Thread: Dancer in 6.0

Looking over the changes coming to Dancer it looks like we are getting QoL improvements, extra finishers to specific actions and just general raising the skill floor without knocking down the ceiling in the process.


QoL improvements:
- Espirit is garenteed from our upgraded skills making Dnc damage more consistent
- Ability to switch between ST and AoE skills with each proc allowing more on the fly changes
- Both ST and AoE skills change to dance actions(weird change but alright)

The New stuff:
- Fan dance IV can only be used after Flourish allowing bigger burst during Flourish windows
-Starfall Dance, our new capstone ability looks to hit recently hard but is tied to Devilment, a garenteed crit direct hit on it is nice.
-Tillana, a follow up to technical step that grants standard finish and provides even more damage for time spent doing technical, yum.
-Improvised Finish, a hp shield based on stacks gained from Improvisation, giving us more mitigation tools, cool.

The changed:
-Improvisation, no longer grants espirit but instead grants a new stacking buff which when at max stacks(4) allows the follow up finish to shield more damage (10% hp at 4 stacks), also heals with a low regen now. Now if you were someone who tried to maximise Improv Espirit gain in fights sadly with the Espirit removal this aspect of 5he job is gone, not the biggest loss that could've happened but still a loss.


My thoughts:

Honestly I am happy with the changes nothing breaking the job core aspect of adapting on the fly to procs, we have gained a bit more consistency in our personal damage, our buffs remain as is and we even gained another mitigation tool.

I am also glad they didn't randomly stick a DoT onto Dnc just for the sake of it.


What are your thoughts/feelings on Dnc changes?

DNC still seems boring and just too simple for my taste

Symmetry and flow are ok I guess, no more aoes in combat that’s fine.

Esprit generation after Flourishing S/F is so dam logical that it should be within the kit the second you unlock esprit NOT a lv84 trait! Which gives it the Deep mediation or Empyreal issue, a issue with prog kit but not the entire thing. TLDR great change, poor placement

Tilana sounds great…just why is it locked behind technic, a 120 CD skill? It’s nice to refresh Standard finish for me and partner and do some extra damage but the skills is a massive waste of potential locking it up like this. The skill sounds great on paper but the execution and usefulness is hella tacked on

Fan dance IV is…idk, it’s flashy and stuff but they could’ve come up with something more interesting than it just being a flourish addition? Just seems random and doesn’t even interact with the other fan dances.

Starfall dance is cool but yet again behind a wall, this time devilment.

Improvisation rework is ok, idk esprit generation was preferred but idk why they just didn’t even the number out to 10, guess healing is cool too despite requiring way to much effort besides transitions and ultimate attacks

So DNC issues so far according the the job description is that it’s way to afraid to have these skills free, so they lock it away behind a buff essentially making the job automatic rather than free flowing. Starfall could very easily be just a powerful 120 cd skill or with adjusting maybe a 60 sec attack, so it’s still not super common and can align with devilment rather than be force. Tillana ability to refresh could’ve gone serval other ways but why just a button to press after technic and locking it away? Make it do more damage to justify the use to refresh if it wasn’t locked or just bypass standard step execution once in awhile than to yet again lock it up behind a uncommon skill, at the very least have Standard finish proc it as well so we can manually choose to use it.And Fan dance IV just should’ve been a new mechanic all together than just being a flourish equivalent of scorch or a lesser barrage. And no progression QoL so the job continues to be boring in low end areas

All in all it got more than MCH, but the crippling stench of accessibility just hampers it way too much and despite the great esprit change, will play way to similarly as the new skills are all tied to uncommon events. Honestly these sound like good additions but they are all executed so cowardly

Overall, I'm glad that Dancer is staying largely the same as it really didn't need much of a change. Initially, I was a bit disappointed that we would no longer be needing Rising Windmill and Bloodshower during Flourish windows, but it seems Fan Dance IV is really covering for that loss pretty well. It's compensating for the lost damage, and it's a point-blank cone AoE, meaning there will still be that subtle melee element where you'll want to move in during those windows to land the attack. That said, it actually makes Flourish less exciting for ShB content because we won't have Fan Dance IV until after that. I think there were simpler ways to address the proc situation than this as well, so while I like how it will play at 90, I'm a bit bummed that we have to lose that aspect of Flourish when synched.

Tillana and Starfall Dance are nice, though also a bit odd in a sense. Technical Windows were already very busy and fun, and since both of these actions are exclusive to those windows, they don't really address one of the few real cons to Dancer's gameplay which is pretty slow gameplay between steps. I also don't really understand why they made Tillana grant you and your dance partner Standard Step. You're going to have Standard up going into every Technical Window anyway, and it's not like we've ever been afraid of letting that buff fall off. None of this is bad necessarily, but I'm just a little curious about why these actions were chosen specifically is all.

New Improvisation is still a bit awkward, but at least it seems far more usable. It reminds me a bit of AST's Collective Unconscious now actually. I wonder if you'll be able to double weave it with Improvised Finish and actually get off both the regen and the 5% max HP barrier smoothly, though I don't know why they didn't just change this from a channel into a normal OGCD. Oh well, at least it's a step forward.

My thoughts:
Overall I'm pretty pleased with Dancer. I have some nitpicks, but none of them are particularly game-changing. As mentioned before, the progression isn't anything drastic, but that's perfectly fine. There are some cool new power spikes we got, and Dancer's gameplay will continue to be pretty fun in my opinion.

If I could say anything negatively, I'd say that we didn't really address Dancer being a more boring job to play synched and in fact even made that a little worse by simplifying Flourish between level 72 and 86. I really think there are some actions we could bump down to earlier levels to help make Dancer a bit more fun at those lower levels, but alas, that may not happen anytime soon.

Like the majority of the jobs, it didn't change a lot from the ShB design, which is expected given it was in a good state to begin with.

- Improvisation change is great! The esprit gain optimized windows were so rare to begin with, what it does now will prove to be much more useful. Still very situational, because it will depend on healer necessity, but still more useful than before.
- I hated the fact that you had to perform your AoE actions during your single target rotation just because of Flourish. People are complaining it dumbs down, but in reality that occasional and predictable part had no depth whatsoever, so I'm glad it's gone.
- TS window looks like will be less hectic and with less wasted procs, that's a plus!

I'm happy, to be honest! DNC is my main ranged job.

For me Dancer was in a great position and these changes just refine an already good job, im very happy Dancer is my only ranged DPS glad I can continue to enjoy it

A little bummed at the simplification of the flourish window, but other than that it looks great.

Originally Posted by ty_taurus

Overall, I'm glad that Dancer is staying largely the same as it really didn't need much of a change. Initially, I was a bit disappointed that we would no longer be needing Rising Windmill and Bloodshower during Flourish windows,

Im sure im missing something but why will we no longer be using rising windmill or blood shower during flourish?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Rongway

A single flourish buff is shared between Cascade and Windmill; and another between Fountain and Shower. The Flourish ability will provide both of these, the Fan Dance III flourish buff, and a new Flourish-only flourish buff to be spent on the giant blue peacock attack Fan Dance IV.

Ah I see, thank you I didn't realise that, not sure how I feel about that change TBH