Chain combo button

[Saito_]

I wonder why there is still no way to chain combos with the press of one button instead of having to press 3 or 4 different ones.

It feels clunky and clutters the UI. There is skill involved, when you have specific hardware and it is a chore if you don't or can't have it (consoles).
Makros are also just a band aid at best as they are slow and likely to fail due to latency or are disrupted by other inputs.
I think that having a system in place that'd let us chain combos and other skills would remove some clunkyness the current combat system has imho.


For those who did not yet encounter such system (like Tera or Aion utilize since years now), here are some examples:

1. PLD: Fast Blade(combo starter, unique button)->Riot Blade(chain skill button)->Rage of Halone(chain skill button)
2. MNK: Bootshine(combo starter, unique button)->Twin Snakes(chain skill button)->Snap Punch(chain skill button)

The chains have to be customizable and are not supposed to replace the skills entirely as there can be situations where you don't want to execute the skill in the chain but another branching skill ( e.g True strike instead of Twin Snakes or Goring Blade instead of Rage of Halone).

[Callinon]

MNK does not support your idea as their combos aren't rigidly enforced like that. DNC has an issue here too as their combos have branching paths.

Moreover, SE has already addressed this idea. Basically this isn't the way FFXIV is meant to be played.

[NosamKin]

Saito - I agree with you. and the frustrating part is the one button chain already exists! That's how PVP works... why we can't get the same choice in PVE...

[Raldo]

I would also like to see this change. I understand peoples' complaints that "oh, but it doesn't work for such-and-such job", and I get that, but like... the tanks still have a LOT of button bloat, and squishing the 1-2-3 combo, the 1-2 AOE combo, and GNB's extra 1-2-3 combo down to a single button would go a long way toward fixing that.

[Brightamethyst]

Moreover, SE has already addressed this idea. Basically this isn't the way FFXIV is meant to be played.

Except that it's EXACTLY the way the game is meant to be played.

Maybe it's a translation thing and the original Japanese says or implies something different, but SE is constantly making excuces that sound like complete BS. (no portable orchestiron because they can't change field music onthe fly, despite mounts doing it all the time, etc.)

[Saito_]

MNK does not support your idea as their combos aren't rigidly enforced like that. DNC has an issue here too as their combos have branching paths.

Moreover, SE has already addressed this idea. Basically this isn't the way FFXIV is meant to be played.

Branching is not a problem at all. Every skill in a chain can be set on a separate keybind as it is now. This is supposed to be QoL enhancement. I main MNK and I couldn't care less about the DPS loss due to not going for double True Strike during a Twin Snakes buff. I like the flow of the Flank-> Rear -> Flank rotation, only exception to this is Demo which is the rear combo starter every now and then.

Saito - I agree with you. and the frustrating part is the one button chain already exists! That's how PVP works... why we can't get the same choice in PVE...

Wow, never played PVP so I had no idea this already existed. Makes me wonder even more why it's not available in PvE content.

[Seraphor]

Except that it's EXACTLY the way the game is meant to be played.

Says... you?

Frankly I'd hate this. With a single button combo, you lose track of which skill you're using at any given time.
You won't know which skill is Soul Eater to generate HP and Blood, or which skill is the Armour Crush to refresh your Huton, etc.

[HyoMinPark]

It feels clunky and clutters the UI. There is skill involved, when you have specific hardware and it is a chore if you don't or can't have it (consoles).

I’ve played on all platforms from PS3 to PS4 to PC, from a 60” television to a 2K monitor. I’ve even played on a 15” laptop screen at one point—my UI has never been cluttered, since this game has a fairly good HUD layout option to arrange it the way I prefer and to reduce clutter to my standards. I also play with controller—and always have—and I have no issue with hotbar space or button bloat.

I don’t find the current system clunky at all. I actually stopped doing PvP because of the skill consolidation added to it (though I only played casually and not competitively, I really enjoyed doing Shatter and Seal Rock). I also think that these chain combos would not work well for any jobs that do not have actual combos (casters, healers, BRD) or for jobs that have RNG proc-based systems (BRD again, DNC, RDM).

Except that it's EXACTLY the way the game is meant to be played.

Maybe it's a translation thing and the original Japanese says or implies something different, but SE is constantly making excuces that sound like complete BS. (no portable orchestiron because they can't change field music onthe fly, despite mounts doing it all the time, etc.)

In an interview that talked about moving the PvP system into PvE, Yoshida said that he had no plans to do this; and that the reason it was added to PvP was because players need to focus more on strategizing to overcome opposing teams as opposed to focusing on optimization and rotations to kill a single boss. Especially since a lot of the decisions can be very split-second in PvP, and they wanted to make that easier on the players. PvE content is highly scripted by comparison, therefore there is no need for the same types of split-second decision making that PvP calls for.

EDIT: Here’s the question from the interview, which was a Korean Q&A done in early October 2018.

Q: Can we have PvE skill combos like how PvP chains the skill combos? The number of skills we have to put definitely has been lesser since Stormblood but it feels like more can be done.
Y: If that happens, skill combo would be too simple and easy. Additionally, PvP uses simplified skill combos because we want to pinpoint the players’ focus on broader perspective of battle than using the skills in order. PvE combat environment is a lot different from PvP, where players need room in between combos to respond to various situations in the raids. That’s one of the reasons why we are keeping the the way of skill sets structured.

In other perspective, the development team already saw that the number of skills are reaching the capacity in terms of system limit. Instead of increasing the number of skills, we are planning to replace the skills or alter the skill that are rarely used instead. You won’t expect the number of skills surging back in the near future.

Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...mIIE64ca0/edit

[ForteNightshade]

Saito - I agree with you. and the frustrating part is the one button chain already exists! That's how PVP works... why we can't get the same choice in PVE...

Except it isn't a choice in PvP. You cannot opt out of having your combos chained, which has been a major complaint because a lot of players dislike it. I don't want half the jobs to essentially become spamming a single button in between oGCD weaves. Dragoon, for example, is already practically barren with how few skills it now has. Reducing that even further would just make the job feel boring. Yoshida said the only reason they have combo consolidation in PvP is due to the dynamic nature of attacking other players. Having a ton of buttons may be too cumbersome to manage in an unscripted environment. Ironically, the lack of skills as been arguably the biggest complaint regarding PvP.

Except that it's EXACTLY the way the game is meant to be played.

Maybe it's a translation thing and the original Japanese says or implies something different, but SE is constantly making excuces that sound like complete BS. (no portable orchestiron because they can't change field music onthe fly, despite mounts doing it all the time, etc.)

That wasn't their excuse. While I disagree with it, they didn't want to make a "portable orchestrion" was partly because they prefer each zone to have its own unique music. The other reason is technical limitations. Mounts have a pre-determined song that cannot be changed. A portable orchestrion necessities coding because players will interact with it. This is why we still can't have the Glamour Dresser in our houses.

[Haprimac]

No, no and no. It'd make dragoon way too boring. You already got heavy thrust removed, so stop killing my favourite job already, okay?