Breaking the Majority’s Silence: A Job Criticism Thread

[Fahrih]

(Inspired by Synodic Scribe’s YouTube video “Final Fantasy 14’s Future, the Minority Vs Majority must End”. Feel free to make separate threads using the “Breaking the Majority's Silence” phrase to talk about different topics.)

As mentioned in the inspiration video, this game has always had a problem with the Vocal Minority Vs the Silent Majority; the loud people that want change, and the quiet people simply content with what’s currently there, who don’t see a reason to provide feedback if that feedback is nothing more than “yeah I like it.” And yet that feedback does have value, because if the vocal minority talks trash about what the silent majority wants to stay, the devs are going to change it, because they hear “thing bad” and not a single “thing good”.

So I want to take a step forward and try and gather the people that are silent and get them to contribute their voice. An open thread only for people to send messages to the devs without fear of your fellow man talking smack for your opinions.

To set an example, allow me to start.

I am, primarily, a Savage raider. I go about it casually, though. My strongest opinion is about job identity and how homogenization has harmed it. I could not care less about how one job can out-dps another, or how homogenization “can fix that,” I want the jobs to be unique, fun, and reflect lore in their mechanics. Red Mage, for example, is fantastic for keeping to its simple task of balancing Black and White magics. Astrologian’s cards are a great way to spice up a healer’s rotation, and Astrodyne is probably one of my favorite abilities in the game just for being a unique big self buff. I think jobs need individual flavor, comparisons be damned. I don’t care about “strongest party compositions”, I just want to play what’s fun to me, and it’s rough when the people who care so much about optimization start taking away the flavors of the jobs from everyone else.

Short and to the point, just my two cents. If no one agrees, then fine, I can live with that. But if I’m sitting on this opinion without knowing that I’m actually in the majority? That’s why I’m making this: to let people find out if they’ve been in the majority all along, and never dared to voice their opinions for fear of being the minority, in the “wrong.”

There is no wrong in this thread. Just a voice, and a right to speak.

[Jeeqbit]

The problem is you are assuming you are part of the majority. Most people on these forums say the same thing as you just said and people on these forums are regarded as a minority. So what if you are actually part of the minority?

Either way, people on these forums are anything but "silent" so this isn't where you're going to find the silent people.

[AnnRam]

As long this game it's meant to be played in consoles you won't have more skills or complex rotations.

I won't be surprised if in the next expansion jobs only gain new visuals/ traits and probably 1 or 2 new skills max.

[LioJen]

PVP shows you don't need complex rotations to have unique action identity.

[Kaurhz]

As long this game it's meant to be played in consoles you won't have more skills or complex rotations.

I won't be surprised if in the next expansion jobs only gain new visuals/ traits and probably 1 or 2 new skills max.

I don't even think console would be the problem in the case of more complex skills or rotations. With the XHB there's really an abundance of accessible hotbars. It's just entirely a matter of people taking that step to learn what is provided to them.

[NekoMataMata]

As long this game it's meant to be played in consoles you won't have more skills or complex rotations.

I won't be surprised if in the next expansion jobs only gain new visuals/ traits and probably 1 or 2 new skills max.

Are we ever going to stop using console players as a martyr? There's so much button bloat that could be condensed that could be done free up slots for new skills and increase rotation complexity.

Your 1-2-3 and 1-2 combos don't need 3 separate slots. Skills linked to each other like Ley Lines and Between the Lines don't need to be two separate buttons when Between the Lines is only usable when Ley Lines is up and you could easily have it pop up there just like how Salt and Darkness replaces Salted Earth for DRK.

There's one job that would still suffer if they did all this, and thats Monk. AND honestly... it'd be fine. One job out of soon to be 21 main jobs that console players might struggle with is fine.

Also, this:

I don't even think console would be the problem in the case of more complex skills or rotations. With the XHB there's really an abundance of accessible hotbars. It's just entirely a matter of people taking that step to learn what is provided to them.

You have 3 full cross hotbars or 48 slots total, along with whatever you assign your stick buttons to. It's a bit full on some jobs, but it's usable. Literally just a bit of button condensation and they can keep expanding.

[Ardeth]

Honestly, anything in its peak design isn't complex. And when someone trys to make it more complex, they mess it up. Think of a door. If you don't think of the door as you pass through it, it's a good door. If you smack into it because it looks like a push door, but it's a pull door, it's a bad door. Class design in the same. You see simplicity, and it bothers you, and I see it, and it makes me happy. Because I don't want to slam into the door.

[Teno]

As long this game it's meant to be played in consoles you won't have more skills or complex rotations.

I won't be surprised if in the next expansion jobs only gain new visuals/ traits and probably 1 or 2 new skills max.

That's very wrong, the game has worked perfectly well with more complex rotations for the past 10 years, until they started pruning jobs. The controller integration is also great, this has never been an issue for complexity.

[SargeTheSeagull]

I am not remotely silent on my feedback on the game, that said I'll share my two cents anyway. FF14 isn't as fun as it could be or has been. I've played since 2016 and EW is by far the least fun expac. I am a savage raider and I've cleared UCOB. I do not care about job balance at all. I don't care if gunbreakers out dps paladin or if SCH out damages SGE. I could not care less. Job homogenization, uninteresting loot, the slow pace at which jobs gain skills (and by extension how boring they are when sync'd down and for new players) and recent fight design have made me all but quit the game. Jobs feeling fun and unique is infinitely more important than balance because balance effects only week 1/2 savage and ultimate raiders who are a fraction of the playerbase who does savage and ult. If Dawntrail needs to do anything at all, it is make jobs feel fun and unique again. That is all it takes. To hell with balance, I want to have fun.

[Plamtya]

I agree that jobs should meet their fantasy and lore with their rotations, but I think they already do that, and this way, jobs stay balanced and every single one is viable. I worry that, if they made more changes, there'd be a job meta and some jobs would be undesirable in higher-end content. Granted, I've only been playing for 2 years and am in HW, so take this with a grain of salt.