Ideas on Fixing/Improving Frontline - Balance, Map Design, UI/UX, Objectives

[HylianBebop]

Since single target isn't viable, group AOE is the solution (and a more fun one at that). If you cap AoE at 5, matches will get real boring real quick.

I'd agree that single target is not viable in the current toolkit, but in the previous two iterations, there was more of a focus on single target bursts than there is now, and I felt like matches in one of those iterations (Stormblood kit) felt way better than what we have now. It felt like single target/small group bursts happened more frequently, and in general you have more prolonged engagements rather than the cat-and-mouse setups we see now. Yes, in the Stormblood iteration, AOE bursts picked up towards the end, culminating with the AOE burst setups involving mass sleep + ranged LBs all going off at once. They just did not happen as often. AOE abilities were mostly used in conjunction with healing role actions (IE SAM using AOE rotation + bloodbath to stay engaged in a fight longer). So IMO, from what I remember of the Stormblood kit + matches I played, fewer group bursts, heavier emphasis on marking a single player and calling quicker bursts on them, more constant engagement because you could self-sustain better in crowds. Also, CC resistances for each type on top of role action immunity abilities like Fettered Ward or WAR IR on a 30s CD to help you stay in a fight longer than you currently can via purify.

I originally had a bullet point that was essentially about how I'd like SE to cange the toolkit to switch focus to single target abilities + AOE Debuff/Buffs/Support, change AOE DPS tools to be paired with self-sustaining skills so it's not about doing a lot of AOE damage so much as keeping you in the fight longer. But then I thought about it and decided that I'd actually rather SE look more closely at Rival Wings, which despite using the same toolkit, feels like AOE damage is not really a problem. That's because of the nature of the map design + multiple objectives. So if Frontline maps could be reworked to encourage more frequent objectives needing attention because they're crucial to winning (moreso than just simply running around to setup ambushes), then you would have more spread out engagements where you're not seeing 24-48 enemies "grouped up" ever, so the AOE meta loses its potency without changing a thing about the toolkit.