Modification to Weapon Classes and their uniqueness in Battle.

[OmegaNovaios]

i think this would remove quite a bit of brain work from battle, whilst an interesting concept, being able to make any attack AOE removes the urgency of building up your TP to use an AOE skill to turn the tide of battle.

It's fine with DoM because of the nature of their magic, and the range generally meaning that if they AOE constantly, they'll actually be putting people at risk, and therefore have to consider carefully first.

It also eliminates the uniqueness of playing the different melee classes entirely, marauder standing still get an aoe buff to all of their skills, gladiator get mostly single target skills with a few AOE effects on them, lancer strikes the nearby enemies to their target, or all the targets in the way of the target their attack is intended for, archer is accurate single target damage, but has the ability to shower arrows if need be, pugilist can decimate targets fast enough to not need to AOE, but still have the odd skill that lets them do so.

currently, the uniqueness of identity is not crippled by how the classes play, but by how you look. Currently there isn't enough variation in armour equivalents for the different classes. It's getting better sure, but there's still only a handful of pieces of gear that really works well enough to be used by someone taking their defences seriously

There is no disadvantage to AOEing heals of buffs though.

This actually gives class uniqueness because there is no difference except damage type (Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, Projectile) and regular attacks if you equip the same exact actions. With this there will at least be differences in the way that you attack.

Also, other than MRD (stance effect only) you can equip any of those action on any class for the same effect. You can even shower arrows on enemies with an AXE. XD

[TessaJalloh]

This actually gives class uniqueness because there is no difference except damage type

Self destructive arguement. I'm not sure i follow your definition of unique. :/

[OmegaNovaios]

Self destructive arguement. I'm not sure i follow your definition of unique. :/

We probably have the view over what is the definition to unique so I'm gonna show how this is different since you pretty much didn't want to think about this way.

Let's say I leveled/ranked up GLA/LNC/PGL to 20. Now I have all the actions for all 3 of those up to 20. What is the difference among these 3 classes if I use the exact same skills? Let's say my action setup goes something like this.

Action bar (just gonna use 1 for example even though this is rank 20 or you can view this as let's say rank 10 on any class):

1. Primary Regular Attack (basic regular attack, does damage based on weapon equipped)
2. Secondary Regular Attack (has an additional effect like Bind for LNC with additional stamina cost, effect varies between all classes, does damage based on weapon equipped)
3. Doomspike (2000+ TP that hits all enemies between you and your target)
4. Ferocity (increases attack power for your next attack)
5. Still Precision (increases accuracy for small duration of time)
6. Featherfoot (increases evasion until you dodge an attack)
7. Seismic Shock (1000 TP, 10 MP deals earth damage to all enemies around the target, does not affect flying targets)
8. Cure (self explanatory)
9. Provoke (self explanatory)
10. Taunt (self explanatory)

Now I can use all these skills as GLA/LNC/PGL or any other class. They all have the same effect no matter which class uses it. So there is no difference here. Now if I can AOE them or not on all classes there is no difference either. However if there is different effects added to AOEs for each class then there is (or if SE added different effects to all TP attacks BASED ON CLASS which is currently not present). This is similar to Mages since THM can cast AOE spells in a long range, cone and CON can cast AOE spells in a short range, 360 degree area.

Now Doomspike (LNC action) hits every target in a line between you and your target. I ask you what is the difference if I use this on GLA or PGL form LNC. It still hits all mobs between you and the target.

Now Seismic Shock (PGL action) hits every enemy (360 degree) around you. The same applies to this attack as above if I use it on LNC or GLA as opposed to PGL. There is no difference other than damage. Which is based on the mobs weakness to damage types. These damage types are called Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, Projectile, and Elemental.

The only difference between classes are the damage types and the Secondary Regular Attacks, because you can use every action on every class and the same thing occurs.

Would it make a difference if we add the ability to turn AOE on/off? No.

Would it make a difference if we add an effect (like secondary regular attack) to every damaging action you perform? Yes.

Would it make a difference if we add the ability to turn AOE on/off and then make AOEs different for each class? Yes.

Is there a difference now? Very little.

Can there be a difference? Up to you.

Still think there is a difference or there are enough differences among classes (based on your opinion)? If yes to either of those then please read my post on this link.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...zations/page10