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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Amenara]

I can't imagine adding skill chains or magic bursting to the game with the expectations from player skill with SE in FF14. The game isn't designed at all for a system like that as the only real synergy between jobs anymore is just buff alignment and who gets the biggest benefits from your buffs.

[Vatom]

Too much skill needed and too much balancing needed
Not against it but its wouldn't happen