Quote Originally Posted by Deceptus View Post
Adding more DPS options literally doesn't affect the people who don't want to DPS. They don't do it now, they won't do it no matter how many extra buttons get added.
Agreed, especially given how quick communities typically are to single out "unique" role responsibilities first (sometime beyond their actual value towards long-term goals, wherein every role exists only to leverage what tools they have to complete the duty at the best equilibrium they can manage between reliability and speed).

Basically if the FFXIV devs refuse to add DPS options I hope they start adding more buffing / debuffing actions.
  • Bravery (short duration physical damage increase)
  • Faith (short duration magic damage increase)
  • Protect (short duration party physical mitigation)
  • Shell (short duration party magic mitigation)
  • Virus (Enemy damage down)
This, on the other hand, I'm a bit more worried about, for a few reasons:
  1. Job identity.
    As all jobs move their rDPS towards non-situational but indirect (pure damage, just not done yourself) means (a la Cards, Divination, and Chain Strategem), job distinctions get that much more blurred. No, I'm not a fan of WHM being a job whose identity is practically a lack thereof (slight hyperbole) and would be fine with them getting some utility, but I'd much rather that utility not simply be a more direct "Cards-lite", etc. I'd much rather, say, see more situational and virtually untaxed utility tools (such as oGCD single-target movement speed buffs, etc.) while keeping WHM rDPS firmly grounded in its direct damage.

    Bravery/Faith is basically the existing Cards mechanic as is (except that it applies to roughly equal halves of the job base, instead of 3/4s vs. 1/4 thereof with PLD and DRK being inherently screwed over).
  2. (De)buff bloat.
    Admittedly, this works off the assumption that these additions, like their traditional forms, would have no CD. That, however, puts them at a narrow balancing point. If overpowered, they become a maintenance mechanic. Such maintenance mechanics tend to devolve into rather stale gameplay far, far more crippling to freedom to heal than any trio of DoTs, since they're applied across up to 8 allies instead of 1-3 enemies (AoEs outpacing DoTs thereafter), or else lose all target priority/selection by being applied via AoE buffs instead, equally gutting their available depth. Even if "perfectly" balanced, a spammable GCD Virus over a typical span of a boss's damage should prevent slightly less damage than filler healer (a Cure II-equivalent) would replenish, such that it becomes mildly obligatory in damage-dense periods and is largely wasteful otherwise.
  3. Redundancy and the Role Action problem.
    Even if having balanced spammable fensive (de)buffs perfectly so as to reward timing and target selection, what exactly would, say, (a spammable, GCD) Protect accomplish that a gauge-based Aquaveil would not? Bankable but non-spammable tools offer similar flexibility while also having more impact available per cast. Moreover, they already follow the visual themes of those jobs, rather than using old generics.

None of that is to say adding more buff/debuff actions would be bad, but simply that --given the examples in question-- there are some points of concern.