Patch 6.28 PvP Changes Megathread

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Season 3 ends, Season 4 comes, collect your rewards fellas.

Changes below. Feel free to discuss and react now or later.

Job Changes

Dark Knight

• Eventide (LB):
  - Time required to fill the limit gauge has been increased (90s -> 105s)
  - Potency has been changed from 10,000-20,000 to 6,000-24,000 (see graph)

"Eventide has a very powerful effect that prevents HP from be reduced to zero, and the frequency with which it can be used is quite high. Because matches have a tendency to be longer, we have adjusted the rate at which the limit gauge fills. This change is offset by expanding the range of its potency, resulting in a potency increase when dark knight's HP is low*."

* = is meant to say "high"


Gunbreaker

• Draw and Junction:
  - While under the effect of Junction Healer, targets in the area of effect of certain actions will now be healed even when obstructed by objects on the field.
• Nebula:
  - Potency of damage reflected has been incresed from 3,000 to 4,000
• Aurora:
  - Regen potency has been increased from 3,000 to 4,000
• Relentless Rush (LB):
  - Relentless Shrapnel Effect now also reduces target's damage dealt by 4%

"Because we felt Relentless Rush lacked utility only being used in an offensive capacity, the Relentless Shrapnel effect has been adjusted to also reduce the damage dealt by enemies. We have also increased the damage potency of Nebula, as well as the healing potency of Aurora, to better gunbreaker's performance as a tank and improve their win rate. Additionally, we have improved the usability of Junction Healer by allowing it to be applied to targets regardless of obstructions breaking line of sight."

Monk

• Snap Punch & Demolish:
  - Potency has been increased from 5,000 to 6,000
• Riddle of Earth:
  - Recast time has been reduced from 30 to 25 seconds

"In Patch 6.2, we reduced the frequency with which monk could use Meteodive. To improve DPS rotations when the limit gauge is not available, we have reduced the recast time for Riddle of Earth. To further improve the merit of using full combos against enemies, we have also increased the potency of Snap Punch and Demolish. By strengthening actions in the middle of the combo rather than the final action, we believe players can more readily adapt to a variety of situations."

Ninja

• Shukuchi:
  - Hidden effect duration has been reduced from 5 to 4 seconds
• Huton:
  - Movement speed effect has been reduced

"Ninja has exceptional defensive capabilities, so to prevent contribution to win rates by simply escaping enemies, we have decided to make adjustments to Shukuchi and Huton."

Bard

• Powerful Shot:
  - Movement speed while casting has been increased

"To improve bard's overall combat capability, we've increased their walking speed when casting, allowing them to more easily position themselves when attacking."

Machinist

• Blast Charge:
  - Movement speed while casting has been increased
• Bishop Autoturret:
  To improve clarity of the targeted area of effect, the ground targeting radius has been increased to 1m to 5m (effect otherwise unchanged)
• Aether Mortar:
  - Duration of Increased Damage Taken has been increased from 5 to 7 seconds
  - Duration of Barrier effect has been increased from 5 to 7 seconds

"We have increased machinist's walking speed when casting, allowing them to more easily position themselves when attacking. It is relatively easy to avoid attacks from the Bishop Autoturret after confirming where it has been placed, making it difficult for machinists to benefit from its effect that increases damage taken by targets. To offer a greater benefit from this effect, even if it can only be applied once, we have increased its duration."

Dancer

• Honing Dance:
  - Reduction to damage taken has been changed from 20% to 25%

"Honing Dance is an attack that must be used in close quarters, but we felt the risk outweighed the reward. To allow dancer to use this action more reliably, we have increased its damage reduction effect."

Black Mage

• Soul Resonance (LB):
  - The Apocatastasis effect (-10% damage taken) has been removed

"In light of their relatively high win rate in higher tiers, we have decide to make adjustments to black mage. Rather than lower their attack, however, we have lowered their defensive abilities. This will ensure greater risk in the actions they take, and allow opponents to strategize more effectively."

Summoner

• Ruin III:
  - Potency has been increased from 4,000 to 5,000
• Astral Impulse (Ruin III under Bahamut):
  - Potency has been increased from 6,000 to 7,500
• Fountain of Fire (Ruin III under Phoenix):
  - Potency has been increased from 4,000 to 5,000
• Megaflare (LB, Bahamut):
  - Ignores line of sight checks now (i.e. like BLM Superflare)

"Although summoner's limit break strikes a large area, there are instances where objects on the field obstruct the attack, preventing it from dealing damage. We have made adjustments to ensure the limit break will hit targets regardless of any obstructions in the area of effect. Furthermore, because summoner has a relatively low win rate in higher tiers, we have increased the potency of their basic attacks."

Red Mage

• Magick Barrier:
  - HP recovered via healing actions has been reduced from 20% to 10%
  - Effect duration has been reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
• Frazzle:
  - Reduced HP recovery via healing actions has been changed from 20% to 10%
  - Effect duration has been reduced from 10 to 8 seconds
  - Ignores line of sight checks now (i.e. like BLM Superflare)

"Red mage is a job whose win rate was much higher than we anticipated. We believe the reason for this is the large area of effect and high utility of both Magick Barrier and Frazzle. Because of this, we have reduced the duration and potency of their effects. However, we also wished to improve the ease of use of Frazzle, which is why we made adjustments to ensure it will apply to targets regardless of any obstructions in its area of effect."

White Mage

• Afflatus Misery:
  - Range has been reduced from 30 to 25 yalms
• Miracle of Nature:
  - Range has been reduced from 15 to 10 yalms

"The win rate for white mage increased significantly since the last update, but we believe their present win rate to be slightly higher than intended. Rather than reduce their ability to heal, we have reduced the range of one powerful attack and one debuff action, requiring white mage to take greater risks when going on the offensive."

Astrologian

• The Balance, The Bole, The Arrow:
  - Ignores line of sight checks (i.e. like BLM Superflare)

"To improve the usability of astrologian's card actions, we have made adjustments to ensure their effects will be applied to targets regardless of obstructions breaking line of sight when executed."

PvP-related Bug Fixes

• An issue in PvP wherein players under the effect of Meteodrive inflicted by the monk action Meteodrive could still execute the action Purify.
• An issue in PvP wherein players under the effect of Hysteria inflicted by the reaper action Tenebrae Lemurum could still execute the action Purify.
• An issue in PvP wherein the Excogitation effect granted by the scholar action Seraph Flight was not immediately applied to party members.
• An issue in PvP wherein the Excogitation effect granted by the scholar action Seraph Flight did not immediately trigger when its requirements were met.

Sources:
Patchnotes 6.28
PvP Job Guide (contains developer insight at the bottom)

[Esmoire]

Thank you for putting this together!

Overall I like the patch. I kind of liked the counterplay of LOSing Megaflare but I get them wanting consistency. MNK buffs cone from a good place, but maybe making Riddle of Earth more responsive and maybe giving it 8y range would be a better buff. For the most part the patch increased sustain damage but not burst, which is good. Think I would like to see some instances of burst damage decreased in the future, but continue to increase sustain damage so fights resolve. I do think blowups are OK but there are a lot rather easy to execute on and don't have good design behind them, so I would like to see 6.3 address these.

[Kansene]

Thank you for putting this together!

Overall I like the patch. I kind of liked the counterplay of LOSing Megaflare but I get them wanting consistency. MNK buffs cone from a good place, but maybe making Riddle of Earth more responsive and maybe giving it 8y range would be a better buff. For the most part the patch increased sustain damage but not burst, which is good. Think I would like to see some instances of burst damage decreased in the future, but continue to increase sustain damage so fights resolve. I do think blowups are OK but there are a lot rather easy to execute on and don't have good design behind them, so I would like to see 6.3 address these.

Seconded. I think these are mostly good changes, esp considering how insanely hard to kill nin has been in FL especially (though I know it's balanced around cc).

And a bigger focus on sustain would be swell, I'm not a fan of "dead in less than 1 sec" fights. Hoping for obeshot gimmicks and that whole chainsaw rng stuff to disappear in time.

[Bureda]

Another patch where they buff MCH, SMN and MNK. You can't make this shit up. Lmao.

Those developer insights sound like someone who has never played CC or done any Duels in their life.

[Garten]

So they nerfed nin and buffed monk.. maybe they should reduce alcohool at se?

[Elfidan]

It's really weird that they decided to bring everything in line with superflare ignoring obstructions. I guess we'll see how it goes. Thanks Reinhardt.

[flowerfairy]

AST still doesn't have its LB charge rate lowered after the card changes. I'm lucky to see it even once in a match...

MNK did not need any potency buffs, it needs Riddle of Earth to change to an effect that goes off immediately if you can't press it.

Also more Miracle of Nature nerfs lol

[Latarma]

again nothing for dragoon the last time you gave us anything was to make our lb guardable. but yeah lets buff blm again

[ThaCa]

They noted spesifically that these changes are based on the highest tier winrates. Even though I'm not sure if I agree with all of them, just that fact alone makes it better than most of the previous where they look at it based on all ranks.

Considering it's a minor patch this was still half decent, hopefully more things get figured out in the major patches.

[Jettinson]

Riddle of Earth should behave similar to Holy Sheltron, I do not think 30 second was a big deal considering how much hp restores it gives for a full beating.

The fact that even Gunbreaker's heals can go through LoS is.. well I think it is good, not sure how much I can speak of since I do use Healer GNB that much... the damage debuff on LB is nice, you are still at mercy of anything else though