Letter from the Producer LIVE XXXVI Set for May 22!

[The Stig]

Oh is that system getting axed? I didn't know lol. Well, that's not a bad thing. It's pathetic to see it there xD

But, I hope SCH SMN remains. I want my one job in 2 system!!! So if I level SCH my SMN is auto 70 by the time I'm done... they can axe it after that.

[octopus]

I just hope double caster works well in savage lol... It seems like none of the DPS in my raid group wants to play melee this time around

[Spider-Dan]

One thing I'm glad to see gone is mindless cross-class damage buffs. It just serves to increase the number of timers you're tracking and inflate the button count.

It would be one thing if there was more of a decision-making element to them, but the only real decision you ever made with B4B/RS/IR/Hawk's Eye/etc is adjusting for times when you cannot attack the boss (or for MCH, pre-calculated slight delays to align for Wildfire); other than that, the best time to use your +damage cooldown is almost always right now. And worse, all of the abilities were just boring:

Raging Strikes: increase damage for a short time
Hawk's Eye: increase damage for a short time (and increase your accuracy from 100% to 100%)
Internal Release: increase crit rate (i.e. damage) for a short time
Blood For Blood: increase damage for a short time while taking more damage

Fight or Flight is boring. Battle Litany is boring. Berserk had interesting potential, except that it was essentially just a healer check.

I'd rather see damage increases that are tied to mechanics, rather than just timers that need to be managed. I really like the look of the new Heat system for MCH; it looks like you are managing literal cooldowns instead of playing the Simon Game with a bunch of clocks.

[Obsidian]

Tank stuff aside for a moment, the new MNK buff that allows other party members to generate chakra stacks for them sounds really freaking cool. Great way to both give MNK some party utility, and also make the chakra skills actually usable.

[Eleven19]

I just hope double caster works well in savage lol... It seems like none of the DPS in my raid group wants to play melee this time around

We're in a similar boat. I'm the only static member that mains BRD/MCH, and I'm really excited to play either SAM or RDM for at least this first main content patch (round of raids). Nobody else really mains it so chances are we won't have support for the first round of raids. I'd probably level BRD immediately after SAM or RDM first.

Was really hoping RDM got a Goad-like Refresh for MP or something at least. Guess we'll see how it shakes out without a BRD/MCH in raid.

[solracht]

After the expac comes out there's a month long wait until the first raid opens, should be able to cap and gear two or three jobs.

Regardless, given SE's comments on Savage's difficulty I doubt PT setup will matter much before 4.1. Lack of BRD/MCH might set you back a bit but I doubt two caster setups have anything to worry about.

[Ezek]

I've been combing through the big list of changes and I'm truly super hyped about the expansion. They legit fixed a large majority of issues that many players have brought up throughout Heavensward's life cycle. BRDMage no longer being a thing again is probably my favorite change, simply couldn't play that job anymore in Heavensward and ended up switching to NIN.

Any news of a possible prepatch? I haven't played in almost 6 months now since I quit shortly after clearing A12S.

[Twilight Sky]

What im getting from all this.. Everything else is good but not sure about tanks.

[Edelweiss]

What im getting from all this.. Everything else is good but not sure about tanks.

It looks like the aggressive, DPS-focused, minimalist surviving of busters is gone. So if you enjoyed this style of play, like I did, the future is not looking great for the role. It frankly seems like we're heading strongly towards a reductionist interpretation of the role: tanks should tank (not deal significant damage).

[Shenrien]

It's not that tanks shouldn't be able to contribute significant amounts of damage, it's that tanks were contributing so much damage that you might as well go with a full party of tanks as they either would out perform or perform on the same level as your average duty finder dps that knows how to tap into their brain.

[Obsidian]

I still think the changes are pretty positive, from a PLD's perspective at least. It's just going to be even more depressing when you out DPS a DPS now. Omni-directional block/parry, shield blocks proc on magic, useless ass Parry stat is gone, and some good skill additions to each tank job are all nice changes.

[Lucavi]

It's not that tanks shouldn't be able to contribute significant amounts of damage, it's that tanks were contributing so much damage that you might as well go with a full party of tanks as they either would out perform or perform on the same level as your average duty finder dps that knows how to tap into their brain.

And again, the tanks, while DPSing on-par or sometimes better than the actual DPS could also feasibly ignore quite a few mechanics that would either cripple or outright one-shot DPS. Obviously pros aren't getting hit by many things, but honestly, what's the point of taking a squishier War to DPS when you can take the actual War.

Bring on the changes. I don't fear change, and I'm not so in love with the thought of matching actual DPS jobs in damage that I'm going to cry about some "loss of identity". I'm still a War. I still club the shit out of things with the large end of this meatstick and I still give and take damage in almost reckless amounts. I love it, and I'm not going to suddenly not love it because they cut a bit of the killing edge off of my axe.

Hell, 90% of the time we're gonna be OTing again on War anyway (which I certainly don't mind), so we'll still be in a position to beat the shit out of things.

My only annoyance at the moment is that our charge costs resources, so it doesn't look like it'll be used as an initiation tool, ala WoW War or even XIV monk, which is my favorite way to charge into things to start fights. Casually jogging up to an enemy while tossing an axe at them never felt very War-like; at least when compared to lodging the sharp end of a pauldron into the enemy's throat in a full charge.

[Fiye]

Well you have a charge that has a +emnity modifier

[Hioki]

Omni-directional block/parry

I don't remember this?

[Eleven19]

And again, the tanks, while DPSing on-par or sometimes better than the actual DPS could also feasibly ignore quite a few mechanics that would either cripple or outright one-shot DPS. Obviously pros aren't getting hit by many things, but honestly, what's the point of taking a squishier War to DPS when you can take the actual War.

Bring on the changes. I don't fear change, and I'm not so in love with the thought of matching actual DPS jobs in damage that I'm going to cry about some "loss of identity". I'm still a War. I still club the shit out of things with the large end of this meatstick and I still give and take damage in almost reckless amounts. I love it, and I'm not going to suddenly not love it because they cut a bit of the killing edge off of my axe.

Hell, 90% of the time we're gonna be OTing again on War anyway (which I certainly don't mind), so we'll still be in a position to beat the shit out of things.

My only annoyance at the moment is that our charge costs resources, so it doesn't look like it'll be used as an initiation tool, ala WoW War or even XIV monk, which is my favorite way to charge into things to start fights. Casually jogging up to an enemy while tossing an axe at them never felt very War-like; at least when compared to lodging the sharp end of a pauldron into the enemy's throat in a full charge.

Lol Lucavi makes me want to main a tank again.. If not for XI nostalgia SAM incoming.

[Edelweiss]

It's not that tanks shouldn't be able to contribute significant amounts of damage, it's that tanks were contributing so much damage that you might as well go with a full party of tanks as they either would out perform or perform on the same level as your average duty finder dps that knows how to tap into their brain.

And again, the tanks, while DPSing on-par or sometimes better than the actual DPS could also feasibly ignore quite a few mechanics that would either cripple or outright one-shot DPS. Obviously pros aren't getting hit by many things, but honestly, what's the point of taking a squishier War to DPS when you can take the actual War.

Bring on the changes. I don't fear change, and I'm not so in love with the thought of matching actual DPS jobs in damage that I'm going to cry about some "loss of identity". I'm still a War. I still club the shit out of things with the large end of this meatstick and I still give and take damage in almost reckless amounts. I love it, and I'm not going to suddenly not love it because they cut a bit of the killing edge off of my axe.

Hell, 90% of the time we're gonna be OTing again on War anyway (which I certainly don't mind), so we'll still be in a position to beat the shit out of things.

My only annoyance at the moment is that our charge costs resources, so it doesn't look like it'll be used as an initiation tool, ala WoW War or even XIV monk, which is my favorite way to charge into things to start fights. Casually jogging up to an enemy while tossing an axe at them never felt very War-like; at least when compared to lodging the sharp end of a pauldron into the enemy's throat in a full charge.

I mean, any of the (not-Duty Finder quality) average players of the DPS roles should have been ahead of even the very best Warriors by a good 400 DPS minimum after 3.2. That isn't an insignificant damage gap. This complaint isn't about matching DPS jobs in damage output: it's about yet another role-wide DPS nerf for what appears to be very specious reasons. Being able to generate enough Enmity while staying out of turtle stance as much as possible, while dealing considerable damage made tanking fun, especially since it set you apart from the chaff who can't even manage a group of mobs with Defiance/Shield Oath/Grit on. Having Job nerfs ontop of role DPS nerfs (and probably a reduced range on potential DPS between the top and bottom of tank DPS potential) is probably going to drive quality tanks out. It might very well be the dumpster role for the trash who couldn't even cut it as DPS and healers when Stormblood arrives.

If tanks were matching or exceeding DPS damage output, it tells me that those DPS are fucking garbage, especially after 3.2's nerf and several months of baking and refinement of what constitutes the proper rotations for a Job. You shouldn't be punishing tanks for the underwhelming mediocrity of the overwhelming amount of DPS players, especially when we're comparing the upper half/quarter of the role with whatever constitutes the median of DPS.

And bruh, basically all of this talk about mechanics that would cripple/one-shot your average DPS is talking about having something on farm, probably with Echo. Who gives a shit? Eight tanks have cleared A12S as a party with Echo. No one should really care about this.

Lol Lucavi makes me want to main a tank again.. If not for XI nostalgia SAM incoming.

You shouldn't be taken in by poetic imagery about something that's very soon going to be powered by the engine of a piece of shit Ford Pinto/AMC Gremlin. About the only thing he's said that will probably still hold true is about WAR maybe as an OT (though with the gutted utility, i'm not that confident about this either). Depending on how things shake out for DRK, maybe WAR will be the preferred main tank again, due to the addition of Rampart as a Role Action giving yet more short-duration buster mitigation tools.

[Fondue]

400 dps difference when dds are doing 2200 is pretty KEK worthy, they need to double DD dps and leave tank damage the same so there is a meaningful difference and nobody gets nerfed :^)

[Lucavi]

So, my "poetic imagery" aside, your entire gripe is that you may not be able to main tank in Duty Finder dungeons as much now outside of your actual tank stance? That's what SE should be focusing their balance around? Your ability spend less and less time in Defiance so you can feel your DPS-contribution boner throb ever-so-harder?

Yeah, okay. I'll take my flowery prose if the alternative is griping about the efficiency level of how my job's going to carry in a Duty Finder dungeon. We are clearly focusing on different aspects of the game, and that's fine with me.

Tell me more about how wrong I'll be come 4.0, O' mighty soothsayer. I remember being so wrong about my prognostications of how War's stances would perform ahead of 3.0, so yeah, fuck it, I'll be dead wrong this time too.

[Eleven19]

You shouldn't be taken in by poetic imagery about something that's very soon going to be powered by the engine of a piece of shit Ford Pinto/AMC Gremlin. About the only thing he's said that will probably still hold true is about WAR maybe as an OT (though with the gutted utility, i'm not that confident about this either). Depending on how things shake out for DRK, maybe WAR will be the preferred main tank again, due to the addition of Rampart as a Role Action giving yet more short-duration buster mitigation tools.

No you hush and let me live my lie lol.

[Edelweiss]

400 dps difference when dds are doing 2200 is pretty KEK worthy, they need to double DD dps and leave tank damage the same so there is a meaningful difference and nobody gets nerfed :^)

It would be closer to a 600 DPS difference then.

So, my "poetic imagery" aside, your entire gripe is that you may not be able to main tank in Duty Finder dungeons as much now outside of your actual tank stance? That's what SE should be focusing their balance around? Your ability spend less and less time in Defiance so you can feel your DPS-contribution boner throb ever-so-harder?

Yeah, okay. I'll take my flowery prose if the alternative is griping about the efficiency level of how my job's going to carry in a Duty Finder dungeon. We are clearly focusing on different aspects of the game, and that's fine with me.

My gripe is that they're balancing (this seems like a very generous use of the word) around the lowest common denominator, and people beyond the norm who enjoyed (and could perform in) the aggressive DPS-oriented tanking meta get fucked as a result. I wouldn't recommend balancing around the trashcan average DF player. We're talking about people who struggle with the basic fundamentals of their respective roles: anyone who could cut it shouldn't be punished and dragged backwards because of the inability of the majority of the people who think Alexander's story mode is a challenge.

Your flowery prose is rooted in the imagery, not the reality, of the Job/role. What you described previously was largely close to what DRK and WAR could do in the Heavensward-era meta (PLD unfortunately got fucked). I think a lot of people would find it hard to buy into your view of dishing out and taking lots of damage when we're frankly being reduced more towards (as appears so far) a glorified punching bag. At least being able to tank functionally no different than some shitter who sat in Shield Oath/Defiance/Grit from start to finish made it clear you're good and even better, your contributions to the group were above-average and made things faster/smoother/etc. The gap between tank DPS and the DD roles is going to grow wider than it ever has, and that means even less control in the hands of tanks who could have once been able to meaningfully contribute to getting that optimal phase push (or skip). There's not nearly enough depth to XIV's combat to replace trying to optimize DPS and surviving busters with the bare minimum as a tank.

Tell me more about how wrong I'll be come 4.0, O' mighty soothsayer. I remember being so wrong about my prognostications of how War's stances would perform ahead of 3.0, so yeah, fuck it, I'll be dead wrong this time too.

I would hope you're wrong this time, because what i've seen so far really seems to be trying to kill anything but very strictly adhering to the trinity and the "x should only x" memes harder than any other role. Shit sucks, man. They could have implemented the much needed buffs to PLD, and adjusted DRK and WAR without yet another DPS nerf and a number of other changes that just serve to seemingly restrict the role into "turtle up."