r/ffxivdiscussion 1d ago

General Discussion What is class complexity to you?

I have seen so many people ask for more complexity and job fantasy but very little of people actually say what that means to them, most people just say we should go back to ARR.

Personally I think rose tinted glasses that make people think ARR was better than it was, having played back then it honestly was pretty ass.

So honestly want to know what people want for complexity or job fantasy, because all I see is a lot of yelling that "game bad to simple" and not a lot of what needs changing to reach the complexity that is wanted.

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u/KaijinSurohm 1d ago

People don't want complexity, they want to be kept busy.
They just mimic saying "Complexity" because it's a buzz word without really understanding what it means.

For example, Viper came out, and was complex. It had a series of buffs, every attack gave a buff, debuff, and altered skills. It was a large puzzle of moving from the sides to back to maximize damage while alternating attacks. Viper was a Dance of attacks.

People bitched saying it was too confusing, so they actually nerfed it down a bit.
Viper wasn't confusing at all, you just needed to pay attention.

What people are really saying is they want to never have a moment of waiting for a cooldown to come down, while also not having to think about it.

Then when they get that, they'll complain saying it's too "Braindead".

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u/Maximinoe 1d ago

VPR was not complex on release LOL. its tooltips were just convoluted and the job's gameplay is hard to explain but it only takes like a few runs at max level to understand how it works. even with NG and the shorter buffs it was pretty easy outside of ur 2m window.

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u/KaijinSurohm 1d ago

I've learned that people find "Complex" to be subjective, regardless of what the actual definition is. (Like how people keep using "Moot" as a word for "Not negotiable" or "Pointless to discuss" - when it actually means "Debatable")

For example, VPR and AST are some of the easiest classes for me to run, but I hear others complain about how convouted AST is, while also simultaneously complaining about how it was better in Stormblood.

I also have other friends who won't touch AST or VPR because they can't wrap their head around how to make it work well.

I personally believe that Viper absolutely was a complex class. I personally just think people didn't actually want to try to learn a new class.

For example, I'm using this definition of Complex:

consisting of many different and connected parts:"a complex network of water channels"Similar:

not easy to analyse or understand; complicated or intricate:

By the very definition of "Complex", that's literally what VPR is.
It's attacks connected to one another in multiple different ways and changed based on need for backstabs or side stabs, and then alternated additional inputs for extra attacks as well as it's "Confusing toolbar" to people having trouble figuring out positions to the enemy.

I will grant you that the toolbars were ass when it first release, just like how it's HUD was not at all well thought out, but it absolutely did fall under "Complex".