On the Tyranny of Burst Windows

[iGiveUpLoL]

If you want to have a good parse number, you pray your team never have a white mage, warrior, and machinist. I guess this implies a lot of things.

[baklava151]

Someone linked me a segment from Mr. Happy's interview with Yoshi-P during the media tour where he asked Yoshi why some CDs were still 90 seconds (at the time MNK's Riddle of Wind, BLM's Ley Lines, and BRD's Radiant Finale even though it wasn't mentioned specifically). It's funny because Yoshi echoes a lot of the issues people have now with everything being 1 or 2 min CDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXkyq_yUMjI&t=607s

-Jobs start feeling too similar
-Jobs might get too boring between burst windows
-Jobs get way too busy during burst windows

So if Yoshi was having these thoughts even before EW release, I'd like to know what changed his mind and caused them to make Ley Lines and Radiant Finale 120 second CDs, as well as the eventual TA/Mug change for NIN in 6.1. I'd love if he gave another interview or spent some time during a Live Letter where he goes in-depth with what he thinks of the current state of jobs and what he'd like to do with them in future expansions.

[Wolwosh]

I'm noticing it very heavily while leveling Ninja. Everything comes up I believe after 60 seconds and 120, and during those few seconds you press everything.
While that is fun everything after that I quite boring and you do 123...
I know this has been a problem for a while, but with them removing fun interesting skills as filler, like several combo paths for me jobs like Ninja just become so repetitive fast...

[Lunalepsy]

I'm reposting this from another thread because I think I hit on a more fundamental issue to all of these job changes.

The problem we are running into is that cross-class, on-rails burst windows have been ruining job design. Everything is being pruned away in service of a 60/120 second script.

This design choice to lean into burst windows to me is SO WEIRD for a game that is increasingly obsessed with (a) casual appeal and (b) soloable content. With respect to both of these goals especially--but also with respect to just making a fun experience regardless of who or how the game is played--syncing up with 7 other players should not be more important than making the jobs fun to execute in themselves.

Imo, all party damage buffs should be removed--i.e., heavily minimize or eliminate "damage synergy." Then jobs would have much more flexibility in rotation design and job expression, and we could perhaps even see the return of cut abilities. I think only the buffs to party damage need to be removed--most other support abilities still work fairly well in encouraging both player agency and party movement coordination without encouraging syncing up burst windows.

By my count, a fix wouldn't involve much, just removing (or retooling to be player-only):

* DRG - Battle Litany
* MNK - Brotherhood
* NIN - Trick Attack/Mug
* DNC - Technical Finish
* RDM - Embolden
* RPR - Arcane Circle

And then a reworking of BRD and AST which frankly could both use it.

Syncing up precise rotations with 7 other players just doesn't make for very fun content. It has a high frustration rate and minimal payoff, and personally I get no thrill from burst window boosts. Certainly not as much as just having cool abilities that actually do things themselves without needing to be in another player's buff window.

I think if a change like this were made, it would substantially open up both job and encounter design and allow the game to actually be *reactive*, *enabling*, and *fun* again.

It's a game that caters to homogeneity.