The Problem with the "Buff Everyone Up to Reaper" Approach

[LeonKeyh]

What I find weird is that they lower the numbers in general in EW and then when a job is clearly overperforming increase the numbers across the board again instead of lowering that one job.
So next expansion we're prob hitting the same numbers again as in ShB

They had to be extremely specific about the numbers being lowered in general though. They sat there and "eased" everyone into it by explaining time and time again "Everything is going down." Both players AND NPCs, and they're generally going down "the same."

Nerfing a new job at the launch of an expansion is dangerous. People don't have anything to compare that job to, so if you nerf it it's just going to feel worse for the people who are playing it. There's no upside to it at all.

Bringing everything up to the level makes everyone feel better though because they're getting buffs. Everyone is happy to see "You're going to be doing more damage!" even if it's not more relative to all the other jobs. Given the fact that NPCs aren't changing, your character is getting stronger. Period.

[Doc_Seraph]

Yes.

No, seriously: I actually do want this, personally.

Not "to take forever", per se, but... if Labyrinth of the Ancients or Syrcus Tower was not a mindless faceroll -- if we saw things like the platforms in Glasya Labolas, for instance, and actually needed to do the mechanics -- I would actually find getting them in alliance roulette somewhat more interesting and a lot less "welp, guess we're doing this again".

But I mean, my FC has a group (the "Retro Raiders") who run old savage content and such synced, which I really love doing stuff with when we manage to schedule it. So I may not be the correct sample metric here.

Aye kupo, along with the quick fights for dopamine another way to quickly kill dopamine is doing the same thing over and over mindlessly (aka its zzz) I agree it needs to be swift and/or something should be done to keep one alert.

What if they started randomizing the mechanics more so instead of just knowing mindlessly where to stand etc.. It keeps you on your pixelated toes hehe kupo <3

[Packetdancer]

What if they started randomizing the mechanics more so instead of just knowing mindlessly where to stand etc.. It keeps you on your pixelated toes hehe kupo <3

I mean, it's unlikely they'll entirely randomize things, but... I actually do enjoy the sort of "buffet table" approach to mechanics some fights take, where you'll have two or three things you need to combine.

E12, for instance, where Eden's Promise will tether to two of the memory crystals, and then use a mechanics pattern from that specific previous fight, and you need to see which the two patterns will be to know where the safe space is when they're overlaid on each other. The extreme version of the level 89 trial, where you get one of In, Out, or Intercardinals, combined with Spread, Party Stack, or Light Parties, and need to execute the one and then quickly shift to the other. P4S's Pinax patterns, where it could be Knockback or Be-At-The-Edge, followed by Spread or Light Party stacks, with a giant cleave or (potentially second) knockback from one specific side between the two in half the cases. Etc.

It can even be somewhat predictable; if your first Pinax pattern is Lightning (Out) and Poison (Spread), you know the next one will be Water (Knockback from center) plus Fire (light parties), though you don't know which wall the Shift will be from between the second pair until the actual cast is going. In the extreme of the level 89 trial, if you get In/Light Parties, you know the next will be Out/Spread. So you have to pay attention, but you also still benefit if you learn the patterns.

But that's less relevant to "how do you balance jobs", and more "how do you keep Pax engaged in the fight". (Pax being how many a friend abbreviates "Packetdancer".)

However, I do think the stats creep we have -- and the wonky way ilevel sync "functions" in this game -- do new players no favors, when you build up these big climactic fights in the story only to have them be mindless facerolls.

(And it does veteran players no favors either. Folks like to complain that a sproud doesn't know mechanics from previous fights. But it's not like "Pyretic" is a mechanic they'll encounter early on any longer; the five-headed dragon in World of Darkness is where that was introduced, I believe, and that poor thing never lives long enough to cast it anymore. And they're not necessarily going to know that "Acceleration Bomb" and "Extreme Caution" and "Pyretic" are all functionally the same thing, even if they've encountered the others.)

[Absimiliard]

Not gonna lie. I would love fights that are reaction-based instead of memorization-based. That truly would be a test of your reflexes.