People wanting a support class. Why?

[gman1311]

Pretty every class in the game has some kind of support ability (expect BLM and SAM)

Tanks can reduce damage taken by the party, or use single target barriers and shields to protect team mates

Healers do the same thing when it comes to reducing damage. Though, Astro can increase player or party dps.

Certain dps increases the parties overall dps, better then others.

The devs kind of spread out the support abilities, so things stay somewhat balanced.

But I want to know, what do you actually want from a support class?

[Nora_of_Mira]

some people feel satisfied contributing the most to a team effort

and

some people feel satisfied supporting others so that other members can contribute the most to a team effort.

some people do both, like the DNC in my raid group.

[Ashgarth]

Pretty every class in the game has some kind of support ability (expect BLM and SAM)

Tanks can reduce damage taken by the party, or use single target barriers and shields to protect team mates

Healers do the same thing when it comes to reducing damage. Though, Astro can increase player or party dps.

Certain dps increases the parties overall dps, better then others.

The devs kind of spread out the support abilities, so things stay somewhat balanced.

But I want to know, what do you actually want from a support class?

Same reason you seem to play a Red mage even though Halers and Tanks can also spells and DPS. It's not their focus.

People want a class that focuses solely on support instead of it being a byproduuct of their DPS rotation, simple as that.

[Makeda]

I would look at some of the old City Of Heroes classes.

Support classes had abilities - not all of which would translate well here - such as;

1. Cut an enemies DPS in half.
2. Cause enemies to attack each other.
3. Buff allies by 50% or more.
4. Create shields that could reduce most damage.
5. Transport allies to new locations.
6. Freeze enemies in place.
7. Speed up ally movement bu massive amounts
8. Create barriers.
And more.

They did almost no DPS on their own. Players often hybrid built them with offensive power sets to solo, but they were mostly about group play.

Support was king in that MMO.

Too powerful actually.

But it hints at what support players want. We’d want balanced versions of this stuff.

[gman1311]

Same reason you seem to play a Red mage even though Halers and Tanks can also spells and DPS. It's not their focus.

People want a class that focuses solely on support instead of it being a byproduuct of their DPS rotation, simple as that.

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know why or how it was set to red mage, but I’m a Warrior main. Anyways I haven’t bothered changing it because I’m lazy.

[Ayuhra]

To me: I'm not a competitive person by nature and I don't enjoy feeling like I need to be at the top of meters to be worthwhile. If I can be worthwhile by buffing my team, though...

[Aladire]

For me, it is not about a true support class.

For me, what I think is missing is the feeling of managing buffs and debuffs as the main focus. Yes, the various jobs give out buffs, but since ShB, there is next to no debuff. I wonder why they took that out.

But, wouldn't it be cool if you can go in and provide haste for the team, lower the mob's armor and magic resistance, cast blind, and maybe be able to cast spells on your team like enfire or something similar? Since we dont have elemental style effect outside of Eureka, enfire could be something like "Next attack will have a be a crit." And then maybe enblizzard could be "Next attack will be a direct hit."

Then this class can be like DNC in that it has minor attacks and heals too.

My only concern is that I feel we would then need a 5 player party, but then that really messes up the balance of the current dungeons.

[gman1311]

Well let me ask another question then. Is Dancer the support class you’ve always wanted in the game, I.E you feel like you’re being helpful?

[Machi_Machiavelli]

Pretty every class in the game has some kind of support ability (expect BLM and SAM)

Tanks can reduce damage taken by the party, or use single target barriers and shields to protect team mates

Healers do the same thing when it comes to reducing damage. Though, Astro can increase player or party dps.

Certain dps increases the parties overall dps, better then others.

The devs kind of spread out the support abilities, so things stay somewhat balanced.

But I want to know, what do you actually want from a support class?

Not everyone wants to dps. Some want to just help others dps better. No one will care about your dps if your buffs double everyone else's dps or debuffs the boss severely.

[Allegor]

I just like assisting others regardless of what I'm playing, so having a role that specializes on supporting* the team would be awesome...But given how both the game and the playerbase go by the "best defense is a good offense" motto, I don't see it ever happening.

* Support can be a lot more than simply buffing DPS. I was and still am sad Mana Shift, Apoc, and RDM's Tether were removed - I don't care they don't do damage, or aRe A dPs lOsS, I liked having emergency buttons to assisting healers without being a healer.