Fun over FORM

[P0W3RK1D]

Ill try to make this post as least complicated as posiible while also trying my best to get the point across.
SE, You guys need to stop getting rid of UNIQUENESS and FUN in exchange for your FORMULA!
now dont misunderstand what im saying -- this game is still fun, and i often find myself spending farm more time on this
soul-sucking program than i would like to, but with each expansion you guys are inching ever closer to a 1-rail game
full of 1 trick gameplay (this is primarily apperent in the HEALER role, and stated complications with BLU.)

the problem is, i can see you guys are trying to balance the game perfectly to where everything is completely fair, and
the DNGs and raids play a certain way, but in doing this your restricting future posabilities, and in turn making more
work for yourselves, and your sucking the fun out of certain places in the game.

(borrowing inspration from ff5) you guys have so many diffrent itmes and mechanics that are iconic for final fantasy games
, but you guys arent utilizing them, atleast not in a very meaningful way. It almost feels like you guys do some things
unnessecarily.
alsow me to explain in a simple way.
AST (basicly the replacement for time mage) used to have a STOP and a HEAVY, also used to have cards OTHER than just
a short lived damage buff, thoes are the things that made it further unique and fun to play... it dosent have thoes now, and what it
had was replaced with a clunkier, more complicated and unnessecary system -- in return we got no anwer to better dps moves, or
even a new ability that made the transition worth while.

BLU...well...you can just look on any forum that dicusses blue mage to know where you guys screwed up. (i mean,it was a hightly
requested job, and iconic class in the history of final fantsy, and arugably one of the coolest concepts of a class in this
game...how could u guys screw it up this bad...and all for what? a balancing act that happens throught the enterty of the
game anyways?)

apologies, this is kind of a nitpick -- i know some people like bard just the way it is, but BARD is a class that uses a
musical instrament and sings songs from the back row that stagger enemies and boost allies -- the way Bard plays in this game
is what a RANGER job with a BOW! should play like. BARD however was supposed to be a musical support class. -- again, sorry
in adavnce
(PS: i wouldnt even be mad if you guys just decided to make bard a singer-aoe-type support, and
just transition all its DPS abilities over to an actual RANGER class. im just sayin ;D)

TLDR -- you guys need to balance the GAME around the FUN, not the other way around.

[P0W3RK1D]

other mechaincs you guys arent utilizing are things like:
STATUS EFFECTS (many classes <manly magic wielders> are supposed to have abilitys that inflict status, but it seems you guys are slowly , but sureley removing just about every status spell from the game...that isnt fun)

ELEMENTAL WEAKNESSES (otherwise, besides the damage potency, there is NO diffrence betwene something like fire, thunder or blizard -- like seline and eos, they are all the same thing with a diffrent color pallete, in which case there is not much point having one or the other anyways)

UNIQUE BUFFS AND DEBUFFS (in final fantasy games bosses arent the only ones that have these things, players do to)

MULTISKILL/CLASSING (which im pretty sure was previously a thing in the early stages of the game but has sence been deleted)

these would be game changers that allow you guys more easily to create unique bosses and solutions.
but from what i see you guys are putting too much effort into making sure your game is played one way.
your dungens are driven through in a specific way, your classes are played a specific way; and that there I
belive is the primary reason you guys have as much trouble as you do implementing new classes and mechanics into
the game <your restricting yourself far too much in what i assume is the attempt to revolve most of the game
around end-game content>, but your content should be flexible enough to allow for mistakes and some semblance of versitality...it shouldnt
be a 1-trick system.

anyways....thanks yall for lending me your ear -- and SE , if your listening...please stop this MADNESS.

[MitsukiKimura]

AST needs their kit reworked.
Synastry needs to work with ED, it would make the Skill worth using in content/High tier Raiding
The Card system is uninspiring, everything is just +%damage. What's the point of naming each card a different name and different look when it just gives the same effect as all other cards? I feel like this was a huge mistake, It would of been much easier to change a few cards to make it less fishing for balance than just destroying the uniqueness of the class in general.
Divination is horrible. 90% of the time you aren't gonna bother with trying to fish for 3 seals because you need to be constantly throwing up cards each time draw is up for that 1% extra damage.
I personally would love a Heavy Effect on Gravity, WHM's get a stun effect with Holy so.. what's the deal Square Enix
It appears they tried to simplify the classes but it actually just killed the fun of playing them. I shall keep my hopes in Yoshi P. I love AST I hope they do it justice.

[D_C]

I agree with most o’ yer message but not yer expectations. They absolutely do not make things harder on themselves through this bland homogenization, they make it easier. If all ya get are square pegs then all ya need are square holes. That kinda design is how ya get six years o’ “here’s where ya dodge, here’s where ya use yer tank cooldowns, here’s where everyone needs ta be healed up”. Same song with a new dance every time.

But they try to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. One rotation. No resistances or debuffs ta worry about aside from cooldowns, which always get used in the same place. A rich tapestry o’ ideas and concepts boiled down to pudding.

[P0W3RK1D]

I kinda imagine it to be closer to that of a BOX. With each expansion they are making the box smaller. Sure, its easier to know exactly whats inside of the box, but when the time comes to make something new and fun to play (such as a class) they have limited themselves, and essentially nixed all of their other options -- their systems are so precise and dumbed down that anything that so much as peeks outside of that boundary ruins it -- and before long everything begins to look like a close copy of something else.

[DRKoftheAzure]

I kinda imagine it to be closer to that of a BOX. With each expansion they are making the box smaller. Sure, its easier to know exactly whats inside of the box, but when the time comes to make something new and fun to play (such as a class) they have limited themselves, and essentially nixed all of their other options -- their systems are so precise and dumbed down that anything that so much as peeks outside of that boundary ruins it -- and before long everything begins to look like a close copy of something else.

So you're saying is that the devs need to... think outside the box?

[TheForce]

I agree 100% op. It annoys me to no end how a lot of people who play this game (most of the vocal folks anyway) view all of this as some job where their only goal is to essentially perform
as productively as they can, and to shape the entire game around this belief. They often say things like how they want skills to be removed, how damage is literally the only thing that matters in this game for all roles, how other people who don't play according to their own personal beliefs and expectations are "bad" and this & that, it's horrible. The way I see some people talk about their fellow player on these forums and in game you would think they're writing some nonsense job evaluation about somebody.

I agree that we need balance, good mechanics, all that jazz, but it should be incorporated in a way that still retains the game's joyful/fun spirit. I mean, to give an example, Dark Knight literally has one single target combo right now, this just isn't okay. Without enjoyment, a game really isn't even a game at all. I hope that SE realizes this...because with ShB, it really seems like they're beginning a downward spiral as far as overall fun goes. But that's just my 2 cents anyway.

[VaulRi]

I noticed it's also a trend in other MMOs,
It's because those hardcore players are most vocal, plus they pointing right things, because they strip everything to math.
I liked begining of aar when everyone was saying warrior better tank because of dps. I was playing paladin tho.
Letter was even better when they added more mechanics to classes. From there it wend down IMO

[HeulGDarian]

I noticed it's also a trend in other MMOs,
It's because those hardcore players are most vocal, plus they pointing right things, because they strip everything to math.
I liked begining of aar when everyone was saying warrior better tank because of dps. I was playing paladin tho.
Letter was even better when they added more mechanics to classes. From there it wend down IMO

except hardcore players are also vocally saying they dont like that homogenization. honestly people keep blaming so much knowledgable players im w8ing for someone to go and say a hard core player killed my family.

[HeulGDarian]

Ill try to make this post as least complicated as posiible while also trying my best to get the point across.
SE, You guys need to stop getting rid of UNIQUENESS and FUN in exchange for your FORMULA!
now dont misunderstand what im saying -- this game is still fun, and i often find myself spending farm more time on this
soul-sucking program than i would like to, but with each expansion you guys are inching ever closer to a 1-rail game
full of 1 trick gameplay (this is primarily apperent in the HEALER role, and stated complications with BLU.)

the problem is, i can see you guys are trying to balance the game perfectly to where everything is completely fair, and
the DNGs and raids play a certain way, but in doing this your restricting future posabilities, and in turn making more
work for yourselves, and your sucking the fun out of certain places in the game.

(borrowing inspration from ff5) you guys have so many diffrent itmes and mechanics that are iconic for final fantasy games
, but you guys arent utilizing them, atleast not in a very meaningful way. It almost feels like you guys do some things
unnessecarily.
alsow me to explain in a simple way.
AST (basicly the replacement for time mage) used to have a STOP and a HEAVY, also used to have cards OTHER than just
a short lived damage buff, thoes are the things that made it further unique and fun to play... it dosent have thoes now, and what it
had was replaced with a clunkier, more complicated and unnessecary system -- in return we got no anwer to better dps moves, or
even a new ability that made the transition worth while.

BLU...well...you can just look on any forum that dicusses blue mage to know where you guys screwed up. (i mean,it was a hightly
requested job, and iconic class in the history of final fantsy, and arugably one of the coolest concepts of a class in this
game...how could u guys screw it up this bad...and all for what? a balancing act that happens throught the enterty of the
game anyways?)

apologies, this is kind of a nitpick -- i know some people like bard just the way it is, but BARD is a class that uses a
musical instrament and sings songs from the back row that stagger enemies and boost allies -- the way Bard plays in this game
is what a RANGER job with a BOW! should play like. BARD however was supposed to be a musical support class. -- again, sorry
in adavnce
(PS: i wouldnt even be mad if you guys just decided to make bard a singer-aoe-type support, and
just transition all its DPS abilities over to an actual RANGER class. im just sayin ;D)

TLDR -- you guys need to balance the GAME around the FUN, not the other way around.

i only disagree with the Blu thing . Blu is fun i wish there were more jobs like blue im glad i got to raid in the coils and alexander since i missed it by being lvl 30 during that time , plus i got a really cute mount for my effort