However, we do plan to raise the level cap on the Blue Mage—and this doesn’t necessarily have to be timed with an expansion release. So at some point during the 5.x patch series, players can expect new blue magic which can be acquired, additions to the Masked Carnivale, and even new content to tackle.
I would say we are only at the “So You Want to be a Blue Mage?” chapter in the overall journey for this job—there is a lot of future blue mage content in the pipeline for our players to enjoy.
I'd like to see an almost inverted version of this for some sort of buffing class. Starts off at max level, can only be used in 8-mans, has minor dps or healing spells, but is designed to boost any party comp. Kind of what old school bards/dancers used to be.
I'd like to see an almost inverted version of this for some sort of buffing class. Starts off at max level, can only be used in 8-mans, has minor dps or healing spells, but is designed to boost any party comp. Kind of what old school bards/dancers used to be.
Man my FFXI memories aren't exactly the best but I always found OG Red Mages intriguing. Having refresh definitely made an impact in those days when mages needed to have drinks to regen their MP quickly.
how would you make such a class play, mechanically?
Do you play FF Record Keeper? Or have you played it in the past? The way that game treats the Support role is amazing. Ramza, Minfilia, Faris, Sasz, and so forth. They have strong breaks that debuff armor, resistance, strength, and magic power. Additionally the come with buffs for your team, and through strong itemization they have some magnificent buff and debuff limits. Obviously with as generous as that game is with the limits it wouldn't translate 1:1 to XIV, but the core concept of really strong supports is mostly what I'm looking at.
Those classes are pretty much essential in that game, but the combat is also tuned with the expectation that you are using those things and taking advantage of the strength of the support class.
Obviously for that to work in an MMO, the encounters would have to be designed in such a way as to assume you have one and require the presence of one (or more). It would basically require a full paradigm shift in the way XIV is designed.
Honestly, I wish MMOs would build combat from the ground up to require support. I think non-trinity roles are some of the most fascinating things you can do with RPGs and it's a shame that most MMOs, including XIV tend to only stick to the trinity.
In fact, I would say I gravitate towards non-trinity roles in games that have them. Make supports super strong in what they do, i.e. buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control. And design the game in such a way that those roles are both essential and beneficial to have.
Edit: Another analogy. I equate the Blue decks of MTG with the card game equivalent of support. They are all about control, disruption, interference, and manipulation, rather than direct damage or combat dominance. And I also prefer the blue decks because of this. It's just a personal preference.
how would you make such a class play, mechanically?
Do you play FF Record Keeper? Or have you played it in the past? The way that game treats the Support role is amazing. Ramza, Minfilia, Faris, Sasz, and so forth. They have strong breaks that debuff armor, resistance, strength, and magic power. Additionally the come with buffs for your team, and through strong itemization they have some magnificent buff and debuff limits. Obviously with as generous as that game is with the limits it wouldn't translate 1:1 to XIV, but the core concept of really strong supports is mostly what I'm looking at.
Those classes are pretty much essential in that game, but the combat is also tuned with the expectation that you are using those things and taking advantage of the strength of the support class.
Obviously for that to work in an MMO, the encounters would have to be designed in such a way as to assume you have one and require the presence of one (or more). It would basically require a full paradigm shift in the way XIV is designed.
Honestly, I wish MMOs would build combat from the ground up to require support. I think non-trinity roles are some of the most fascinating things you can do with RPGs and it's a shame that most MMOs, including XIV tend to only stick to the trinity.
In fact, I would say I gravitate towards non-trinity roles in games that have them. Make supports super strong in what they do, i.e. buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control. And design the game in such a way that those roles are both essential and beneficial to have.
The problem with this is that FF14 is not a game of rules but a game of exceptions, things don't always work the way you expect them to work, because at the end of the day you're supposed to tackle an encounter the way the designers intend for you to tackle it.
My favorite example of this is the paladin ability which allows you to avoid being knocked back. Unless, of course, the boss mechanic requires you to be knocked back. In that case, you still get knocked back. Or sometimes even when it's not required. A lot of weird abilities like the ones you'd describe simply don't work when you most hope they would.
Unless as you suggest the game were completely redesigned, which I would consider essentially impossible, considering the above: their design is far too precious to them to give up, in my opinion.
The last MMO I played that had a dedicated support slot (tank, healer, DPS x2, support) was Rift. I enjoyed that quite a bit, as that slot was designed for buff classes (like Bard) and debuff classes.
Enchanter and Bard from EQ are my favorite examples of support classes that filled an essential role. Enchanter was CC primary, with strong mana regen and caster buffs as secondary. Bard could CC but not as effecitvely, but they had some really amazing buffs for melee and physical, plus they also had a kickass mana song that could juice you right up.
+2
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
edited February 2019
I do miss Support roles in MMOs. CC, buffs, debuffs, etc etc.
I don't think XIV could add them without, well, an ARR level of design changes.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Yeah i sadly have nothing else to offer as far as implementation, just a wish. I think having it be a limited role makes the most sense, but that's aboot it.
If they had kept the elemental modifier stuff around, maybe you could have some sort of Elemancer or whatever.
The one thing i do hope to see less of in raiding is the concept of DPS uptime being dependent on boss attack RNG which seemed to be prevalent in Delta/Sigma/Alphascape Savage. The most obvious example i can think of is O10S (or A2S) where Midgardsormr's group attacks would be either doughnuts/pointblank AOEs or cross/X-shaped. In the early days we would miss the check just because of an unfavorable combination since our two melee DPS were routine hitting harder than our two ranged.
It also seemed like server latency was a bigger issue with Alphascape but that may just be a matter of perspective.
I do miss Support roles in MMOs. CC, buffs, debuffs, etc etc.
I don't think XIV could add them without, well, an ARR level of design changes.
A lot of classes have strong party buffs they can throw up some of the time. AST's entire deal is their buffs alongside the heals... but nobody's dedicated to it.
I do miss Support roles in MMOs. CC, buffs, debuffs, etc etc.
I don't think XIV could add them without, well, an ARR level of design changes.
A lot of classes have strong party buffs they can throw up some of the time. AST's entire deal is their buffs alongside the heals... but nobody's dedicated to it.
But not so much the powerful CC stuff.
This is true but part of the core fantasy of such a class is that it offers a fundamentally different experience than other classes. In the same way that healing offers a fundamentally different experience than tanking, such a support class should be fundamentally different from DPS, Tanking, or Healing as a role.
I don't know if I really want to go back to the days of CCing thru dungeons. I would love if we could get some sort of Skillchain/MagicBurst system tho.
The really unique thing about mesmer, which is why it beats out monk for me, is that the CC isn't really hard CC. It's situational stuff, like taking massive damage every time you cast a spell, or making the next ability used add an extra minute to its cooldown, or attacking the opponent's resources to leave them without mana. Not all of that works in a game outside of guild wars, but a class that had Spiteful Spirit as an aoe (hex which causes opponents to take a small to moderate tick of damage every time they perform an attack or ability) would be pretty great.
4.5 Gearing crib notes. I wrote these up for a friend, so here, I'll share. PROBABLY old hat for everyone here, but please let me know if any of these steps are stupid.
Basically, once you get into them, You alternate between Ivalice drops and Omega token drops until you're maxed out.
Weapons:
Start at 290 with your L70 AF weapon
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
360: 1000 Mendacity Tokens and Prototype Tomestone (4 crystals from Sigmascape 4, Req 325)
365: Heaven on High, 10 grips = 100 stored levels
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, Req 335)
380: Crafted HQ Rakshasa Weapons (~380k on my server, may be affordable)
385: Hells' Kier (Extreme) / Suzaku Weapons (Drops in trial or bought with 10 tokens, req 370)
390: 1000 Genesis Tokens and Military-grade Tomestone (4 crystals from Alphascape 4, Req 355, 1 crystal per week)
395: Wreath of Snakes / Seiryu Weapons (Drops in trial or bought with 10 tokens, req 380)
400: Upgraded Genesis (4 weekly drops from Savage Alphascape 3. req 380. Good luck.)
405: Savage Alphascape 4 (2 drops per raid per week. req 380. Good luck.)
Check market prices on 380 crafted weapons -- "Rakshasa Weapons." These may be affordable and are a nice way to jump ahead.
Heaven on High is good if you've worked on leveling an alt in there, you will get more grips (and thus, weapons) than you will need - going from 61 to 70 you will probably have enough grips to buy your weapon by 66. Mendacity weapon is also an option. Once available, farm for the Genesis weapon. If you can stomach the Extreme trials, they're an option -- random drops or 10 failed runs to buy a weapon.
My path for my main was L70 AF weapon to Mendacity weapon to Upgraded Mendacity Weapon to Genesis weapon. I did not do Heaven on High or notice the Rakshasa weapon. I felt like the Mendacity Weapon was a waste.
Armor:
Start at 290 with your L70 AF
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
315: Skalla (req 300)
320: Omega Deltascape Tokens (req 295)
325: Hells Lid / Fractal Continuum Hard (req 310)
330: Ivalice 1 - Rabanastre (req 305)
345: Swallow's Compass (req 330)
350: Omega Sigmascape Tokens (req 325)
360: Mendacity Tokens
360: Ivalice 2 - Lighthouse (req 335)
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, 1 of each per upgrade)
375: Ghimlyt Dark (req 360)
380: Omega Alphascape (req 355)
390: Genesis Tokens (weekly limited)
390: Ivalice 3 - Monastery (req 355, 1 drop per week)
400: Upgraded Genesis (req coins from Ivalice 1, 2, and 3. 1 of each per upgrade, 1 coin from Monestary per week)
400: Savage Alphascape (2 drops per raid per week. Good luck.)
Smoothest path is Deltascape (295) > Rabanastre (305) > Sigmascape (325) > Lightouse (335) > Alphascape (355) > Monestary (355). Use Mendacity tokens to patch holes, Genesis once Monestary drops start becoming unfeasible.
Ghimlyt Dark is slightly less iLevel than Alphascape / Monestary, but has unlimited drops per week, is very fast, and will fill your weekly Genesis tokens after 9 runs.
Accessories:
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
320: Omega Deltascape Tokens (req 295)
345: Swallow's Compass (req 330)
350: Omega Sigmascape Tokens (req 325)
360: Mendacity Tokens
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, 1 of each per upgrade)
375: Ghimlyt Dark (req 360)
380: Omega Alphascape (req 355)
380: HQ Crated Accessories
390: Genesis Tokens
400: Upgraded Genesis (req coins from Ivalice 1, 2, and 3. 1 of each per upgrade, 1 coin from Ivalice 3 per week)
Similar to Armor, except there are no Ivalice accessories.
Smoothest path is to farm each Omega tier's first and second fight until you get all the accessories. Mendacity to plug the holes and squeeze you into the next Omega tier if needed.
Genesis Ring is a good investment, as the Omega ring is unique.
Tldr:
Weapons are spread out quite far, Ivalice has 3 tiers of armor, Omega has 3 tiers of armor and accessories, the MSQ dungeons have armor and accessories as well at weird iLevels.
L70 Job Quest will put you at 290 except for your accessories.
Get a weapon -- buy a HQ crafted 380 weapon, or farm the Heaven on High weapon.
Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons for 300 / Skalla for 315 armor and accessories until you can access Deltascape
Deltascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + armor tokens until you can enter Rabanastre
Rabanastre, farm body armor until you can do Sigmascape
Sigmascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + armor tokens until you can enter Lighthouse
Lighthouse, farm body armor until you can do Alphascape
Alphascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + 380 armor tokens
Monastery, farm 1 piece weekly of 390 body armor + 1 coin for upgrading Genesis weapons
Alphascape 4 (aka O12) weekly to get crystal for Genesis weapon, 4 needed
1000 Genesis tokens (2 weeks of full Genesis grinding + 100 in the third week) + Ivalice coins for 390 weapon
The "reasonable casual endgame" goal is: a full set of 380 Alphascape accessories, a full set of 390 Monastery body armor, a 390 Genesis weapon, and the accessories/body armor slowly being replaced with Upgraded Genesis gear as weekly Genesis tomestones and weekly Monastery coins are farmed.
The week after I registered the free Twitch code for the base edition of the game, Steam puts their version of Stormblood on sale. Figures. Hopefully the Square version goes on sale, too.
Note that you can trade the 380 crafted gear for tokens, then use those tokens + an item you buy with genesis tomes to trade for 390 gear. Good way to instantly jump to 390 if you have the Gil.
4.5 Gearing crib notes. I wrote these up for a friend, so here, I'll share. PROBABLY old hat for everyone here, but please let me know if any of these steps are stupid.
Basically, once you get into them, You alternate between Ivalice drops and Omega token drops until you're maxed out.
Weapons:
Start at 290 with your L70 AF weapon
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
360: 1000 Mendacity Tokens and Prototype Tomestone (4 crystals from Sigmascape 4, Req 325)
365: Heaven on High, 10 grips = 100 stored levels
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, Req 335)
380: Crafted HQ Rakshasa Weapons (~380k on my server, may be affordable)
385: Hells' Kier (Extreme) / Suzaku Weapons (Drops in trial or bought with 10 tokens, req 370)
390: 1000 Genesis Tokens and Military-grade Tomestone (4 crystals from Alphascape 4, Req 355, 1 crystal per week)
395: Wreath of Snakes / Seiryu Weapons (Drops in trial or bought with 10 tokens, req 380)
400: Upgraded Genesis (4 weekly drops from Savage Alphascape 3. req 380. Good luck.)
405: Savage Alphascape 4 (2 drops per raid per week. req 380. Good luck.)
Check market prices on 380 crafted weapons -- "Rakshasa Weapons." These may be affordable and are a nice way to jump ahead.
Heaven on High is good if you've worked on leveling an alt in there, you will get more grips (and thus, weapons) than you will need - going from 61 to 70 you will probably have enough grips to buy your weapon by 66. Mendacity weapon is also an option. Once available, farm for the Genesis weapon. If you can stomach the Extreme trials, they're an option -- random drops or 10 failed runs to buy a weapon.
My path for my main was L70 AF weapon to Mendacity weapon to Upgraded Mendacity Weapon to Genesis weapon. I did not do Heaven on High or notice the Rakshasa weapon. I felt like the Mendacity Weapon was a waste.
Armor:
Start at 290 with your L70 AF
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
315: Skalla (req 300)
320: Omega Deltascape Tokens (req 295)
325: Hells Lid / Fractal Continuum Hard (req 310)
330: Ivalice 1 - Rabanastre (req 305)
345: Swallow's Compass (req 330)
350: Omega Sigmascape Tokens (req 325)
360: Mendacity Tokens
360: Ivalice 2 - Lighthouse (req 335)
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, 1 of each per upgrade)
375: Ghimlyt Dark (req 360)
380: Omega Alphascape (req 355)
390: Genesis Tokens (weekly limited)
390: Ivalice 3 - Monastery (req 355, 1 drop per week)
400: Upgraded Genesis (req coins from Ivalice 1, 2, and 3. 1 of each per upgrade, 1 coin from Monestary per week)
400: Savage Alphascape (2 drops per raid per week. Good luck.)
Smoothest path is Deltascape (295) > Rabanastre (305) > Sigmascape (325) > Lightouse (335) > Alphascape (355) > Monestary (355). Use Mendacity tokens to patch holes, Genesis once Monestary drops start becoming unfeasible.
Ghimlyt Dark is slightly less iLevel than Alphascape / Monestary, but has unlimited drops per week, is very fast, and will fill your weekly Genesis tokens after 9 runs.
Accessories:
300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
320: Omega Deltascape Tokens (req 295)
345: Swallow's Compass (req 330)
350: Omega Sigmascape Tokens (req 325)
360: Mendacity Tokens
370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, 1 of each per upgrade)
375: Ghimlyt Dark (req 360)
380: Omega Alphascape (req 355)
380: HQ Crated Accessories
390: Genesis Tokens
400: Upgraded Genesis (req coins from Ivalice 1, 2, and 3. 1 of each per upgrade, 1 coin from Ivalice 3 per week)
Similar to Armor, except there are no Ivalice accessories.
Smoothest path is to farm each Omega tier's first and second fight until you get all the accessories. Mendacity to plug the holes and squeeze you into the next Omega tier if needed.
Genesis Ring is a good investment, as the Omega ring is unique.
Tldr:
Weapons are spread out quite far, Ivalice has 3 tiers of armor, Omega has 3 tiers of armor and accessories, the MSQ dungeons have armor and accessories as well at weird iLevels.
L70 Job Quest will put you at 290 except for your accessories.
Get a weapon -- buy a HQ crafted 380 weapon, or farm the Heaven on High weapon.
Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons for 300 / Skalla for 315 armor and accessories until you can access Deltascape
Deltascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + armor tokens until you can enter Rabanastre
Rabanastre, farm body armor until you can do Sigmascape
Sigmascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + armor tokens until you can enter Lighthouse
Lighthouse, farm body armor until you can do Alphascape
Alphascape, farm accessories from 1 and 2 + 380 armor tokens
Monastery, farm 1 piece weekly of 390 body armor + 1 coin for upgrading Genesis weapons
Alphascape 4 (aka O12) weekly to get crystal for Genesis weapon, 4 needed
1000 Genesis tokens (2 weeks of full Genesis grinding + 100 in the third week) + Ivalice coins for 390 weapon
The "reasonable casual endgame" goal is: a full set of 380 Alphascape accessories, a full set of 390 Monastery body armor, a 390 Genesis weapon, and the accessories/body armor slowly being replaced with Upgraded Genesis gear as weekly Genesis tomestones and weekly Monastery coins are farmed.
Nope that's pretty extensive, the only thing i'd add is that the 400 upgraded Gensis gear can also be gained via Centurio seals rather than having to wait for the weekly runs of monastery, or on top of them for speed. And the daily/weekly hunt bills are solo-able.
The week after I registered the free Twitch code for the base edition of the game, Steam puts their version of Stormblood on sale. Figures. Hopefully the Square version goes on sale, too.
fwiw, the Square version goes on sale pretty often. More often than the Steam one does typically.
My aetherpool weapon and aetherpool armor are way out of sync. My weapon is 14 levels higher than my armor. Is that common? I don't remember ever being that out of whack a couple years ago when I played last.
My aetherpool weapon and aetherpool armor are way out of sync. My weapon is 14 levels higher than my armor. Is that common? I don't remember ever being that out of whack a couple years ago when I played last.
It's a bit more extreme than I've seen, but getting one or the other is pure RNG.
And that's exactly what I was doing. I was trying to pull out the Kinna Daggers for my Ninja. Mostly for the glamour potential, but also just because I can probably get a little use out of them and then buy like a 62 dagger to replace them.
I hit 60 last night.
Found out I put a ton of effort into running Ishgard hunt bills for nothing. I saved up like 500 centurio seals so I could buy the level 60 ninja set (for the glamour) and then they gave it to me for free when I finished the level 60 quest. I was kinda pissed about that cause none of the online documentation I looked at regarding how to acquire that armor bothered to mention that the level 60 artifact gear is attached to the class quest now.
I had level discrepancy that extreme when doing both potd and hoh. Actually it meant I needed to do a couple extra runs of potd because my armor was not high enough level to continue.
It was weird, but I am also cursed with bad luck, so make of that what you will.
well the good news is centurio seals carry over into stormblood and are still super useful, so it wasn't a total loss
Except that I bought all that armor literally the minute I hit 60, so I already spent them all before I found out I got the armor for free. I think I have 13 centurio seals to my name now.
Edit: Actually, I bought it all at 59 so that I had it in my bags and ready to go at 60.
well the good news is centurio seals carry over into stormblood and are still super useful, so it wasn't a total loss
What exactly are these seals used for?
A number of things, such as gear, materia, minions, and most useful now, 400 gear upgrades.
Also mount speed upgrades.
Yes, that’s right. But Centurio can only buy upgrades for heavensward/stormblood areas and only for ground mount speed. Which is ... not super-useful once flying is unlocked. Also, I’m not 100% sure on this, but I believe you can only use an upgrade item once you’ve unlocked the first mount speed upgrade from doing msq.
Allied seals (ARR hunts) are the ones you’ll get much better use out of in regards to mount speed upgrades for ARR zones.
I was going to make a female Au ra but then spent 30 minutes creating a male one because i thought it was female and my god the dragon boys are just so very pretty.
well the good news is centurio seals carry over into stormblood and are still super useful, so it wasn't a total loss
What exactly are these seals used for?
A number of things, such as gear, materia, minions, and most useful now, 400 gear upgrades.
Also mount speed upgrades.
Yes, that’s right. But Centurio can only buy upgrades for heavensward/stormblood areas and only for ground mount speed. Which is ... not super-useful once flying is unlocked. Also, I’m not 100% sure on this, but I believe you can only use an upgrade item once you’ve unlocked the first mount speed upgrade from doing msq.
Allied seals (ARR hunts) are the ones you’ll get much better use out of in regards to mount speed upgrades for ARR zones.
I unlocked North Shroud because of the crafting Beast Tribe located there that requires quite a bit of running around for their dailies.
And RDM is at 70. Class has a nice flow to it, though I can possibly see myself getting bored with it since there isn't much to pay attention to. Though it is kinda nice to be able to do your rotation on autopilot and just pay attention to mechanics.
Think I'll level BRD next, or maybe a tank? Plan was to get all 3 casters up to 70, but I think I'll skip SMN for now just to get a change of pace.
Edit: Oh yeah, RDM easily has my favorite class questline so far. Good characters, a bit of lore, and actually interesting instances.
And RDM is at 70. Class has a nice flow to it, though I can possibly see myself getting bored with it since there isn't much to pay attention to. Though it is kinda nice to be able to do your rotation on autopilot and just pay attention to mechanics.
Think I'll level BRD next, or maybe a tank? Plan was to get all 3 casters up to 70, but I think I'll skip SMN for now just to get a change of pace.
Edit: Oh yeah, RDM easily has my favorite class questline so far. Good characters, a bit of lore, and actually interesting instances.
If you want a good class questline, play DRK. It's the only one that gives insight into the WoL's mindset.
PSN/XBL/Nintendo/Origin/Steam: Nightslyr 3DS: 1607-1682-2948 Switch: SW-3515-0057-3813 FF XIV: Q'vehn Tia
Posts
Man my FFXI memories aren't exactly the best but I always found OG Red Mages intriguing. Having refresh definitely made an impact in those days when mages needed to have drinks to regen their MP quickly.
Do you play FF Record Keeper? Or have you played it in the past? The way that game treats the Support role is amazing. Ramza, Minfilia, Faris, Sasz, and so forth. They have strong breaks that debuff armor, resistance, strength, and magic power. Additionally the come with buffs for your team, and through strong itemization they have some magnificent buff and debuff limits. Obviously with as generous as that game is with the limits it wouldn't translate 1:1 to XIV, but the core concept of really strong supports is mostly what I'm looking at.
Those classes are pretty much essential in that game, but the combat is also tuned with the expectation that you are using those things and taking advantage of the strength of the support class.
Obviously for that to work in an MMO, the encounters would have to be designed in such a way as to assume you have one and require the presence of one (or more). It would basically require a full paradigm shift in the way XIV is designed.
Honestly, I wish MMOs would build combat from the ground up to require support. I think non-trinity roles are some of the most fascinating things you can do with RPGs and it's a shame that most MMOs, including XIV tend to only stick to the trinity.
In fact, I would say I gravitate towards non-trinity roles in games that have them. Make supports super strong in what they do, i.e. buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control. And design the game in such a way that those roles are both essential and beneficial to have.
Edit: Another analogy. I equate the Blue decks of MTG with the card game equivalent of support. They are all about control, disruption, interference, and manipulation, rather than direct damage or combat dominance. And I also prefer the blue decks because of this. It's just a personal preference.
The problem with this is that FF14 is not a game of rules but a game of exceptions, things don't always work the way you expect them to work, because at the end of the day you're supposed to tackle an encounter the way the designers intend for you to tackle it.
My favorite example of this is the paladin ability which allows you to avoid being knocked back. Unless, of course, the boss mechanic requires you to be knocked back. In that case, you still get knocked back. Or sometimes even when it's not required. A lot of weird abilities like the ones you'd describe simply don't work when you most hope they would.
Unless as you suggest the game were completely redesigned, which I would consider essentially impossible, considering the above: their design is far too precious to them to give up, in my opinion.
I find the idea of a strong buff/debuff class really interesting.
Oh I completely agree, I would love that and it would probably be my favorite class, I just think ff14 isn't the game that would, or could do it.
Aion did something similar to this suggestion with the Chanter class, which is easily my favorite class in any mmo, ever.
[Edit] With mesmer from gw1 and monk from gw1 in a close second and third
Enchanter and Bard from EQ are my favorite examples of support classes that filled an essential role. Enchanter was CC primary, with strong mana regen and caster buffs as secondary. Bard could CC but not as effecitvely, but they had some really amazing buffs for melee and physical, plus they also had a kickass mana song that could juice you right up.
I don't think XIV could add them without, well, an ARR level of design changes.
If they had kept the elemental modifier stuff around, maybe you could have some sort of Elemancer or whatever.
The one thing i do hope to see less of in raiding is the concept of DPS uptime being dependent on boss attack RNG which seemed to be prevalent in Delta/Sigma/Alphascape Savage. The most obvious example i can think of is O10S (or A2S) where Midgardsormr's group attacks would be either doughnuts/pointblank AOEs or cross/X-shaped. In the early days we would miss the check just because of an unfavorable combination since our two melee DPS were routine hitting harder than our two ranged.
It also seemed like server latency was a bigger issue with Alphascape but that may just be a matter of perspective.
A lot of classes have strong party buffs they can throw up some of the time. AST's entire deal is their buffs alongside the heals... but nobody's dedicated to it.
But not so much the powerful CC stuff.
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This is true but part of the core fantasy of such a class is that it offers a fundamentally different experience than other classes. In the same way that healing offers a fundamentally different experience than tanking, such a support class should be fundamentally different from DPS, Tanking, or Healing as a role.
Basically, once you get into them, You alternate between Ivalice drops and Omega token drops until you're maxed out.
Weapons:
Check market prices on 380 crafted weapons -- "Rakshasa Weapons." These may be affordable and are a nice way to jump ahead.
Heaven on High is good if you've worked on leveling an alt in there, you will get more grips (and thus, weapons) than you will need - going from 61 to 70 you will probably have enough grips to buy your weapon by 66. Mendacity weapon is also an option. Once available, farm for the Genesis weapon. If you can stomach the Extreme trials, they're an option -- random drops or 10 failed runs to buy a weapon.
My path for my main was L70 AF weapon to Mendacity weapon to Upgraded Mendacity Weapon to Genesis weapon. I did not do Heaven on High or notice the Rakshasa weapon. I felt like the Mendacity Weapon was a waste.
Armor:
- Start at 290 with your L70 AF
- 300: Fist / Kugane / Ala Mhigo dungeons (req 280)
- 315: Skalla (req 300)
- 320: Omega Deltascape Tokens (req 295)
- 325: Hells Lid / Fractal Continuum Hard (req 310)
- 330: Ivalice 1 - Rabanastre (req 305)
- 345: Swallow's Compass (req 330)
- 350: Omega Sigmascape Tokens (req 325)
- 360: Mendacity Tokens
- 360: Ivalice 2 - Lighthouse (req 335)
- 370: Upgraded Mendacity (req coins from Ivalice 1 and 2, 1 of each per upgrade)
- 375: Ghimlyt Dark (req 360)
- 380: Omega Alphascape (req 355)
- 390: Genesis Tokens (weekly limited)
- 390: Ivalice 3 - Monastery (req 355, 1 drop per week)
- 400: Upgraded Genesis (req coins from Ivalice 1, 2, and 3. 1 of each per upgrade, 1 coin from Monestary per week)
- 400: Savage Alphascape (2 drops per raid per week. Good luck.)
Smoothest path is Deltascape (295) > Rabanastre (305) > Sigmascape (325) > Lightouse (335) > Alphascape (355) > Monestary (355). Use Mendacity tokens to patch holes, Genesis once Monestary drops start becoming unfeasible.Ghimlyt Dark is slightly less iLevel than Alphascape / Monestary, but has unlimited drops per week, is very fast, and will fill your weekly Genesis tokens after 9 runs.
Accessories:
Similar to Armor, except there are no Ivalice accessories.
Smoothest path is to farm each Omega tier's first and second fight until you get all the accessories. Mendacity to plug the holes and squeeze you into the next Omega tier if needed.
Genesis Ring is a good investment, as the Omega ring is unique.
Tldr:
Weapons are spread out quite far, Ivalice has 3 tiers of armor, Omega has 3 tiers of armor and accessories, the MSQ dungeons have armor and accessories as well at weird iLevels.
The "reasonable casual endgame" goal is: a full set of 380 Alphascape accessories, a full set of 390 Monastery body armor, a 390 Genesis weapon, and the accessories/body armor slowly being replaced with Upgraded Genesis gear as weekly Genesis tomestones and weekly Monastery coins are farmed.
Nope that's pretty extensive, the only thing i'd add is that the 400 upgraded Gensis gear can also be gained via Centurio seals rather than having to wait for the weekly runs of monastery, or on top of them for speed. And the daily/weekly hunt bills are solo-able.
fwiw, the Square version goes on sale pretty often. More often than the Steam one does typically.
It's a bit more extreme than I've seen, but getting one or the other is pure RNG.
but it can still be a huge pain if you're farming for weapons
I hit 60 last night.
Found out I put a ton of effort into running Ishgard hunt bills for nothing. I saved up like 500 centurio seals so I could buy the level 60 ninja set (for the glamour) and then they gave it to me for free when I finished the level 60 quest. I was kinda pissed about that cause none of the online documentation I looked at regarding how to acquire that armor bothered to mention that the level 60 artifact gear is attached to the class quest now.
It was weird, but I am also cursed with bad luck, so make of that what you will.
Except that I bought all that armor literally the minute I hit 60, so I already spent them all before I found out I got the armor for free. I think I have 13 centurio seals to my name now.
Edit: Actually, I bought it all at 59 so that I had it in my bags and ready to go at 60.
What exactly are these seals used for?
A number of things, such as gear, materia, minions, and most useful now, 400 gear upgrades.
Also mount speed upgrades.
Yes, that’s right. But Centurio can only buy upgrades for heavensward/stormblood areas and only for ground mount speed. Which is ... not super-useful once flying is unlocked. Also, I’m not 100% sure on this, but I believe you can only use an upgrade item once you’ve unlocked the first mount speed upgrade from doing msq.
Allied seals (ARR hunts) are the ones you’ll get much better use out of in regards to mount speed upgrades for ARR zones.
I unlocked North Shroud because of the crafting Beast Tribe located there that requires quite a bit of running around for their dailies.
Another light event, but that flower crown is a nice glamour.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
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My future as an alchemist ain't looking that hot.
Rando: "What the hell happened to you?!"
Soaking wet Zunde: "I DON'T KNOW!"
Think I'll level BRD next, or maybe a tank? Plan was to get all 3 casters up to 70, but I think I'll skip SMN for now just to get a change of pace.
Edit: Oh yeah, RDM easily has my favorite class questline so far. Good characters, a bit of lore, and actually interesting instances.
If you want a good class questline, play DRK. It's the only one that gives insight into the WoL's mindset.
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