Adventurer in need

[kaynide]

What blows my mind, is Square Enix looked at all the other MMORPGs that came before -- with five-person parties of one tank, one healer, and three DPS -- and said: "How about we take this bad situation, and make it even worse? How about two DPS!?" Although, I assume they were forced into this decision due to "PS3 limitations" or server issues, or some other variety of hellish FFXIV 1.0 curse that they inherited.



I have to disagree there. I love healing, I feel quite comfortable in that role, and I don't feel like "lack of pressure" equates to fun. On the contrary, the sense of responsibility is exhilarating and makes me feel important. I prefer having a more holistic perspective of my party and how everybody is doing, and having to improvise on the fly, rather than succumbing to a preordained DPS "rotation." Plus, it feels good to be able to lend a safety net to newbies who are struggling with mechanics. I just feel compelled to take care of all my little dungeon babies!

Also, as someone who doesn't always have the greatest self-esteem or confidence in real life, healing is an extremely rewarding gameplay style. It tends to stamp out self-doubt real quick, because there is just no denying when you did a damn good job. You can feel it in your bones, and it doesn't matter what anybody else says or if you get any commendations.

That said, I do understand the shift in responsibilities when you play DPS. There is a certain weight taken off your back, but on the other hand it comes with other stressors. For example, doing primals as a melee DPS freaks me the f*ck out. I don't have the complete view of the area I would prefer, I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I just want this whole thing to be over. Also, every single time I play my ninja character in a dungeon -- I swear, the tank pulls a bunch of mobs, pauses to wait for me to place down Doton, and then sprints away just to spite me. I consistently ask myself, "Why should I even try?" I have no idea if I'm a good or a bad DPS. Whatever the case, it all feels the same. There's no feedback, no appreciation. I could be doing a phenomenal job, executing mechanics perfectly, and no one cares.

This is a good attitude to have for healer- it's not really that hard, and exactly as you said: done well you do indeed feel great (and often get lots of commendations). Tank as well!

For some players (myself included) there is some pride in being able to take a "lead" role, but for a large amount of people, not so much- it can be debilitating even. My point was that given the option between playing the main lead and a backup dancer, a lot of people opt for backup.

In response to your DPS skill.. ehh.. if it's casual content, and you're clearing it in a reasonable amount of time, you're probably good. An alternative measure is to just see where you are in the enmity line. Party of 4 and you're #3/#2 most of the time..probably ok.

This is probably spillover from being a healer- you're used to doing your best and paying attention to what you're doing very well, so when you do DPS you're looking for that level of feedback to see if you're "doing it right" and there just really isn't anything there.

[badpuppeh]

wait for me to place down Doton, and then sprints away

While I don't doubt it may be malicious from time to time (I told a tank I was a brand-new healer, and he said ok then did a wall-to-wall pull and used no mitigation) I didn't know what doton was until I played NIN myself, and thought it was a mob AOE, and would move out of it.

[Ronduwil]

I have to disagree there. I love healing, I feel quite comfortable in that role, and I don't feel like "lack of pressure" equates to fun. On the contrary, the sense of responsibility is exhilarating and makes me feel important. I prefer having a more holistic perspective of my party and how everybody is doing, and having to improvise on the fly, rather than succumbing to a preordained DPS "rotation." Plus, it feels good to be able to lend a safety net to newbies who are struggling with mechanics. I just feel compelled to take care of all my little dungeon babies!

Neither of you are wrong, but the point is that most people don't enjoy the responsibility. Some people like you do. The biggest mistake that many game companies make is to assume that the preferences of a handful of avid fans on their game forums represent the preferences of the entire player base. The fact that you (and I, for that matter) get a rush out of having the capability to act as a safety net for struggling players doesn't change the fact that most players just want to put out big numbers and kill things without any sense of pressure or responsibility.

[ICountFrom0]

I mean, I'd take more bonuses when I'm tanking, but if you make it too good people are going to be chasing the bonus on classes they hate just to get the bonus and it'll backfire.

[Kes13a]

I mean, I'd take more bonuses when I'm tanking, but if you make it too good people are going to be chasing the bonus on classes they hate just to get the bonus and it'll backfire.

yeah, adding a bonus is a non starter for me. look at mentors, I suspect a majority of people take mentor ONLY for the mount, and not out of a burning need to help people

I enjoy healing personally and I run a healer main. If I am doing roulettes, if they need a healer, I heal, if they need dps, I dps... I am not as comfy as a tank so if I do tank, its with 3 people I know... lol either way, I dont really have a problem with the way its set up. also, depends on time of day, at some points in the day, I can wait for a while even as a healer.

[Dogempire]

Tanking and healing have been scaled down to be considerably easier but the numbers haven't budged much because most people don't like having responsibility beyond being in charge of the pew pew big numbers.

Plus let's be honest, the dps jobs are a lot cooler looking, have much more thought put into their design, and DPS deaths usually don't get other people killed or cause a wipe.

If SE ever wants to deal with the numbers disparity between roles then they definitely need to make tanking/healing more inherently satisfying, because as it stands tanks are barely any different from DPS, and healers are so dumbed down that skilled healers are rare because why the heck would someone with the skills of a CEO find flipping burgers at a McDonald's satisfying as a main job?

[Jeeqbit]

Plus let's be honest, the dps jobs are a lot cooler looking, have much more thought put into their design, and DPS deaths usually don't get other people killed or cause a wipe.

If SE ever wants to deal with the numbers disparity between roles then they definitely need to make tanking/healing more inherently satisfying, because as it stands tanks are barely any different from DPS, and healers are so dumbed down that skilled healers are rare because why the heck would someone with the skills of a CEO find flipping burgers at a McDonald's satisfying as a main job?

The tanks and healers have plenty of thought put into their design. Tanking is more satisfying in extreme, savage and ultimate where the easier rotations make a lot of sense. As a tank in this content you go from having no tank mechanics to having lots, like regular tank swaps, tank busters, boss positioning, unique mechanics that mostly tanks have to deal with even if it wasn't intended that way, protecting the party from aoe so it gets the party to 11% instead of 1% in case one of them isn't topped off. The simpler rotation makes these distractions possible, while if a DPS had to do these things they would tunnel vision all of it to do their rotation properly.

In normal content tanking is really boring but you can create your own fun in dungeons by pulling everything. I don't think it's tanks and healers being boring that stops most people playing them, it's just like you said before this that most people don't want responsibility and think that it is harder than it is.

It's not that tanks aren't cool looking either because you have dark knights and I see a lot of people get really excited about it.

[Dogempire]

The tanks and healers have plenty of thought put into their design. Tanking is more satisfying in extreme, savage and ultimate where the easier rotations make a lot of sense. As a tank in this content you go from having no tank mechanics to having lots, like regular tank swaps, tank busters, boss positioning, unique mechanics that mostly tanks have to deal with even if it wasn't intended that way, protecting the party from aoe so it gets the party to 11% instead of 1% in case one of them isn't topped off. The simpler rotation makes these distractions possible, while if a DPS had to do these things they would tunnel vision all of it to do their rotation properly.

In normal content tanking is really boring but you can create your own fun in dungeons by pulling everything. I don't think it's tanks and healers being boring that stops most people playing them, it's just like you said before this that most people don't want responsibility and think that it is harder than it is.

It's not that tanks aren't cool looking either because you have dark knights and I see a lot of people get really excited about it.

Eh, every role gets unique mechanics in higher end content, it's not just tanks in particular who are forced to handle new things

The thing is that they've simplified aggro management to the point where you're just playing a blue dps with buttons that reduce the damage you take, and that basically makes every run feel the same because there's never any looming threat that you might lose control of the mobs and they'll go attack someone else, at least you used to be able to turn off stance to deal more damage, but you would also take more damage and you had to be careful about losing the boss and having it attack someone else.

Also all of the tanks except gunbreaker have some sort of inner release phase where you spam 1 button that does a lot of damage, well, I guess gunbreaker does have that too but it's an OGCD so at least it feels different

[Brennus]

I'd like to see Duty Roulettes offer more than just 1 bonus/day for each category.

The reason is simple: that *will* incentivize more tanks, healers, *and* DPS players when there is a need to fill corresponding slots in parties forming up.

I play a tank main and a couple DPS alts, I've got a healer started but have not gone far with him because I've never played a healer and am still hesitant to dip my toes in that pond - for fear of drowning and failing spectacularly.

Every day I look at the Duty Roulettes and decide in what capacity(ies) I would participate. On some days I feel like really going out and doing some tanking, on others I want to work on my DPS alts. Yet the 1 per day bonuses invariably put an abrupt stop to that feeling, once I've collected the bonuses I want. I just move on to doing other things, taking the roulettes completely out of my mind. That is a loss to the playing teams that are trying to form, definitely. They'll have to wait longer for their group. When I have to wait for more than 10 minutes, I withdraw and go do something else. When I started playing the game, back in April, I didn't mind doing the MSQ Roulettes. Now I almost never do - why? Because they just take too darn long. Time is in short supply, IRL as well as in my gaming - why wait, when you can have fun doing other things?

So the OP's idea is good. Help more players participate in the group activities by giving them more bonuses. Don't gate them behind arbitrary limits. So what if they accumulate more Gils, or other currencies, or XP? Let them have their fun, that's how you keep them playing longer, after all.

Just my 2 Gils. :-)

[RitsukoSonoda]

I play a tank main and a couple DPS alts, I've got a healer started but have not gone far with him because I've never played a healer and am still hesitant to dip my toes in that pond - for fear of drowning and failing spectacularly.

I am the worst healer in the history of MMO's. I've even had an entire 24player raid load in dead before the start ring dropped and the timer started. I also somehow killed a past FC leader in gold saucer... Yet I got them all to lvl cap on the blood and tears of... other ppl >.> so yeah just roll with it :3