What are your thoughts on FFXIV's combat?

[drtasteyummy]

I'm saying we've a long enough history of Monkey's Paw outcomes --many from, but not limited to, job redesigns-- to know better at this point than to write a blank check, and asking for "change" without a single pointer as to the direction is just asking for a worse outcome.

Things are bad enough when specifics are given and half of them ignored or gaslit by the devs. Imagine giving free rein to that all while providing the necessary excuse: "We've done what was asked, to its full specifications."



For instance, the changes in direction I'd like to see are fairly radical, but I'm (therefore) not about to neglect that the burden therefore lies with me to suggest how and why their results may be preferable despite their costs, and that I should seek to convince and/or compromise non-reductively with fellow players first.

Even if you ignore possible changes to things like fixed rotation or positionals the jobs are still cluster of 1-2-3 rotations while squeezing in oCDs where every melees needs to have a dot, every caster needs to go melee and every
prange does horrible damage. Denying reworks for the sake of it's possible bad outcome is a death sentence to any game not only to keep it fresh but because it means SE has no longer the capabilities to properly run this game or are heavily disconnected.

[Ishe-P]

I generally think that combat is the weakest aspect of this game. You can see in places how great--or at least more involved--it used to be, but it's clear so much has been gutted in ways that are baffling if one does not assume they were targeting universal viability, one that evokes an 'open access for all' ethos. I think the universal viability goal is the game's biggest detriment because with this framework there isn't a whole lot you can do in term of boss design beyond 'go here, stand there, wait for xyz, deal with a certain debuff's effects.' The more classes that get added, the more limitations that have to be introduced. It appears that duty actions were introduced to maybe correct this and provide some flexibility but proved to not be popular with enough players to really give them a good push.

For me at least, classes feel nominally distinctive with the distinctions are actually presented in pretty clever ways to avoid their very obvious similarities to other classes or encounters. Strip away the sound effects and flashy colors though and it becomes immediately apparent that the game is very close to bumping its head against the design ceiling. But hey, they did some clever stuff to make 100s of races for Cosmic Encounter (a board game that's pretty neat) so I don't doubt they have a trick or two up their sleeve, I just wish they'd move a little faster with new ideas. It all feels so conservative and sluggish as it is now.

[Ivtrix]

me dps me push raid buff every 2 minute unga bunga

entire endgame revolve around us going unga bunga, you unga bunga?

[Kaurhz]

It's OK but could be a lot better - and they've made some silly decisions. Healing is just abysmal, however.

[MagiusNecros]

PvP good. PvE bad.

[MagiusNecros]

If you have to rework every job every expansion then the design is not good. If someone asked what direction are the jobs going in they would give you a super vague answer of "we don't know" while also saying to "give it a try".

[MonsutaMan]

XIV: Combat is very pick-up and play, thus very shallow.

The mechanics such as moving doors or floors are what complicates things in XIV; not the actual the combat which is is pretty vanilla.

Unlike XI, were you can Melee as a WHM in some cases, and it works.....while magic bursting as an added bonus.....as you cure.....

Or be a magic oriented ninja.

Or a magic bursting BST.

SMN can wield some axes and lances in XI (Not saying you should).......

There are more than one way of playing every job in XI. XIV is very strict with roles, thus the combat is easy to get into.....which makes it snoring boring at times because many jobs feel the same. It is simply weapon swaps. That is why ppl like me play, then will come back months later and forget everything lol.

[Sorzai]

The combat as you progress through the game is okay, it's very minimal and unimpressive. It doesn't make it any better that the higher level you go, you'd still have to be doing low level content as dailies. So it always feels like you're not using your full kit.

But when you do do content like max level content, like max level dungeons it's a bit more fun. Sadly the dungeon content isn't interaction, it's really just running through mobs gathering them wall to wall and bursting them down.
The flow of combat is rather uninteresting,
Dps: AOE spam
Healers: heal when needed, otherwise dps
Tanks: pop sufficient mitigation and AOE spam

There's is no use for certain jobs to use their some if not all their additional job skills.

The state of Healers is absolutely atrocious, if you look at white mage from other ff, the buffs they bring to the group is so important and yet Healers in XIV is just so boring.

I'm a filthy casual player who wants to play harder content without the time and friends to play harder content with. The variant dungeons and criterion dungeons were a nice addition, but the main content needs to be harder, job design needs to be more diverse, content has to be harder overall.

[Illmaeran]

I like it over all, and much more than any of the other MMOs I've played, but as I've gotten older I have difficulty reacting to mechanics and maintaining my rotation properly at the same time. I'd be a lot happier with combat if we had a few basic GCD combos with the rest of the skills being utility/use at will rather than a two minute chain rotation that has to be rigidly adhered to.

[Shurrikhan]

I'd be a lot happier with combat if we had a few basic GCD combos with the rest of the skills being utility/use at will rather than a two minute chain rotation that has to be rigidly adhered to.

I don't want to see the rigid macrorotation lost until there's something of substance to actually replace it. At present, it's the only thing giving any real meat to PvE, since encounter design is so scripted and the game's undermechanics between shallow and nonexistent.

It's not great, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing adding urgency to moment-to-moment rotational play.