DPS feedback and thoughts

[Preator]

Given the call for feedback via the official forums I figured I would make a post with my thoughts on class balance being one of the crazy people with all 90s. I am not a professional at balance and these are just opinions from time with them leveling, running endgame content, and looking at the data available online for class performance in raids.

DPS: as always the numbers get tweaked a bit to be more in line as time goes on but a lot of the changes this time around to gameplay felt good. I was surprised how much I enjoyed DNC, SAM, and the new MNK given I had not liked them as much before. While I am sad we lost so many dots the kit changes were mostly for the better and I just have to hope for a dot based dps next expac (chemist or shaman would be awesome)

MNK: Having not played a ton of MNK before the rework I have to say the new one was great. It felt impactful, thunder clap was fun, and the chakra felt more consistently filling along the way. Anatman is still super fringe in its use (I mainly got use between pulls and in the elevator in tower of babil) and while six-sided star still feels a little off as I can’t really notice the speed buff. Aside from potentially swapping the speed buff on six-sided star to a CD reduction on thunderclap I don’t think there are any big changes I am looking for. Riddle of wind does not really have visible feedback but that’s not something to worry about now and is more a next expac thing to look at tweaking into something new. Damage is in a great place near the top for raid contribution and its tankiness from riddle of earth is great

DRG: DRG did not change a huge amount this go around but they were improvements across the board as far as I am concerned. Having the charges on spine shatter means you can save a charge for movement which is nice and you feel really mobile even if animation lock catches you occasionally With the main change being wyrmwind thrust instead of worrying about your blood timings I don’t have any standout things I would tweak aside from numbers if other DPS are to compete with RPR and MNK

[Preator]

SAM: The new SAM flows really well and the buff change to also apply on the third step combos along with charges on both meikyo and tsubame-gaeshi are fun to use in combat. It may just be being less experienced on it but I felt like I was over capping on kenki a lot but it did not feel like an issue but something to mention. The main change I suggest for SAM is putting ogi Namikiri and its follow up onto Ikishoten due to them only coming up after you use it and staying around for only 30 seconds leaving 90 to see the cooldown come back. Otherwise SAM is fun, look forward to playing it more

RPR: Reaper feels good to play and has an active kit with things to do without getting overwhelmed. After spending a bit of time it all clicks and makes sense but I felt like I was a little locked into my rotation but similar to SAM I assume that’s mostly due to inexperience due to having the range hold 2 shrouds and there being charges on soul slice. The elephant in the room of arcane crest being absolutely crazy has been addressed and with talk of balancing other DPS to catch up there is not much to be said about RPR. Only change that comes to mind is speeding up hells ingress/egress as the animation hangs for half a second but that may just be me being spoiled by shikuchi and gyoten.

MCH: MCH surprised me in how little in changed this time around. All the skills aside form chain saw just upgraded in place and while the charges are nice and rocket punching robots will always be a win in my book the fact that you don’t interact with it at all meant I did not really feel any impact when I got the upgrade. The only main change specific to MCH I want is to make wildfire an aoe and potentially have a larger impact on detonation but that’s not a necessity. Tactician has the same issue as troubadour in being very strong but kinda boring to use but MCH continues to be in the standard ranged spot of I would like more interactive utility and for them to be more competitive DPS wise but otherwise doing fine

[Preator]

BRD: Bard got some pretty hefty changes this time around, while I really miss the dots being more of a focus the changes pushing it more towards song management and other cooldowns is a fine direction to take things. There are a few things that I would tweak though for qol and to improve things. The initial one that kept cropping up is Shadowbite ready should probably be tied to straightshot ready. Shadowbite is only ever used in aoe situations and using barrage with it feels a little off where you have to fish for a proc again given the great change in SB of giving you a refulgent with the CD. The second big thing is that it’s a little disappointing that armys peon managed to outperform mages in terms of DPS now due to the changes, this means that you spend the full time in it and cut mages short which while not the end of the world means that you spend 45 seconds regularly with no interaction with your song which while the speed buff is strong its not as interesting as the other songs to work with. On the subject of songs BRD has the issue of things being extremely punishing on death. With the songs being extended to 45 seconds and their cooldowns growing to match if you get caught by something and die soon after you hit your next song you will have a long time standing around waiting to get your next song to get rolling again. I am not sure if being similar to BLM thundercloud proc in that it lasts through being killed is a good idea due to potential issues of corpses giving buffs or what happens then with other bards and the same song but some way to get back into your rotation to recover would help a lot. And the last thing I would mention is I miss more interactive defensive support on ranged as a category, while troubadour and the other defensives are very strong they are not as interesting or interactive as previous tools like original troubadour (different per song), the resource replenishment previously part of the category, or things like palisade which only blocked one type of damage so you could use it like a tank cooldown for busters but was not always worth using on cooldown as it mainly helps with busters.

DNC:I was impressed by DNC this time around, I did not really enjoy it in the past but the changes to the procs and other tweaks made it fun to level and run. Same with MCH of numbers tweaks will be fine and more interesting utility in the future would be appreciated but otherwise DNC is doing fine

[Preator]

BLM: Black mage feels like its kind of lost the “magic turret” identity but has replaced it with enough procs, charges, and things to maintain that its not a loss and instead feels great. Paradox feels great to cast and is a welcome addition along with the super long proc timings meaning you spend some thought keeping a constant thundercloud at the ready. Aside from numbers only thing I would note is the no fire 4 paradox rotation I saw a few quick videos on. Not sure if its competitive to the standard rotation but it it is something to address that may be in order.

SMN: having shed its dots and embracing more summons it has made a lot of people very happy, personally I really enjoyed the past 2 iterations of SMN so I have mostly left it to others to play with and enjoy and it sounds like its working. Given I leveled it via SCH I don’t have as many thoughts but having a toggle for the primal aoe blurring the screen would be nice for others as it gets hard to see things if titan or another primal pops out while you are looking to find a safe spot

RDM: The tweaks to red mage of mage of allowing a full melee combo to be stocked, no longer being on a short proc timing for your finisher combo and making all of them aoe were great, combined with the charges and DPS neutral engagement has made the class a lot of fun as you dash in and use your sword a fair amount but are not longer hard locked on timing without incurring a big loss. Aside from numbers tweaks to compete with RPR etc RDM is in a great place

Closing thoughts: A lot of the changes for DPS were improvements or shifts in identity with a few wrinkles to work out and tweak. Assuming tweaks come in to make the DPS discrepancies shrink like they have been in the past there are no glaring issues and only qol stuff to really ask for. Looking forward to what comes next and dreaming of getting a dot class with resource management for next expac as my dots have been trimmed all over the place.

[VentVanitas]

MNK: Having not played a ton of MNK before the rework I have to say the new one was great. It felt impactful, thunder clap was fun, and the chakra felt more consistently filling along the way. Anatman is still super fringe in its use (I mainly got use between pulls and in the elevator in tower of babil) and while six-sided star still feels a little off as I can’t really notice the speed buff. Aside from potentially swapping the speed buff on six-sided star to a CD reduction on thunderclap I don’t think there are any big changes I am looking for. Riddle of wind does not really have visible feedback but that’s not something to worry about now and is more a next expac thing to look at tweaking into something new. Damage is in a great place near the top for raid contribution and its tankiness from riddle of earth is great

Riddle of Earth sucks, Riddle of Wind sucks, Chakra sucks, Anatman sucks and Blitz is not prominent enough in the rotation. Is it better than it was in ShB? Sure, but I wouldn't call it "great." It still needs work and waiting until the next expansion for SE to address issues that can be fixed with some minor tweaks is unacceptable.

[CKNovel]

MCH: MCH surprised me in how little in changed this time around. All the skills aside form chain saw just upgraded in place and while the charges are nice and rocket punching robots will always be a win in my book the fact that you don’t interact with it at all meant I did not really feel any impact when I got the upgrade. The only main change specific to MCH I want is to make wildfire an aoe and potentially have a larger impact on detonation but that’s not a necessity. Tactician has the same issue as troubadour in being very strong but kinda boring to use but MCH continues to be in the standard ranged spot of I would like more interactive utility and for them to be more competitive DPS wise but otherwise doing fine

Not only did the Automaton Queen felt as a "barely noticeable upgrade" but it's also now worse.
-Pressing Overload will now have to play through Arm punch animation and Pile Bunker animation before getting to Crown collider, making it longer.
-If Pile Bunker finishes a target, the AQ won't seek another target for Crown collider, which effectively makes you lose all potency.
-AI is still in needs of critical QoL. Up to this day I have no clear idea how the Queen targets and I've been playing with it for 3+ years, only know it's a mix between enmity and proximity.
-Still no interaction, yep.

I would never say "they goofed up", but this time SQEX actually goofed up with the AQ as Crown collider makes the Queen longer, don't change the "Press and forget" but actually makes it worse with its janky AI. Crown collider is actually an anti-QoL and only digs the grave of the Automaton, the more SQEX adds on the Automaton Queen, the more janky it will be until a rework is needed.

Automaton Queen remains a glorified dot, a "press and forget" but now even worse.
I wish they give an automaton to be commanded the same way SMN command Phoenix.

You forgot Flamethrower, it suffers multiple problems:
-It's still boring to use but now even more worthless.
-Tick Fishing before uptime still exists, good news is that it's still worthless.
-Remains a MCH exclusive emote that requires you to not play the game for 10 seconds.

Don't need to say more. Rework Flamethrower.
Anything but something that makes me stand still.

Heat&Wildfire:
-Still no charges, I'd like for Hypercharge and Wildfire to be on 3 GCDs instead of 5.
-Wildfire remains automated, you press Wildfire and then go on with a regular Hypercharge phase.
-Barrel Stabilizer should've been the cooldown that gets an extra charge. It's cool on Reassemble but Barrel Stabilizer is in need of charges.

If it was up to me, I'd change wildfire and make it a regular 120s cooldown that consumes 50 heat and throw a sticky bomb that simply explodes by itself.
Wildfire is weak on gameplay, animation and damage. I was actually thinking SQEX would remove it due to how worthless that cooldown feels.

[Wigett]

I feel that MCH needs a pretty large buff , we dont bring really any raid buffs to the table, but damage. so.. give us a dot or some kind of helpfulness to a party or boost our damage so it sufficient to balance other class benifits, so we can be more desirable in a party or group format.

maybe a debuff to the boss or a buff while the queen is out.. something that helps as well as boosting the over all damage which is and has been pretty low vs the other range class's. thanks