Do 1 hour abilities have a place in ARR?

[Sakasa]

LOL I hope you guys didn't seriously think I was asking for 2hr long moves! I only meant the animations for a 1/2hr ability should last 1min or less. I was just trying to emphasis how they should make it be EPIC! lol

Oh no I just really like Gladiator and like to plug it any chance i get

[Issachar]

Now see...the idea of an ability with such a long timer is outdated in this day and age. Back in XI, before the advent of WoW, it was made to where you're only doing like 1 or maybe 2 contents a day, so the meticulous planning and utilization of 2hr abilities fit there. Fast forward to present MMOs where the typical approach to content is to grind them or otherwise repeat for an extended amount of time. Having 2hr or even 1hr abilities really would put an artificial restraint on the amount of content you can do in any given amount of time. I think the 15m abilities work well. Not overpowered, but not weak...there in a pinch when you need it 1-2 times per content.

[Andrien]

Primal summon will most likely take more than 2 hours to unlock with your free company. there you have it. it is what it is.

[vax]

I'll like to see a 1 hour ability, and maybe something like this: "Damage and recast varies with TP ". An 1 hour ability that consume 1/2 of your current TP. More TP you have more damage and recast. With 1000 TP, it consumes 500 TP, doing full damage of the ability and a recast of 1 hour. With 500 TP, it consules 250, doing 1/2 of the damage and recast of 30 min.

[Kirito]

I'll like to see a 1 hour ability, and maybe something like this: "Damage and recast varies with TP ". An 1 hour ability that consume 1/2 of your current TP. More TP you have more damage and recast. With 1000 TP, it consumes 500 TP, doing full damage of the ability and a recast of 1 hour. With 500 TP, it consules 250, doing 1/2 of the damage and recast of 30 min.

I can see why you'd want that for 1.0 since you build up TP but in 2.0, from the looks of the videos, the TP starts at 1000 TP

[vax]

I can see why you'd want that for 1.0 since you build up TP but in 2.0, from the looks of the videos, the TP starts at 1000 TP

I know, but who know if on the future the TP bar will be longer, like 2k. Also TP can regenerate with songs and abilities.

[Hulan]

As much as I sort of like the idea of a tactical "uh-oh" button. From a game design perspective it's a huge miss-step. I remember SE commenting to the effect buried way back in the annals of FFXI official comments.

Any end-game content has to be designed under the assumption that every party member will have access to their 2-hour, as to do otherwise would trivialize the content with the use of 2-hours. But by balancing in that manner, you make all content have a unintentional mandatory 2-hour cool down. It can be worked around by artificially extending the length of the battle (longer battles reduce the relative effect of any single action). But it effectively tied SE's hands and forced them to do much more work per encounter than was necessary.

Before people jump on me saying that it wasn't that way at all. I was speaking about very early on in the game's life. SE "solved" the problem by slowly trivializing the 2-hours to the point where they were rarely worth the time it took to use them, which kind of defeated the purpose of them.

I think this Limit Break system is a much better approach to the same idea. They can balance battles around the assumption that eventually any given party will be able to shoot off a LB without the same temporal restrictions.

[Pseudopsia]

I prefer big abilities to have a short cooldown. I recall going constantly afk in FFXI waiting for our 2 hours to reset before we attempt a boss battle.

[Ksenia]

The Strength of Man unlock from LotRO. It was a human racial that healed 2200 to 3000 morale and at 50, that was pretty much all of it. It was a reset skill, 1hr cool down. I would use it to solo rare world Signature spawns. Others could do that without their racial but my Captain wasn't suited for solo stuff and he needed that one off. The cool down was never an issue because it was a once a day thing to see them and that assumed you stayed in the same area the entire time and knew where they spawned.

I don't know if there is a place for stuff like that in FF14. Everything I encountered in FF14 was either I-Win or I-Lose and a one off wouldn't have been an influence.

[Aela]

These have existed since the first MMOs. (EQ1 had Lay of Hands [full heal] for Paladins.) Back in the day, they really were game changers, and could be used to "turn the tide" of battle.

I think they can (and should) exist any nearly any MMO. Specifically tuned to the mechanics of that game. In more recent games, a LOH (full heal) type of ability is just not as substantial compared to older MMOs (for example, the "Full Heal" of the Cleric in EQ1 was a big deal. In current MMOs a single healer can get a tank from nearly dead to full HPs in moments. Combat in MMOs have changed over time, and because of this "epic" abilities have changed as well.)

It doesn't mean the abilites have no place in the game, but it does mean they need to be tailored to the game directly in order to really make a difference.