A QoL/Balance Shortlist for DPS (Tanks/Healers only as additional context)

[Mansion]

So. Please now re-do all this with that new MP only gauge in mind.
;D

[Shurrikhan]

So. Please now re-do all this with that new MP only gauge in mind.
;D

That actually shouldn't take too long and I will do exactly that once we get the later wave of info to confirm the nature of the changes!

I'm actually pretty pleased with the consolidation; I think it's been a long time in coming.

[Shurrikhan]

Made a final grammar/format check on the full list and tidied up the responses section (one reply formerly buried).

Still deciding whether or not to include a bypass of the Piercing Mechanic (allowing Bard and Machinist to apply their own variants via, say, procced Clean shot or a Straighter Shot/Refulgent Arrow) and to compensate Dragoon for the loss of unique rDPS within its personal contribution.

[Rongway]

Attack Magic Potency and Healing Magic Potency should just be become "Magic Power". Then Physical Properties and Mental Properties can be simplified down to:

Attack Power
Magic Power
Speed

[Shurrikhan]

Attack Magic Potency and Healing Magic Potency should just be become "Magic Power". Then Physical Properties and Mental Properties can be simplified down to:

Attack Power
Magic Power
Speed

At present this would fit perfectly, but I worry that certain traits to be attached to the 6.0 jobs may require that differentiation, so I'd not bothered to consolidate them as I have with Spell Speed and Skill Speed, which I thought essential to balancing any job that would make use of both. So long as the stats that Magic Power is derived from still varies, as per Mind and Intelligence, no power or balance changes relative to having Casters heal via Intelligence just as healers damage via Mind.

More simply put: yes, I love the clarity and intuitiveness of that, but I'd hate to see the slight adjustment applied just to be swapped back.

[XValenusX]

Massive Fan of this List. One suggestion i'd like to add to your general fixes is a QoL fix to the UI for all roles.

Enemy Frames now display only your Active Debuffs/Dots/Buffs etc and do not disappear when refreshed by another of the same class. It's something that always irks me when I see it.

Another step up from that (which i'd prefer even more) is to have the option to see specific dots, debuffs etc on the enemy frame (which you could select based on role, or whatever info you specifically want to see)

EX: As a monk, i want to see my own Demolish only, party debuffs only (TA, Dismantle, etc) and boss buffs like normal. I hate seeing 30 debuffs on a target only caring about maybe 5 of them in alliance raids or 8 mans with 2 of another class.

[Darkpaw]

So, question. Do you play machinist at all? Or did you speak to any MCH when you wrote the QoL changes you'd like to see for them? Because this doesn't sound like any of the QoL changes MCH's have been pleading to get for the entire expansion.. or perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you wrote.

[Shurrikhan]

So, question. Do you play machinist at all? Or did you speak to any MCH when you wrote the QoL changes you'd like to see for them? Because this doesn't sound like any of the QoL changes MCH's have been pleading to get for the entire expansion.. or perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you wrote.

There are a handful of issues that have come up most when I've asked other Machinists about the job's design issues:

1. The job has notable button bloat, even including outright pointless buttons (e.g. Gauss Barrel).
2. Ranged DPS depend too greatly on their threat dumps during openers, and a percentile threat reduction would be preferred anyways.
3. Bard almost always trumps MCH as the ranged of choice when only one is taken. When two are taken, MCH always has the inferior maximum total DPS.
4. Skill Speed is shit, especially during Rapid Fire.
5. Flamethrower is bugged, clunky, and generally undertuned.
6. MCH AoE is low and weirdly finicky/immobile, especially compared to BRD's, outside of fights short enough to take BT-HC into BOD or immediately BOD.
7. Wildfire can be a bitch, especially around boss jumps/invulns.
8. For all its eccentricities, Machinist lacks... pizzazz. It needs a little something more special.
9. The heat mechanic feels more punishing than rewarding.

As per my notes below, I've found no solution as of yet for that last issue. I am still working on how, exactly, I think Heat should work to maintain tacticality and encourage forethought with minimal sense of "punishment". The others issues at least been mitigated.

If there are further MCH issues you can point out, please do. I can only go off my own experience here, those of the dozen or so MCHs I've spoken at any real length with, and those of forum posts here.

I doubt you've misread any of it, but there is a great deal of context in the general section that may be pertinent to the suggested MCH changes. I can give a run-down of why I've suggested what I have, but let me clear -- though the changes will not be complete until that last issue is solved, I do think each of those changes has a very real place. The Wildfire siphon, for instance, augments enmity mitigation, AoE, and "something special". Moving AoE slightly from Bishop to Split Shot reduces maximal AoE burst -- or, if not for Hypercharge now being able to affect it -- but increases the flexibility of sustained AoE and of focus targeting. Grenado Shot, alone, is something of a guilty pleasure; I saw no reason ranged AoE (Wide Volley and Grenado Shot) should have been removed from ranged classes, especially given that we now have access to auto-swapped actions.

[Siccoroa]

Your Bard changes are pretty garbage to be honest. They do absolutely nothing to address the issues with Bard game play.


Crit is still the only stat worth bringing. It doesn't matter how much you buff speed if crit is still the only way to get procs.

The songs are still imbalanced, if anything it might be worse with these changes. You will still be trying to get out of armies paeon as soon as possible.

The battle voice/for req change means it will only be used during mages ballad and wanderers minuet. Once again making armies paeon the least useful song.

The button bloat is due to all the support skills, you should be pruning those before nerfing and pruning dps.

Other changes are good though, I really like the raging strikes change.

[Cetonis]

It's fine for songs to be imbalanced, honestly. There's really very little wrong with Bard itself -

:: SkS being a weak stat is largely universal and a separate topic. They shouldn't try to address it with a bunch of job-by-job hamfists.

:: The matter of piercing / crit buff is another broader design problem. In and of itself, having a crit-focused job is not a problem, it's a feature.

:: Button bloat is also largely universal, and will likely be addressed via role skill changes first and foremost.


Bard is the biggest "ain't broke, don't fix" job in the game right now. Relative to current Bard, the only mostly-QoL things that come to mind are -

:: Make Pitch Perfect cooldown 1s

:: Make Straighter Shot upgrade to a buff that only activates Refulgent, such that it's not consumed if you want to use SS (a blessing and a curse, but one less annoyance). Or make Refulgent re-apply / replace SS, but SE would have just done that in the first place if they were going to.


Then for future things, I'd expect little in the way of messing with core song mechanics. At most, maybe do the oft-tossed-around idea where AP stacks increase your RA proc rate by 5% each or something (this would make 4-stack AP slightly stronger than MB).

Instead, I imagine we'll finally get the regen song (consumes MP like Foe, thus near-useless in 8-mans, but hey folk want it) and probably a little more focus on MP management otherwise. Like it'd be kinda neat to have a skill that procs or gets stronger or something when you're at low MP or empty your MP or something. Then some sort of blatant "this is meant to increase Bard pps to keep up with other jobs' gains" button/trait and call it a day.