Its ffxiv combat really so slow and boring?

[PyurBlue]

It makes no meaningful difference in the grand scheme of things. In the end you're just X healer/tank/dps class with a different coat of paint that simply has to learn boss mechanics and satisfy the Recount meter.

Class variety could be increased, but they're not just totally bland clones of each other. A lack of difficulty probably makes the differences harder to appreciate as there isn't much reason to debate taking a RDM for raise over a BLM in a regular dungeon. In Savage that choice is more meaningful. The healers feel different enough to me even in less difficult dungeons, especially AST with cards. SCH's shields could have been differentiated a bit more by making them last longer and adding a cooldown to them though.

I wouldn't mind moving away from content that is designed to accommodate every class, but if that was done the game would need to have a lot more content or certain classes would become less viable. I don't think it's feasible at this point unless Square wanted to throw another 2.0 at us. Maybe they could have some open world side area where this idea is incorporated, but it would probably be a lot of work even then and it might just end up attracting negative feedback like Eureka.

[ChewieFlakes]

Class variety could be increased, but they're not just totally bland clones of each other. A lack of difficulty probably makes the differences harder to appreciate as there isn't much reason to debate taking a RDM for raise over a BLM in a regular dungeon. In Savage that choice is more meaningful. The healers feel different enough to me even in less difficult dungeons, especially AST with cards. SCH's shields could have been differentiated a bit more by making them last longer and adding a cooldown to them though.

I wouldn't mind moving away from content that is designed to accommodate every class, but if that was done the game would need to have a lot more content or certain classes would become less viable. I don't think it's feasible at this point unless Square wanted to throw another 2.0 at us. Maybe they could have some open world side area where this idea is incorporated, but it would probably be a lot of work even then and it might just end up attracting negative feedback like Eureka.

Even within the minority of playerbase that does the highest echelon of EX raids/trials, the differences are not profound enough to make the classes feel unique. Sure, you can bring a WHM over an AST or maybe a SAM instead of a MNK but in the end the differences are minute. The content can be cleared either way, even if the top raiding parties will bring whatever calculates to have the highest dps just to min/max it.

You say you wouldn't mind moving away from content that is designed to accommodate every class but my point is that this game will *NEVER* do that. The newest content are trials/raids/dungeons is based around the party finder (like all modern wow clones). You no longer have to cooperate and spend time looking for groups to play the content but at the same time every class needs to ALWAYS be viable for EVERYTHING or else you could get matched with party compositions that are unable to clear the content. So in the end, in principle every class is the same and every trial is the same. Just with new mechanics that may involve you dodging different AOEs or standing somewhere else at times etc. You can bring a class like NIN for a trick attack or something but it's all an illusion more or less, even in the most difficult content.

The closest content that has deviated from this formula is Eureka, and don't get me started on what an abomination of game design that heap of crap is.