We are approaching a button bloat problem that can be solved

[Puremallace]

So I am not sure people noticed but we are up to patch 6.1 and are on the 4th expansion and up to level 90. Square Enix already realized we had a power problem when attacks were hitting far above 100,000.

Now as we trudge along to 7.0 the obvious next issue is going to be button bloat. Other MMO's have added more shiny buttons to press and WoW has tried borrowed power, pruning and revamped their talents so many times you cannot even count anymore leading to massive balance issues.

For 7.0 I think Square Enix has 2 options. Continue the approach of replacing existing attacks with new attacks that change as you hit X level.

Another option not considered is purely cosmetic changes. The Shadowbringers story allows for this because of the Aetherical changes that can occur when you absorb too much of one element.

What if we had Eureka type options that could imbue our attacks with different elements?

Just a thought as we move on through the expansion.

[MellowMink]

I truly don’t get why Square Enix hasn’t changed more 1-2-3 combos to share single buttons; they already had that in older PvP job design, and Gunbreaker already had this quality-of-life update with regards to a higher-level combo that’s done with Continuation, so why stop there? Seems a lot better than removing entire actions like a certain Samurai action that lots of players liked to use.

[Momo_Kozuki]

I truly don’t get why Square Enix hasn’t changed more 1-2-3 combos to share single buttons; they already had that in older PvP job design, and Gunbreaker already had this quality-of-life update with regards to a higher-level combo that’s done with Continuation, so why stop there? Seems a lot better than removing entire actions like a certain Samurai action that lots of players liked to use.

My guess, but they don't do it cuz it is not the time now. I think they have a certain number of button in mind, which has not yet reached in 6.0. Maybe in 7.0 or 8.0, they will do it when more buttons will be added.

[Silver-Strider]

I truly don’t get why Square Enix hasn’t changed more 1-2-3 combos to share single buttons; they already had that in older PvP job design, and Gunbreaker already had this quality-of-life update with regards to a higher-level combo that’s done with Continuation, so why stop there? Seems a lot better than removing entire actions like a certain Samurai action that lots of players liked to use.

While a solution to most jobs, MNK would be the outliner here because their rotation isn't a standard 1-2-3 combo and then we throw in Perfect Balance and there's no hope of a compression system works with them, at least not without another rework.

[Seraphor]

I truly don’t get why Square Enix hasn’t changed more 1-2-3 combos to share single buttons; they already had that in older PvP job design, and Gunbreaker already had this quality-of-life update with regards to a higher-level combo that’s done with Continuation, so why stop there? Seems a lot better than removing entire actions like a certain Samurai action that lots of players liked to use.

Because it would only apply to a handful of jobs that don't all need it.

Tanks: Usually have mitigation effects and gauge generation tied to them that you want to keep track of. For example, hitting 1-2-[gauge spender]-3 to avoid overcapping. They also have few DPS skills anyway, so they don't generally want to lose them, otherwise they'd end up like Healers spamming the same button 90% of the time.

Monk: Literally cannot condense it's skills as it has a 'free form' function where you can hit any skill you like out of order. Needs all weaponskills available as separate buttons to achieve this.

Ninja: Heavy burst phase, outside of that burst it only has the 1-2-3 to keep it busy, see Tanks/Healers.

Casters: no combos

Phys ranged: Each have a unique combo system that actually make them unique to play. Machinist being the most straightforward, but then runs into the same issue as Ninja/Tanks/Healers.

Dragoon: Has a very long combo system that you need to keep track of, and already condenses a few of it's less situational buttons. If you condense this even more you'd need to remove effects like Disembowel and Chaos Thrust, instead spreading that dps across the entire combo, and remove positionals, as you can't be sure what skill you're going to hit next unless you're constantly counting in your head. At that point, you may as well just have a single button to spam in between Jumps.

Samurai: conditional combo trees, could potentially be reduced to 3 buttons, but again like the Tank issue of generating gauge with the combo finishers, and the Dragoon issue of apply buffs on the 2's, you'd need to be very careful of what button you're hitting when, and constantly watching your hotbars. I don't see this being viable either.

Reaper: 1-2-3 skills are all functionally identical besides their potency. Hooray! This one can be easily condensed to a single button.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

Casters: no combos

Red Mage /10char

[Seraphor]

Red Mage /10char

Those aren't combo's, that's a proc system.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

Those aren't combo's, that's a proc system.

E.Riposte, E.Zwerchhau and E.Redoublement would like a word with you.

[DezereDawn]

i'd love 1-2-3 combos and conditional buttons to be consolidated, as long as they give me more interesting and unique abilities in their place, think that'd be a happy medium

[Evergrey]

I don't like the combined 1-2-3 button.
Even in PvP I slot 3 of those combo buttons so I can still manually press the 1, 2 ,3 keys.

I'm perfectly fine with skills that have a second prog (Like RPR's Shroud abilities or the DRK's Salter Earth) to change into the second prog.
But leave the 1-2-3 rotations as they are.
I'd hate to press 1 single key over and over while other skills are still on cooldown.