Please let us keep our abilities on sync down

[Deniza]

Lowering the Level you get xyz Skill isnt the Solution either, the only real Solution is literally do let us keep our Skills in every cirumstance, i mean one of the most important things to improve is to learn your rotation and to use your rotation in certain situations be it a Dungeon, a Raid a Trial or anything but you cant even use your full Rotation in 95% of the Content avaible in the Game with this change it would even improve with the time the skill player have because they will always have acces to the Skillset in every situation.

Another great point that I didn't think of. XD

[Shougun]

I think one of the key points you missed was burst potential, which I did gloss over, so I will elaborate here.

If we take a level 50 PLD, for example, it's AoE rotation is Total Eclipse > Prominence, for a total of 270 potency, or, 135 potency per GCD.

If we then get to level 72, and add Magic Circle, that would bring the total potency up to 470, or ~157 potency per GCD. We could reduce the damage from this combo by ~14% and it will do the same average potency. Ok, we are still in simple maths here.

We hit level 80 and get Confiteor, how do we balance against that? That is 920 potency, every minute. You could reduce it by the ~14%, and get ~791 potency. We are still almost 6 times as strong (3 times as strong for anything other than the main target) as the unmodified combo from level 50. But that isn't the end, we have the Requiescat buff up, I also have charges for 3 Holy Circles at 300 potency each (DM is 200 potency), which is something I didn't mention at level 72.

Level 90 we then get the rest of the blade combo, further pushing the damage up 400+, 500+, 600+ damage compared to Holy Circle, add in Blade of Honor at level 100 for another 1000 potency. The value of this burst just gets higher and higher. It creates a massive gap between the sustained damage and the burst damage. If you were to just calculate a flat % damage reduction on everything, you end up with weaker lows and still really strong highs.

We then have oGCDs, how do you factor in the extra damage gained by them? How about if it goes from single target (Spirit's Within) to AoE (Expiacion)? How about things like Kassatsu where you replace a 650 potency Raiton with a 1300 potency Hyosho Ranryu (which might actually be 1690 if it gets affected by the Kassatsu damage buff).

This is not a simple case of just reducing damage by a fixed %, there is a lot you need to consider that do not necessarily scale well that you would need to adjust for.

As for making the low level experience better, that sounds like a much easier task, especially if we consider many jobs really haven't changed that much since base ARR. PLD was always a 123 job with the only use for Riot Blade back in ARR was to replenish MP if you flashed too much. You were better off getting aggro, then rotating around the targets with your single target combo to keep enmity. Yes, there was Shield Swipe, but noone really cared for it, it wasn't even a DPS gain in ARR IIRC and I made use of the pacify in 1 instance, and that is Ifrit Hard.

Monk, same base combo, still have perfect balance, all Monk has really lost is Touch of Death, Blood for Blood and Internal Release (the fists were set and forget). Steal Peak and Howling Fist I think would get in the way at later levels due to Brotherhood, so making them low level Chakra spenders was a good move. However, we could also bring back the fists as low level riddles. Fists of Earth could just be the damage reduction, with Riddle of Earth giving the regen and Earth's Reply, Fists of Wind could be a 25% reduction to AA delay, upgrading to 50% for Riddle, Fists of Fire could be a 5% increase, upgraded to 15% for Riddle. Add in Celestial Revolution as an early Masterful Blitz for the Perfect Balance finisher, upgrading at level 60 to include the Lunar/Solar Nadi interaction.

With a couple of changes, we have made a solid Monk foundation for level 50. Balance this damage and leave it. Once you get to level 60, balance again, if you need to change potencies, make a trait that increases the damage. That then doesn't mess with the balance that has already been made at lower levels. Monk is a bit lean on things between 54 and 60, so you can put that trait in there (level 56) and make level 58 the upgrade to Fists of Earth to Riddle of Earth, leaving Earth's Reply at 64.

This job is now better at low levels, it has been built in a way where syncing down isn't as detrimental, it has all been balanced and ultimately, it is just going to be a better experience for the low level players as well. Considering this is one of the main complaints, that jobs don't feel fun at low levels, even for newer players. Take the time to improve it. Tey shouldn't have the rotations we have at level 100, they would be far too much, but they do need a solid foundation in order to build everything up from.

My immediate if was hired to be lazy is look at what id expected and then set a formula for floors and ceilings and curved in between. For example on burst, your issue is less if we are placing a ceiling. Level 30 has a burst of 500, level 90 has a burst of 900, ceiling the 900 and start to curve the rest of the job within the two bounds so we reach the approximate goal of potency per action / dps. If being lazy this would all be automatic too lol "why is my AOE 106 potency?" "Excel dictated it. :3"


It's not going to be perfect, but it is also currently not perfect. So you're breaking eggs to make an omelette either way. In my view keeping the job as fun as possible to play is worth some wonk in potency scaling, as currently it's pretty bad feeling.


Hell, we could make it optional in a menu. Would you like to be scaled down, potentially having a slight nerf to potency but increased features, or a very bare bones, no touchi my potency and lack of depth kit? "We don't care, they're similar enough for us".


Being hyper exact is only really important when playing the can't be epic echo'd content, since echo is already taking a giant dunk on the balance. In that content, they could freeze time and give you literally the kit that was made for that content, if they wanted to be that strict on it lol.

[Sheriyana]

Lowering the Level you get xyz Skill isnt the Solution either, the only real Solution is literally do let us keep our Skills in every cirumstance, i mean one of the most important things to improve is to learn your rotation and to use your rotation in certain situations be it a Dungeon, a Raid a Trial or anything but you cant even use your full Rotation in 95% of the Content avaible in the Game with this change it would even improve with the time the skill player have because they will always have acces to the Skillset in every situation.

This is one of the reasons why I keep advocating for it too. Like how are you supposed to practice your rotation in actual content when 95% of content forces you to sync down and make you unable to use a portion of your kit.

[Atreus]

This subject has come up a lot since Endwalker. I created a similar thread in September and cited a few reddit sources with the same discussion.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...very-expansion

In short, a lot of people find level sync in its current form insufferable. While the opposition have valid points about the balance of the content with full abilities, something does need to be done. You can improve the new player experience all you want, but it's the older players you need in order to populate roulettes.

I will only speak on my own experience, but I know I'm not alone. I no longer touch synced content at this point pre-Shadowbringers. If I'm doing Wondrous Tales, then I'm unsyncing and solo'ing most of it. As much joy as I get from helping new players, syncing is dreadfully boring.

[Atreus]

Follow-up comment... a number of opposing viewpoints rightfully bring up the issue of potencies for high-level abilities.

For the last few expansions, SquareEnix has been using the trait system in order to facilitate abilities turning into other abilities and gaining potencies. If SE wants to build a better infrastructure for level sync, they can utilize traits that cull the potencies of attacks when used in different level brackets. To make up for the gain from high-level oGCD attacks, they can trim the difference between required item level and what the item level actually syncs to for individual duties.

In b4 "but that takes too much work!" Get out of here, they spent an entire expansion just changing the game's graphics a little. They can invest in the playability of their game.

[hydralus]

They're fine with giving viper 2 buttons to press until level 55 so I'm not holding my breath.

[AnnRam]

"Just please think about those new free trial accounts that wants to experience the marvelous ARR battle system in Sastasha for first time, yes a dungeon from a decade ago YOU MUST lose 95% of your kit and press 1-2 for straight 30 minutes, this game ISN'T for you my dear veteran player".

[ViinaS]

The worst is that a huge amount of content you'll see in most roulettes will be lv.50.
Alliance Raid, Trials, 'High End' Dungeons, Levelling.

Especially awful with Alliance Raid cause the roulette is like 85% Labyrinth, CT or WoD.

So most of the time you'll sit there with your lv.50 kit.
And for most jobs lv.50 rotation is awful.

I am currently leveling BLM from 90 to 100 and had (of course) WoD in Alli Roulette and BLM at lv.50 feels like utter shit. The only one that comes close in absolute awfulness is VPR at lv.50.
If I do not level and do roulettes and play VPR and get lv.50 content I leave if it's 8-man or 24-man.
Cause I just can't do it with VPR without falling asleep.

[Hasrat]

Benediction is hilariously one of the worst examples as it’s quite possibly WHM’s worst oGCD

If you compare it to any other healer skill with a 3 minute CD benediction looks hilariously weak

See, but, the example isn't there to serve as a "this is powerful, how do you balance" question.

The example still works just fine in context of everyone that says "all they need to do is adjust potencies" or "just scale the numbers."

There is no scaling here. The skill is literally "restore all HP." Sure, at low levels, small HP pools, there's probably a dozen skills that will do the same thing, all from varying levels.

But the point remains, it serves as an example, and only just one, of a skill that doesn't rely on any potencies, and couldn't be easily scaled.
The point remains that this suggestion is never as simple as everyone making it seems to think. When the devs' clear intent is to keep a level and balanced playing field in synced duty content, it's never going to work to have players with access to more and varied skills than the newer players they may be paired with.

[Supersnow845]

See, but, the example isn't there to serve as a "this is powerful, how do you balance" question.

The example still works just fine in context of everyone that says "all they need to do is adjust potencies" or "just scale the numbers."

There is no scaling here. The skill is literally "restore all HP." Sure, at low levels, small HP pools, there's probably a dozen skills that will do the same thing, all from varying levels.

But the point remains, it serves as an example, and only just one, of a skill that doesn't rely on any potencies, and couldn't be easily scaled.
The point remains that this suggestion is never as simple as everyone making it seems to think. When the devs' clear intent is to keep a level and balanced playing field in synced duty content, it's never going to work to have players with access to more and varied skills than the newer players they may be paired with.

By my point is simply the fact that benediction is so weak WHM could have it at level 1 and it would change nothing. Because the skill isn’t worth anything.

I get your point is “you can’t scale infinite HP restoration” but benediction is literally the only skill that functions like this (RIP ARR lustrate) and it’s so weak in the grand scheme of things it’s literally meaningless to even consider it as a noticeable factor

All other skills either scale from potency or from health of the user/target.