[dev1032] Why do we need STAMINA?

[NoMX]

Drop stamina and implement Auto Attack.

/quits

Worst part of FFXI was auto attack. FFXIV was bold and broke free of the cookie-cutter molds that shape how we play most MMO's, and they should be applauded for it. Stamina is there to keep you from being able to mass spam abilities. It is what makes you think tactically... It is all about the pros and cons of choosing 1 skill over another. For example, you could use second wind and burn through a lot of stamina to heal yourself a bit at the cost of a tiny amount of tp... Or you could use cure/sacrifice for a small amount of stamina but burn up some of your small mp reserve (if you're a DoW).

The stamina bar is all about adding another depth to the combat system. If they took stamina away you can bet your ass that they will greatly increase the cooldowns on all your attacks, because they will NEED to be limited a lot more heavily. The stamina bar allows your skills to have a lower cooldown (dont kid yourself, theyre all pretty damn low compared to FF11) whilst maintaining balance in combat. In the end, it's all about strategy and timing, and I think they did a great job with it personally. You can spam through your basic attacks and dry up your stamina, or you can pace them out and keep a stamina reserve so you have enough for that legsweep, or that provoke, or that flash freeze when Great Buffalo uses sanora's blast.

In the end, the person who spams 1 until they're out of stamina, then waits for it to regen does pretty much the same DPS as someone who uses it more sparingly, because they always have the same rate of regeneration. Stamina also helps speed up battles against monsters of lower level... For farming and such. In 11 fighting something beneath your level could still take quite some time solo or in a small group, but on 14 usually 1 full stamina bar is enough to kill a mob beneath your level. With auto attack, you couldnt just finish it off quickly. Thats the point... Stamina gives you the option to have a short berserker burst, and chain one skill after another with no break until its out... To finish something off fast, or just do some spike damage... With auto attack you will never have this option.