People wanting a support class. Why?

[RyuDragnier]

I don't see a full support class ever working in this game.

It did work...back in ARR. It was called Bard. It was a guaranteed slot in every party.

[Miles064]

It did work...back in ARR. It was called Bard. It was a guaranteed slot in every party.

Isn't having a class be a "guaranteed slot" one of the reasons they changed things in the first place? NIN? DRG with MCH/BRD? I admit I wasnt playing this game in ARR so I don't know what kind of kit BRD used to have but I still consider it a solid support due to non dmg skills. Debuff cleanse, Dmg res, and a heal buff and they still have a party dmg boosting skill. All DNC has is a weak heal and the same dmg res the other ranged have. The dmg buff DNC gives isn't even something you really have to think about either. Standard/Tech Step are dmg skills that are used almost always on cd so if you removed the dmg buff they would be used the same way for the most part. With BRD you need to go out of your way to use them well. That seem exactly like a support to me.

I guess what I'm asking is kinda what the op asked. What exactly would be a support that isn't already in game now?

[RyuDragnier]

Isn't having a class be a "guaranteed slot" one of the reasons they changed things in the first place? NIN? DRG with MCH/BRD? I admit I wasnt playing this game in ARR so I don't know what kind of kit BRD used to have but I still consider it a solid support due to non dmg skills. Debuff cleanse, Dmg res, and a heal buff and they still have a party dmg boosting skill. All DNC has is a weak heal and the same dmg res the other ranged have. The dmg buff DNC gives isn't even something you really have to think about either. Standard/Tech Step are dmg skills that are used almost always on cd so if you removed the dmg buff they would be used the same way for the most part. With BRD you need to go out of your way to use them well. That seem exactly like a support to me.

I guess what I'm asking is kinda what the op asked. What exactly would be a support that isn't already in game now?

Back in ARR, Mage's Ballad gave an MP regen to the party in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. Army's Paean did the same for TP in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. We also had the ability to bind enemies, slow them, put heavy on them (I believe), and silence them. That was it, since damage resistance, debuff cleanse, and heal buff were added much later, and Battle Voice back then increased the potencies of the regens so you got more resources out of the deal.

We were pretty much the support back when they had mechanics that required CC or just for keeping the party's resources up since fights could run quite long back then. They cut back on the amount of support needed ever since, with us losing some of the support in SB, and completely losing our MP regen and TP regen (not that it's needed anymore) when ShB started. With that in mind, they can't really do anything with support anymore these days. They've taken all the ways that can be supported and threw them out the window for the most part, leaving people to be self-sufficient for resources and whatnot.

[Miles064]

Back in ARR, Mage's Ballad gave an MP regen to the party in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. Army's Paean did the same for TP in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. We also had the ability to bind enemies, slow them, put heavy on them (I believe), and silence them. That was it, since damage resistance, debuff cleanse, and heal buff were added much later, and Battle Voice back then increased the potencies of the regens so you got more resources out of the deal.

We were pretty much the support back when they had mechanics that required CC or just for keeping the party's resources up since fights could run quite long back then. They cut back on the amount of support needed ever since, with us losing some of the support in SB, and completely losing our MP regen and TP regen (not that it's needed anymore) when ShB started. With that in mind, they can't really do anything with support anymore these days. They've taken all the ways that can be supported and threw them out the window for the most part, leaving people to be self-sufficient for resources and whatnot.

That does sound interesting. I agree it wouldn't really work with the way the game is set up now though. It's too bad really, I lean towards hybrid dps in pretty much every mmo I play so I can dps and support if needed. I guess at this point we can hope the next healer they make is leans heavier on the non dmg up supports skills, though I wouldn't know how they would do it with the current game.

[Shurrikhan]

Back in ARR, Mage's Ballad gave an MP regen to the party in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. Army's Paean did the same for TP in exchange for your MP and 10% of your damage. We also had the ability to bind enemies, slow them, put heavy on them (I believe), and silence them. That was it, since damage resistance, debuff cleanse, and heal buff were added much later, and Battle Voice back then increased the potencies of the regens so you got more resources out of the deal.

Technically, we kind of had damage down at the start, in the form of Rain of Death, which at one point reduced enemy damage dealt -- usable as a last-ditch (we know the tank will die without this) mitigation tool for Twintania's tankbusters. After being turned into an oGCD procced by River of Blood rather than soft-comboed off of Wide Volley (which was in turn combo'ed soft-comboed off of Quick Nock), it was changed to Evasion down, used when the team had to stack in front of the boss as to still guarantee hits despite the DPS playing at flank-accuracy cap rather than a tank's front-accuracy cap. I miss all that.

Sidenote: Pre-nerf double-Bard was absurd in ARR, to a degree simultaneously deserving nostalgia (I was a Bard main back then) and disgust (I wanted to play Monk, too, and that was a non-option while Bard was pulling as big of numbers).