Thread: 7.0 DNC Ideacraft

We're about halfway through EW now, and I wanna discuss a little about where to go with DNC from here. What kind of QoL improvements could we see, what tools should be cut/changed and what new tools could we add? I've been thinking about these questions more myself and I have some thoughts on things to address as well as ideas for solutions to these elements.

Leveling & Action Accessibility
It's not a major issue, but I find that DNC feels very dull whenever synched to 70 or earlier. The EW changes to Flourish also make level 80 content slower than it was during ShB. While not a major issue, it's also something that's relatively easy to resolve by shuffling certain tools around.

• Flourish - Level 72 > Level 50
• Saber Dance - Level 76 > Level 54
• Fan Dance IV - Level 86 > Level 72

Notes:
- For Flourish, since it only grants 2 Flourish GCDs instead of 4, I don't feel like it feels particularly strong. Bringing it down to level 50 would also feel like a stronger "capstone" at that level than Fan Dance II and En Avant.
- As for Saber Dance, I'd have its potency reduced to feel more in balance with HW content, but can be brought back up via trait at level 76. Both of these changes would do a lot at making earlier content feel more engaging for DNC.
- Lastly, bringing down Fan Dance IV into level 70 territory also helps DNC feel closer to how it felt in ShB during level 80 content.

Cuts and Changes

• Fan Dance - Becomes AoE, dealing 50% less damage to enemies nearby your target.
• Fan Dance II - Removed
• Fan Dance IV > Changes from a separate button to one that replaces Flourish when available.
• Closed Position - Can be used on yourself, increasing Esprit generation.
• Saber Dance > Increase potency to 500.
• Improvisation - Channels a dance that provides a healing over time effect > Becomes: can be used in place of any Emboite, Entrechat, Jete, or Pirouette step during standard step or technical step. Costs 30 Esprit and deals damage to all nearby enemies with a potency of 150 for the first enemy, and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
• Improvised Finish > Removed
• Tilana - Used after Technical Step and applies the effects of Standard Step > Used after Standard Step and extends the duration of Stand Step's buffs by 10 seconds; additionally, inflicts Charm on all nearby enemies for 2 seconds (trash mobs only)
• Starfall Dance > Changes from a separate button to one that replaces Devilment when available.

Notes:
- The Fan Dance and Fan Dance II part is not at all necessary, but this game doesn't really support the choice between single target and AoE scenarios really, so I'd really like to see the merging of a lot of actions that are a single target and AoE version of the same thing.
- The addition to Closed Position is just to make solo content as DNC a little less slow.

- For Saber Dance and Improvisation... Improv currently is fine, but also unnecessarily clunky at the same time. It's been this way for ShB as well, but this change would help it resolve a piece of clunk rather than create one. I run into situations often during raiding where I sometimes generate so much Esprit that I'll get filled up when refreshing Standard Step during burst windows. This would allow you to prevent overcapping of Esprit while you're unable to use Saber Dance during those moments. Currently, it's set as DPS neutral, but if we feel it's best for balance for it to be a slight loss and exists only to prevent overcapping, then we could do something like 120 potency instead. Saber Dance's potency is just to make this value very smooth as it'd otherwise be a potency of 144 to be Neutral with the current 480 potency.

- The Tilana change would coincide with an idea I have for new actions, but simply put, this would make Tilana something we get to see more frequently, make DNC's downtime between bursts feel a little more active, and the effect shift will make more sense as I describe a new action. The Charm effect is more for flavor as it doesn't work on any meaningful encounters, but can actually also give DNC a little more oomph in Criterion where the reduced team size otherwise takes away from DNC's performance in contrast to 8-man content, as well as any other Deep Dungeon/Eureka/Bozja type content we get in the future.

- The adjustment to Fan Dance IV and Starfall Dance are just for cleaning up the hotbar more. We can't use these buttons without activating Flourish or Devilment respectively anyway, nor can they be reactivated while Fan Dance IV or Starfall Dance are available. That said, I have no problems finding more ways to potentially trigger Fan Dance IV or Starfall Dance as well, justifying them as separate buttons.

New Action Ideas

• Tilana II - Used after Technical Step to deal damage to nearby enemies and ensures your next 3 attempts to generate a Fourfold Feather have 100% chance to succeed.
• Standard Waltz - Can be activated instead of Standard Finish when performing an alternate step combination displayed on the gauge when using Standard Step; Deals the same damage as Standard Finish and grants a different buff than Standard Finish's applied to self and all nearby allies. When HP is at or below 75%, triggers a 120 healing over time effect for 9 seconds; This buff lasts 15 seconds and if the timer expires, nothing happens and no HoT is gained. Standard Waltz still enables Tilana.
• Chocobo Jig [capstone] - Grants a 10 second combat sprint on a 3 minute cooldown to self and all nearby party members.

Notes:
- Tilana II would feel the same as Tilana currently does after Technical Step, but just makes your burst more consistent with feather generation.
- When using Standard Step, the idea is two combos will appear instead of one, the first is for the normal Standard Finish, and the other is for Standard Waltz. Since the Standard Finish buff lasts 60 seconds, and Standard Step's cooldown is 30 seconds, this gives you a window to opt for something different instead every other dance potentially. This also leads into the Tilana extention simply ensuring you don't get any awkward dropped buff time when going to perform your next Standard Step. It also moves the healing we lost from the Improvisation changes over here, but they're a bit weaker since they're usable more frequently.
- I'll admit, Chocobo Jig has the potential to be too much utility on DNC in contrast to BRD and MCH as well as potentially stepping on SCH's toes. That's part of the reason why I made it a 3 minute cooldown instead of 2, but I feel that it would be thematically appropriate and would be worth testing out the waters for.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whatever we see won't be something like this exactly, but there are a few key takeaways that I want to point out that I want to see from DNC in the next expansion:

First is making DNC's earlier level gameplay a bit more fun when playing synched.
Second is addressing the somewhat sticky situations you can get in during burst windows where you'll randomly generate so much Esprit, that you sometimes overcap during Standard Step, sometimes even after activating Standard Step and not having anything to counter that prior.
Third is playing around with something of an alternative to Standard Step's buff to take advantage of it's 60 second duration, which we currently aren't doing.

All other suggestions are just my own flavor takes and aren't necessary. That said, I'd like to see what others are thinking about and hoping for come 7.0.

I really like these ideas. Closed position on self is LONG overdue. DNC is always shafted when it comes to soloing. Heck, even that Stone, Sky, Sea is worthless since you can't really simulate a dance partner. Also I feel that Closed Position should be moved as early as the 20's, even if it would mean nerfing it and making a "Closed Position II" at higher levels with its actual power. New players gotta be familiarized with that mechanic asap.

The thing about Standard Waltz seems interesting as well. I could totally see them adding something like an alternate finisher - I just don't think that doing a "different sequence" would be intuitive enough, because it would always feel like a "mistake to avoid". But maybe they could find a way to display 2 different step sequences?

The improvisation rework makes the action really more engaging, because today the heal is puny and the shield is extremely situational (and also puny). An 'off way' to spend Esprit with less than 50 would make the gauge more dynamic and would add more complexity with planning, potentially assessing the issue of resource overcapping during TS.