Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXVI

[Lucavi]

Now with Enochian, you get targeted for Skydive and your entire rotation is potentially screwed. Same goes with BRD now being unable to dodge and DPS at the same time, etc.

One of the reasons Tisi and I stopped playing and moved back to WoW: we didn't like the direction the combat was going. Its less about liking where blm was in 2.0 and more about disliking where blm is in 3.0. Procs are useless, thunder is useless, and a single ground-targeted AOE at your feet means you're all but blowing your rotation. Not fun.

I'm still salty about not being able to have a purpose for procs, which is a very fun concept surrounding casting-time classes. I'm still salty about being wholly unable to cast any reasonable spell on the move (Ice Floes is the single greatest casting class ability IMO, followed closely by the time-tested "hot streak".) I'm still salty about having a single movement during a rotation equaling a massive loss in unrecoverable DPS. None of these concepts enhance the desirability of "skill". "Skill" is wholly independent of having to manage to do damage within a punishing and boring system.

I want my game to be about challenge and about fun. Slap the annoyances onto standard stock MMO issues like grinding and reputation, not the actual combat itself.

*Edit: I've been reading the last few pages of this thread. Good points, SD. You've been on point in this discussion. I don't have many disagreements at all.

[Niiro]

That's something they definitely doubled-down on in a big way with a lot of jobs in 3.0, more rigidity, less flexibility, less mobility, longer rotations.

I honestly don't know why they felt the need to do it either, it makes everything more difficult to play but I'd be lying if I said it made things more fun. There's certainly more challenge in executing your rotation but when it's something you're doing 24/7 anyway there's very little satisfaction to be had from it, especially when so many mechanics necessarily interrupt everything regardless.

I stopped caring about gearing/playing alt jobs very quickly after 3.0 because I just didn't find very many of them fun anymore.

[Lucavi]

I had a long-winded post that a few weeks ago, I could have made, about what I'd like to see happen with blm, but there's really no reason in trying to remember. WoW's 3 mages have basically everything I want in a magic caster class outside of the stupidly beautiful explosions of fire IV, but I can deal with inferior graphics if it means more goddamn fun.

[Kaisha]

I was wondering the other day what kind of raids they could design if casters could move while casting. It'd at least free BLM up from being the last person ever to have to deal with mechanics unless they're targeted directly, and make their strict enochian rotation much more managable.

They'd still want to turret whenever Ley Lines is up, but it'd take a large burden off their shoulders at the least.

Spoiler: show

Make BRD & MCHs move slower with their stance up or something

[Lucavi]

Ice Floes is an ability that is instantly activated, able to be activated while casting a spell (thus allowing for you to continue casting that big boom without having to interrupt the damned thing), comes with 3 consumable stacks and recharges one stack every 20 seconds. It allows for a single spell with a cast time to be cast while moving, with no slowdown of either cast-time or movement speed. It will not activate on instant spells, so you won't "eat it" if you fire off a free instant-cast proc in-between of your rotation.

You can surmise why this is such an amazing ability in my eyes. It instantly transforms the class that uses it and allows for tremendous freedom in combat and allows for intelligent decisions to be made during combat. With its consumable nature, it also allows for experts of the class to rise above the less skilled in terms of using it during practical points in a fight to maintain maximum or a high level of DPS.

I'm sick of being permanently rooted as a caster in FF. Its tiring.

[Kaisha]

so you won't "eat it" if you fire off a free instant-cast proc in-between of your rotation.

I hate this 'feature' of Swiftcast so much.

But what you're saying, sounds like something they could retool Surecast to be since that spell is absolutely useless (alongside Freeze) outside of very, very specific circumstances.

[haroldsaxon]

One of the reasons Tisi and I stopped playing and moved back to WoW: we didn't like the direction the combat was going. Its less about liking where blm was in 2.0 and more about disliking where blm is in 3.0. Procs are useless, thunder is useless, and a single ground-targeted AOE at your feet means you're all but blowing your rotation. Not fun.

I'm still salty about not being able to have a purpose for procs, which is a very fun concept surrounding casting-time classes. I'm still salty about being wholly unable to cast any reasonable spell on the move (Ice Floes is the single greatest casting class ability IMO, followed closely by the time-tested "hot streak".) I'm still salty about having a single movement during a rotation equaling a massive loss in unrecoverable DPS. None of these concepts enhance the desirability of "skill". "Skill" is wholly independent of having to manage to do damage within a punishing and boring system.

I want my game to be about challenge and about fun. Slap the annoyances onto standard stock MMO issues like grinding and reputation, not the actual combat itself.

*Edit: I've been reading the last few pages of this thread. Good points, SD. You've been on point in this discussion. I don't have many disagreements at all.

Erm, I half agree and half not. I like how they've made us less reliant on RNG procs, and moved away from F1 spam (because having a proc overwrite a proc being optimal was poor design). But, having specific moments where we can't use our procs and have to let them die due to enochian or remaining astral fire isn't good design either.

I'm not really hung up about not moving when casting. I've not really had an issue especially since i've got more spellspeed - we also have sharpcast and swiftcast that can help with movement. You can also tweek your rotation (go F3, Shp, F1, F4,F4,F4,F3*,Sw,F4,B3) so you have a period of movement when you need it.

Clearly in 3.0 tests weren't done to make sure its damage was balanced (considering how immobile they are) - and there are some lingering bugs with the class. But I still enjoy the combat of the game. I prefer the direction of BLM in 3.0 compared to 2.0 Fire 1 spam. I also massively dislike the changes away from buffs to spellspeed (seleen) and changing them to attack speed buffs (seleen, and now Ley Lines plus whatever the AST card is). Plus, they missed a trick not having a Thunder 4, while repurposing one of the previous thunders (T2) to be AOE based.

I hate this 'feature' of Swiftcast so much.

But what you're saying, sounds like something they could retool Surecast to be since that spell is absolutely useless (alongside Freeze) outside of very, very specific circumstances.

Surecast has more use than say Thunder II, Sleep or Blizzard II.

[Taint]

I hate 3.0 BLM is a passion. 2.0 BLM was almost rhythmic with procs to watch, 3.0 is way too confined.

DRG is incredibly punishing as well. Lose Blood of the dragon early and your DPS go to shit. Fang/Wheeling being the same damn thing is just unnecessary. The job is fine when you are doing everything correct but one slip or miss timed Blood of the dragon and bam 200 dps loss.

WAR/SMN are where its at if you want intuitive gameplay.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Y'all should level healer.

Not that they don't need to fix that shit, but if you find rotations boring, you're never going to like anything they do. So play Healer.

[arus2001]

Can't really say I'm a fan of long-step rotations, myself. And XI did a good job in killing any and all willingness to play a support job in public.

[Taint]

Y'all should level healer.

Not that they don't need to fix that shit, but if you find rotations boring, you're never going to like anything they do. So play Healer.

I didn't mention healers since as you said they don't get stuck with fixed rotations. WHM is one of my favorite jobs to play.

The point is they made the rotations, fixed, long and punishing. If you messed up in 2.X you just adapt and fix for a minimal loss. In 3.X if you mess up its a large chunk of DPS lost while you are stuck waiting to restart your rotation. Its fine for endgame raiding (annoying but fine) but for 99.5% of the population its just made the divide between great players and average/bad players even wider.

Going back to DRG, its probably my 6th job if I had to order them. I can do the rotation on a dummy all day long, but with the strict timer on Blood of the dragon in a real fight I can get jammed by the boss jumping or going invulnerable.

The DPS variance of the playerbase is way too big. Going into lvl60 content with 200 dps players and 1500 dps players is too much to plan for in a game that is built around Duty Finder.

[Lucavi]

Y'all should level healer.

Not that they don't need to fix that shit, but if you find rotations boring, you're never going to like anything they do. So play Healer.

Rotations are not boring. At all. Never getting to use procs that the developers programmed into the game is boring. Never having incentives through the flow of combat on a job is boring. Having an entire line of spells (your fucking dots) rendered functionally useless is stupid. Losing the benefit of multiple buffs from having to move a centimeter to the left or right is infuriating.

I go into a boss fight in WoD (Warlords of Draenor) last night and its a routine tank and spank in a heroic dungeon with some dodging mechanics and the usual "don't stand in the fire" song and dance. The fight is hilarious fun because even when I'm in rotation turrent mode, my entire spec (Fire Mage) is all about INTERRUPTING my rotation when my procs come up, because firing out procs and attempting to obtain as many procs as possible is the sole key of maintaining high DPS. The Procs are instant, deal spike damage, and deal the strongest dot among all of my arsenal of spells - and, with good gear, I may get lucky and get to fire off about 7 or 8 of them in a long, hilarious combo of explosions and fun. If I am unlucky with RNG, I revert to refreshing my other dots and falling back into my rotation until more procs are available, while dodging the aforementioned fire and interrupting boss abilities.

Its fun as hell. I'm laughing like a maniacal idiot when I hit my 6th proc that crits. I'm yelling into vent "are you seeing this?" as the numbers fly. I'm having fun. When I'm targeted with an ability, I can move out of the way while still casting if I'm skillful enough to use my abilities. Its enjoyable and it rewards me, the player, for my efforts. I don't feel frustration every time the ground turns orange under my feet in a fight because I know I have to fucking start from scratch.

If your response to legitimate issues and concerns is to "level healer", please save your comments. You also act as if every single FF player in this thread doesn't essentially have every class leveled anyway. You're not helping.

3.0 needs work. I was all on board for a long time, but once again, the more outside experience I get with other systems, the more annoyed I become at the stupid design changes the team brought to bear in 3.0. Just remove thunder at this point. Just remove thunderstorm or hot streak. They're useless.

[KCem]

I find myself more and more often gravitating towards playing healers these days simply because I find it more chilled out. I do find myself sticking loosely to a rotation though, rouse > shadow flare > dots > bane > heals or boils as needed, and if I'm feeling really fruity I'll chuck in a miasma2 and an adlo for next pull. AST is similar, except a lot more cursing when trying to draw a decent card

[haroldsaxon]

If your response to legitimate issues and concerns is to "level healer", please save your comments. You also act as if every single FF player in this thread doesn't essentially have every class leveled anyway. You're not helping.

To be fair, i've only got BLM to 60. The only reason i've got MNK/SMN/BRD above 50 is i'll hop into some fates for future relic if no-one i know is doing anything. I'm not really interested in playing anything else.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Rotations are not boring. At all. Never getting to use procs that the developers programmed into the game is boring. Never having incentives through the flow of combat on a job is boring. Having an entire line of spells (your fucking dots) rendered functionally useless is stupid. Losing the benefit of multiple buffs from having to move a centimeter to the left or right is infuriating.

I go into a boss fight in WoD (Warlords of Draenor) last night and its a routine tank and spank in a heroic dungeon with some dodging mechanics and the usual "don't stand in the fire" song and dance. The fight is hilarious fun because even when I'm in rotation turrent mode, my entire spec (Fire Mage) is all about INTERRUPTING my rotation when my procs come up, because firing out procs and attempting to obtain as many procs as possible is the sole key of maintaining high DPS. The Procs are instant, deal spike damage, and deal the strongest dot among all of my arsenal of spells - and, with good gear, I may get lucky and get to fire off about 7 or 8 of them in a long, hilarious combo of explosions and fun. If I am unlucky with RNG, I revert to refreshing my other dots and falling back into my rotation until more procs are available, while dodging the aforementioned fire and interrupting boss abilities.

Its fun as hell. I'm laughing like a maniacal idiot when I hit my 6th proc that crits. I'm yelling into vent "are you seeing this?" as the numbers fly. I'm having fun. When I'm targeted with an ability, I can move out of the way while still casting if I'm skillful enough to use my abilities. Its enjoyable and it rewards me, the player, for my efforts. I don't feel frustration every time the ground turns orange under my feet in a fight because I know I have to fucking start from scratch.

If your response to legitimate issues and concerns is to "level healer", please save your comments. You also act as if every single FF player in this thread doesn't essentially have every class leveled anyway. You're not helping.

3.0 needs work. I was all on board for a long time, but once again, the more outside experience I get with other systems, the more annoyed I become at the stupid design changes the team brought to bear in 3.0. Just remove thunder at this point. Just remove thunderstorm or hot streak. They're useless.

Transpose, dude.

Maybe you missed it, so I'll say it again.

Not that they don't need to fix that shit,

I fucking loathe the rigidity they brought with 3.0. It's awful. It's the exact opposite direction the game needs to go, imo.

But we ain't SE devs. They're never going to do anything they don't want to do. And we can't do it for them.

So you're stuck playing the game that actually exists, not the one that should exist. And in the game that actually exists, healer is best in life.

[Fondue]

Actually a number of ideas do make it through from time to time. Like 2.1 WAR fix, Ninja Mudra lag fix, PLD 3.0 fixes, NIN TP adjustments, removal of DRG positionals, MCH fixes, removal of Cleric Stance from PvP, housing upgrades & new wards, etc.

You can claim they are irrelevant changes in the grand scheme of things, but you cannot claim that there hasn't been any changes due to bitching/ideas that come directly from players. Saying "they're not gonna actually do anything with those ideas" is actually very disingenuous.

Oh hey lets not give healers any achievements AND make the jobs unfun to play, thats what the people want! There are about 80000 other things they need to have fixed about pvp by now and they havent done shit, they dont listen and arbitrarily fix whatever is easy and intended in their own little world that the players dont live in

acting like any of those things were player ideas and not just a shit game in need of a few jumbo bandaids is p hilarious

[Shenrien]

Because people play a pve mmo for pvp content. That would be like someone playing D3 for duels and not gear grinding.

[Silenka]

For a game that shouldn't care about pvp they sure put a lot of fucking resources into it. And now they have that tournament coming up and oh yeah, a whole patch dedicated to adjusting it I mean come on. They want people to care about XIV's shit pvp so hard. They put work and effort into it, yet instead of fixing it they keep making it shittier and the older battle versions less and less relevant. It might as well be LoV at this point.

Healer is my preferred role and I definitely don't find it fun in pvp. I know there are some people who have fun with it but I can't get inside their heads. Besides being basically unkillable if you use your stances and abilities right and apply some semblance of strategy to your movements, there's not much more satisfying about it.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Trolling gank squads.

For me, the moment that solidified my love of healer-in-pvp was when I happened to be running kinda by myself and spotted a Warrior from my party also by himself... being chased down by 3 enemies. I started to parallel his path, out of the tunnel vision cone that his pursuers had, and stutter-stepped my way along, healing him as I went. Threw up e4e, some adlos, virus, etc. I kept him alive unmolested for a solid thirty seconds before any of them noticed me, and then kept us both alive long enough for my premade buddies (there were like 5 of us i think) to roll in and stomp all over them. And RNG favored us with a node pop right there.

I just really like the idea of thwarting some slobbering DPS's best efforts to kill my party members. Oh, I see you're over there LBing my DPS. Be a real shame if someone were to completely undo all of that damage.

[arus2001]

Because people play a pve mmo for pvp content. That would be like someone playing D3 for duels and not gear grinding.

You'd be surprised how many people go batshit about D3 not having more PvP. Though, I ultimately suspect it's more wanting D2's hostility system and just entering public games to wreck lowbies. Good riddance to that, I say.