1445 Bard, 1415 DB, 1390 Paladin
I’d argue that Bard (screw paladin) is infinitely more interesting to play in LA than supports in other games. In WoW, it’s literally just stand there, stare/click on health bars as they drop too low, occasionally dodge mechanics, occasionally CC a mob. Haven’t done raid content in FFXIV but I’m 90% sure it’s the same exactly thing. People who are saying that LA has boring supports, name me a game that has done it better
11 Skills that are all relevant, no GCD, no stupidly long CD, counters that affect the boss, when to save skills for stagger, ranged skills, skills that require me to be up against the boss, identity - do you save it for heal or DPS, awakening key mechanics, keeping people alive. My damage might not be relevant, but without a DPS meter you’re only comparing it to yourself and if that hurts your self esteem because no big numbers that’s a you thing. It’s still a rewarding feeling when I’m playing my class properly and I can get a full bar in 1-2 rotations and full heal the party.
I’d say that LA in general is very successful in making classes feel rewarding to play.
- DB, SS - satisfying charge skills
- GL - tanking through stuff that others have to run away from
- GS, Fighter Classes - properly swapping stances/being a mobile glass cannon
- Sorc - landing everything on a boss that’s standing still
- Destroyer - Bonk
- Screw paladin
Artist isn’t going to help the shortage because people don’t want to invest resources into a support. Even as a support main, if Artist is released next month. I’ll have my Bard ready for Veykas hard, maybe my paladin for Valtan normal and Artist at 1370 at most, until they make the climb up to 1415 significantly easier. Still only 1 character ready for endgame content, and from there the pool only shrinks more as the supports that are ready are finding static groups.