A plea for RNG and proc based gameplay

[Azlith]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but every rotation is technically a priority based rotation, the difference is how often you have to change your priority.

What is Dragoon's priority? Keeping your damage buff and DoT up. This is why you start with Chaotic Spring combo, then use Heaven's Thrust combo, then back to Chaotic Spring etc. The only time this will change is if you disengage from a boss and so the timer's suddenly don't line up as nicely. You then have to make an on the fly decision as to what to prioritise.

Paladin has no RNG in it's rotation, however, it is also described as a priority rotation, where the priority is flipped when you go into burst.

As for what have called 'priority based rotations', which is just RNG procs changing things more often, it basically boils down to, press the shiny, unless it is to be saved for burst. But every job pools resources for burst, so it is hardly ground-breaking.

You might be new to the mmo genre. For a very long time in the mmo scene there are what is referred to as "priority based rotations" and rigid or "static rotations". A priority based rotation sees you following a list of priorities from top to bottom. You have to actually parse the information on screen, understand it and make decisions based on what you are seeing. A static rotation sees you preforming a never changing rotation of abilities, a rotation in the truest sense of the word.

A priority based system does not have to be as simple as "hit the shiny button" and save resources for burst. A well made system will see you spinning several plates in the forms of buffs, debuffs, dots, cooldowns (of different lengths not all the same with some taking precedence over others so you have to make smart decisions on how you enter those cd windows,) procs, movement vs standing still, 1 target, 2 target, 3 target, 4+ targets and many other factors. In FF14, especially in DT, most jobs follow a static rotation model. I can map out every gcd of any given encounter and follow that exact gcd map to the end of the fight to do optimal dmg. That map for that encounter will never change (unless you factor in a targeted kill time which again you can just make another gcd map for) and deviating from that map will result in a dps loss. You can never do this with a priority based system which is why I find them to be more engaging. Oh and no you didn't "burst my bubble" lol.