Do these devs even play their own game?

[Engaru]

"Do these developers even play their own game?"
This was a question Yoshi-P asked in an interview with Asmongold and richwcampbell in regards to other MMOs. And this is a question I'd also ask the people in charge of these baffling job changes.

To give credit where credit is due, the changes to tanks were extremely welcome, even though some things like DRKs Carve and Spit and Abyssal Drain being on the same CD or why Oblation wasn't integrated with TBN are still a mystery to me.

Changes to DPS however are confusing to say the least, the removal of SAMs Kaiten being the foremost offender. There are plenty of other skills in SAMs kit that could have been pruned or fused into one skill, namely Shoha and Shoha II, Iaijutsu and Tsubame-gaeshi, Ikishoten and Ogi Namikiri, Senei and Guren or even Shinten and Kyuten.
Removing Kaiten was a fix to a problem that never existed.

Similar things can be said about BRDs Minuet and Pitch Perfect skills being put on the same button and still not being able to spread their DoTs (they took that away from SMNs so maby BRDs can have it?) or the myriad of band aid fixes MCH got.

So yea, there is my 5 cents to the 6.1 changes.

[Imoye]

"Do these developers even play their own game?"

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that way.

[Maxilor]

They do play their own game, just not Samurai.

YoshiP plays BLM, so as a BLM player you benefit from something other classes can't...'Job Security'.

[Faulko]

I remember watching that popular YouTube documentary about how they created ARR and saved the game. In the video they talk about how square became full of hubris and complacency at their success during the PS2 era, they had the highest graphical and story fidelity and then went on to completely tank their ips with numerous financial disasters because they became lazy after success and refused to grow and then got surpassed by western devs. I think there’s a lot of this same mindset at play with the overwhelming success of shadow ringers and endwalker. What concerns me the most is that we know for certain that they’ve paid attention to warcrafts achievements and pitfalls, yet they seem to be going down the exact same path of ruin as WoW;
Class homogenization
Streamlining gameplay for a more casual audience
Refusing to listen to player feedback despite constantly telling the players that they will.
I’ve played this game since 1.0 release and I’ve always had faith in the direction they were taking the game after ARR. This expansion was the first time I became concerned for its future (not just this patch, the whole expansion).

Yes I’m insanely disappointed about the Samurai changes, so maybe this is a bit more angry then is necessary for forums but it’s just very disheartening to see them flat out lie about why they’re making these design changes. I’m very sad about my samurai

Please hug me

[TaoTech]

Surely they don't play any healers or SMN or SAM or they wouldn't have destroyed all those jobs...

[AltanaTheKaitenless]

This expansion was the first time I became concerned for its future (not just this patch, the whole expansion).

Same here brother, same here. This whole expac seems like a rushed job.

[Maxilor]

I wouldn't call this expansion a 'rushed job' as I thoroughly enjoyed the MSQ and the new dungeons imo knocked it out of the park with their presentation (My jaw dropped during Vanaspati).

But I agree that FFXIV is falling into familiar traps when it comes to dumbing down job design.

Black Mage vs. Red Mage to me is what this game should strive for.

Black Mage = Difficult to play well, but when mastered has INCREDIBLE damage potential.

Red Mage = Simple to play and master, Average-High damage potential but with INCREDIBLE Utility/Support potential.

The FFXIV Devs seem to be trying to dumb classes down to a Red Mage level, but with Black Mage's damage potential and it just doesn't feel rewarding.

[Alex_LoneWolf]

The FFXIV Devs seem to be trying to dumb classes down to a Red Mage level, but with Black Mage's damage potential and it just doesn't feel rewarding.

You make an interesting point here that I think hits the pulse that I'm starting to see across many different forum posts of many different topics.

I really hope the Devs are paying attention to how much they're trying to simplify things, because it is indeed running into those pitfalls that you mentioned, and the folks who have posted here are far from the first that I've heard vocalizing concern that the game is....well, less interesting or rewarding.

[Engaru]

Unfortunately this simplification or dumbing down of classes is a trend that tends to happen to popular games in a bid to make it more accessible, but by doing that they alienate their core players and ultimately cause a slow but steady decline in players over time who lost faith in the direction the game is going. Prime example would be WoW around the end of WotLK and the beginning of Cataclysm.

[ShanaShirayuki]

Yes I’m insanely disappointed about the Samurai changes, so maybe this is a bit more angry then is necessary for forums but it’s just very disheartening to see them flat out lie about why they’re making these design changes. I’m very sad about my samurai

Please hug me

The thrill of the class is gone essentially. And we can hug come data center transfer, hang in there fellow Samurai. *hug*