Dawntrail could live to be an amazing expansion with one single huge flaw?

[Raikai]

I've been thinking. The story arc can be great. The expansion can have more interesting encounters (which they're allegedly doing?), and the content features could be plentiful and fulfilling. Relic done properly again.

Even if all of those end up being true, as optimistic as it sounds, DT will be forever haunted by being the worst expansion for job design because it doubles down on the already bad EW design. I don't think anybody needs to actually play them tomorrow to guess this by now.

And not just for healers, the worst cases, but for DPSers too. I've been reading the job guides and what everybody ends up getting? Mostly an extra "follow up key press" that just do plain damage with AoE falloff.

If you're not into Pictomancer or Viper, there's literally nothing of relevance to look forward with most jobs, in face some like BLM are even dreading upon the changes chopping down gameplay diversity.

It's gonna suck to wait until what, late 2026? With this job design - assuming they'll really do somthing of substance then.

[Musashidon]

it's only a flaw if you are one of the few who aren't liking the direction SE is going in with the jobs.

[KageTokage]

it's only a flaw if you are one of the few who aren't liking the direction SE is going in with the jobs.

I am very concerned for this game's future if the majority are actually happy with getting one or two new buttons to hit once every two minutes.

[Musashidon]

I am very concerned for this game's future if the majority are actually happy with getting one or two new buttons to hit once every two minutes.

why? we are steadily getting and keeping more and more players so it's not like the game is even close to being worried about dying or even hurting.

i will also say not all expansions are the same just because this one didn't add anything amazing and over the top doesnt mean we will never see something new or different in another.

[SpiralMask]

why? we are steadily getting and keeping more and more players so it's not like the game is even close to being worried about dying or even hurting.

i will also say not all expansions are the same just because this one didn't add anything amazing and over the top doesnt mean we will never see something new or different in another.

given that we're on year 4+ of a massive downgrade with little added in exchange, i'm seeing a historical pattern of not adding new or different things...
like, new players wont know the difference, but if next expac is more of the same spread thinner across another 10 levels? (or whatever secondary system they may be considering later, as obliquely mentioned in interviews about the level cap)
they'll be slightly disappointed, while existing players get to look forward to another 2 years of the same.
as long as new players keep getting in each time we'll have a nice conga line of people who dont know the difference, so is the end goal to just accept that the gameplay is bland for non-newbies and just focus on the story?

unless there's some sort of shakeup at some point it's going to be a rather unexciting time outside of the story at the very least.

[Musashidon]

given that we're on year 4+ of a massive downgrade with little added in exchange, i'm seeing a historical pattern of not adding new or different things.

you will need to tell me what you think a massive downgrade is specifically. i get all over endwalker but that is very vague.

i can think of two pretty big changes that came in endwalker alone not counting other jobs i don't pay much attention to.

that being blade of faith combo for pld and the whole summoner rework that changed them fundamentally.

sure over all blade of faith doesnt change base pld but it was a pretty big change from just using some spells or rotating through the normal 1/2/3 combo. i will say the summoner change speaks for itself.

once again this expansion was mild in changes well besides a few like blm and monk but SE does some pretty big changes often with expansions so saying nothing has changed in 4 years isn't correct as we have seen it.

i will say shaking things up when its not what people want is a bad move now it also is a what kind of shake up too as change isn't necessarily bad but it isn't always good either.

what kind of shake up do you want? when i see some of the thoughts on the forum people don't want something new and exciting they want the game to change in a way that isn't FF14, so a good question i like to ask is what is something new and exciting we can get that is still in the mind set of what FF14 wants.

One of the few thousands of people who hate the 2 minute meta that is literally the only thing JP agrees with us on lol?

what is a few thousand people to a million subscription playerbase? i will say i dont personally care if they have or get rid of the 2 minute meta but what is the real number of players who dislike it compared to the number who like it?

The issue is not a few buttons, but the fact that they are absolutely boring actions instead of new mechanics to play with

i will say this is only 1 expansion with some mild changes i won't say next expansion will be revolutionary cause honestly i don't know but not all combat changes to expansions can be huge mechanic changes.

on that note what mechanic would you like added to your favorite job?

[Raikai]

why? we are steadily getting and keeping more and more players so it's not like the game is even close to being worried about dying or even hurting.

i will also say not all expansions are the same just because this one didn't add anything amazing and over the top doesnt mean we will never see something new or different in another.

The issue is not a few buttons, but the fact that they are absolutely boring actions instead of new mechanics to play with... And that's to everybody sans AST and DRG, and even those are debatable.

BLM's Flare Star, to me, is the worst case of it all. It's just a plain 400 potency damage that you can only press at the end of your AF phase if you pressed 6 Fire IV's. It doesn't interact back with anything in the kit nor it has a flexible usage. In the end Flare Star could easily be a follow up action to Despair with very little difference. It's such a bland action that I hardly think that a gauge was even necessary.

You see DNC's Dance of the Dawn animation and think "Oh, cool, I wonder what the 100 capstone does!" - and then is just Saber Dance, but more damage.

[Valence]

I am very concerned for this game's future if the majority are actually happy with getting one or two new buttons to hit once every two minutes.

Yoshida has been saying all the time "yes I'm a gamer too and I understand we went too far etc etc", yet they do proceed into doing even more of it with the release of this expansion...

you will need to tell me what you think a massive downgrade is specifically. i get all over endwalker but that is very vague.

The massive downgrade happened in ShB when they gutted the whole battle system.

The rest is merely a series of follow ups and consequences trickling down from it.

[CaptainLagbeard]

DT doesn't really have a great big plot hook to draw you in, and the new stuff Jobs are getting seem quite underwhelming at best.

Literally the only thing the expansion has to stand on will be it's story.

[GrizzlyTank]

DT doesn't really have a great big plot hook to draw you in, and the new stuff Jobs are getting seem quite underwhelming at best.

Literally the only thing the expansion has to stand on will be it's story.

And unfortunately have tempered expectations to the story since they have consistently opted to chop off the political drama of it, as well as ignoring side-quests cause they don't want another crystal tower situations... Even though that's one of the reasons we grew to love the story.