Bring Skillchains to FFXIV

[Tetsujin13]

Hi SquareEnix,

I would very much like skillchains be implemented in FFXIV.

It's abit too intricate and difficult in FFXI, so it would be nice to keep it simple, so that it can be easily implemented into fights.

It would also be good to give the skills of all jobs the possibility to combo with all jobs to avoid some jobs being favored over others.

A nice extra touch would be to have the end effect of the skillchain to give certain buffs to the group or debuffs on the enemy or enemies.

[Quintalian]

Fun fact: There actually was a form of skillchains back in 1.x called "Battle Regimens." They were meant to complement another system whereby large enemies could have parts broken off to debuff them. Once 2.0 was in the works, the Battle Regimen system was discarded in favor of the Limit Break system. In other words, it's doubtful we'll be moving back in the direction of skillchains.

[Canadane]

Battle Regimens went away long before 2.0 was a concept on the horizon, it didn't last very long post release at all.

[Ransu]

How would you even implement it? You spend 90% of the time auto attacking in FFXI so timing weaponskills is easy. It would be impossible to implement into XIV.

Its also pretty unnecessary to have in XIV honestly.

[Kabooa]

How would you even implement it? You spend 90% of the time auto attacking in FFXI so timing weaponskills is easy. It would be impossible to implement into XIV.

Its also pretty unnecessary to have in XIV honestly.

Ninja applies "Trick Attack", causing the next 3 "Burst" skills to the target to deal 25% more damage and critically strike.

Dragoon grants their partner Dragon's Eye, giving them increased damage for 20 seconds. Using a burst skill ends the Dragon's Eye.

All jobs have burst skills, but some jobs exchange stronger burst skills for having no set ups. This means in solo play a Ninja can abuse their own trick attack with uh, Hyoshu Ranryu, but in party play, it's more beneficial to let the Black Mage / Samurai take as many of the charges as possible.

This is a very simple example of having a high five mechanic in FF14 and frankly I think we need some.

[Calysto]

An idea of a simple skillchain system :
-each role get a gcd action (separate long recast) : red, blue and green.
-each give a corresponding color debuff with a base duration of 5s.
-each time the debuff change color it gets +1 counter but the duration is reduced by 0.5s by counter.
-when the debuff end it cause damage based of it's counter.

But I don't really see It working in XIV :
-the lack of elemental attribute lessen the point
-it worked if XI because it was a core gameplay element
-in XIV You'd see more people blaming other for missing their turn ; even if it was just for bonus damage

[dspguy]

An idea of a simple skillchain system :
-each role get a gcd action (separate long recast) : red, blue and green.
-each give a corresponding color debuff with a base duration of 5s.
-each time the debuff change color it gets +1 counter but the duration is reduced by 0.5s by counter.
-when the debuff end it cause damage based of it's counter.

But I don't really see It working in XIV :
-the lack of elemental attribute lessen the point
-it worked if XI because it was a core gameplay element
-in XIV You'd see more people blaming other for missing their turn ; even if it was just for bonus damage

In my opinion, the key reason skillchains won't work in FFXIV has nothing to do with the game mechanics. It has more to do with how the game urges us to play the game. Hear me out.

In FFXI, before the level 75 cap was removed, you shouted in Jeuno for a PT. You might have been in a static and occasionally had a random pickup to fill that last spot in case someone couldn't show. Or you played with 5 strangers every time. Then, you headed out to your camp and played with the same players for hours. If a skillchain got messed up, you had time to discuss it and correct it in-between pulls or weapon skills.

In FFXIV, the only "statics" are raiding groups. Every other aspect of the game is designed around tossing you together with 3-7 other random players... for ~20 minute forays into a dungeon. There is little time to communicate. It is mash-mash-mash, wall to wall, boss - repeat. There is no time to coordinate skillchains.

FFXIV is very much a solo game. Even if the content you are doing has 3-7 other players around you, they might as well be NPCs with various levels of AI (some good, some not-so-good). You do your rotation, occasionally pick up the slack for someone that failed a mechanic and then go your separate ways. Skillchains just don't fit with that.

[Bravura]

In my opinion, the key reason skillchains won't work in FFXIV has nothing to do with the game mechanics. It has more to do with how the game urges us to play the game. Hear me out.

In FFXI, before the level 75 cap was removed, you shouted in Jeuno for a PT. You might have been in a static and occasionally had a random pickup to fill that last spot in case someone couldn't show. Or you played with 5 strangers every time. Then, you headed out to your camp and played with the same players for hours. If a skillchain got messed up, you had time to discuss it and correct it in-between pulls or weapon skills.

In FFXIV, the only "statics" are raiding groups. Every other aspect of the game is designed around tossing you together with 3-7 other random players... for ~20 minute forays into a dungeon. There is little time to communicate. It is mash-mash-mash, wall to wall, boss - repeat. There is no time to coordinate skillchains.

FFXIV is very much a solo game. Even if the content you are doing has 3-7 other players around you, they might as well be NPCs with various levels of AI (some good, some not-so-good). You do your rotation, occasionally pick up the slack for someone that failed a mechanic and then go your separate ways. Skillchains just don't fit with that.

This is one of the best descriptions of the differences between FFXI and FFXIV I've ever read!

[Ransu]

The only way I could really see it working is if they added it as a bonus thing similar to LB's where you have a TP bar you build up. It would be a balancing nightmare though if it actually gave like buffs/debuffs along with the damage it did.

[Ransu]

That's not a skillchain, that's just applying a buff/debuff to skills....Skillchains in FFXI were combining weaponskills together within a window and it created an elemental weakness for the black mage to magic burst into.

And your idea would go against FFXIV's design philosophy. Back in ARR certain buffs/debuffs simply made having double bard and a job with a piercing debuff absolutely mandatory. SE will never go back to a system that causes that.