That Which He Does Not Play

[Midareyukki]

Squadrons can take more trash you just need to know how. Alisaie LBs before you cause that's her personality. You also have just like with your Squadron choose to not take her. As both Y'shtola and Estinien will wait. I want to say that they both will refer to you to pop the LB first unless you're busy needing to do something. There are some things that not even Squadrons can eat. And as I said before they're no help in clearing a safe spot if you need to do such. You also get every mechanic with Squadrons even if it normally wouldn't target your role because they can't be targeted by things.

- Squadrons can take more trash you just need to know how: Yes, that's what I said
- Alisaie LBs before you cause that's her personality: Yes, and I told you before that I'm not playing the game with NPCs for their personality, I'm playing the game for the game. If they're just going to make crap decisions because they have a personality when REAL LIFE PEOPLE I know make some actual effort, why would I want that?
- You also have just like with your Squadron choose to not take her: True. But that was just ONE example. Like you said, Y'shtola and Estinien will wait, but I did mention Urianger's abominable AST skills.
On that note, is Thancred's handicap a detriment to how much DPS he throws out or does he actually do more damage with a caster/Ryne around?
- There are some things that not even Squadrons can eat: Such as? Because I haven't seen that before, and I'm not expecting NPCs to play pitch perfect and eat AoEs for the hell of it. They're NPCs, they're going to follow a set script. They're going to resolve mechanics, because that's what they're programmed to do.
And before you ask, there IS a difference between NPCs following a script and the Scions acting their personalities: NPCs following mechanics isn't inherently wrong and it's how the game's played, whereas the Scions having their quirks is the game promoting bad habits. Even if you think following mechanics that you can just eat is a bad habit, it's a lesser evil imo.
Edit: Also adding that I'm not asking them to play optimally at every step. They're allowed to use skills that aren't the best indicated for the job at a given time, but still do something similar to the effect intended. As long as they don't start healing the whole party with Cure 1, I'm fine with them using Medica 2 over Medica after a raidwide, because it ends up being the same thing.
- You also get every mechanic with Squadrons even if it normally wouldn't target your role because they can't be targeted by things: Is it bad that I actually don't mind this? xD
Though I will agree that on that last bit it IS a downside versus the scions. But it's justified: the Scions are there for the MSQ, so they have to act like real players somewhat. But Squadrons are just glorified pets for you to hang around in optional content.
Rather than going tit for tat trying to figure out which is superior, because some stuff just ends up boiling down to what you want them to do, I was going to propose a merger of the concepts. Have the Scions act a little bit more like the Squadrons and take advantage of the stuff that is superior in the Squadrons. However, the Scions are clearly there for the MSQ, so not everything can be ported over.


So overall, a lot of the stuff that we're going to throw out here is going to be countered by whichever side views it best. But ultimately they're justified. I personally don't want trust NPCs to act out their personalities, because if I see my friend doing a bad habit and I can tell them to improve (and we have that level of mutual understanding), then they'll improve. Alisaie won't hold her guns just because I want her to ult the next mob pack and not this one.
And if you say "well don't take her, you don't need to take any of them", keep in mind you're skirting over the fact that they all have bad habits coded into them, not just Alie or Uri. Not to mention, why not? How many of you actually took Alisaie in Holminster because of what happened just before you unlocked it? To see her reaction (or lack thereof)? At some point you're gonna have Alisaie in there.

Also isn't there a reward for levelling all of them up, Alisaie included?