(02-13-2014, 04:08 AM)synaesthetic Wrote: So... what does GLA get? Another tank job? That would be completely pointless and not in line with what Yoshida stated about classes getting jobs that changed their role.
I think it's a little silly to expect all 7 original classes to all change role. I think we're still going to wind up with DD to DD at the very least. Because we don't need many more tanks/healers if I'm honest. The more classes you add per role, the harder it is to balance them. And if you don't balance them enough to where each class is viable in all content, then you get class stacking or you just get classes that no one plays anymore. I know this was a huge problem for SE in XI.Â
As for GLA, I really don't know what it would get besides a tank. It's just not built for anything else. But a friend of mine and I were discussing this very issue a while back and he suggested Gladiator into Machinist (FFVI's Edgar). Machinist(MCH) would be a tank, but would focus on being a Debuff tank, utilizing "Break"-type abilities like Weapon Break, Armor Break, etc. So this is what we came up with:
MCH 30: Debilitator - Lowers damage dealt by 30% while doubling the duration of all negative status effects on target, and increasing enmity. Effect ends upon reuse.
MCH 35: Noiseblaster - Strikes shield to create a soundwave which lowers nearby targets' magical defense for 15s. Can only be used immediately following a block. MP Cost: 200
MCH 40: Drill - Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. Additional Effect: Reduces target's Slashing, Piercing, and Blunt resistance for 20s. CD: 90s
MCH 45: Chainsaw - Delivers an attack with a potency of 250. Combos off of Riot Blade. Combo Action: Reduces target's attack power for 15s.
MCH 50: Anchor - Binds and pacifies user, while increasing user's Defense and Magic Defense by 50% and increasing enmity in all engaged targets. Duration: 10s. CD: 300s.
So the Machinist takes what already makes GLA's great, which is their defense and mitigation abilities, and compounds the GLA's survivability by weakening the incoming damage at its source. Adding a debuff WS that combos off of Riot Blade also gives MCH a reason to use an alternate tree besides spamming Rage of Halone. Also having an ability that procs off of a Shield Block makes so much dang sense for the only class that uses a shield. An AoE debuff that is highly favorable to BRD's, BLM's, and SMN's dps also makes Riot Blade a useful ability since Noiseblaster would require MP.Â
The obvious problem with Machinist is that it completely overshadows PLD. No one would want PLD if MCH could offer all these increases to DPS vs the only thing PLD could bring to the table would be +20% natural damage mitigation over MCH and the ability to invincible and still put out dps. Whenever you look at which class is going to be most favorable to the party, it will ALWAYS be the class that facilitates better dps and faster kill times out of a party. DPS is everything in MMOs.
(02-13-2014, 04:08 AM)synaesthetic Wrote: GLA will end up getting a damage-dealer job, and it will "negate" abilities, just like ACN's damage dealing abilities are "negated" on SCH.
The benefit of GLA and MRD getting damage-dealer jobs will be that they can effectively offtank in emergencies, just like SCH and WHM can somewhat effectively deal damage in emergencies, and WAR can do a little damage as well.
ACN's class abilities are in no way negated on SCH btw. On SCH you should always be assisting with dps in between heals. Even more so than WHM because you have a healing fairy that will take over heals for you to do it. In any content below Coil, I just let the fairy heal most everything and deal damage the entire dungeon. I buff and throw in assist physicks and adloquiems as necessary. Cleric stance is super easy to pop on and off. Even in Coil T4 our SCH is right there cleric stance'd and burning Dreadnaughts with the rest of the DD.Â
If you're good, you can heal and deal a worthwhile amount of damage on every single fight. This contributes to the party's effort and hastens the fight. This utility is in no way comparable to a DD class that stems off of GLA and has zero use or utility for 9 of their abilities on a fight-to-fight basis. A DD popping Sentinel when they aren't taking any damage in no way aids your party with clearing trash mobs quicker. Versus a SCH throwing Bio II > Miasma > Bio > Bane, effectively adding 3 more DoTs against the attacking party. This is noticeably helpful in fights where you don't have an additional ACN or SMN.
But the point I'm trying to get across is that no matter which DD job stems off of GLA, their dps will suffer horribly because they don't have any DD abilities or buffs from their base class, because their base class wastes 9 abilities on the hope that the party's tank dies every fight.
