No more 2hrsFollow

i've never liked the way XI implemented 2hrs. some of them were just totally useless in 99.9% of situations, so why even have them?

i would like to see a job's main ability be something that would be worthwile in more ways, and see the cooldown on them cut in at least half (in fact, i think 1hr cooldown is perfect)

Hopefully we get to choose are own 2 hour.

Suddenly, my worst fear is that there will be no summoning class, and that everyone will be able to equip summons, and that summons will have the 2hr cooldown.

Racial job abilities would be more of a hindrance then a benefit. ex One race gets a haste boost & others don't, said race is now outright superior. I like the idea of using summons as our 2hours though.

I like the 2 hour ability function, it gave every single job a flavor. Every ability in the game does not have to be designed to be used, everytime the cooldown period is up, but they all could be effective at some point in time. I remember seeing a LS about to wipe, all they have left is the nin but the hnm is at 1%, and boom nin 2hour and they win. Now this doesn't happen often, but nin 2hour was also a free warp home everytime you left out. As long as they all have some impact in the game (some was bigger than others), then it is all good with me. I don't think they should take down the cool down time, 2hours is fair enough, I don't want people spamming every 25mins (like the OP suggested). The abilities should not be the same (of course, its a new game), but they were powerful enough. You have to account for "end game", their will be bosses, and 18 people 2hours (assuming thats an alliance size still), being anymore powerful could really upset the balance of difficulty later on (especially 18 peoples 2hour ability every 25-30mins like the OP suggested).

I would love to see 2 hours. But, one idea I've always toyed with is having a 2hr that has a function very different from your class.

Like, a Paladin would get a threatless DD 2hr instead of a Tanking one.

This way, the abilities can be very strong, but are really designed for situations where they are needed without being too OP at other times.

So, a defensive class can have the chance to put out a lot of damage so as to take out an enemy before they die. For *their* class, it would be very high DpS, but average for a DD class. So, say you are soloing and you get an add. A Paladin can survive very well (assuming he can actually get heals off), but outlasting isn't always best. Being able to quickly take out one of the two mobs may be the difference between death and survival.

And, because you will usually tank in a group as a Pal, a high-damage strike without aggro (or low aggro) won't help your specific role much, but the group in general (so they aren't OP).

What I REALLY don't want to see is something like Mighty Strikes, something dependent on your accuracy to be even slightly effective. Especially because the duration means that different weapon speeds receive better bonuses than others.

I use my 2Hrs a lot more often in small group settings than in traditional parties (even missions and whatnot). Even some of the questionable ones (Mighty Strikes, pre-Convert Chainspell, etc.) can make a huge difference in a duo or trio.

If FFXIV does have a similar mechanic, I think there needs to be a bit better balance between the classes and throughout the levels. With a handful of exceptions, they're pretty out of whack right now.

As for the summons being a 2Hr-like ability, I'd rather not see it. I always preferred the "summoning as a unique ability" FF games (FFIV, FFX, etc.) to the "everyone can do it" ones (pretty much all of them since FFVI). Mind you, that's just a flavor thing; I'm not going to be upset if FFXIV has univeral summons or anything.



One of the best WHMs I ever grouped with was a Galka. Elvaan BLM are about the only race/job combo that's unequivocally terrible. Dumb as a bag of hammers...



I'd hate to see race become nothing but a cosmetic choice. With a few exceptions (the abovementioned Elvaan BLM) I think the current race/job interaction is pretty well-balanced. You gain a tangible benefit for staying in the "correct" field, but can also function in the "wrong" ones without too much difficulty. Also, outside of a traditional party (and I'm usually outside of a traditional party), some of the racial traits are worth more than they would be. For example: If you're duoing as a WHM, an Elvaan's higher STR, HP, and VIT make a difference, 'cause you're either in melee or riding on your partner's coattails.

The 2-hrs that I found most useful were Mighty Strikes and Hundred Fists. Mostly when we got a link...

On BST before Leave, Familiar is pretty useful. I'd always start by 2-hring an EM, keep it alive with pet food, and not have to worry about it turning on my for 30 min.

I can't say I ever saved the day with Benediction, but I've been in parties where it was looking bad, and Bene turned things around.

I liked 2-hrs... just wish they were 1/2-hr abilities, but that might make things unbalanced since some jobs (MNK) definitely had better 2-hrs.

Whether or not they should be kept depends on a lot of other things we just don't know yet.

I actually find this to be a very appealing alternative.

Ideally I'd prefer Trance/Limit Break/Overdrive etc.
I always thought 2hrs were this, but obviously in an mmo environment things like Trance wouldn't work too well, in FFXIs gameplay at least.

Because in most cases, stuff like Trance wasn't planned and came at random, so you'd just have to take advantage of it when you would, rather then put it into your battle plan, which you do with FFXI. If they found some way to implement it though, that'd be awesome.

The problem with Trance in an MMO comes when you are in group play. It is general practice in nearly all MMOs to do as much damage as you can without going over your tank's threat limit and taking hate yourself. Trance can make that VERY annoying--especially if you get it JUST before clicking a big ability.

Plus, that doesn't solve the problem of some Overdrives/2hrs/Trances being way stronger than others. A Mnk getting a Trance of soemthing like HFs would rock (especially if they could get it multiple times a boss fight). A thief getting theirs wouldn't. This makes game balance incredibly difficult to manage.

I also think the 2hr CD is fine. MAYBE 1 hr, but I wouldn't want to see lower than that. The point of these abilities is that they AREN'T supposed to be used a lot. The job isn't supposed to be defined by this ability.

And, while .5 hours isn't DEFINING, it does take away the fear of misusing it, which has always been an aspect of it. You want to make it count, and that makes it more special.

Especially because, with a 2 hr CD, you can only generally use it on one boss in an instance (if it has multiple ones). With a .5 hour one, you could likely use it on 2 or 3, depending on what you are doing. This can be even more unbalanced in whatever PvP play they implement.

Racial abilities in WoW are a disaster. In the end one race can be favored over another, and race just isnt something thats easy to change. I dont want to see this happen to FF14 and it causes nasty balance problems in wow. I think there should be something more closely related to limit breaks...And there should be characteristics they all have in common, to keep one from being clearly better than the other...in FFXI Blue mage 2 hour was worthless , where as PLDs was entirely useful, there should be a criteria that all have in common so they cant ust be all together better than the other.

2 hours are very important and lots of battles are planned around them.