It's no secret that Final Fantasy 14 is scrapping its infamous two-minute meta and adopting an entirely new job system, Evolved, come Evercold this winter – but just how different will that system play, and how much more damage will it allow for?
As a hardcore raider myself, one thing about Evercold has been heavy on my mind since the expansion's reveal at Fan Fest this summer: the introduction of the Reborn and Evolved job systems, with the latter being entirely new to the MMO.
The reason it's been heavy on my mind is simple – Square Enix implied that the Evolved system, which rearranges our class skills into a simpler, neater format, hotbar-wise, will let us deal more damage.
Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, localization lead, lays out the differences between the Reborn system – which is essentially what we're playing with now – and Evolved in a new interview with content creators Sarah Jane, Kwisty, and Pezz on YouTube, though, and I'm slightly less concerned now... I think.
He describes a bit of what we already know (e.g. the fact that Evercold's debut jobs, the Bastion and mystery DPS, won't have a Reborn mode) first, assuring fans, "If you don't want to change, you don't have to."
The thing is, though, those of us who engage in Ultimates and other "hard" content might feel the need to if the Reborn mode – the original system – is capable of less damage… right?
Well, according to Fox, not exactly: "I don't think it's like, 'Okay, this Evolved mode is going to do 50% more damage.' I think it's going to be very negligible."
That's a relief – right? And, it all boils down to how different the Reborn and Evolved systems are.
"I think it's just because the modes are so different and some of the skill rotations are going to be so different that damage will be dealt in different ways," as Fox states. "That might end up affecting" damage throughout a fight, but it shouldn't matter in terms of ability to clear and all that.
"It's not going to be something that's going to be a deal breaker," as Square Enix wants "to keep it as small as possible." But it was "unavoidable" altogether, as the modes can't play the same way – unavoidable, but again, negligible.
I doubt that Fox's words are enough to satisfy most raiders, however, sadly, knowing how highly regarded parses are (and likely always will be). Should the Evolved version of one's abilities allow for even the slightest, ittiest-bittiest boost in damage, they'll probably opt to abandon the trusty ol' Reborn mode – ask me how I know.
I'm not sure what I'll choose myself just yet, as an Astrologian. I'll have to wait and see what the promised healer changes will look like before I do – keeping tanks alive, damage dealers buffed, and DOTs up is tricky enough as it is.
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