Thoughts of Samurai Changes

[Amh_Wilzuun]

As a controller user this is the first job where I might actually use R1 to switch to an AOE version of my main bar…

[Argyle_Darkheart]

Tsubame-Gaeshi will still cancel if you accidentally use another GCD, at least the charge system means it won't drift if you mess up. This is also problematic if you need to shoha between a Midare and Tsubame because it tends to clip due to ping and such.

It's worth pointing out that Tsubame-gaeshi will no longer generate Meditation stacks in Endwalker, so you won't ever need to use Shoha between Iaijutsu and Tsubame-gaeshi. Of course, there may still be times that you want to use Shoha (or some other oGCD) in this way.

[Naizakane]

Hyosetsu is a bit of a weird button, really. Only 10 potency higher and no extra Kenki gain, but I'll take the extra damage in trash pulls, might even offset the loss from Guren having falloff damage. Yes, losing Meditation stacks on Tsubame and Ikishoten being moved to a 120s cooldown will affect our oGCD usage, but the tradeoff is that Ikishoten will give us access to a total of 2400 potency on the GCD on top of having an extra charge of Tsubame. Meikyo prepull looks likely. I'm sad to see Seigan go but Merciful Eyes was such a nothing button this expansion that I took it off my hotbar, so I definitely won't miss it. Anyone concerned that the new Third Eye effect will encourage people to stand in damage is kinda late to the party, that's been a thing for a while by now.

As for Enpi... I think it's still going to have use cases outside of "being in melee range is going to kill me right now." It's been an extremely useful button for me through this expansion, either as my main filler when my UCoB gearset had me going so fast I needed 4 gcds of filler, or as a backup option when I was on a 2 gcd filler gearset and had to drop a gcd. Shoha II is... okay, I think? We kinda needed a Meditation spender for aoe anyway, and I'll just put it where Seigan used to go... after making sure I have somewhere to keep the Seigan icon. RIP button that rewarded me for standing in E7S tankbuster with extra damage during the opener, you were too good for this world.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

It's funny that you mention Enpi. At Media Tour potencies, Yaten + Enpi is apparently higher potency per GCD than Sen combos > Midare.

Now, I can't imagine that doesn't get changed before release, but you never know lol.

[Naizakane]

There's no "apparently" about it, it is higher potency per gcd than Sen combos > Midare. Which, okay, fair, it's limited to having the Kenki for Yaten as well as Yaten's cooldown, but is still pretty weird. Just makes Yatenpi our go-to filler, imo.

[Taranok]

It's worth pointing out that Tsubame-gaeshi will no longer generate Meditation stacks in Endwalker, so you won't ever need to use Shoha between Iaijutsu and Tsubame-gaeshi. Of course, there may still be times that you want to use Shoha (or some other oGCD) in this way.

I didn't notice that, that's neat. Now it just needs to not break on executing another GCD and it will basically be fixed between charges and such.

Hyosetsu is a bit of a weird button, really...

Shoha II is... okay, I think?...

Honestly, and I'm not a SAM main so take this with a grain of salt, Hyosetsu is such a bad ability that I'm probably not going to put it on my bars. Same with Shoha 2. I might even consider pulling Guren off but at least it has a use in level 70 dungeons. Samurai is such a heavily skill bloated class that the devs choosing to make the class actively worse will be met with me actively protesting the abilities that bloat out the single target rotation.

I really don't care about 10 extra potency and a 1-2 1-3 2-3 1-3 aoe combo rotation isn't going to cause me to bloat my bars more. I'll take the fractional loss to AoE DPS rotations.

I am seriously sick and tired of the devs taking perfectly fine ST/AoE skills like Guren, or Foul, and adding an extra button to split it from a ST-exclusive or AoE/ST hybrid button into a dedicated ST and dedicated AoE button. Nothing exemplifies the problem of skill bloat like a button you'd only press once every 20+ seconds while not making a choice but both being mutually exclusive.

Or, to put it another way, the devs when looking at RDM went: "Let's make RDM's ST combo also do aoe damage." They didn't contribute to bloat on the class, and it functions just fine in both ST and AoE. Samurai is not made better for having more button bloat, especially when in the overwhelming majority of situations, including raid situations, that bloat is a meaningless waste of hotbar space.

HW had a major amount of backlash due to having classes at or above 30 buttons per class. That's including all class skills, job skills, and cross-role skills which were limited to 5, as well as sprint + LB. I don't know why, but the devs seem hell bent on repeating this mistake, so showing them that it's a mistake by not even using it except in something like an ultimate fight that actually demands it would go a long way towards fixing the problem of unnecessary skill bloat.

[Shurrikhan]

It's funny that you mention Enpi. At Media Tour potencies, Yaten + Enpi is apparently higher potency per GCD than Sen combos > Midare.

Now, I can't imagine that doesn't get changed before release, but you never know lol.

Is this accounting for potency-value-in-Kenki not generated over the Enpi GCD (and, of course, the bonus of Kaiten (Midare) potency-per-Kenki over Shinten and Iaijutsu's contribution to Shoha potency)?

[SaberMaxwell]

But that would be weird as hell, don't you think ?
No one's gonna do that in extreme or savage but dungeons ? Maybe.

There's a saying I recently heard that I think applies: "If it looks stupid, but it works, it's not stupid."

True optimization goes beyond class, it involves working with the party to figure out how to squeeze the most damage out of every possible avenue. It's not unheard of for a Dark Knight to TBN a dps who pulls even today honestly, just because the lower Def value helps break the barrier and give the drk their free Edge. Add onto that the Samurai getting something out of it too? You might see Dark Knights and Samurai getting along famously.

[Arkdra]

HW had a major amount of backlash due to having classes at or above 30 buttons per class. That's including all class skills, job skills, and cross-role skills which were limited to 5, as well as sprint + LB. I don't know why, but the devs seem hell bent on repeating this mistake, so showing them that it's a mistake by not even using it except in something like an ultimate fight that actually demands it would go a long way towards fixing the problem of unnecessary skill bloat.

It's cool and good that some jobs have a ton of buttons because I like the jobs that have a ton of buttons. It's part of why I main samurai. It's also why even though they are condensing the gnashing fang combo on gnb, I'm still going to leave it as 3 different buttons on my hot bar, because that feels more fun to me.

That said, I do agree with you that I am extremely tired of "new" abilities that are just aoe or st versions of pre-existing skills. It's lazy, and even as someone that likes button bloat, I find this kind of bloat to be tedious. They never should have made kyuten, Senei or shoha 2. Or Hyosetsu for that matter but it's uniquely bad on it's own.

[Kahnom]

There's a saying I recently heard that I think applies: "If it looks stupid, but it works, it's not stupid."

True optimization goes beyond class, it involves working with the party to figure out how to squeeze the most damage out of every possible avenue. It's not unheard of for a Dark Knight to TBN a dps who pulls even today honestly, just because the lower Def value helps break the barrier and give the drk their free Edge. Add onto that the Samurai getting something out of it too? You might see Dark Knights and Samurai getting along famously.

In paper, yes.
But in practice, It's not gonna work with PUG, with people who never done it before, might work with static but who knows.
Still looks stupid nonetheless.