Live Letter from the Producer (5/21/15)Follow

Looks like story-mode Ravana is level 51 and sync'd to level 54.

I like the upcoming bard stance that increases DPS while standing still. Should make the job more challenging and effective.

Depends if they actually changed the battle style of this game. It'll be challenging while you learn the script, but if you know 100% > 75% it does nothing that will cause you to need to move, you'd know to use it then, drop it for phase 2 then redo it for phase 3..so kind of like Bard now with your song rotations already, though I think it's more of a countermeasure to the dropped dps% under ballad and paeon.

I mostly had to laugh about the no new pets for Summoner (which of course some people will gladly defend despite basically every summoner and summon system in the FF series utilized numerous summons including ones that were buff focused.) Was hoping Leviathan or Shiva egi for example would be a more heal/buff focused pet for example, since from a lore standpoint, Dreadwyrm Trance makes no sense at all - we got the floating potato and such because: "you're not strong enough to summon a primal, let alone control and if you try to it consumes you blah blah" yet we can channel Bahamut.

Hopefully it requires a T13 kill, as that would honestly make a bit more sense given a summoner has to be in the presence of a defeated primal to get a portion of its power.

This might be a way to appeal to those players leaving XI. Monsters with strength (HP, skill, AI) equal to your own or that of a party, is probably more in the vein of the experience in that game. Personally, I welcome the possibility it brings of additional diversity in play style. I've struggled with XIV probably because of all my years playing XI and other RPG games where a carefully selected and timed ability can really make all the difference in the outcome of combat. It isn't right or wrong, or even a petition for SE to fix anything, just my personal feeling about combat. I love the movement mechanics in boss battles but would like to see even more emphasis on skillful play and adaptation by players.

I see a loophole being involved with this being something involved with lingering bits of Bahamut's memory. I'd go into further details, but spoilers and laziness.


I do feel that it's a cheap sellout to say that it's the loss of the Blessing that makes these monsters tougher, and not just, hey, they're bloody effing tougher! This is a realm that's seen war for thoursands of years, its beasts are more accustomed to constant violence and armed creatures. The evil has seeped deep into the land itself. That alone should be reason enough for the increased danger, not "Oh hai, yer not as strong as you used to be cause angry dragon grandpa took it away."

He didn't say it, but following what leads to HW, that could actually be the 'reasoning', since a lot of the enemies there, new ones aside, we've fought, even in boss form. But the fact we're no longer "superpowered" explains the sudden shift in difficult our characters would have against it. It's not like XI where something is buffing everything, (as the dragonsong is essentially just the call to arms in a sense.)

Also:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/234815-RIP-Bard?p=2976129#post2976129

The one thing I was looking forward to lol.

This still wouldn't fix those that have been complaining about it.

I think its a good thing I really do but again wont stop the whiners because they will be back here complaining that they have died twice while trying to get to an NPC.

Still on a positive note, I am impressed with what they have had so far coming with it. As mentioned before by others, it's a real expansion coming with plenty of content. Shortly after released there will be even more coming our way.

Something for everyone. As I've said before wait a while after 2.0 and see how the game develops and it really does look like my SUB is worth the cost. Let's face it that's another point SE has had to defend in the past when the relevance of SUBs were raised. Now let me go back to more T9 practise and Relic dungeon spamming before this is released.....

Edited, May 22nd 2015 4:09am by Lonix

The people that are most upset are the old School Summoner fans due to their idea that each new summon should come with its own unique set of skills (Ala FFX Era on.)

In previous FF games the Summons were good for one spell. Maybe that spell could vary based on condition, and that's it for the summons. And that's why we have so many of them to start.

But lately, the Summons themselves come with their own ability kits. This is fine in Single Player, and in FFXI, where inflated skill kits were a thing. But in FFXIV where they try to make every skill useful, that's counterproductive. SE is spending time making what would be nearly identical kits - which will just be distilled to their max DPS essences and have most of them ignored anyway, especially with no real Elemental Differences.

There's also pet micromanagement issues with a gamepad. All and all, I'm rather glad, and interested in the approach they are doing with the using the more potent essences of the Elder Primals (Starting with Bahamut) and then, for flavor use the more run of the mill Primals as skins for the basic Melee/Tank/Ranged trio they have now.

Honestly, what they need to do is take Contagion off Garuda and give it to the player. Then reshuffle the egi abilities so that they really do fulfill different roles that can be selected for the situation. Contagion is the problem. Ifrit's technically superior melee damage just can't compete with doubling the duration of your dots. Give Garuda something else to do so she's not just left hanging, but Contagion needs to be dealt with.

I'm actually more inclined to stick with bard as my main DPS job now that I've learned about it's new ability... I like the idea of having to cleverly know when to activate that buff, then riding the line as far as I can before needing to move again. It's kind of the same way I tank multiple enemies... I try to keep just enough hate that I'm the one getting hit, but I also think about how every GCD spent flashing is DPS I'm not inflicting on the target.

There are plenty of stretches fights where the bard can stay planted assuming that others do their jobs properly. For example, the add phase in t10... if tanks align the ads correctly, then a bard could pretty much use this ability and blast away for the duration of the phase.

Many fights have phase shifts when the boss is momentarily invulnerable, and this is also a great time to activate the song and get some high DPS in. Even if such a moment doesn't exist, there's often an inconsequential moment prior to add phases or other phase shifts where DPS really doesn't matter (such as the final ticks of a phase BEFORE an add phase, where it doesn't matter if the phase shifts three seconds later because you stopped to sing a song... what's more important is higher DPS during the add phase, which is always the DPS check).

You're right that the equation of DPS without singing vs. DPS with time taken to sing is going to matter in regards to how often this ability is used, but I see a lot of utility for this that, either way, wouldn't take away from normal DPS.



Edited, May 22nd 2015 8:25am by Thayos

Adding a cast time to attacks and getting rid of Auto-Attacks in trade for better numbers isn't all that horrible, honestly. And depending on the bonus, might actually be preferable down the road.

It may detract some players, but that's why it's an optional thing. Want to be more mobile? Take a small hit in DPS and go willy nilly.





Each independent pet action is an action, so unless you macro them together, no, you absolutely flood out your skill bars and you're forced into a rather awkward swapping structure. That said, Cross Hotbar is due for a change so we'll see what happens there.

I'll meet you half way on the 'dangled' argument. This is the case of SE saying they'd consider adding something in the future, and the player base hanging onto it like gospel - which in this case isn't all that unreasonable given the Job's history. Two things should have occurred on SE's end to help prevent these cases - one - never mention anything in contested matters cause their words get used against them, even when it's just bad use of context or bad localization (See the mix-up with Bard's Minuet.) OR, once they make a decision in the negative to something they said may happen, let people know early, instead of the showcase, and kill the outrage early.



Que? It's been proven already that in many encounters, Ifrit tops Garuda, even when factoring Contagion so the 'hardly used Ifrit" argument can be switched from hardly using Ifrit, to hardly using Titan out of solo. Ifrit sees plenty of use. (Contageon is mainly used to extend the duration of debuffs under the effect of Raging Strikes in specific fights. Shorter, more frequent encounters or encounters with multiple monsters filling in tend to negate this bonus.)

As far as the "Has skills that do nothing for the encounter" Garuda won't be using shock-wave if you're maintaining your distance appropriately and Contageon is useless in brief encounters. Conversely the only 'Wasted' skill on Ifrit is Radiant Shield, if he's not being hit on. (He'll automatically stun enemy AoEs if that cooldown is up so Crimson Cyclone is actually useful.) Situational arguments are situational.



Except, Leviathan as a Primal isn't focused on healing at all? In this case Leviathan has less argument to contain a heal than Garuda. Also, we have to remember, FFXIV Summoner isn't the Summoner of FFXI, whom was able to flex different tasks due to their different summons. Summoner in this game is pretty strictly Magical DPS, so having any MORE specialties than "Defensive, Ranged, Melee" really doesn't fit in that function. So side healing would be instilled no more potently than Summoner's innate physic.

Right now, the argument posed is this: Why divide the skillets further when you can add to the existing summons archetypes, and then simply add differing skins to each? Your argument for Leviathan could work just as well for Garuda, so why aren't they simply both interchangeable in the same "Summon" role? Same skillset, different appearance. That's the question the developer is facing right now. Are they right? Eh... we've had these arguments on the opposite side of the table when Red Mage was regulated back line in FFXI. I can't fault Summoners wanting a more Traditional Summoner style.



I hear this a lot and the only thing I regret form never touching WoW is a first hand understanding of their Classes. I happen to like Summoner in its current incarnation, which seems to, by association, say I would have enjoyed WoW's Warlock. Either case I have to remind myself that I'm getting older, and am not as swayed or easily upset by this stuff as I used to be. It's not healthy to over-hang oneself on any particular feature or activity. It's always my perspective to play something that piques my interests with an open mind, and see how I feel with it. It bothers me how few people can actually adapt that approach.


Edited, May 22nd 2015 12:52pm by Hyrist

I was thinking of them just handing out the ability to reskin the egi's to alts if so desired. Same moves stats and traits with their own animation. Like:
Titan<->Levi
Ifrit<->Shiva
Garuda<->Leviathan.

As an example.

This idea works though as well. Personally I love the summoning animation in this game and the idea of it getting used more for summoning spells for one attack sounds awesome.

Also due to shiva origins would Summoner even be able to tap into her energy?