My summary of why I hate the 7.05 Viper changes

[Selvokaz]

The job that's named after a venomous type of snake doesn't have a DoT.

[Leonus]

Bringing back NG as an actual DoT is something. As it was previously? I didn’t care if it stayed, got extended, or remains removed.

I find a reskinned Death’s design “meh”. Did it because it was necessary to max my damage output, not necessarily because it was fun.

[AlessaImpera]

My summary on why I like the Viper changes:

Dots and/or Pseudo-dots are lame and they don't add any difficulty anyway, just clunk during phases with changing targets.

[LisseyCrowe]

My summary on why I like the Viper changes:

Dots and/or Pseudo-dots are lame and they don't add any difficulty anyway, just clunk during phases with changing targets.

On the other hand, the large majority of people arguing for the mechanic to come back don't do so because managing a DoT/Pseudo-DoT was difficult or particularly engaging on it's own. Rather it's the way it tied Viper's kit to be more than pressing the next button and how it added micro-decisions during combat. Should it have been replaced by anything of similar effect, I believe there wouldn't be nearly as much push back.

Case in point imo, much fewer people (though they exist) are arguing against the combo ender buff duration changes. Despite also being a 40 second timer you had to track, it wasn't nearly as much of a decision, since it's quite frankly a given that you will finish your combo eventually (even if you absolutely could drop it).

[M1SF0RTUNE]

To that end I'd respond back with saying that the debuffs also aren't any harder to re-apply than it is to single-targets, since you had the Pit of Dread for an easy re-apply and you could re-up it with the second AoE starter combo, there wasn't any more added difficulty; it wasn't easier nor harder, just literally the same. The only difference is being able to *track* all the timers, but if everything is bunched up well enough in a trash pull then re-applying the debuff is still just as simple as it was before.

As for your uptime mention, here's the big thing to think about I iterated on earlier in the post. If you lose your debuff, you had at least 2 different ways to reapply it very quickly, Dreadwinder and Dread Fangs. Dreadwinder you could use between combos if you manage that resource well enough and use it semi-regularly, and if you're mid-combo and absolutely need to re-apply it, you could choose to do the AoE equivalent of Dread Fangs and then rotate back into your single-target combo. The main point is you're one GCD away from recovering your maximum damage during your regular combos. In the current system, it can take upward of 5 GCD's to get your combo starters back on track and you're still railroaded into what buttons to push to make that happen. Sure, it doesn't affect Reawaken, Vicewinder and most of the regular combo if you misinput, but it still makes it clunky when you ultimately go back to the standard combo at any point and you're still forced to watch the hotbar for extended periods to make sure you're following the glowing buttons properly. I don't ultimately control the combo anymore in this system, whereas before I had the agency to set myself up to start with 1 multiple times in a row and the debuff acted as a visual queue for that.

[mallleable]

I think the change is Fine™. It's not an amazing change, but I don't hate it. Going though the Steel, and Vice Fang combs feels pretty auto piloty now which may or may not be a problem, but the rest of VPR's rotation stayed the same. It is kinda odd that the snake themed job doesn't have a venomous move now.

[M1SF0RTUNE]

I think the change is Fine™. It's not an amazing change, but I don't hate it. Going though the Steel, and Vice Fang combs feels pretty auto piloty now which may or may not be a problem, but the rest of VPR's rotation stayed the same. It is kinda odd that the snake themed job doesn't have a venomous move now.

The general rotation's been dumbed down, so you're force to alternate instead of being able to double-up or triple-up your Steel Fang starts, but it's also more convoluted since you're still not hitting any (visible and untransforming button) combo track consistently (i.e. 1-2-3, 1-2-4, 1-5-6), instead it's an endless alternation between 1 and 2 and to keep your damage topped you have to be consistently landing Steel Fangs or DreadReaving Fangs when they're lit up, it's never 1-1-1-2-2-2-1-1-1-2-2-2 back to back, nor 1-2-2-2-1-1 consistently the whole way through. It makes it not just more autopilot and braindead but an even smaller margin of error, thus you're likely gonna be watching your hotbar more than before.

[Higashikata]

It just didn't need to be changed.

[GartredZW]

It's a little funny how they went "Hey, we're going to lighten positional requirements in a later patch" and the playerbase overwhelmingly went "What the hell, don't do that, we like it as it is." and they said "ok, I guess we shouldn't" Then they just come out with this change without any lead up or chance for us to say "That's a dumb idea, don't do that please."
Here's hoping for 7.08 if they decide to do one of those like Endwalker.

[M1SF0RTUNE]

On the other hand, the large majority of people arguing for the mechanic to come back don't do so because managing a DoT/Pseudo-DoT was difficult or particularly engaging on it's own. Rather it's the way it tied Viper's kit to be more than pressing the next button and how it added micro-decisions during combat. Should it have been replaced by anything of similar effect, I believe there wouldn't be nearly as much push back.

Case in point imo, much fewer people (though they exist) are arguing against the combo ender buff duration changes. Despite also being a 40 second timer you had to track, it wasn't nearly as much of a decision, since it's quite frankly a given that you will finish your combo eventually (even if you absolutely could drop it).

I wanted to chime in on this. This is a large part of it, yes, as it felt like it took skill and a solid understanding of the kit to properly maintain that debuff amidst your natural flow of play. Those who understood the kit well could maintain it very easily.

But three other big problems were that 1. They didn't warn us this was a change they were going to make, and as far as we all knew they were considering positionals only to change their mind and tweak something completely unrelated, 2. What used to be a free-flow combo where you got to choose how to traverse your combo (rewarding good play) is now forced alternations that don't end, pause, or break at any point. You're forced to follow the glowing button endlessly now to maintain optimal damage which is patronizing and hand-holdy, and lastly 3. Removing NG ends up disconnecting a bunch of the kit from itself, so DreadVicewinder serves no good purpose other than jump-starting your buffs if you let them both fall somehow (or die), and Reawaken now takes no skill or effort outside of brainlessly following the glowing buttons to execute.

The job actually demanded some skill, forethought and even some basic reading to engage with the nuance in it. Getting double-Reawakens required planning and proper setup and timing with your debuff, so you were forced to learn how to use your tools to maximize Reawakens' potential and get the big payoff of landing them both in one go under the debuff. Current Viper isn't rewarding at all to pull off Reawakens, it might as well just be on a fixed timer to execute and is a distraction from the follow-the-neverending-glowing-buttons if anything.