Vote for GNB Sounds

[Shin96]

Could anyone elaborate on why the sounds were changed? I honestly liked the older sounds more.

[Karious]

Could anyone elaborate on why the sounds were changed? I honestly liked the older sounds more.

No one really knows. Well, sort of. I know a handful of people complained on the forums bitched about how they couldn't hear the explosions and the sword was 'too wooshy', so they overcorrected and made it sound like crap. Then the backlash of them changing it was much bigger but they ignored it. I remember when we even got a question about it into the live letter once and it was pretty much "You'll get used to it" and then never mentioned again. I'm not sure if there was some other motive for them changing it but it sounds like players who didn't play GNB just didn't want to hear the weapon at all in combat and got what they wanted.

[MagiusNecros]

The explosions sounded like crap initially so they changed them to be better but they also changed the blade sounds as well so players got something they wanted but also something they hated.

[Coulvre]

It might be a lost cause at this point, but I still miss the original sound effects too. It might sound weird, but sound plays a big part to me in how it feels to play a job and I would definitely enjoy and play GNB more if they changed them back.

[Kyser96]

I'm still in awe that we got nothing but a one or two sentence response after two years. Like obviously the old sounds were something that they worked hard on. They had a whole section of a video dedicated to crafting and capturing the light slicing sound effects of a Gunbreaker.

They knee jerk changed them within a week, and gave no future plans to adjust or re-imagine what a gunbreaker should sound like. I had hopes for something like this in Endwalker, but from the trailers and gameplay, the sounds are still exactly the same. I can still say that the sound effects actively turn me away from the job.

Sounds are a really important part of the game, and your personal attacks are at the forefront. Gunbreaker would absolutely be my first choice of a tank job, but even after all this time, I can't get past how bad the sound effects make it feel.

[Vahlnir]

I'm still in awe that we got nothing but a one or two sentence response after two years. Like obviously the old sounds were something that they worked hard on. They had a whole section of a video dedicated to crafting and capturing the light slicing sound effects of a Gunbreaker.

They knee jerk changed them within a week, and gave no future plans to adjust or re-imagine what a gunbreaker should sound like. I had hopes for something like this in Endwalker, but from the trailers and gameplay, the sounds are still exactly the same. I can still say that the sound effects actively turn me away from the job.

Sounds are a really important part of the game, and your personal attacks are at the forefront. Gunbreaker would absolutely be my first choice of a tank job, but even after all this time, I can't get past how bad the sound effects make it feel.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't complain if they reverted the changes at some point. I just don't think they will. I love the job enough, however, that it doesn't really bother me quite as much as most. I'm digging the new sounds for the new abilities though. They are perfect.

[Kyser96]

As stated in a recent known issues post: "We will also check for feedback such as "it's getting harder to hear" or "the sound doesn't feel right" individually, and if any adjustments are needed, we will fix them in the patch as well."

I'd strongly urge anyone that still cares to look into providing constructive feedback before 6.01. They seem to be doing a pass over looking for things like this, and if there's any time that we could possibly actually get a change, this would be it.

[YukikoKurosawa]

Got to lvl 86 for the newest ability Hypervelocity and very disappointed to find that it sounds next to nothing like it does in the job actions trailer. It lost that metal grind sound right before the loud explosion sound and now just makes a somewhat neutered explosive sound. Not sure why they didn't keep it the way it was. As for the 90 ability not able to say yet, but I imagine it got changed from the trailer too.

Though to be perfectly honest, as someone who has leveled up just about every job, I really think sound design just isn't that important to them. Most abilities of most jobs sound very low volume and lack impact. Animations are incredible, but the actual sounds themselves don't do them justice on average. It's not really a GNB unique problem it's an overall issue with the team's approach to sound. Just tried sage recently and though I like the sounds they also have the same low-volume problem (not enough to bother me but still). A lot of issues would be resolved if they just turned up the bloody volume on a lot of sounds. Feels like they team's approach to sound is deliberately restrained and I don't really get why since they're the exact opposite with animations. They need to realize people WANT loud and impactful sounds, not like people who don't can't just turn down the sound effect volume.

Safe to say though that Soken or whoever is in charge of sound design just wants sounds to be downplayed heavily, for whatever reason. They're more interested in how abilities LOOK than how they sound. But it's not really appealing when you watch a job trailer and see this incredible animation of a spell only to hear it to have the impact of a wet noodle.

[WhyAmIHere]

I disagree. I play with reduced visual effects, so for me learning how impactful sounds sound is important, especially for raids so as to identify things like trick attack, battle litany, chain stratagem, et al.

sound is the other half of the audio/visual experience. to have one half of that lacking is bad.

[Karious]

Yeah, Hypervelocity sounds nothing like it did in the trailer. I literally only hear the boom. I submitted a feedback report, but I don't have much faith given how they busted GNBs main combo previously.