Area of Effect: Display Markers

[Synfrag]

No thanks, it's like automating or visually removing the necessity for skill. If I were to give an analogy it's like calling yourself an artist but needing a ruler to draw a stick figure. I much prefer my gaming to be one where I hone my skills as an artist.

My experience includes BRD, WHM and BLM as for Rampart and other classes AoEs I do not know.

BRD should be re-positioning himself to add different buffs to melee and mages most of the time, doing so really isn't difficult at all in my experience.

WHM only AoE 3 things, Stoneskin, Protect and Regen (Benediction's range is massive) Out of those 3 things only one is done frequently which is Regen. The increased range for buffs is a welcome addition however.

BLM and Flare? Resonance... It's always up when Flare is and it increases range to an absurd amount.

Now, what I would like is an indicator that is visible to everyone else so even the people who ignore chat macros or don't learn other classes will see they are outside of buff ranges. Also for BLM so it can be seen if mobs have moved outside it's range and can prepare for additional actions. This would offer a good opportunity for animation "flash" as glowing runes or whatever can be seen by the party and visually appealing to everyone.

The way you state it is leveling the playing field for good and bad players, personally I like that segregation. I'm not saying it is game breaking but it is another drop in the bucket of not needing to learn your job. Skill is what differentiates FF from the rest of the crowd. I take pride in becoming good at something by honing it not by visual indicators. I understand making the game casual friendly, however that should be done via drop rates, content finding ease and short duration content rather than short sighting the depth of the classes and jobs.

[TheFatHousecat]

The way you state it is leveling the playing field for good and bad players, personally I like that segregation. I'm not saying it is game breaking but it is another drop in the bucket of not needing to learn your job. Skill is what differentiates FF from the rest of the crowd. I take pride in becoming good at something by honing it not by visual indicators. I understand making the game casual friendly, however that should be done via drop rates, content finding ease and short duration content rather than short sighting the depth of the classes and jobs.

In a word, agreed. I feel like something like this is minor enough to not be a real issue (after all, player abilities are something that can be tested outside of instances, and NPC abilities can be learned through trial and error), but also creates a nice little separation between the people who will take the time to really get comfortable with their AoE's, and the people who won't. It's not a huge gap but it's there and it's reasonable.

The indicators just seem like they would end up cluttering up the screen and just be too much hand-holding. I mean, I'll be the first person to admit to using a distance add-on for fights (you can see it in my videos ;P), but when it comes down to it, I know the range of my songs, and I know where to stand to be safe, because I take the time to figure this stuff out. It's not too much to ask that of other people.

[Synfrag]

I mean, I'll be the first person to admit to using a distance add-on for fights (you can see it in my videos ;P), but when it comes down to it, I know the range of my songs, and I know where to stand to be safe, because I take the time to figure this stuff out. It's not too much to ask that of other people.

Ditto, well, it's more so for HP% in my case but I do think range finders are acceptable to "Optimize" your ranges. I used one in XI as well to get max range on BLM pudding farming. But that was a much larger range and for WHM buffs I never used it, nor would it really have been helpful anyhow.

[Preypacer]

No thanks, it's like automating or visually removing the necessity for skill. If I were to give an analogy it's like calling yourself an artist but needing a ruler to draw a stick figure. I much prefer my gaming to be one where I hone my skills as an artist

Very good analogy! I like it.