This is another one of my personal feedbacks, and it is extremely tied to personal taste, so your mileage may vary, since ultimately this is very subjective. However, I am still sharing here what I like and what I don't in the game, and why I play, and what draws me in (or drew me in if I want to be depressed about it).

Since ShB huge simplifications to the battle system have been made, if not outright deletion of entire facets of it (aggro, resource scarcity, party synergy and resource support, target tactical positioning, actual pets, box hitboxes, role identity, etc). Nothing has really been added to make up for it since then.

Meanwhile, everything has been funneled into encounter design with a dedication bordering on obsession. Don't get me wrong, I do feel that encounters look great and all, and I do feel that the mechanics are more difficult as a result of all that simplification on the jobs side. This added to what was stated at PAX on shaking things up a bit, bringing up variations, pitfalls and surprise into a repetitive pattern, I'm happy to hear actually. If we can get out of the same formulaic design, I'm all for it! If we can, per chance, hope for more midcore content, same thing!

However, I do not play for encounters. I never really vibed well with the "playing DDR and follow a scripted choreography until you get it 100% right else you wipe". It's just not what I like. I like rng and tactical choices. I like adjusting to what happens, and that's not talking about "reading the room and try to figure out how to solve abstract geometry on the dance floor" kind of deal. I like finding the correct tools to counter what the boss or encounter is doing to me and my party. I like executing my rotation well and properly (guess why I love rng proc rotations?). I like what I consider to be the core essence of RPG elements, not that guitar hero stuff.

And you know what? I understand that the scripted guitar hero stuff has always been part of every encounter, and even moreso at savage level. I'm fine with it. I mean, I was fine with it, because there was a lot of things in the battle system and the jobs that actually kept me entertained. The game has a wide player range and tastes after all, and the reason I loved pve in this game was frankly because of the job design, and the resource scarcity based design of the battle system.

Unfortunately those days, everything is being funneled into encounter scripted mechanics that are not only getting harder, but with an over simplification of everything else, which includes exactly what I enjoyed. I'm left with only the scripted part of fights, and with more and more punishing body checks and finicky, overcomplicated geometry and debuff vomit to solve under 5s. That's not what I like.

I liked more intricate job and battle system RPG gameplay and elements, and there used to be a certain balanced there before.


Note: if the only answer is "maybe it's not the game for you anymore, go play something else", then that's fair I guess. But this is still my feedback.