Hi SE and to whom anyone it may concern especially fellow SAM wanderers. I am a long time lurker of the forums and had not made an account until recently, like others, to voice my dissatisfaction with the current state of the job.

I won't reiterate aspects from other experts like job synergy, marginal overtime DPS loss or raiding complexities. Instead what I want to focus on is the feel of playing a samurai to which I love.

The two skills that have changed which made an impact to my experience
- Kaiten
- Tenka Goken

Kaiten
As you know, Kaiten is a core ability we use to enhance our Iaijutsu and 1st Ogi Namikiri (ON), we must always try to save 20 Kenki before using Iaijutsu or ON. For me, Kaiten means something different, it is a meditation phase we go through before sheathing our katana before unleashing a devastating attack. Twirling the katana in the heat of a battle adds a bit of "cool" factor that makes you seem like an expert swords(man/woman).

Since the change, the removal of Kaiten has reduced samurai gameplay to spamming Shinten whenever possible without a care of Kenki management. It dilutes the complexity of the gameplay, and it had gone through simplification in ShB and EW which now makes it hollow to play. Because Shinten costs more then Kaiten you are pressing less buttons overall, however that also means the pace of the gameplay is slower. There are times where I would weave in a Kaiten to prep my next Iaijutsu or ON in between attacks or actions but instead I have this intermittent second pause where I'm staring at my enemy waiting for something to happen.

Tenka Goken
At first I was for the change, but after trying it out I missed the previous iteration for a simple reason, pacing. Similar reasoning to Kaiten, changing Tenka Goken to circular resulted in samurai to be in the center of a group of monsters unleashing their AoE until that group has been eradicated which breeds idleness. It is simply not effective for me to be anywhere else.

Additionally conal Tenka Goken had minor strategy involved, you need to position yourself correctly to hit all the desired targets. In order to do that samurais had to adjust constantly, many may not agree with my sentiments but I welcomed this as it allowed me to circle myself to an advantageous position while I lined up my attack. Lastly its reach was longer than the current iteration there are niche times where you are safe to unleash it without repositioning.

Summary
The feel and flow of the gameplay is what makes samurai the job it is. It can be argued that there are unnecessary actions required to achieve the desired end result, but being consistent and mastery of such complexity are what gives me joy playing samurai.

I hope SE you can reconsider the changes you have made to samurai in the current iteration and restore the fantasy, feel and flow of the job once more.