Melee DPS Identity: Single-Hit vs Multi-Hit

[BabyYoda]

Preparation, decisive strikes, rhythm, pressure, sequence flow, etc: I have no idea how those words translate into actual job gameplay, if that makes sense? What's a fast multi hit flow? What's a precise single hit or snapshot burst? What changes between a button that does a multi hit flurry and a button that does a big decisive strike beyond substat application (that would need to be adjusted for this to even work differently)?

To explain it more concretely:

A single-hit style would be more like a charging attack. For jobs like Samurai or Reaper, the gameplay would be about preparing, committing, and landing one strong decisive hit.

A multi-hit style would work differently. For jobs like Viper, Monk, or Ninja, the goal would be to build stacks through multi-hit attacks.

The stacks would build better depending on how many hits the multi-hit attack performs. For example, a 5-hit attack could build Flow better than a 2-hit attack, as long as the player completes the attack properly.

The player would need to use a multi-hit attack every X seconds to maintain Flow.

Once the player reaches a certain Flow state or stack count, they unlock a stronger multi-hit finisher.

That finisher would be powerful, but it would heavily lock the character’s movement, so the player has to choose the right timing.

Even normal multi-hit attacks could slightly restrict movement while the character is performing multiple strikes, but the finisher would be the bigger commitment.

So the trade-off is different.

Single-hit jobs commit to one charged decisive attack.

Multi-hit jobs commit to maintaining pressure over time, building Flow through repeated hits, and choosing the right moment to spend that Flow on a movement-static finisher.

The Flow state does not need to be the same for every job. For Monk, it could be something like Chakra. For Ninja, it could be some kind of wind technique or assassination flow. For Viper, it could be a venom or blade-flow state. The name and theme can change depending on the job and its rotation.

That is the gameplay difference I mean: not just different damage numbers, but different forms of commitment.

[Carighan]

What changes between a button that does a multi hit flurry and a button that does a big decisive strike beyond substat application (that would need to be adjusted for this to even work differently)?

The feel of using it?

You'd be surprised how many games you play are actually ultimately the same under the hood and just differ in aesthetics and theming. For example, the board game Auf Achse was re-released as Leylines. From a trucking game delivering goods to a game of fairies zipping along leylines. Feels all changed, right? Nope, same game. But feels totally different.

[Valence]

Ok so we're mostly talking about rythm and pace of hotbar execution, and the overall tactile feeling? Sounds good. Thanks for clarifying.

I'd hope it doesn't stop there however, and that we get truly unique mechanics beyond the way we press keys.

[SiriusBreeze]

I think Yoshi-P did say at the fanfest that the 2 minute meta forced a certain kind of damage profile onto all the jobs. Without that, they can make classes that are different in how they deliver their damage. So we might see a return of jobs that are more focused on a solid pace of strong hits, and jobs that flood their dps into small windows.