SE Removes Astrologian's Lore From Their Gameplay

[RenewalXVII]

Actually I think it's more to save time.

In HW, they gave us quests at 50/52/54/56/58/60 right? In SB they cut it down to 60/63/65/58/70. And now they're consolidating quests apparantly so that we'll have tank/healer/physical dps/magical dps stories instead except for the level 80. I don't think it's because of the source but rather just to cut down on the number of job story quests to make as they introduce more jobs with every expansion. I won't be surprised if we see this pattern again in 6.0 with the new job(s) there having full questlines up to level 80 but then some sort of consolidated role stories again.

If we get two new jobs again in 6.0, there'll be a full 30 classes in the game. Assuming quests would still be at 80/83/85/88/90 for 6.0, the old model would mean 150 quests of work. The bloat is very, very real.

[Bright-Flower]

If we get two new jobs again in 6.0, there'll be a full 30 classes in the game. Assuming quests would still be at 80/83/85/88/90 for 6.0, the old model would mean 150 quests of work. The bloat is very, very real.

Yeah. I'm really not surprised they're cutting back. Though given that they're ALSO cutting back by consolidating crafting/gathering quests into subcategoriers maybe I'm wrong, but I'll be surprised if 6.0 gives us full length job stories again.

I even worry about artifact sets every expansion, but at least that's one form of overhead that's just once per expansion. But every new job does mean new artifact sets, new weapon models, new quests, new abilities, more balancing etc every expansion, so I won't be shocked if 6.0 gives just one new job either.

[zuzu-bq]

Divination and the new Sleeve Draw actually brings AST gameplay closer to their lore. Astral Divinations are readings made of 3 Major Arcanas as said by the Encyclopdia. And that's exactly what you'll be doing to buff your party in Shadowbringers.

Plus, more real life Astrology named skill! Yay.

[Riardon]

The more XIV progresses over time and more jobs are added the more we gonna lose quality for quantity.
More jobs mean more quests and more workload to implement them.
Apparently we hit the limit of the XIV dev team.
There that much they can do.
If we keep adding jobs and still want the amount of job quests ARR had then we gonna end up with job quests being more than the MSQ ones.
It's obvious this can't continue.

[ObsidianFire]

There's also an interview from Yoshida from the media tour about how the lvl 80 job quests are mostly going to be in tone.

The idea is that the WoL has been gone from the Source for all of the 5.0 MSQ and now that they are back on the Source, they are going to their job trainers and catching up with the trainers about what they have been doing while the WoL has been absent. Which... fixes a lot of the pacing issues many of the job quests have with them when you are playing them alongside the MSQ.

[kidalutz]

I'm gonna miss my Job trainer freinds.

[Seraphor]

The biggest downside to this Card system gutting, is the lack of agency we now have.

Sure, fishing for Balance might be irritating, but you did have options in Spear and Arrow, and the option to decide where these cards would be most effective.
Who’s doing the most damage? Who benefits more from Crit? Who benefits more from speed?
Now, you get a half-Balance to use on the player the game has selected for you to use it on… which basically makes the melee/ranged distinction pointless, you will use it on whichever gives the full effect.

How I would do it:

Minor Arcana and Seals stay as they are. Lord/Lady giving 8/4% to melee/ranged, and Divination giving AoE 6/3% based on Seals.

Balance: 8/4% Direct Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Solar Seal
Spear: 8/4% Critical Hit to Melee/Ranged, grants a Lunar Seal
Arrow: 8/4% Speed to Melee/Ranged, grants a Celestial Seal

Bole: 8/4% Direct Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Solar Seal
Ewer: 8/4% Critical Hit to Ranged/Melee, grants a Lunar Seal
Spire: 8/4% Speed to Ranged/Melee, grants a Celestial Seal

This way, you have the same ranged/melee system, but maintain some agency as to which method of DPS increase you employ and where.
Each option isn’t a full on Balance, so there’s nuance to your choice, and potencies increased to 8/4% to account for that, but each one upgrades to a Balance via Minor Arcana or Divination.

Draw a Bole, that’s as generic as you get, use it on a ranged DPS and get a solar seal.
Draw a Spear, do you have a Monk? Great! Use it. Do you have a Bard and Samurai? Oh... maybe it’s more useful on the Bard even at half potency… get a Lunar seal.
Draw a Ewer, you already have a Lunar Seal, Minor Arcana it into a Lady for a flat damage boost for ranged.
Draw an Arrow, you have a BLM and a NIN? Then it’s actually better to use on the BLM even though it’s down to 4%. Get your Celestial Seal.
Use Divination for your 6% AoE Balance.

[EdwinLi]

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Don't forget this also means now they may dedicate the story to be a bit longer as well since they don't have to scatter resources for multiple Job's stories.

Also this can mean the Job/Class NPCs from the same Job roles storylines can now be in a storyline where they all interact with each other rather than exclusively within their own Job/Class.

[LineageRazor]

Yeah. I'm really not surprised they're cutting back. Though given that they're ALSO cutting back by consolidating crafting/gathering quests into subcategoriers maybe I'm wrong, but I'll be surprised if 6.0 gives us full length job stories again.

To be honest, I'm not that disappointed to hear that the Crafting/Gathering quests were being condensed in this way. The Gathering quests were already not particularly riveting, and nearly half of the last batch of crafting quests boiled down to the same moral: Always remember to take the customer's needs into consideration. (Seriously, SO many crafts had a bumbling NPC crafting something they wanted to craft, while you would show them the light by crafting something the customer actually wants/needs.) Yeah, there were a few gems; I loved the last batch of Weaver crafts, and Alchemist was a lore goldmine. Even so, I'm content to allow the writers to focus on several classes at a time.

I"m definitely a little more leery about the same thing being applied to the DoM and DoW jobs, however. We don't really need more reminders about how similar these jobs are to one another, and giving them wildly different backstories was a way to accomplish that. Still, I'm willing to wait and see. It might be fine.

[Bright-Flower]

To be honest, I'm not that disappointed to hear that the Crafting/Gathering quests were being condensed in this way. The Gathering quests were already not particularly riveting, and nearly half of the last batch of crafting quests boiled down to the same moral: Always remember to take the customer's needs into consideration. (Seriously, SO many crafts had a bumbling NPC crafting something they wanted to craft, while you would show them the light by crafting something the customer actually wants/needs.) Yeah, there were a few gems; I loved the last batch of Weaver crafts, and Alchemist was a lore goldmine. Even so, I'm content to allow the writers to focus on several classes at a time.

I"m definitely a little more leery about the same thing being applied to the DoM and DoW jobs, however. We don't really need more reminders about how similar these jobs are to one another, and giving them wildly different backstories was a way to accomplish that. Still, I'm willing to wait and see. It might be fine.

I get it to an extent, ARR jobs have had three different storylines now, four if you count the base class storylines. Maybe it gets harder to come up with ideas for them, on top of dealing with new jobs adding to the workload. But I was really hoping for a good palaidn story for once. HW was a convoluted mess and SB was more a gladiator sequel than a paladin story. So I'm a bit sad that we're only getting level 80 quests for jobs which probably won't be super involved.