Let’s discuss Dancer

[Shurrikhan]

Im personally torn on the issue.
On one hand i think its about time we had a new tank and healer.
On the other hand, i think gunblade and dancer are far better suited to being maiming and scouting jobs.

There aren't many jobs left that can fit into the maiming and scouting roles, but theres several jobs that could fit as a tank, like Mystic Knight.

That's about the case for me, too. I think Dancer should be a Synergist, of sorts, requiring a great deal of party awareness to maximize its rDPS (far, far more so than any existing job) and contribution to group surival, but able to viably spend a fair bit of those rDPS/reHP resources on itself instead for its own moments of glory through damage or healing dealt personally.

The gunblade job, on the other hand... idk. That's not really a weapon type that's had a determined playstyle. Melee will of course be an obvious component, but melee like a Soldier would melee, like Squall would melee, like Lightning would melee/ranged, or like a guy with a big gun that happens to have more than just a bayonet included in its design? Depending, it could be better suited, aesthetically, to Maiming, Striking, or Scouting, honestly.

On that last note, I worry that they've already tucked too many MSK elements firmly up DRK's buttocks for MSK to come into its own now, especially as a similarly counteroffensive, anti-magic, MP-focused, greatsworder.

[Meta-Flare]

Im personally torn on the issue.
On one hand i think its about time we had a new tank and healer.
On the other hand, i think gunblade and dancer are far better suited to being maiming and scouting jobs.

There aren't many jobs left that can fit into the maiming and scouting roles, but theres several jobs that could fit as a tank, like Mystic Knight.

That is one I would like to see as a tank for sure. I also would like to see some original classes/jobs too. With the lore of this world I bet they could come up with some cool stuff. A magitek healer is something I have been praying for, or a chemist. I even came up with an idea for one on here. A tank could use the gunlance for a magitek tank. There could be a dual wield tank as well. A dual pistol using gunner could be a dps (Not guns like the mch have, actual pistols). Other possible dps jobs could be an actual ranger but with a crossbow, a sniper, a bishop type (Paladin style holy magic user but dps). Some other tanks could be the mystic knight, a swashbuckler pirate that use a sword and pistol (Pirates are pretty prominent), maybe onion knight, maybe a knight that uses a javelin and tower shield. Some healers could be chemist, maybe a dark mage type healer to oppose white mage like PLD and DRK, a magitek one that uses technology to heal, or maybe a psychic.

[miraidensetsu]

That's an crazy idea, but I think S-E should put some utility (like ReRaise, Arise or Dispel) and more mitigation to WHM (such as the PVP Protect, Shell or Reflect), and better regens to SCH to make him able to compete not against AST, but against SCH. Why?

Because the another slot should be disputed between AST and DNC. Those 2, IMHO, should be more focused on support and way less on healing/mitigation (with an nerf to their healing ability, but great buffs, to the extent that they can heal the content, but they'll most likely will have to let the buffs fall off). The idea here would be that healer 1 should be the mein healer (that will be most almost solo healing) while the other keep the buffs up.

[jameseoakes]

That's an crazy idea, but I think S-E should put some utility (like ReRaise, Arise or Dispel) and more mitigation to WHM (such as the PVP Protect, Shell or Reflect), and better regens to SCH to make him able to compete not against AST, but against SCH. Why?

Because the another slot should be disputed between AST and DNC. Those 2, IMHO, should be more focused on support and way less on healing/mitigation (with an nerf to their healing ability, but great buffs, to the extent that they can heal the content, but they'll most likely will have to let the buffs fall off). The idea here would be that healer 1 should be the mein healer (that will be most almost solo healing) while the other keep the buffs up.

The issue I see there is that the support healers have to have enough healing to deal with all none 'high level' duties which means they have to have fairly strong healing kits to deal having two 'support healers' in 24 mans and the like which raises the risk that two support healers played at a high level would be fine for all content which would make the two meant for main healing pretty redundant.

[miraidensetsu]

The issue I see there is that the support healers have to have enough healing to deal with all none 'high level' duties which means they have to have fairly strong healing kits to deal having two 'support healers' in 24 mans and the like which raises the risk that two support healers played at a high level would be fine for all content which would make the two meant for main healing pretty redundant.

Well, I think that it should work with a trade-off system. If a DNC/AST use their resources healing, it shouldn't have enough resources to buff. If a WHM use their resources buffing, he won't have enough resources to heal.

But thinking it better, to that idea work, AST should gain heavy nerfs on the sects. Aspected Benefic and Aspected Helios should lose the regen/shield effect to add a haste on allies (diurnal) or a slow to enemies (nocturnal) using some other spells, CU should have a MP cost and a much bigger cooldown and Earthly Star have its healing potency halved... To gain a sure way to apply a 20% Balance, some Haste, some Slow, a chance to apply Stop and some other tricks held by Time Mages. And I doubt S-E will ever do this to their babies.

Forget it. The idea was indeed crazy.

[Connor]

I’d much rather see Dancer as a fully support oriented healer rather than the standard DPS/healer hybrid. We already have three healers whose main job is to minimise minimise healing and maximise damage output. I really feel like something new is needed.

I feel like the dev team is capable of fitting that kind of job into the current setup without causing too many issues. And even in the event that it did release under/over powered, it wouldn’t be the first time a job has been released without being balanced properly lol

[Mansion]

The problem is that "support oriented" jobs are all thought and built in regards to FFXIV main idea that each job is made to down content anyway. Having a dancer too buff oriented would almost surely steal one healer spot (like SCH currently does for other reasons).
Then you'd add Bard's buffs multpiplied by Dragoon's multiplied by Astro's, multiplied by Dancer, Synchronized with a Ninja's trick attack and there you have it. 5.0 meta.

I'm not against the idea, I'm actually craving for more addition to healer's kit (DPS or buff, or if it comes to that, fights that actually require more healing). But it needs much consideration in jobs synergies before hand. The fact that some buffs multiply (MCH / NIN vuln down, SCH BRD DRG crit up) and that some don't (AST cards, shields) makes it even more sensible.

[Jollyy5]

I'd like for dancer to have a melee combo, a buff to convert some damage dealt into AoE healing, maybe a weak heal that can be used from a range, and stronger heal that you need to physically slap on people, supplemented by dashing and backstepping.

Sure it would be essentially doing the same thing as the other healers in that it will balance healing and DPS, but it'd at least go about it differently.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

I dunno. Who would want a healer who needs standing next to someone for healing when you can have the same thing from the distance? Sure, you can moderate this with some flashy in-and-out-animation but it still means going right into the danger zone or running around from one end of the arena to another - just to heal two dudes and not because of mechanics - which makes him way inferior to the other healers.

[tinythinker]

The more I think about it, the weapon doesn't need to be any one thing. As you dance, you could trace out the rhythmic dance ribbon from the crystal microphone/dagger with "light painting", and from the sides, you could unfold the "dagger" to be a fan of light/aether. The weapon could change depending on spell and action

If ribbons become a thing for DNC, it would be cool if the limit break would include something like threads or many ribbons of light come down from the sky (think aerial silk).

I am personally hoping for dancer to look like traditional chinese long sleeve dancers.

I'd like for dancer to have a melee combo, a buff to convert some damage dealt into AoE healing, maybe a weak heal that can be used from a range, and stronger heal that you need to physically slap on people, supplemented by dashing and backstepping.

Sure it would be essentially doing the same thing as the other healers in that it will balance healing and DPS, but it'd at least go about it differently.

{Thought I had posted in an old thread about healer speculation in response to someone else but I can't find it - wasn't on dancer but a general concept about gaining power from damaging enemies that is then used to heal or buff. Darn. Will forget most of it and it had some good details/ideas for limits that made the the job a fun minigame. Oh, and for those who were thinking hybdrid, Yoshi-P said TP was going away at the Vegas Fanfest.}

My idea coincides with the above quotes. For damage you are mostly melee/near melee. You dance in and attack by drawing spells with your movement. If my WHM can run in and Holy at melee range, a DNC can jump in and do their thing. This is how you charge up the DNC job gauge. Like RDM and DRG you have a flip/jump/tumble backward ability. You can do simple basic heals at range without the gauge, but to "power-up" and do DNC-specific special moves you must fill the gauge.

These special moves can be long, medium, or short-range and can include:

- one or two special heal or mitigation techniques
- a couple of party buffs and a massive enemy debuff
- faster recharge of the job's oGCD heals

Absorbing health from enemies and redistribute it to allies constantly can get OP, so there is also a mechanic like overheating from MCH. You can ramp up and got lights out, but then you have a cool-down on the gauge. Or you can take it to the edge and back off. At lower levels, it's easier to play but at end-game it takes better management and knowledge of fights for best effect.

What particular special moves would you prefer in such a mechanic if it existed?