The problem is we could extend this argument to all jobs in the game and sand down any points of friction within a job’s kit, leaving dull, decision-less jobs saved only by flashy animations.

At what point is it acceptable to say ‘This is the floor for this job or content, if you want to do this you have to meet this level of competency?’

While you do not mind the change, many Viper mains do, as evidenced by the lively conversations happening on the official forums, Reddit and discord. I, and others, have articulated reason-based analyses on why this change has reduced the scope for skill expression on Viper, and reduced meaningful decision-making on the job substantially.

The issue with removing just ‘a timer’ (which is a reductive framing when considering the job holistically) is that there is now no meaningful decisions players need to make when playing Viper. Players who struggle with high APM and double weaving will continue to struggle, and more advanced players have been left with a job with little actual decision making involved.

While fun is experienced subjectively, reducing the scope for players to make decisions in gameplay and forcing them into a more deterministic flow is generally not considered great game design.

There are many things I feel gated from doing in the game at my current level of competence, namely Extremes, Savage and Ultimates. I also feel gated by Jobs like BLM requiring solid encounter knowledge to understand where best to place Leylines, for instance. That said, I do not believe my perception of being gated represents an argument to water-down encounter or job design to match my current skill level.

If I ever decide I want to play BLM in endgame content or do Extremes, I look at it as a challenge I have to rise to, as opposed to needing the game to come down to me.