Skillchains/Magicbursts; How they can work in ARR.

[Alhanelem]

Or we can just let FFXI keep its skillchains and magic bursts.

[TaalAzura]

Or we can just let FFXI keep its skillchains and magic bursts.

You're so dense.

[Marael]

Oh god, don't bring that bullshit from FFXI back. Skillchaining and magic bursting was the stupidest waste of time ever. By the time you complete one skillchain/Magic burst everyone could have gotten off four times as much damage by just spamming what they had when they had it. It crippled FFXI players by handing them a crutch they didn't need but never thought to set aside for years until they realized how stupidly wasteful on the time and sanity it was and did away with it completely. As soon as they did HNMs/Gods/etc started dropping in a matter of minutes instead of hours. No thank you.

[TaalAzura]

Oh god, don't bring that bullshit from FFXI back. Skillchaining and magic bursting was the stupidest waste of time ever. By the time you complete one skillchain/Magic burst everyone could have gotten off four times as much damage by just spamming what they had when they had it. It crippled FFXI players by handing them a crutch they didn't need but never thought to set aside for years until they realized how stupidly wasteful on the time and sanity it was and did away with it completely. As soon as they did HNMs/Gods/etc started dropping in a matter of minutes instead of hours. No thank you.

I feel like you didn't even read my post; had I called it "combos" what would you have said?

[Shizue]

I have played many MMOs and I have to say that the Skillchain/Magic Burst combat system from FFXI has hands-down been the most enjoyable. I truly miss it, even to this day. I was deeply saddened when TP burn parties became the norm... skillchains were really not worth it at that point.

If they do bring it back it will take some careful planning to do right, but I would be very happy if they pulled it off in FFXIV.

Skill spamming/rotations are so... WoW-esqe. It's an outdated mechanic. FFXIV really could use something more exciting. It's not terrible as it works for what it is, but it's surely not innovative or exciting in my opinion. The problem with rotations is once the "best" rotation is known, everyone basically ends up doing the same thing on a given class. Skillchains/Magic Bursts were a good way to break up the monotony of combat.

[Shurrikhan]

How do you combine a SC system with ARR's rigid combos? And if it creates little difference to what we're actually doing, why have it at all?

I don't think most PUG groups are going to have trouble with the system--anything that would make it too complicated to be used by PUGs probably aren't going to work with ARR in general or even function decently in a purely SC sense. As far as the window goes, I do have confidence that there's something that could work with little to no delay. You can largely keep the SC as an entity apart that the abilities then feed into to complete, and can be out of order for some amount of leniency. In that way you could also have things that are meant to be more than just a pure order--for example a few abilities opening another stage into which new abilities can be poured to generate aggregate (rather than sequentially unique) effects from their components, or parts that are supposed to go off (nearly) simultaneously.

Small-scale example --> Monk [Shoulder Charge] to the same unit as a near-simultaneous (in other words, either order will work) [Doomlance] followed by a [Howling Fist] will duplicate the Doomlance damage against each enemy hit by both [Doomlance] and [Howling Fist]. | (You can also use this sort of procedure as an 'opening' of its own, which allows for duplication of linear-attacks, or whatnot, within a line of enemies affected from opposite sides.)

How would you systematize its components? Elementally, as in XI? Positionally? By role? Would you involve any geometry in this (same line of attack, opposite sides of mob, facing each other, etc)? How large-scale? How class-combination-specific?

Edit: I'd be happy to see something like this, but I have no attachments to the SC-system specifically. I just want something that can live up to its nostalgia within ARR's own system (not that I'd mind having ARR's core combat mechanics revamped, either, I just don't see that as being very likely). I'd love to be able to combo outside of my own abilities. The current rigid rotations are generally tedious. Whatever is added to it, I hope that it will attempt to remedy some of that tedium without simply making a more intensive and finicky version of the same rigidity.

[Tupsi]

You're so dense.

A lot of the XIV community hates XI and everything about it and want it to stay there while defending FFXIV ARR being pretty much a carbon copy of every MMO that came out since 2004.

I feel like you didn't even read my post; had I called it "combos" what would you have said?

I doubt she played 1.x either because the 1.23 combo system was basically the same concept and same execution, it was just solo - I would really want to see this back as it would give some interaction with this battle system beyond just dodging scripted skills.

[Arriverderci]

Ain't played XI but this reminds me of Tales of Xillia's, Arte Links.
Use a heal, use a wind attack skill. You get a wind healing blast to hurt enemies and heal your PT.
It would make combat much more fun than the crap we got now. Yes it's crap.

By the time you complete one skillchain/Magic burst everyone could have gotten off four times as much damage by just spamming what they had when they had it.

I just wanna have a fun combat tbh, screw the damage. Fun > Damage. More shiny flashy fun combat.