On the Removal of Positionals

[W00by]

You're right I should just unsubscribe from this game. Enjoy your positionals. I like how your opinion isn't personal because you already get what you want lol. What an entitled elitist jerk. I hope the game dies because of people like you.

I am sorry that your experience is negative right now, but I assure you, I am not saying "you should just unsubscribe." And I'm sorry that you aren't enjoying the game right now. But who's being a jerk here -- me, trying to have an evidence based discussion with you? Or you, telling me you hope the game I love dies? I didn't look up your logs, and I didn't invalidate your feelings -- quite the opposite. I'm just trying to engage in discussion here. You, who have accused me of "yapping" and being a toxic elitist, are the one being unkind here. But I understand you're frustrated.

Also, my opinion is personal. Part of the reason I want positionals to stay is because "I like positionals." But that would not be a strong enough argument for them to stay in the game. If anyone in this thread had provided me a real reason they should be removed -- something rooted in the game's design, or the objective implementation of positionals -- I would weigh that objectively. But people rarely do. And any objective criticism of positionals, I feel has a stronger argument to the opposite as to why they are an effective mechanic.

"Positionals limit fight design!" No they don't. They enhance it by making mechanics more engaging on melee since melee have to both do the positionals and the mechanic simultaneously. There are some bad mechanics, but the great ones feel so great on melee this expansion.

"Positionals limit job design!" No they don't. Square Enix has never removed something from the game and added back something cool and interesting to take advantage of the absence, not once. Until there's precedent for this, I refuse to believe they wouldn't just remove them wholesale.

"Positionals are trivial and boring busywork!" Not any more than cast times are busy work in fights that don't allow you to move. Sure, sometimes the boss doesn't challenge you to do them, but in the content where the extra damage from positionals hypothetically matters, positionals are very challenging and engaging (while not forcing you to pursue that challenge if you don't want to).

"There should be melees without positionals!" There basically are, RPR and MNK are barely thinking about them right now, and with Huton removed, NIN is almost never caught unawares and can always manipulate whether they want to do a side or a flank. Even SAM has enough timer leeway to switch order between side and flank combos depending on what Sen they have. Pretty much only Dragoon and Viper feel "prohibitive" with their positionals at times.

"Positionals make it hard to optimize!" Not really. The gain for hitting all of them is very small, and even then, a player who misses all their positionals but crits more can still do more damage than a player hitting all their positionals. The very top end shouldn't be factored into analysis, optimization should hardly matter here.

Other than "I don't like them," I haven't seen an argument that can't be countered in favor of positionals. I don't cite these arguments because I like positionals. I cite them because they're true, and have been confirmed to be true for me in my years of playing this game.

I'm really not trying to be elitist or gatekeep. It's fine to dislike them. But until someone can provide me arguments based on in-game design or numbers, I can't see any argument for positionals to be removed. I assure you that if I truly thought it was for the best, I'd welcome their removal. But, come on -- Aiming DPS is hemorrhaging players, and healers are on strike! Is melee really the role that needs changes right now?

I hope someday, you can return to the game and enjoy it, but maybe it's time for a break.