Positionals..

[Vinal211]

The state of job design right now is in a very delicate position, asking for more things to be removed by the same team of developers that have given us a long history already of removing skills/mechanics from jobs whilst replacing them with nothing will only serve to alienate those that enjoyed that particular thing. It would be, in my opinion, better overall if the game was changed to better accommodate positionals by giving us proper feedback (via old ShB Bootshine crit proc, ShB DRG Raiden thrust, or just having a sound/visual tick play when they're landed, etc) for hitting them instead of outright removing them.

so giving us something like when we land a combo? because there is a little visual and sound indicator that says you hit the next button in your standard rotation...it is pretty bad though considering you'd have to staring right at your character and turning all other sounds down during a raid...actually why haven't they made that more obvious? nothing incredibly obnoxious, but maybe a semi-loud "ping!" noise that you can hear clearly without, you know...drowning out anything else in a fight.

[Nobuyuki_Sanada]

I wonder if positionals would be more fun if they were not mandatory. So instead of having to change positionals in your normal rotation you can choose which skill to use depending on the situation. So you would either do a 1-2-3 combo or 1-2-4, skill 3 would do more damage from front/back while 4 does more damage from the flank. 3 and 4 both do the same potency so there is no benefit to using one over the other. Leave it up to the boss to force you around the arena and up to the player to use the appropriate skill according to their forced position. This keeps the intended skill check for the role while not making it feel janky by being forced to move even though the enemy is not moving or doing anything to force you to move.

[Ransu]

Positionals don't add any kind of difficulty to a job... Either way, the person you quoted has a point. The devs want every job to be accessible.

[ty_taurus]

Positionals don't add any kind of difficulty to a job... Either way, the person you quoted has a point. The devs want every job to be accessible.

The thing about accessibility is I feel the design team has a major problem in looking at a candle and seeing a house fire. Nearly every inch of content in this game is clearable doing the absolute barest of minimums each job is capable of and asks very little of the player in terms of mechanics. Players don't need to hit positionals to clear their daily roulettes, alliance raids, or even EX fights really. It feels like the design team as well as the community continues to treat optimal play as the bar to entry when almost every fight in the game can be cleared by just mashing Dragon Kick, and I'm not even talking about the Dragon Kick combo--literally only hitting Dragon Kick.

Savage and above, on the other hand, is meant to be challenging, and even there, optimal play isn't entirely required. It can be moreso at launch, but tomestone gear can make that difference very quickly. And even in the Savage environment, why do we need to force training wheels onto every job for players trying to go mountain biking, especially in a game where you can change jobs. If MNK's positionals became too hard for you, then you could swap to a job that doesn't have positionals--even a melee job if we wen't off the example I gave earlier of 1 heavy positionals melee, 2 light positionals melee, and 2 no positionals melee. The entire point of having a job system is choice, but what's even the point if everything has to be the same in the name of accessibility?

[Elizasylen]

I think positionals are fine as is, your job no longer falls apart from not hitting them (Raiden Thrust for example) so I think it's fine to have them.

[Duskane]

honestly i just like moving around the boss it,yeah its kinda minor but it makes melee DPS different to other DPS.

[Katashi90]

I'm guessing they wanted to reward melee DPS with better damage output for positionals back then, to justify their value over physical ranged DPS...? True North was probably given to melee because of bosses like Cloud of Darkness(one of the earliest) that has no varying positions to determine if bonus damage is applicable.

[ty_taurus]

I'm guessing they wanted to reward melee DPS with better damage output for positionals back then, to justify their value over physical ranged DPS...? True North was probably given to melee because of bosses like Cloud of Darkness(one of the earliest) that has no varying positions to determine if bonus damage is applicable.

All attacks against the Cloud of Darkness and any other large boss that sits off the side of the arena always trigger positionals regardless of where you stand because you cannot reach their flank or rear. Additionally, there are also enemies that aren't off the stage that still don't require positionals to be awarded that extra damage. If you look at the image below, the hitbox of the enemy tells you whether or not positionals are needed. The left example does require positionals and gives you more information about where you need to be to earn them. The right example does not require positionals and they will always trigger even if you attack from the front.

[SerophisRagnarok]

All attacks against the Cloud of Darkness and any other large boss that sits off the side of the arena always trigger positionals regardless of where you stand because you cannot reach their flank or rear. Additionally, there are also enemies that aren't off the stage that still don't require positionals to be awarded that extra damage. If you look at the image below, the hitbox of the enemy tells you whether or not positionals are needed. The left example does require positionals and gives you more information about where you need to be to earn them. The right example does not require positionals and they will always trigger even if you attack from the front.

This is a great explanation and a good showing of how easy positionals actually are. people just overcomplicate things to the point they go complain. then all the skill expression jobs have gets gutted like fish.

[SerophisRagnarok]

positionals are not hard...what little skill expression melee jobs like monk, samurai and dragoon had are just being erased to all be "hurp durp i hit boss with stick". For god's sake Reaper loses their positionals when they enshroud...WHY WHY WHY. thats the damage window, thats when positionals couldve made reaper shine like the dps god its designed to feel like...