What would you guys think about getting more Dynamic, "Combo" abilities?

[CaptainLagbeard]

Take, for example, current SAM. Hakaze is GCD 1 for 3 combo trees, with each tree doing something very specific. In order for the 1-2-3 system to work, you'd need to condense these into 3 buttons as Midare requires 3 Sen and the 3 Sen are symbolic to what Midare is. If that were to happen, SAM players could no longer use Hakaze as the primary jumping off point for combos, meaning that specific snap judgments can no longer be made. We'd be locked into a combo set the moment we press a button. As a direct example, in some fights I need to float Hakaze into Midare, Higabana, or something else. My next button depends on what I need done. Do I need a Shifu Refresh? Jinpu? Or can I Yuki safely and get through the filler GCDs early? With the proposed system, this sort of decision making is removed, and thus flexibility, depth. Definitely not worth it imo.

The only solution is to make each combo a 2-button combo, but then that requires rebalancing, such as nerfing Midare due to getting 1 extra each 24 GCDs (roughly, I think that'd be 1.2). But then SAM loses a bit of that "heavy single hit" identity, which is a big loss since, well, that's SAM.

A lot of players might not see that sort of depth and flexibility, admittedly. But removing the possibility, harming the job's identity, or both would definitely hurt the job for me. SAM is a really fun class that has a lot of depth under the surface. I don't feel it's appropriate for it to be removed or harmed just because some players want to press 1-3 buttons over and over. There are better ways to deal with button bloat, such as consolidating buttons that are always used in tandem (queen + detonate, Summon Bahamut + Enkindle Bahamut, Third Eye + Seigan + remove the self heal because it's literally useless) and buttons that shouldn't really exist (Bliz 1 > 3, Fire 2 > Flare) that should be implemented first.

Look, you wouldn't be locked into a full 3 hit combo by initiating one of them, they all start with Hakaze, so using any of the 3 combos WOULD still be possible after a first hit of Hakaze... But there's no reason for Shifu and Kasha to be two separate buttons, or Jinpu and Gekko to be two separate buttons.

It would literally function the exact same, it would just have less buttons to press.