New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

[Malacite]

Frontlines, New Classes, New Summoner Pets, New Dungeons and more! - Bunch of Tidbits from Live Letter : ffxiv


There's also a Reinhart translation and a Nico-Nico video so seems legit. BLM & SMN are getting buffed lol wtf... how about DRG and MNK?

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

MNK and DRG don't need a buff at all. The classes are fine as they are and are pretty well balanced.

The SMN changes are probably to make Irfit and Titan worth using. Right now they are only ever worth using when Solo (Titan) or if you're so bad at the class you can't micro the pet and need to put it on Sic (Ifrit), in which case you're better off just rolling Bard.

BLM has needed a buff for a while. The main issues with the class:

• It provides nothing that a SMN doesn't already provide. SMN as far better sustained damage and more reliable Burst Phases. The only real Burst Damage CD a BLM has is Convert, which is a liability in fights with heavy raid damage.
• Scathe hits like a Wet Noodle and Aetherical Manipulation has a huge animation delay, so the BLM has little options for damage while moving. SMN has DoTs and the pet, BRD can deal full damage on the move, MNK and DRG just have to press a direction key and keep on the boss, (DRG also makes the BRD's damage better so the DPS loss is less of am impact). BLM loses all DPS if they have to move.
• Foe's Requiem is always low priority for BRDs to cast. You gain nothing from Paeon, and Ballad actually causes major DPS issues since it throws your MP regen ticks into a huge clusterfuck.
• The AoE trash pulls are easily handled by a SMN+BRD combo since they are balanced around the assumption that you don't always have a BLM. You just pull smaller for the SMN and stuff still dies just as fast.
• A lot of the utility abilities have a highly situational use (Apocatastatis, Blizzard II, Aetherical Manipulation), or the SMN has a far better version (Eye for an Eye, Virus), or causes party wipes (Lethargy).
• CC is basically worthless once you hit 50.
• Enmity Generation means that you often have to waste GCDs being idle even with Quelling Strikes.
• The way Firestarter procs work means you lose a ton of DPS. The procs aren't instant.
• All BLM spells have a travel time so LoS issues are common, and procs are often wasted by mobs dying or moving out of LoS.

BLM also fails to really fit into a niche:

Paladin - Tanks through mitigation (Shield, defensive cooldowns, stun, silence, etc)
Warrior - Tanks through damage/health pool (Almost all defensive abilities tied to offence, wrath stacks, IB, etc), decent AoE damage support.
Monk - Deals consistent damage through rapid, medium damage dots and attacks (Demolish, ToD, managing GL, etc)
Dragoon - Damage baseline set through DoTs, then averages out with Burst Damage. (Jumps, ends of combos, etc). Good AoE damage
Summoner - Single Target and AoE Magic Damage by DoT's, built on by pets. Good AoE.
Bard - Damage by DoT's, songs to help facilitate others. Good AoE. Deals full damage while mobile.
White Mage - Heals by numbers. Cure, Regen, Medica's, Divine Seal, etc. All for bigger/more consistent numbers. Insane AoE damage from Holy
Scholar - Heals by mitigation/support/shields. Adlo, Succor, Lustrate, pet buffs. Decent AoE damage support.

Basically the BLM's niche is actually already filled by the DRG, which is a better DD in almost every way in terms of sustained damage, on demand burst, utility and survivability.

I'm actually thinking the Gun class might be Chemist, given that the devs are interested in adding more Healer and Tank classes.

[Malacite]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Well if YP hadn't decided to just throw exploiting elemental weaknesses (traditionally BLM's greatest strength) out the goddamn window it might not be a problem.

Honestly I liked BLM (all the jobs quite frankly) better in 1.23, when Fire was AoE, Ice for CC and Lightning for spike damage, not to mention elemental bonuses/resists still applied - BLM should utterly slaughter Leviathan. YP's argument about class discrimination is bullshit because that inevitably happens (and has been happening for some time now) anyway.


For Gun, I'd love to see Chemist, Ranger or Corsair. And yes the SMN buffs were confirmed to be for Ifrit and Titan (Levi and Ramuh, along with the level cap increase should be coming after 2.3 but before the expansion)

I still think melee could use some small buffs. Nothing major, but at least *something* to give incentive to bring them along. One of the reasons I stopped my subscription was because no one on Excalibur wants melee, ever except on the rare occasion for our LB. A few tweaks to melee AoE, and a fundamental change in skill speed would be ideal IMO. Either go back to the old TP system in 1.23, and have skill speed affect auto-attack speed (which would be a massive boon for MNK and better distinguish it from DRG as the DoT melee) or as some people on the forums have suggested, have TP regeneration increase along with skill speed. All it does currently is let you burn through TP faster, whereas crit rate and determination increase your overall dps.

Would also like to see BRD buffed. Job's a piece of crap compared to XI or even 1.23; At least in 1.23 every song was useful and BRD could back up heal. Every time I join a group with more than 1 I cringe, even though I can increase their dps with disembowel. I really just don't like it because it feels completely half-assed, like it can't decide between damage or support.

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

If you think BRD is underpowered then I know for a fact you haven't been playing ARR. BRD is fine just where it is, and if anything needs toning down a little.

Multiple BLMs is where DPS falls flat. There's just nothing there in fights where any sort of movement is needed (all of them except Turn 4 of Coil, the HM Primals, and Garuda Ex), and having multiple classes needing a ramp up time is horrible in things like Leviathan Ex that has a strict DPS check and enrage timer. 2 BLMs in Levi Ex is a potential wipe before the fight even starts. Double BRD passes those checks with ease (Caster LB is preferred over melee LB for Levi).

The only Melee that needs a tweak is the MNK, to make it less crippled by a loss of GL stacks, but tweaking the Perfect Balance CD, or giving it some kind of GL proc chance on a DoT would solve that.

You have a bad FC if they refuse to take a melee DD to an event.

[Malacite]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Skill speed is still a pretty worthless stat, and I'd really rather it changed to to affect TP/AA speed. Also I never said anything about my FC, but rather the server in general - PF groups regularly don't allow melee for things other than Titan.


Bard's pretty bleh honestly. Requiem's OK but doesn't actually increase damage just lowers resists. Paeon is utterly fucking worthless (unlike in 1.23) which really just leaves Ballad. I liked it a lot better in 1.23 when if you had more than 1 BRD you could have HP + MP or HP + TP songs active and it made a huge difference. The TP generation from Paeon isn't even remotely worth the 20% damage penalty to the bard. Maybe if they'd at least bump up the potency of it, to better offset high skill speed builds (not that many people do that since again, the stat is utter garbage for everyone but WAR. Even MNK don't stack it much.)

I'd rather have XI's BRD over XIV's. far superior utility.

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

If a BRD has a song up the whole fight they are doing it wrong. Healers rarely need Ballad up, and Requiem/Peaon are huge boosts for burn phases, but again, should never be left on. Ballad/Paeon are also good for marathon fights, or those fights where you cannot fuck around with waiting on natural MP or TP regen. Just try fights like Twintania, Leviathan Ex, Rafflesia or Nael deus Darnus (BG always go into that fight with Double Bard for good reason) without a BRD and see how far it gets you.

Also FFXI BRD contributing nothing to damage directly is why COR became extremely popular, especially in COR/RNG, COR/DNC, and COR/BLM setups. It was also why BRD was dropped entirely in favour of SCH in Abyssea. SCH was basically an "I Win" button for all content in Abyssea that you couldn't just simply brew (Nyzul, Voidwatch etc), and COR could allow for multiple uses of Embrava.

And stacking Skill Speed as a WAR? Yeah no. You want to be stacking VIT while maintaining enough Accuracy to hit things from the front. After that Parry is the only thing you should worry about. Det/Crit/Speed make so little difference that stacking them just hinders your tanking. You will never get enough of those stats for them to make an impact to your damage. The only time a WAR should ever be using DD gear is when you are fighting a boss that can be single tanked spawns 0 adds, and the PLD won't remove the stick from their arse long enough to let you main tank.

Before 2.1 I would have said DD stats and STR stacking is worth it for WAR. With 2.1 however, and the large reduction in healing from Inner Beast, the argument is over. 30 Points in VIT is now the only correct choice. Threat generation went from comfortable to laughable and while tank damage is still relevant, the healing provided by the extra damage was cut drastically. As such, if you're tanking, you want the highest ilevel VIT heavy pieces you can get while still maintaining enough accuracy to hit things. You will still want a set of DD Gear, but this will only be used on content that you vastly outgear, or if you're going to be off tanking and not taking any large amounts of damage.

And if your server isn't allowing melee for Levi EX, Moogle EX, and Second Coil, change server, because you will get nowhere in those fights without a good MNK or DRG for burst phases.

[Malacite]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Inner Beast is precisely why you want skill speed on WAR (and only WAR so far) because it means you have IB up more often. The problem is (like all TP classes) SS just depletes your TP that much quicker and sorry but Paeon just doesn't cut it when you're really running low. It's not like in 1.23 where you could just spend MP and toss a song up for a while and go right back to DPS.


Also last time I checked, SE nerfed Embrava and COR lacks a 50%+ slow nor can it push people to the haste cap with its buffs. COR may be able to do more direct damage but BRD's indirect damage + damage mitigation will always trump it.

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Except that no WAR with half a brain cell stacks Skill Speed because it is impossible to stack enough to reduce your GCD enough for it to make a difference. If you are going to need that Wrath stack for IB due to say, an incoming Death Sentence before you can get back to another 5 stacks, you just pop a Defensive Cooldown and wait for it. Vengeance, Foresight, Featherfoot and Covalescance are more than enough to keep you upright between IB uses.

Stacking Skill Speed also sacrifices a huge amount of Accuracy, VIT and Parry, you know, the three stats a tank should be stacking? Who gives a fuck if you can get IB up half a GCD faster than a WAR that didn't stack Skill Speed when your IBs aren't going to be hitting anyway.

BRD was popular back in ToAU when you wanted a lot of endurance in Merit Parties, and when Dynamis wasn't soloable like it is now. Post Abyssea nobody brought BRDs to anything because what was the point? Fights rarely lasted long enough for BRD to really shine, and there was a point where delay was so low, you didn't even need to hit the haste cap to never stop auto attacking. People could easily hit this in Abyssea, making other buffs far more valuable and useful. You also massively overestimate how often Enfeebs landed Post Abyssea. Ask Cid about his time as a RDM during Abyssea some time. Even with the Immunobreak system, it just wasn't viable compared to just zerg, zerg, zerg, which is all FFXI is now in terms of tactics.

FFXI's combat had always been as deep as a puddle in the middle of Death Valley, but Abyssea just made it even more dull.

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EDIT: Also Spell/Skill Speed is currently bugged in 2.2. It only seems to affect the first ability's cast time, and the GCD. Plus with the current Returns Curve, Crit and Det are far more useful, especially Crit due to the higher levels of Crit we can hit now, and Two Star Crit food now being viable.

[Malacite]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

I agree that SS isn't the most useful stat for WAR (Guy in my FC swears by it above all else) I was merely pointing out that it's good for IB and cycling through a WAR's already lengthy rotation more quickly. Personally I still rather have crit str & parry to pile on the damage (and hate) and just go all beastmode on stuff. STR build WAR are pretty well impossible to rip hate from ^_^ (and the extra STR makes parrying more effective)

Not a fan of the new DRG sets either since they traded a lot of crit for SS which I don't understand at all; our i90 was pretty well designed but too many pieces of our i100~110 have unavoidable SS like the body (both Soldiery and Coil bodies have SS, legs are like that too I think). It's extremely annoying since DRG really doesn't give a rat's ass about SS, we *need* crit to get the most out of our high potency attacks. At least they got the high allagan lance right, that thing is utterly monstrous.

[Etra]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

I would be interested in the new classes/jobs if the game wasn't, well, bad.

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

I do like STR gear for stuff we have on Farm status, or stuff that can be single tanked and the other tank is basically just there for if it hits the fan.

They got BLM gear right actually this time around with the Soldiery Gear. BLM wants to be Crit and Det heavy in 2.2 because of how well it scales at iLv100. We don't actually need that much Spell Speed anymore but it's not like there's a huge difference between the overall DPS when you focus on one.

[Malacite]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

I'm not so sure about that tbh.

Things might change once the level cap goes up (which may be in 2.4) however SS is still pretty big for BLM. You said it yourself, the job loses a lot of damage while on the move and spell speed really helps to alleviate this. You may be right with regards to the current stat caps, however I think once we start getting even higher into item levels spell speed will utterly eclipse everything (for BLM) once it's possible to stack enough to reduce the GDC to an even 2 seconds.

Depending how they handle the dagger class (that is, if it's THF & DNC) we might see skill speed gain *some* value though I really would like to see that stat fixed. Making it function like haste in XI would just be stupid, but I don't see why it can't either add more TP regen or increase auto-attack rate in a linear fashion (well, it COULD be % based like haste was in XI, but they'd have to be very careful about how it scales)


My biggest gripe with BRD is just that it doesn't feel as useful as it did in XI (and I mean before BRD got their Empyrean which is utterly bonkers when maxed allowing 4 songs at one time). Yes the job's dps is significantly better now, but I just feel they screwed up the support role nature of it and gave us a weak Ranger with some minor utility - like a gimpy Corsair almost. I'm aware that current endgame BRD can really put out a lot of punishment because of the higher tiers of Crit rate that are possible, but dps shouldn't be at the forefront when thinking about BARD. Like Summoner, the job reeks of identity crisis (to me).

Maybe when the level cap goes up they'll give us some more songs for more utility (and in the mean time, buff Paeon so that it's actually worth it - it only gives an extra 20 TP/tic which is a complete joke and not worth the 20% dps penalty at all).

[Mezlo]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Did they make any mention about materia and what's to happen with that? I've been out of the ffxiv news for a while. With the new gear attainable from soldiery, and the i90 gear, materia is pretty much obsolete. I remember them saying they had a new plan for materia but not sure if they had mentioned anything yet.

[Firewind]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

You can craft i90 gear with Materia Melds, and some of that gear is pretty nice when melded out, and should definitely last until you can get something from Second Coil.

It is also possible to fuse Materia now, but it is a lottery. I've fused 5 Lv III Crit materia and got a Lv2 Accuracy Materia from it. Either I'm missing something major or it's purely random.

[Mezlo]

Re: New XIV Info - Dagger & Gun confirmed for after 2.3

Right but that i90 even over melded is shit compared to i100 right?

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and from what i saw, there is no i90 accessories, right?