Siben

Quoted for truth. This is sadly the main reason why I haven't been getting on at all. Instead of frustrating myself with everything that's wrong with 14 at the moment I've been playing other things while I wait for SE to 'get their act together'

I'm sure that once Square finishes Beta on FF14 it'll be a good game...I'm just not going to pay a monthly sub until it gets to that point.

I haven't done enough grouping to know how broken/unbroken Aggro management is so I can't comment on that, Disciples of War can equip Cure, it's just not as effective as if it was used by a Disciple of Magic.

I'm pretty sure Ceadol was postulating in a solo grinding scenario. I notice on the skill listing I'm looking at online THM doesn't get a hate reducing ability like CON gets. Apparently you've never heard of a Mage-Tank before? It used to be a pretty cool thing to do in Ultima. Not to mention, at a glance of the THM skill listing http://ffxiv.yg.com/skills?c=2.22 Thamaturge does seem very Tank oriented compared to Conjurer's DPS and healing. I'd considering a THM-based tank to be viable given the right skill mix, situation and party. Edit: And as a follow up, if you look at THM equipment compared to CON, THM is listed as "Favored" on some War Garb, while CON from what I've seen is regulated to wearing "Apparel". Said gear gives significantly more Defense compared to what the CON of equal optimal rank could equip. Edit 2: Job skill and Action Point Calculator: http://www.ffxivstrawhats.com/calc/

#1) That video is 1:20 seconds too long #2) Defenses and heals, get you some. My rank 14 Conjurer has Second Wind from Pugilist rank 6 (250 tp for a self heal every 1m15s or so), Rampart from Gladiator rank...6? and Stoneskin from CON, the only thing I don't have yet is Sacrifice from THM. Shock spikes from Conjurer are really nice as a free chance to stun mobs as well, which shuts down their DPS for a few seconds. When I run solo I also use a wand/shield for added defense and make sure to keep my shield arm raised. Where are you putting your stat points?

Unprecedented.

the Gamespot review is a fair cop. I don't think any of us are holding onto any delusions that this game is anywhere north of a 4 or 5 on a 10 point scale. All I can say though, is they better drag their asses on getting some sort of patch out, just to prove to the community that they #1 actually care about the play experience and #2 are going to take a proactive role in making this game worth the money. I still find myself marveling at exactly how many departments this game is lacking in. When Wizard 101 has you beat on features and gameplay... ;x

There -is- an ability for conjurer that reduces your enmity by reducing the damage of your spells...I say nerts to that. I'm here for the damage ;P

I wouldn't call "clunky UI design" and "Play experience destroying lag" a niche market. You can innovate without having to totally reinvent the wheel. But you are correct, you can't just copy WoW and try to steal their customers. My beef with Square is this, 9 out of 10 MMO's you can right click on items to swap them from your inventory to another item slot for a bank or trade or whatever...and it's done near-instantly..I can hit 'I' or 'B' to bring up my inventory, 'C' or 'P' to view my character, 'J' or 'L' to bring up my Quests.... WoW certainly didn't create that schema, but they knew that it was fast and responsive enough to be unobtrusive to the players and if it didn't add to the experience of playing the game, it certainly didn't detract from it. Don't get me wrong, the fact that FF14 has the Map bound to the 'M' key is a gigantic step in the right direction for them...I just don't know why they stopped there and insisted on keeping the damned "Main Menu" It took me 20 minutes to move an albeit hefty stack of items (I think it was 40 before I just decided to stop from boredom/frustration) from my inventory to my retainers storage box. Why? Why should it take and more importantly why DOES it take that long to simply make space in my bag? Can anyone explain to me HOW that adds to the overall experience of the game? How does that level of pointless tedium add anything positive to the experience?

I can't bring myself to level Archer to some insanely high level just to grab their enmity reducing abilites either. Provoke is single target as well isn't it, with a cooldown? I think they have it out for us casters.

It's not "boils down to" it's an issue of leveling viability and overall player experience. There should be more than 1 acceptable way of leveling since everyone is different. If people don't want to craft or gather then game mechanics shouldn't hinder their play experience while "rewarding" others. If someone doesn't think crafting or gathering is "fun" why should the game essentially force them into doing it just to get by? Why are they essentially penalized for wanting to focus on combat, while people who would rather focus more on gathering and crafting receive far more benefits?

if that's the case, then it's a horrible design flaw (one of the MANY, MANY flaws). Not ever player wants to do everything they put in the game.

i've always read it as "Damage Dealer". Used to see it a lot on this ol' L2 server in the context of: DEDDDLFG which as we all know stands for "Dark Elf Dagger Damage Dealer Looking for Group" Fun times. This build sounds like it should be quite interesting, I hope it works out well.

Which reminds me, how are the breasts on your models actually created? NURBS or Polygons...maybe some soft-body dynamics?