because of a lack of players) because you need a specific formula to be successful. What I mean about strategy is, jobs should excel at what they do best. So while pugs and mrds should be able to also get hate, if a glad steps in, it should have no trouble getting hate off of the rest of the party. The same goes for DD's and mages. So a party of mages will need to behave diffrently than a party thats lancer heavy, but still has the same rate of success. Real combat is controlled chaos, and right now I just feel like combat is only chaos, with no real levels of control.

It just feels like there is no need to DOT mobs or set up sneak attacks or flanking attacks. Everyone just takes the mobs down quickly by wailing on it. I miss the feeling of NEEDING to silence specific mobs or using blind on others in order to keep the party alive. There isn't a mob type I have run into yet that had a formula for defeating it that didnt involve everyone just attacking it flat out.

[Biggs]

(IMO) The combat and pace of battles is fine for regular monsters, otherwise EXP chain system will be null. Strategy and difficult battles is good for bosses, high lvl monsters, and NM. Do you want strategy for grinding on regular exp mobs @_@??? I don't agree

Well, considering that it is the one activity that we will spend a very large portion of our time doing repiticiously, yes. I want to have to think about what I am doing instead of just spamming 3 moves for 4 hours in a grind party. I should be just as engaged in what I am doing 2 hours into the party as I was when it first started. The reason good rpg's and MMo's that are grind heavy are successful is often because the creators found a way to make the thing you do most in the game interesting and fun whether its the first time your engaging in it, or the 1000th. This just isn't there for me yet. You don't need something to be SUPER hard in order to make it fun. Thats not what I am asking, and I don't think thats what the OP was asking for. I think what many of us are looking for is a slightly higher level of complexity and entertainment. I could be wrong, but thats certainly what I am looking for.

[elreed]

Look i would agree to have easy going fights with normal mobs, but atm i find exp parties boring because of the lack of strategy and difficulty, would you agree having mobs with 5 times the hp they have if they gave 5 times more exp than ussual?

I play this game to entertain myself, not for numbers i want to have a good time having trouble camping mobs or whatever while i level up, yes the grinding is not so popular this days but because of the lack of difficulty, i find more pleasing doing some leves where the mobs exceed my lvl 4+, you can kill those but in order to do it you really have to do strategies, like this mobs come in pairs so ill start attacking this one with bind and then i will be killing this one first, etc.

[Hhaven]

I agree with the idea. The mobs are just too easy and grouping offers 0 strategy. I find myself soloing mobs 6 lvls higher than I just to experience challenging battles.