Thread: Job Balancing 6.08 (still needs work)

I actually think they balance encounters around even lower than that. World first clears have parses that are gray by today's standards. Which makes sense, honestly.

It's important to keep in mind that the average level of play is what encounters are expected to be cleared at. With that in mind, balance only truly matters insofar as it makes the game either too easy or too difficult, which is something that just does not happen at this point in time. There are other factors that the devs likely take into account, such as when imbalance causes elitist casuals to exclude jobs from PF, or when it makes people wonder why they bother playing a job they otherwise enjoy the gameplay and aesthetic of. But ultimately, this game has always been designed around clearing content, not competing at the highest levels. And designing around both is both incredibly difficult and not ideal unless you tune encounters so tightly that the two are more or less one and the same. And before you say that's a good thing, consider that even Ultimates aren't designed like this, and they take around five to ten times longer to prog than an entire Savage tier. Balancing around the highest of the high end would and has been shown to kill the game's raiding scene.

That's why I think it's perfectly okay for jobs with mega-cursed optimizations to be too strong as long as the average level isn't that far ahead- to design around potential would literally damage the game. And I say this as someone who generally prefers playing the most damaging jobs and competing for the highest numbers.

And I honestly think you'd have to take encounters completely out of the equation to think otherwise, which I think a lot of statistics-oriented players sometimes do.

Originally Posted by AziraSyuren

I actually think they balance encounters around even lower than that. World first clears have parses that are gray by today's standards. Which makes sense, honestly.

It's important to keep in mind that the average level of play is what encounters are expected to be cleared at. With that in mind, balance only truly matters insofar as it makes the game either too easy or too difficult, which is something that just does not happen at this point in time. There are other factors that the devs likely take into account, such as when imbalance causes elitist casuals to exclude jobs from PF, or when it makes people wonder why they bother playing a job they otherwise enjoy the gameplay and aesthetic of. But ultimately, this game has always been designed around clearing content, not competing at the highest levels. And designing around both is both incredibly difficult and not ideal unless you tune encounters so tightly that the two are more or less one and the same. And before you say that's a good thing, consider that even Ultimates aren't designed like this, and they take around five to ten times longer to prog than an entire Savage tier. Balancing around the highest of the high end would and has been shown to kill the game's raiding scene.

That's why I think it's perfectly okay for jobs with mega-cursed optimizations to be too strong as long as the average level isn't that far ahead- to design around potential would literally damage the game. And I say this as someone who generally prefers playing the most damaging jobs and competing for the highest numbers.

And I honestly think you'd have to take encounters completely out of the equation to think otherwise, which I think a lot of statistics-oriented players sometimes do.

I agree. I think it's probably more accurate to assume that they are making adjustments based on showing than anything. It's sad that PF locks out players because of a specific job, when any makeup can clear any encounter at its release. PF is toxic though. In general, I'm seeing that statics tend to take what they get for a role...within reason. For instance, my static is running a whm for heals because our ast broke his arm. running war/gnb instead of drk/gnb. About the only meta in my group is me and the monk, and we're clearing just fine and having no real issues with dps checks...even before the tome weapons.

Blm & Sam ofc should do the most personal dps, and since they bring no utility, also have justified to do more overall more dps, when they get buffed.

Just all the other dps, shouldn't be soo far behind them R-dps wise.
Sure obviously dps with more usefull utility (or actually sought after utility most in parties), should be on the lower half..
- imo Mnk, Reaper, Drg & Nin should all have about the same R-dps (maybe Rpr a tick more, with Mkn very close, cause the other three have more sought after / stronger utility)
- Mch should have the most physical ranged dps; it's too low atm; should probably on paar with Rpr or Mnk (and not quit as high as Blm / Smn)

- Smn should be on par with Drg, Nin & Rpr atleast (or higher, .but the rez probably holds thrm back dps wise)
...Smn utility is not as sought after, besides Smn having MP issues for rezes, ​mentioned once before, Smn rez is very unflexable atm due to Smn's MP consumption; .. and Smn use Swiftcast a lot, they have to in a few many scenarios, and if hardcasting is needed, than 75% of the cases, its a lost cause either way (aside of some prog);
Phoenix healing can just as well be non-existent; .. the Searing Light buff is ok aka 1.5'ish sought after utility..
.... Smn should like mentioned here on par with, Nin (Nin has only "one" utility, but it's the most sought after and strongest dps buff of the whole game), Drg (next most sought after and strong dps buff, besides a ok single dps buff),
.. imo Smn should have dps on par with Rpr & Mnk, or atleast as Nin & Drg (or something inbetween)