Thread: Comments on Patch 1.21

Greetings, all. o.o Kinley Ardal here from Rabanastre

Firstly, let me say that I love FFXIV, and that this is in no way a "fix this or I'm out!" kinda post, so please do not misunderstand it as such. There is a TL;DR at the bottom, for those inclined to read summaries instead.

I have a series of questions and comments that I would like to pose, and I would be very grateful to have some replies from Dev Team regarding mine and my linkshell's take on changes in 1.21. (o.o ) Thank you in advance.

(1. Job vulnerabilities

Jobs are advertised as being primarily used for large party situations, with classes being preferable for solo/lowman battles.

However, the truth of the matter is that taking away the self-sufficiency of a character has some particularly nasty results in situations where Jobs are supposed to be most useful. It might not be so bad if the Jobs didn't also take a big hit to their maximum hitpoints, but they do, and that has pretty much catastrophic results when strong oneshot moves are a constant threat. PLD can deal with it, WAR can deal with it (they received a large HP bonus, rather than penalty) - DRG and MNK and BLM are in a pinch with lower HP, no self-Stoneskin or Sentinel capability, and if they were glass cannons before, they're paper cannons now. The max HP penalty is deadly against anything that you'd be in a party for.

Dragoon received large -enmity bonuses on its AF to compensate for its lack of survivability, but that is rather meaningless when melee-range area attacks are powerful enough to consistently threaten the Dragoon. See: Axe moogle, ifrit, basically anything that AOEs.

Black Mage is - well, Black Mage. It was given an attack that would grow in power when used at very low HP - and is not very powerful for the level of danger involved. At 200ish HP remaining, it's about 1.5 times the strength of Thundara. I will speak more on Burst below, as it is is only tangentially related to Black Mage's survivability.

The argument can then be made that "Techniques such as Sentinel, Rampart, and Stoneskin are part of class identity of tanks, that being survivability in the face of a powerful attack" - but as mentioned down in section (2., Sentinel and Stoneskin are about the only abilities that make any real difference in the face of said powerful attacks, rather than ostensibly class-defining abilities such as Outmaneuver or Foresight - in other words, shield blocking, and parrying.

Would you please reconsider forbidding Jobs from accessing any class' abilities? If we must be limited in how many we can equip in comparison to classes, so be it - but I do not think that class (read: Job) identity is helped by forbidding access to something as basic as cure or stoneskin, especially at this point where they were, by necessity, default abilities prior to 1.21 for any big fight. A job can utilize more offensive abilities for certain portions of an event, and then throw in survival options. Raise is also a concern for some, but WHM's Presence of Mind makes that less worrisome than basic survivability.

The argument can also be made that those wishing to survive against these powerful attacks I've been talking about should switch off of jobs to the underlying class, but that defeats the purpose of the Job - that is, party play - and really runs contrary to the great excitement that defined the release and acquisition of the Jobs. People were/are thrilled to look like a Dragoon, Jump like a Dragoon, and walk around as a Dragoon. Saying that Dragoon, or Black Mage, or Monk have very narrow and limited uses takes the wind out of those sails entirely.

Put honestly, it's disheartening after so much anticipation. ; ; The Jobs are awesome-looking and stylish. We want to use them often, but there are concerns about being able to do so.

(2. Defense, Shield, Parrying

Defense suffers the same problem as it did in FFXI. Mobs higher level than the player inflict much greater damage, which is as it should be - but the current equations make high Defense values against powerful monsters - where you want it most - kind of irrelevant. It's why some parties tanked with Conjurers at Ifrit pre-1.21 - defense doesn't matter. (I've heard no word on whether or not CON can tank post-1.21 yet).

Another thing that doesn't really matter - Shield block. Against Ifrit, shield block does not occur unless I am using Aegis Boon, whether or not I'm using a kite shield or an Ul'Dahn Hoplon (block rate 131, as opposed to Kite's 91). Outmaneuver doesn't increase the rate enough for a block to occur, either. (By corollary, War Drum and Phalanx are unusable in these situations unless Aegis Boon is up.) This is another reason CON could tank pre-1.21, despite lacking Outmaneuver or heavier shields. Evasion is also underwhelming.

Parrying doesn't fare much better. I parry at Ifrit perhaps one out of twenty hits outside of Foresight, and Foresight is far from a guaranteed parry.

After that, the tanking jobs have little going for them other than relatively high max HP, Sentinel, Aegis Boon's guaranteed block, and access to Stoneskin for PLD. This situation is far from ideal with regards to balancing class identity and staying power in a difficult battle. This might be less relevant if these powerful attacks weren't as wide-ranging as they are - i.e. Hellfire and Moggle's finisher being arena-wide.

Would you please consider boosting the activation rate of defensive skills?

(3. Relative weakness of some job skills

I will phrase this as I phrased it to my LS. BLM's Burst is the same in functionality as DRK's Scarlet Delirium in Final Fantasy XI. Push yourself to the brink of death, and then launch a powerful attack - while you have hate, and are probably about to die.

The argument can then be made that "Well, it's useful for situations where you know you are going to get killed". Alright, but who wants to do that, really? Is it attractive to define a character class (or Job, in this instance) by how well it performs moments before getting fried?

"Well, the healer might be able to save you if they know this is going to happen."

Alright, then the ability relies upon pushing yourself just far enough to make the ability useful, but not so far so as to result in you getting killed when the monster being attacked swings back. With a powerful mob like a Moogle NM, or Ifrit, or Chimera, that's a very narrow threshold, so the ability then becomes something that's either just sitting there, or used outside of its (to be generous) infrequent ideal circumstances, or used often in mediocre circumstances.

The Black Mages I know have this to say: "I'd rather just have a second Thundara without the danger of death and bad performance at a safe level of HP." Further, the Black Mages that I know typically play Thaumaturge at events. Again, that seems to run counter to the idea of the Job System.

Dragonfire Dive is also not very powerful for such a long recast. Mighty Strikes and Hundred fists have an exceptionally low duration for their recast. Hallowed Ground is actually pretty darn spiffy, so please leave that one as it is. :X Actually, Hallowed Ground is just plain awesome. I'll guard it with my very life!

(4. Artifact Armor

Awesome looking, but was advertised as being superior to double-bound crafted armor. In some cases, this is true! In other cases, it would appear that the double-binding was of tier two materia - Paladin boots are underwhelming, Dragoon and Black Mage body are underwhelming, WHM body is not particularly powerful, et cetera.

This is a difficult position for me - as a crafter, I do not want to be made irrelevant, but as a fan of the AF for the defining, classic Final Fantasy look, I would like the armors to serve a vital function.

(5. Casting changes

Put succinctly, I really do wish you'd change it back. ; ; Being able to cast spells while mobile makes kiting much easier for both healer and tank, and allows a healer to keep their tank ticking even if the situation necessitates fleeing their former position. Casting range is already quite short, compared to FFXI - having a target move out of range before you've finished casting is not only a real possibility, it's a regularity, be it curing or sleeping. The slightest twitch throws your spell off; in XI, you could at least return to your previous position to keep the spell firing. x.X

I realize that there are some PVP concerns - not really sure what they are, to be honest - but shouldn't PVP concerns be secondary to PVE?

(6. Crafting changes

The changes to the crafting system are being very well received by my group and all my acquaintances, but there is some concern about crafted equipment being useless in comparison to AF. By the same token, some AF is underwhelming, such as the DRG and BLM bodies referenced above. Where the happy medium lies on this topic, I do not know, but I did see that this was included on the third player poll, so I shall wait for further news!

(7. Accuracy changes

Accuracy actually matters now. Thank you very much. o.ob It is frustrating to miss enmity combos sometimes, but I think it's better this way. I realize there will be many complaints about the change - but that's because we've had a guaranteed hit rate against any major opponent for very nearly the entirety of the game's lifespan. I do not think it appropriate to have an ensured hit rate against Ifrit or Chimera.
I say all this as a PLD who grits his teeth every time he misses Flat Blade or War Drum. This is as it should be. I'll regear to have a bit more accuracy. Some think the change to be too drastic, some do not; again, where the medium lay, I'm not sure, but I personally find it to be quite fine as it is.


That about covers the bases for everything that I wished to say. The TL;DR version would amount to: I know that Jobs are supposed to be for partying, and classes for soloing, but Ifrit and Moogle went better with Classes. Can they be beaten with Jobs? Yep. Is it easier? No, it's harder. That seems to run counter to the idea of Jobs being for party play.

I would like to close my monologue by saying that I actively pay for two accounts, and plan to continue doing so. I greatly love Final Fantasy XIV, and wish for it to succeed on a grand scale.

I'm not saying that it won't succeed if the changes I requested above are not granted - I'm just saying that these are my thoughts and concerns, and that I wished to put them forth, in what I hope was a thoughtful and respectful manner. I would be very grateful if the moderators and Dev Team would give my little post some consideration. ._.

Thank you greatly to all the Dev Team and the forum mods for their hard work, and especially to Yoshi P, to whom, while I am grateful for his tireless efforts, I would say: PLEASE GET SOME SLEEP SIR D: You're going to hurt yourself running on so little rest, and we've great hopes riding on you!

Thank you. (_ _ ) See you around Eorzea.

Kinley Ardal
Kirby-esque Knight of Rabanastre (Uo.o)>=={====>