PvE rotations feel too stale (how everything became a 2 minute wildfire show)

[Shikiseki]

tl;dr - I'd like to see more dynamic rotations in the future

So I've been wondering if people are ok how every job seems to turn into a "wildfire" job as of late...

It started back in 3.0 where Machinist was introduced and it's main rotation revolved around unleashing absolutely everything within the wildfire window for a short time and then go back into fishing for procs, while guaranteeing them with reload.
This was the first job that felt like had such a strong focus on a 2minute buff while the rest of the time felt like filler.
The added charges on some skills only added to the problem of hoarding till the 2minute comes up (like AST cards) which only promotes the wildfire playstyle of holding back and unleashing it every 2 minutes.
I'd be ok if some jobs would have such a playstyle like Machinist but everything feels exactly the same...

Nowadays, almost everything revolves around the 2 minute timer to make it easier to sync buffs for savage+ raiding but... this makes almost every job feel incredibly stale.
There's no variation left in encounters outside progression and almost everything feels the same.
I can see why the excessive stance dancing was bit too much during 3.0 era but there was one thing that made it different: you had the option to be flexible during encounters and try to go for a risky maneuver with when things were looking a-ok.

Reaper, Monk and Summoner have a nice blend of having variety in their toolkit but somehow only Reaper managed to make it feel complete (that is if you're not synced below level 80...)

Maybe it's the combination of jobs turning streamlined while the encounters were already almost 100% static which enhances the fact of staleness.

At this point I have absolutely no idea how to overcome this feeling of umbral statis in the gameplay of most jobs since there's almost nothing left that could make the battles feel more dynamic...

[Corbeau]

Proc side elements are the antidote. Look at BLM: even minor procs allow for variation when dealing with mechanics and movement. Precious few jobs even touch procs though.

[GrizzlyTank]

Essentially, all jobs save for RDM, DNC and BRD is designed with a fixed rotation in mind which you can't deviate from.

Personally think they should add more jobs that rely on short 4-6 button rotations like DNC, but that they also have a significant shorter gcd. Since DNC right now is kind of miserable due to the wait between each attack.

They could also make it so that resources don't increase on fixed increments. Like if something increase with 5 on each use, make it instead increase 4-7 or 10 on crit.

[FoxyAreku]

Every job playing the same has been one of my issues since shadowbringer started. Do wish they'd resolve this. The simplification and homogenization feels bad.

[technole]

OP isn't wrong, Summoner is just the Magic version of Bard.

[Soge01]

Variety is the spice of life. PvP jobs actually feel completely different next to eachother compared to their PvE counterparts.

[Rilifane]

It's why I detest the EW changes.
Many people said that it's just a bit of streamlining, nothing much changed etc. but I feel the difference between having TA and 90s buffs in addition to 2min buffs vs only having 2min buffs. It was fun to play around odd buff windows without losing potency during 2min bursts. It was fun to delay buffs for alignment between naturally misaligned buffs by estimating the kill time. And it's certainly more fun to be busy the whole time instead of having a simple combo, dump everything every 2min, rinse and repeat.
It's why I stick to BLM: rotation isn't static, minor procs can make a difference in how I shift skills around to account for them, Transpose lines exist, movement needs to be planned ahead and anything that breaks my movement mapping affects the next minute or more.
Many other jobs just feel same-y to me. Push simple combo, use buff, dump everything you have. I really detest the obsession with everything having to neatly align with 2min burst, they got too much significance.

[Theodric]

I do wish the development team would allow for more flexibility and creativity. I like how the jobs are allowed to step into 'weird' territory in PvP but I'd like it even more if we could see something similar in PvE as well.

[Jin-]

And some wonder why people idle in the hubs and rp clubs. Since it's more exciting than the current combat content

[Catwho]

This was absolutely a deliberate design decision from SE, so that everyone's abilities would line up together. They said as much.

I was pretty good at the old SMN rotation, but the simplified one lets me focus more on not getting my ass handed to me during savage, and I can appreciate that as well.