Community Discussion - Battle Theory

[Rydin]

Under Akihiko Matsui (FFIV, FFV battle designer, Chrono trigger Director, FFXI battle designer and director) the Battle system in FFXIV has undergone some drastic changes

1.18
Auto-attack implemented
Stamina removed
Enmity recalculated

1.19
Physical levels abolished
Damage formula redone
Battle regimen removed *tear*

1.20
Ability overhaul
Personal combos

The battle system is still a work in progress, however the basic structure should remain relatively like it is now.

Going further.... there are things I would love to see become a part of battle.
(*sidenote: one of the biggest hurdles to overcome will be the lag/latency and the horrid way your in game position is relayed to the client, but since these are all being redone for 2.0, harping on them feels like beating a dead chocobo)

OK, jumping right in...
Personal Combos are a very nice addition to battle.
I would love to see the return of Battle regimen in whatever new form they introduce, as well as Incaps playing a much MUCH bigger role in the game

Here's a suggestion on how it could work:
Every content I've done in this game has been with at least 4 of the same class in the party. Sometimes it was 4 archers, other content worked best with 4 thaum, 4 lancers... Strongholds once wanted as many Marauders as you could muster

I feel like that is fundamentally flawed

An in depth incap system and better designed content could alleviate this.

Imagine a boss who had a shield... and with that shield, he took very little damage. So you have a Lancer use the Vorpal thrust>Impulse Drive>Chaos Thrust Combo. If the chaos thrust is executed on the shield arm side, you get the message "Shield arm appears weak and shaky"
When that happens... a marauder uses Maim>Godsbane on the shield arm and the arm falls, Defense is reduced 40% but attack speed increases 10%
those are arbitrary numbers... The point is you make the fight doable but very difficult without completing the special objective... and easier but still tough when you do complete the optional objective
He still wouldn't be an easy fight with the incap but he'd go from being stupid hard to just Ifrit hard.

Then when his HP fell below 20% he'd put up a magic Ice paling. The only way to repel the magic paling is with a Battle regimen that had (in this order) fire, wind and then concussive blow
Fire to weaken the ice, wind to intensify the flames and concussive blow to shatter the paling
With the paling down... his defense and magic defense go down 25%
(again arbitrary number enfeeble, but you get what I'm saying)
You could make the debuff 50% decrease in defense... whatever....

At 10% HP, his regen increases. The only way to mitigate that is with Piercing arrow>gloom Arrow>Bloodletter combo
Once again... you can beat him without that. It is just noticeably tougher

The point is you could go into the fight with 5 of whatever class deals damage the best at the time, but without being able to complete the optional objectives, you're in for one hell of a fight.

Also by making multiple objectives in 1 fight... you allow for different parties to fight it their way.

You can say "We don't have a marauder for the shield incap... but thats ok, we've got the other 2 incaps covered.
Or "We don't have an Archer for the 'Final Blow' incap, but we've got a strong DPS team and we can do the Shield and magic paling incaps so we should be good.

This way, you could take a very mixed party and have fun on NMs
Instead of
/shout Ifrit party, 3/8, need thaums only

EDIT: 2/4/12
If there were special objectives to complete... How would you want to find out about it?
For instance "Garuda"
SE could tell you how to do the wing incaps (What classes, skills and method) and tell you what affect it will have on the battle
or....
The could tell you nothing and see how many times people get owned before they realize (If they ever realize) that they need a Pug and Lancer working together to incap one wing.. and a Marauder and Archer to incap the other

There is also various middle ground.
1. SE could tell us there are special objectives but not tell us what they are or how to do them
2. They could tell us what the objectives are but still not how to do them
3. They could have clues in game, through quest dialogue help you ascertain what you need to do to make the fight easier