Let’s Talk About Some of These Changes
Over the past several weeks, we’ve received a lot of new information for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker as part of the expansion’s Media Tour. I’d like to thank the dev team and the influencers who allowed for this tour to come about! Round of applause for every single one of you, as I love seeing the interactions between the developers and these content creators.
All that said, we’ve gotten a glimpse of the changes the FFXIV team has in mind for the classes we’ve come to know and love. Ahead of Endwalker’s launch, I want to do some light analysis about the changes!
FFXIV Wishlist Based on What We Learned From the Media Tour
Before we begin, this entire list is subject to change. The Media Tour was held one month prior to the early access release of Endwalker. Considering some of the stuff I want to talk about would be easy Potency fixes, a ton of this wishlist is almost certainly going to come to pass. However, I want to identify some pressure points and try to envision what the team is going to do. Think of it like a thought exercise!
Given the extremely tumultuous Potency numbers from the Media Tour, I will be using the numbers that classes currently have. (Because this article needed even more whistleblowing with minimal evidence!)
On to the list!
Tanks
In general, the tank changes are glorious. I love that many of the changes strive to negate tankbusters while not being worthless in general pulls. And it looks like the 80-90 tank “Parries” are going to be exceptional at that job.
That being said, I do have a few concerns for most of the tanks concerning damage mechanics. Let’s dive in!
Paladin
Paladin looks like it’s getting a massive glow-up in Endwalker… which is crazy, because it was already almost better than Gunbreaker in niche scenarios. The change to Requiescat is stellar, allowing you to no longer feel bad about popping it before invincibility or high DR cycles. It seems like Endwalker is going all in on the Magic cycle, which is the coolest part of Paladin. I’m not entirely sure why Confiteor is just becoming a stabbing spree, but it looks very cool and will be a critical part of each one of a Paladin’s rotations.
This does leave Pally feeling a bit slower on the Physical end, as your Fight or Flight rotation looks like it is largely the same (other than the Potency Buff for Spirits Within). This isn’t a bad thing; tanks can have downtime too. And maybe the changes in Potency numbers will make Sword Oath stay as impactful as Confiteor. I highly doubt it, but still!
Overall, I am excited to bow down to our Sword and Board overlords. Well, as long as that dude with a gun on a stick doesn’t ruin things.
Warrior
I actually love all of the changes the team has done to Warrior. Consistency improvements, better rushes, easier meter management… the list goes on. And yet, I’m still worried about the class.
I’m not worried about its durability; I don’t know a single person who plays and enjoys Warrior at high-level content who was worried about its tankiness. And the new 80-90 changes just look absurd.
What I’m worried about is the low and high level implementation of the 60-second Berserk/Inner Release change.
If you don’t know, Warrior’s Inner Release is becoming a three-charge system, where the next three Weaponskills you use in a 30-second window don’t cost Rage and are critical direct hits.
Right now, let’s say they change nothing about Warrior’s Rage Potencies, and just add the new Berserk/Inner Release change. Presently, you get five Fell Cleaves out of Inner Release. With the new change, you get three Fell Cleaves with significantly better uptime on the buff in case you mess up your rotation. Looks fair, right?
Well… not without major changes.
The issue is, Inner Release also causes your auto-attacks and abilities to critical direct hit. Warriors are losing three auto-attacks, one Onslaught, and one Upheaval worth of critical direct hit damage, for a total of (currently) 850 Potency. They’re almost losing a Nascent Chaos worth of critical direct hit damage, on top of two Fell Cleaves, for a total of 2030 Potency lost. That’s 3800 vs. 1770, or a 54% damage decrease, during optimal rotations. This is mitigated quite a bit by having a 60-second cooldown, but it’s still a 30% average decrease during a 180-second period.
And now you can’t even throw pity Tomahawks as you run away from your enemy! That’s hardly fair.
That being said, the 80-90 curve will probably do fine. Our new overhead Banana-Slamma will do plenty to compensate for the lost rotations, and I’m sure that Square Enix will keep an eye on that. Upheaval and Onslaught will also be handy here, since they’re designed to be spammed. And Warrior’s area of effect in general looks like it’s getting a titanic overhaul.
What I’m worried about is the lower level content. If we just slapped the 60-second duration onto Warrior right now, it’s losing a ton of damage in optimal rotations. For below 54, when you just have Inner Beast, that’s a massive slap in the face; the class barely feels complete pre-Fell Cleave. Thankfully, this can be solved by carefully looking at Inner Beast, and maybe nudging its numbers in a way to make it more interesting.
I’d be down for a temporary potency buff, similar to what Summoner is getting for its trances. It doesn’t have to be much; maybe 10% for Berserk, 20% for Inner Release? That way, you can keep the Warrior’s general damage low. And then the burst damage for IR and Chaos stacks can be massive, giving the Warrior a “rollercoaster” feel.
I know I’m overreacting here, and that Square Enix will likely make sure Warrior isn’t completely lost in damage compared to the other tanks. However, paying close attention to damage numbers is going to be crucial in the first few months of Endwalker. Warrior is going through the largest DPS change of all the tanks mechanically. I hope all tanks end up near each other in terms of damage, and that playstyle is the real deciding factor for players.
Gee, I wonder if people have noticed I’m a Warrior main yet…
Dark Knight
To me, Dark Knight was the weakest tank in Shadowbringers, purely in terms of damage output in single-target situations. Its area of effect was fine—fantastic, even, though weaker than a Paladin’s with Requiescat set up. What it lacked in damage, it made up for by having 25% extra health compared to any other tank, basically whenever it wanted. The class also has the best parry currently, which puts it in a safe, cozy niche.
However, all of the tanks are getting great parries… So where does that put our DK?
The Delirium change is not nearly as bad for Dark Knight as Inner Release might be for Warrior. You are still technically losing about 5% of your Bloodspiller DPS, but you easily make that up with a much more lenient timer. This is perfect!
Blood Weapon still hasn’t gotten fixed yet, which I find funny. Just make it 11 seconds, Square! Or, let Dark Knight have some Spell Speed? Actually, just make the AoE combo a weapon skill and give up on the spell aspect; it’s making the Dark Knight a touch weaker without adding much to the class. Alternatively, the stack system would work just fine. The fact that Blood Weapon hasn’t changed to a stack system yet is… kind of strange. The XIV team’s handing out stacks to everyone else, after all!
With the changes to Dark Knight being mostly offensive-minded (other than the 10% DR charges), I still wish that The Darkest Night had the same four-second parry system as the other tanks. Maybe if the shield pops within four seconds, your next Edge or Flood gets a small damage buff? That could be cool! Add a touch of single-target increase for pre-Endwalker content while still relying on good buff timing.
I think Square identified the biggest problem with Dark Knight and is taking good steps toward fixing it in endgame content. I do hope that this compensation can be felt in earlier content.
Gunbreaker
Ugh, I love tanks, but the Gunbreaker always left a sour taste in my mouth.
It looks like it is getting exactly the changes it needs—namely, more damage. Great! I needed to out-damage my DPS peers more often.
The parry is legitimately cool; Heart of Stone upgrading to a verifiable bulwark around your chosen target makes it exceptional. And Aurora getting two stacks will make it feel better to throw around a party.
I know this section may feel gushy, but… what is there to say? The Gunbreaker is getting more consistent, longer Cartridge combos that are great looking while also keeping the class away from its basic “1-2-3” combo. Its area of effect is going to be insane with the new two-gauge spender, and I’m honestly excited for it. Especially since it’s not easy to tell if the Paladin or Gunbreaker is going to reign supreme!
This is going to set a great bar for other tanks to live up to, and the Gunbreaker-Paladin line will be great for balance in the future. But please, please Square: Pay attention to this class. The 1200 Potency blast is fun, but only if it doesn’t dwarf the other three tanks just by having it.
Healers
Healers are getting two universal changes. The 1.5-second casting window for the basic single-target is great; it’s a huge buff for White Mage and Scholar, letting them more consistently weave oGCDs in the same way an Astro can. No doubt, this’ll make all of the healers feel smooth as butter.
And it seems like each healer is getting a Tankbuster Parry ability. Cool! Really fun mechanic that healers deserve to have… for when the tanks forget to parry. Damn tanks.
White Mage
It looks like White Mage is just going to be getting bigger numbers and some utility. The blossom mechanic is really cool, and I’m sure Endwalker is going to be bringing the multi-hit AoEs to show off the White Mages’ new tool.
Otherwise, it seems clear that Square is accepting of the White Mages’ blasting capacity. And honestly? That’s fine. The class is overly dominant in area of effect scenarios, but that’s not necessarily horrible. Maybe pull it back a touch in terms of damage, since it is exceptionally safe damage with pretty high numbers. Alternatively, the Stun could be moved to a different area of effect spell to disincentivize spamming and negating a tank’s parry.
White Mage is still great, and sets a good baseline for Healers to reach for.
Scholar
I don’t like Scholar—and it’s not from a lack of trying. It’s probably just from a lack of being good. But I still would love to see some changes for the class in the future.
First of all, there’s the Faerie Gauge. It is really, really awkward to use. Now that we don’t even get to spend Faerie Gauge on an area of effect, it’s essentially only used for Fey Union. It’s a good spell, but it’s slow to start up, and it’s a regeneration effect. It’s hard to guarantee you won’t waste your healing.
Which is a shame, because the XIV team could really expand how the Faerie Gauge can be used. For instance…
- 20 Gauge to have your Faerie blast a selected target.
- 50-80 Gauge to have your Faerie slowly revive a selected target.
- 50 Gauge to regenerate an Aetherflow stack.
- Spend some Gauge to get Seraph back a bit earlier.
These are some super basic ideas, and I can’t speak for the balancing or coding that would need to happen. But Fey Union is just a little too awkward to be your sole way of spending a full resource.
The other issue I have with Scholar is the awkwardness of its utility spells. The Scholar has the weakest basic healing magic (i.e., Physick, Succor, and Adloquium). It’s reliant on Aetherflow to function, and it has three of those per minute. Recitation is a nice addition to the kit, but it probably shouldn’t be the only option. That’s why the Faerie Gauge is a great idea, and why it fails to hit the mark for me. If only there was an AoE version of Fey Union. Alas!
Emergency Tactics and Deployment Tactics are both fun, but suffer a touch from awkward utility in combat. I wish Deployment Tactics was a little bit larger, so that you don’t just heal the tank and put a shield around the two in melee. It’d make it easier in the thick of combat to block Raid-wides. And I’d love for Emergency Tactics to have a longer cooldown in exchange for reducing mana costs for Shield spells.
This is not to say Scholar is weak or non-viable. Chain Stratagem by itself is absolutely insane, and the new Group Sprint promises to be a handy tool. The potency buffs for Embrace, Adloquium, and Succor will be very, very appreciated!
That is to say, while I am sad the FFXIV team hasn’t found a home for the Faerie Gauge yet, I still think the devs are moving in the right direction. Maybe next expansion!
Oh, and while we’re here, if there is a way to make Scholar an option at Level 1 so healing players can choose between two jobs to start, that’d be nice! Fey Artificer, maybe.
Astrologian
The Astro’s changes are very freeing. While I will miss rolling the perfect Divination hand right away for the opener, I certainly won’t miss digging for three-plus Draw rotations to find that last seal. So, Divination being max-power every two minutes guaranteed is a very, very welcome change. And the new replacement buff is exceptionally cool. I love Haste effects! Especially on casters.
I do wish the abilities that are holdovers, like Celestial Intersection and Neutral Sect, had soft name changes to reflect the loss of Sects to the base kit. It’s really not that big of a deal in the long run, but it feels strange to keep those ability names while Nocturnal Sect lies dead in the dirt. Almost disrespectful!
The 80-90 curve looks hilarious. Room-wide area of effects that store healing, great parry shields… Yeah, Astro looks just fine.
The only possible complaint I have is the new implementation of Minor Arcana. Unless I missed something, you’re not going to be able to Redraw. So, you and I both know that means you will never get the right Lord or Lady when you need it. I almost wish the effects were evened out a bit. Like, if the Lady had a 300 Potency heal and a 100 Potency damage attack, and the Lord had a 200 Potency attack with a 100 Potency heal. Something like that would keep the arcana’s differences without making the Astro screwed if it never runs into the situation to use the Minor it has drawn.
That said, you can still hold the card eternally… It’s probably fine as is! Can’t wait to get my hands on it.
Melee DPS
Melee DPSes potentially have the hardest-to-see Potencies out of the classes, but that doesn’t matter too much. These guys are hardly getting touched outside of their 80-90 rotations.
Monk
My favorite Monk in any video game is Sabin, so I am very excited to see the Blitz system! Too bad we can’t Suplex bosses and carry them out of the fight for a moment. As annoying as that would be, it’d be very funny!
Overall, the only change to Monk I might miss is the stance mechanic. Sure, the devs took out the combat utility of Fist of Wind, and Fist of Earth wasn’t exactly meta. But, having that small movement speed buff could be handy as a Sprint substitute in a pinch. And Fist of Earth was nice during Invincible rotations.
That being said, stances were a bit superfluous. And Riddles are very fun! The new Riddle of Wind is almost funny. While doubling your auto-attack speed is actually really strong, it’s not the most impressive or flashy ability in a pretty flashy expansion. I wish a class like the Paladin got this buff, since the Paladin is rewarded for auto-attacking more. But, this allows for more crit opportunities and generally boosts your damage.
Blitz looks amazing, and fixes a gigantic issue with Monk—the highest damage combo being Dragon Kick to Bootshine three times in a row. Now, more thought needs to be put into your Perfect Balance rotations. Awesome!
There is less to do in general with Monk, which is a bit unfortunate. But, taking some of the bloat out of Monk—the fastest class—might not be a bad idea. I can’t say there’s really anything I’d want to add! This is definitely the class I’d want to get my hands on early before I start asking to bring stuff back.
Rest well, Elixir Field. At least you won’t be spammed indiscriminately anymore.
Dragoon
Ugh, I’m sorry. This isn’t an easy one for me to talk about. Just because… What is there to say?
Dragoon’s getting a bit easier, which is a godsend. The worst part of the class was losing Blood of the Dragon because the tank wanted to get a pizza or something. Now that that’s gone, the Dragoon’s between-fight game is much better. Most of its buffs are also either getting more stacks, better cooldowns, or more interesting impact.
The Dragoon is as busy as I’d want it, as jump-y as I’d want it, and already has, like, six melee and four AoE attacks. There’s really nothing more I’d want, other than maybe a cooler animation for the new Twin Dragon attack. It feels slow compared to the other Dragoon effects.
I also wouldn’t mind if the Dragoon’s Potencies shifted toward the Jump effects, rather than the melee combo. This doesn’t matter much, but I love the Dragoon’s jumps, and the fact that the class was mostly about getting to Full Thrust for your damage was a bit weird. Not bad, just weird.
Ninja
Excited for how Ninja looks now! Unlike the Scholar, the Ninja’s secondary resource of Ninki seems like it’s being used correctly. While we don’t seem to be getting additional ways to spend it, it’s not too bad; the abilities that we do have are spammable and are receiving interesting upgrades.
Speaking of interesting upgrades… how about that awesome Doton buff! What an awesome way to enforce its damage source as an area-of-effect tool, while stopping it from being the go-to damage option.
I will say, I’m not sure I love the new Raiton follow-ups. They seem overly animated, which could be bad for a class that likes weaving together combos. I’m also not a fan of the loss of Shadow Fang. That’s 1100 Potency down the drain! I hope the team has that in mind when balancing.
And then there’s Assassinate. Where to begin? What a powerful and stereotypical name for a skill, and it’s… basically two auto-attacks. And the interesting part comes after you “Assassinate” your target. That’s hilarious—but why keep it like this?
I wish the devs would add the Execute effect to Assassinate, where it deals more damage as the target’s health lowers. It doesn’t need to be much; maybe up to 400 if the target is below half health. That’d make it feel stronger, and also play into the theme of Assassination now.
Alternatively, the flavor of the attack could change, and then we could maybe have a second look at Assassination in the future. I don’t see why the team doesn’t just name the attack “Sleep Strike” or something basic like that. Then “Dream Within a Dream” would be a flavorful and edgy follow-up.
Still, cool changes. I hope the devs consider making Raiton’s follow-ups slightly less jump-based to allow the Ninja to have more free movement during Trick Attack rotations. However, I doubt that is going to be an issue, and am excited to give my party a 5% damage buff for the 80-90 expansion. All while spinning through the air like Count Sidious.
Samurai
What the hell?! Why do they keep giving this guy Potencies in the thousands?! This class is way too crazy!
Honestly, I wish the team would slow down! I feel like there’s 15 different 1200 Potency attacks that you need to keep in mind while you build your gauges and get your sen. Obviously, it’s not that much… But, just looking at the numbers can be overwhelming. And the Samurai still gets a Haste buff and a damage buff on top? How are other DPSes supposed to compete?
While I find the Samurai looks hilariously overwhelming and overtuned, I don’t want the team to remove a thing. The Samurai’s rotations are fun to explore, and extremely rewarding to land when done right—both in numbers and in animation.
What I do hope the team considers in the future is giving the other melee DPSes the chance to reach the Samurai’s potential. Sure, the Samurai is the only melee DPS without some way to grant the party damage. But, it’s so overwhelmingly strong at the moment that the other melee classes can’t even compete. I hope they’ll examine the Samurai closely and determine whether it’s possible to make the other melee DPS choices just as rewarding.
Ranged Physical DPS
The ranged DPS classes are interesting. They are currently the lowest DPS options, but are aided by their great consistency. While I understand these classes can’t reach the potential of the other DPS classes, I do hope they can get the buffs they need to feel impactful while feeling as mobile as they do now.
Though, maybe this time Bard can feel strong? Rather than the other two options? Please?
Bard
The Bard looks like it’s gonna be a lot of fun to play around with. With 45-second songs, the new Bard is going to be exceptionally strange to play around with.
I think Army’s Paeon needs some sort of change. Currently, it’s going to have 45 seconds just to build up the same four stacks. Is that really necessary? Can we increase the stacks? Perhaps if the stacks go above four, they could provide a 1% haste buff to the party? Or maybe this can be where the Bard can provide movement speed, without stealing the Scholar’s show.
I’m also a touch worried about Pitch Perfect, since we have a massive Bloodletter buff. If kept as is, Mage’s Ballad will easily outpace Wanderer’s. Pitch Perfect might deserve a minor Potency buff at this point!
I am so glad the Bard is able to receive the damage buff that it gets for building song stacks! Radiant Finale is one of those sweet tools the Bard deserves, as a pseudo support class.
However, while we’re here… Can the bard listen to its own music already? A 1% damage buff isn’t going to break the class! Do they have earplugs in or something?! Same thing with Battle Voice!
#GiveBardsEars, Square Enix!
Machinist
Looks like Machinist isn’t changing much from 1-80, which is fine by me. The class is so damn unique, and offers a ton of burst potential. It is the least support-oriented of the Ranged options by a gigantic margin, and has destroyed my keyboard with love and affection for the past year or so. I wouldn’t change a thing!
In terms of its new tools… Yeah. It’s definitely Machinist all right! Like the Dragoon, it seems the focus is on iteration rather than adding brand new stuff. While I am cool with this, it is going to be weird to play the exact same class over the course of 10 levels. Especially where other classes are getting brand new mechanics and rotations.
Chainsaw is the only new button, and it’s cool! Works well as a Reassemble option for area of effect combat, which the Machinist always suffered with. It also looks like it’s independent of all other big shots, so now we’ve got three things to keep an eye on! Good for the two stacks of Reassemble, I suppose!
I don’t want Machinist to change, but I do hope the devs can think of something cool for the gunslinger in the future. Especially something to spice up the area of effect rotations. Auto Crossbow is amazing, but I want something more! Like AoE Wildfire.
Hydaelyn, give me AoE Wildfire.
Dancer
I’m not in love with the Dancer’s 80-90. To be fair, I’m not in love with Dancer in general. And I feel like we’re stepping in the wrong direction with our twirly boys and girls.
The biggest issue I’ve had with Dancer is the class’s reliance on coin flips. With only Flourish to compensate for your DPS rotations, you’re basically only guaranteed your two-hit combo routes. And then you gamble! And you gamble until you can dance again.
The good news is, we’re getting guaranteed procs of specific abilities—namely, Fan Dance IV post-Flourish—along with 10 Espirit from the Improved Weaponskills. This makes Flourish a more impactful part of your 60-second rotations, since you get a lot of resources from it.
The bad news is, we still can’t get guaranteed fan procs for Fan Dance I, II, and III! I was really hoping we could get 10 seconds of guaranteed coin-flips after using a Step of any kind. But, it looks like the team is making Sabre Dance the focus of the Dancer’s kit. That’s fine and dandy, but I thought the fans were a much more interesting tool. Sad to see them start to take a back seat.
The flourish changes are nice. No longer must we waddle into melee range to get area-of-effect flourishes during a single target rotation. Hopefully, the team is increasing the relative damage of the abilities to compensate. The last thing a Dancer wants to do is be stuck doing their basic 1-2 without some meat to back it up!
It’s a bit weird that Fan Dance IV is completely unconnected to the Fan Dance mechanic. But thank goodness it isn’t! If I had a 6.75% chance to get to my awesome new button, I’d freak out. I’m still not happy with the 12.5% chance to get to Fan Dance III, but baby steps.
Excited to play it, as I am for all of the classes. But, I do wish the direction of the class was different. Oh well!
Magical DPS
Last but not least, we have our three Magical DPSes!
Black Mage
I don’t have to keep Enochian up anymore?! Thank goodness! Maybe I can possibly be good at this class now!
I was surprised to see Black Mage’s Blizzard II get a second chance. A targeted area of effect is so, so much better than what Blizzard II is now. It’s a bit of a chore that we’ll need two area-of-effect spells for our Ice rotations, but it beats sending a Blizzard IV into an area-of-effect rotation. Great change!
The new stuff that we’re getting is good. As expected, Black Mage is going to just keep blasting away. Now, we get fancier ways to blast that will change our rotations very, very slightly. Nothing overwhelming—just buffs to the options of our rotation! Not having to cast Fire 1 is a godsend, since it’ll incentivize new players to use their fancy new tool more often. And Foul not having a cast bar anymore? Really great! I’m honestly surprised they didn’t remove the castbar altogether.
I am a touch worried about low level Black Mage, since changes to higher level Black Mage usually means that your bars flail around quite a bit. We’ll have to see what the sub-80 Black Mage gets, but I imagine it will not have the cool utility of a targeted area of effect for its Ice III rotation. C’est la vie!
Excited for this class. Looks like the team’s just adding frosting to a delicious cake. And that frosting is Icy-Hot! Dangerous.
Summoner
I’m not even going to pretend that I can offer anything about the Summoner. That said, there are a few things I’m a bit confused about.
Why do we still have Aetherflow? I’m glad that Fester and Painflare are sticking around, but Fester has lost its cool synergy effect. And I don’t even know if Summoner needs help with area of effect anymore! This’ll give Summoner something to do during downtime, I suppose, but I think I would have preferred a different system. Or, maybe make Fester and Painflare a stack-based system. I’m just not sure why Summoner is going to keep Aetherflow. (Although, it frankly never really needed Aetherflow. It’s pretty underused right now!).
The sole issue I’m running into with Summoner is it’s early game rotations. When I say early game, I do mean pre-50. We have that awesome baby trance that brings the Carbuncles to the battlefield, which is fantastic. But why not have it last 20 seconds? As it is, brand new Artificers are going to have 15 seconds where they don’t really do anything.
That said, the downtime might be a good idea. Let the new guys get a breath after their three elemental rotations.
While I never had a problem with the Summoner being a Damage Over Time class with pet elements, these changes look so dang fun. I do hope our Carbuncle can act as more than just a little HP shield and a 3% damage buff in the future. For now, I wouldn’t want Summoner to change.
Although, maybe replace the Aetherflow abilities with Carbuncle abilities. Just to incorporate some Pet Class elements back into the Summoner.
Red Mage
Curses. My Red Mage math experiments are all for naught! Square Enix is making everything simplified, gosh darn it!
The simplicity is a good thing. Red Mage is already a tricky class for newbies to pick up, so this’ll be a nice change. And it’ll feel more natural to use Manifiction after your melee rotation. You basically get to do four in a row, which is sweet.
I will say that I wish Red Mage was more about the swords and stabbing. In previous games, Red Mage was known for its mix of magic and melee. Instead of adding to the sword, though, the team just keeps adding to what happens after the sword! The Red Mage already had so much magic to cast, though! Why can’t we get some more melee capabilities?
Still, at least the Red Mage is extraordinarily fun, and now has a more explosive area-of-effect combo. Poor Moulinet! Don’t forget that option, FFXIV devs!
I’m somewhat excited for this class, though I do find the post-Redoublement combo chain to be a little bit draining. Kind of like how Dragoon just keeps hitting new buttons at the end of its combo. Hope this isn’t a theme and Red Mage gets like 10 buttons in a row at the end of FFXIV’s lifespan.
The New Classes
Without being able to get my hands on Sage and Reaper, there is little I can say.
Sage
Sage looks fun, though I wish more of its resource-based tools were farther away from Scholar. It takes as much time to generate three Addersgals as it takes a Scholar to get Aetherflow back. This basically makes Addersgall a more flexible Aetherflow… which kind of stinks. And the spells that you can spend Addersgall on are pretty similar to the tools that Scholar has, too. That also stinks.
However, comparing the two classes is unhealthy. The Sage has plenty of unique tools, such as gigantic freaking lasers, that promise to be fun to play around with. The White Mage Scholar is here, and I’m all for it! Though I can’t wait to die in a pull and have the Sage say, “I had Karthis on you, I don’t know what else you wanted from me.” That’ll be fun.
Reaper
Reaper has a fantastic flow and great mobility. I like that its ranged attack is slow unless you teleport, making it more of an option to keep you moving. And then, you just tear people apart! While I do somewhat wish the Soul Gauge wasn’t built by the generic “melee the guy” method, it flows into a more mechanically interesting resource. And then you become a blender. How fun!
Without being able to sit down and play it, the Reaper seems mobile and full of great flow. I am a bit worried about how that flow may translate to lower levels. This is the first time I’ll witness an expansion class getting leveled down, and with how Dancer translates to low level content… Well, it’ll probably be OK. Funny, at the very least!
I do hope the “edgelord” phase of FFXIV is slowly coming to a close. I’m not a huge fan of the style, which makes it a bit harder to enjoy what the Reaper brings mechanically. I’m gonna play the heck out of it (maybe after everyone and their mother stop clogging the DPS queue), but I do hope that future classes calm down a touch.
Agree with my suggestions? Disagree? Share your own thoughts in the comments below!
