I will admite that the question was vague and SE can impove on that, but what I don't like is where does it say SE wants to make a wow clone, or where the community wants to make a wow clone. I have seen a lot of posts from people saying they don't want a wow clone but I didn't notice anyone advocating for one. Did I miss something vital? Or is everyone jumping the gun on some inner fear that SE all of a sudden wants a wow clone.
I will try to help by expaining my position here.
A clean UI that responds to a command when entered does not make a wow clone it is called a clean UI!
Differentation between class types in combat style is not a wow clone, it is an element of an RPG where the classes are unique!
Flashier animations on abilities is actually what SE has traditionally been good at, THis does not mean peope want XI-2!
If you get the impression that the majority of people posting comments for improvemtns are looking for a wow clone or for FFXI-2 then either I am missing something drastic, or your misinterpreting people comments.
Give the fearmongering a break and aruge something specific for a change intead of rehasing generalized Us-vs-Them fears.
Also, Dr,
The elements of game play you listed above are ALL included in XI or WoW with the exception of the incompasatate, which as someone already stated is more for items then for combat effecivness. I personally don't know how true this is but it reminds me of spellsteal from WoW. It was really usefull for one boss fight and was a gimik move other than that outside of PvP.
All of the elemens you like about the combat system, BR (similar to SC and the LoTRO thingy) attack from behind (like WoW) are from other games and they added to the FFXIV experience. So my question is why are you adverse to them adding more elements from other games since you seem to enjoy them so much? One of the reasons for WoW success is that they recognise a good idea for what it is, assimilate it into their system and make it work. You don't get to build an airplane by ignoring every generation or modle build before no do you?
Incompasatate right now ppears to be a gimik that is a good idea IF it's use becomes widespread etc, but just becuase lancers pierce and pug use blunt does NOT make them unique classes, just unique damage types, they all still play the same way and more importantly "Feel" the same. If you want to spend hours to find subtle differences in their game play to maximize their skill thats great, but it does not make the classes sufficiently diverse for my tastes.