Why have they stopped giving each class lots of new abilities each expansion?

[darklogrus]

Because Blizzard rather waste time and resources trying to shoe horn 36 specs into 1 ability..

[Draknalor186]

I hoped that BfA was an exception, but with Shadowlands, it seems to become a trend not to give classes fun new abilities. In the past, you could count on Blizz giving you like 4-8 new buttons to press that did something awesome per expansion, but all tat has really happened now are that talents they removed in the past are given back.

New abilities are fun. Why have they effectively stopped making them?

New abilties are only for the expansion they come with now days and not forever.

[Nalam the Venom]

They should prune even more abilities, with the goal of having only one and a half bar full of combat ability.

Then during each expansion, we could get temporary abilities that would disappear the next expansion , to leave room for new ones.

Always with the goal of no more than 2 action bars of combat abilities.

Some classes still have too many combat abilities.

You should have a look at Final fantasy.. now that MMORPG has a lot of buttons.

[oblakoff]

If anything the unpruning was mostly useless. The only reason for 90% of abilities to return is to justify "something new every level"

inb4: somebody, once last month, used macroed shield on a fury warrior.

[Kumorii]

If anything the unpruning was mostly useless. The only reason for 90% of abilities to return is to justify "something new every level"

inb4: somebody, once last month, used macroed shield on a fury warrior.

It's not the ONLY reason... Another big reason is also because players demanded to revert pruning.

[dcc626]

I hoped that BfA was an exception, but with Shadowlands, it seems to become a trend not to give classes fun new abilities. In the past, you could count on Blizz giving you like 4-8 new buttons to press that did something awesome per expansion, but all tat has really happened now are that talents they removed in the past are given back.

New abilities are fun. Why have they effectively stopped making them?

get used to it. this is the way. they will likely never go back to the old model.

you know why? because a 16 year old game that continually gets new permanent things added is impossible to balance. they cant do it now. you CANT keep adding and adding and expect for things to work.

borrowed power lets them do things with a set amount of time before they change it. its as simple as that.

[deviantcultist]

If you've ever played FFXIV you would know why ability bloat is bad. Some of their rotations last minutes, multiple minutes of different buttons. WoW's strength is its approachability, that goes away if you have to play a grand piano style rotation.

Also, WoW (as slow as some claim it to be) is faster paced than FFXIV so that even more moves toward a need for a smaller number of buttons.

Because I'm mainly playing FFXIV on a hardcore level I can say that the ability bloat is not an issue....unless you are mainly a WoW player.

Additionally, what FFXIV during the latest expansion was to add new abilities that replaced older ones that got either pruned or merged with existing or simply provided new ability skins to upgrade existing ones.

Finally, FFXIV keeps adding classes consistently and includes any and every kind of fantasy as a result. For example, FFXIV wouldn't tease players with Night Warrior Tyrande or Dark Ranger Sylvanas and not provide a playable option to represent that.

[Venziir]

I hoped that BfA was an exception, but with Shadowlands, it seems to become a trend not to give classes fun new abilities. In the past, you could count on Blizz giving you like 4-8 new buttons to press that did something awesome per expansion, but all tat has really happened now are that talents they removed in the past are given back.

New abilities are fun. Why have they effectively stopped making them?

They stopped that in WoD, where they replaced new abilities with perks. Sure, some got new replacement talents or abilities, but the last time leveling up gave you brand new stuff was in MoP.

[kranur]

I hoped that BfA was an exception, but with Shadowlands, it seems to become a trend not to give classes fun new abilities. In the past, you could count on Blizz giving you like 4-8 new buttons to press that did something awesome per expansion, but all tat has really happened now are that talents they removed in the past are given back.

New abilities are fun. Why have they effectively stopped making them?

They replaced abilities with these grindfest mostly passive systems ... Artifacts, Azerite and now Covenants or whatever... joy!!!!

[Saltysquidoon]

Because I'm mainly playing FFXIV on a hardcore level I can say that the ability bloat is not an issue....unless you are mainly a WoW player.

It' really depends on what you mean by 'not an issue'. Like yes, shadowbrings cleaned away alot of the really archaic bad bloat but there's still some extraneous buttons (especially on the older jobs).

Does the bloat in ffxiv cripple gameplay or even hurt it at all? Not 99% of the time.
Does it exist though? Yeah.

[oblakoff]

It's not the ONLY reason... Another big reason is also because players demanded to revert pruning.

"Players" demand a lot of stupid stuff, thanks God, they not always get what they want.

Finally, FFXIV keeps adding classes consistently and includes any and every kind of fantasy as a result.

FFXIV calls "class" something that in WoW is a spec.

[deviantcultist]

It' really depends on what you mean by 'not an issue'. Like yes, shadowbrings cleaned away alot of the really archaic bad bloat but there's still some extraneous buttons (especially on the older jobs).

Does the bloat in ffxiv cripple gameplay or even hurt it at all? Not 99% of the time.
Does it exist though? Yeah.

The issue with WoW is that after adding the 100 level line in WoD, Blizz has never taken any solid stance on developing our characters since. Hence, the borrowed system has created this loophole of always making one step forward followed by one step back.

[Dastreus]

If you've ever played FFXIV you would know why ability bloat is bad. Some of their rotations last minutes, multiple minutes of different buttons. WoW's strength is its approachability, that goes away if you have to play a grand piano style rotation.

Also, WoW (as slow as some claim it to be) is faster paced than FFXIV so that even more moves toward a need for a smaller number of buttons.

rofl no rotation in FFXIV lasts minutes. Yes, I have all 80s. The longest rotation is Summoner at 1 minute, simply because it utilizes two 30 second cooldown uses. Other than that, said rotation doesn't change when waiting on the cooldown. The longest rotation I can think of that isn't because of cooldowns, is Dragoon, at 15 seconds, because it's a 6 point combo with off global cooldowns weaved in. Then... Black Mage is just waiting for things to fill up to use them while doing a filler rotation, like several WoW classes.

But nah man, several minute rotation.

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The issue with WoW is that after adding the 100 level line in WoD, Blizz has never taken any solid stance on developing our characters since. Hence, the borrowed system has created this loophole of always making one step forward followed by one step back.

and this guy with the points.

Wanna know why Blizz doesn't add more abilities? Borrowed power is the new shtick. Accept it. That's your forever, now. FFXIV definitely doesn't have ability bloat. If anything, some classes (SCH mainly) feel like they are missing spells after the pruning FFXIV did. Maybe WoW should follow suit with abilities being upgraded if they want to avoid button bloat. A lot of classes got that in Shadowbringers, like my main class DRK.

[Zantera]

I think getting a new spell with each expansion was a nice feeling but like many have pointed out it definitely got out of control with too many things. Still, even right now as a monk main I struggle with space on my bars.

[kamuimac]

I hoped that BfA was an exception, but with Shadowlands, it seems to become a trend not to give classes fun new abilities. In the past, you could count on Blizz giving you like 4-8 new buttons to press that did something awesome per expansion, but all tat has really happened now are that talents they removed in the past are given back.

New abilities are fun. Why have they effectively stopped making them?

because yur average gamer in 2020 cant deal with games that use more then 4-5 buttons to perform 90% of what their class is capable of.

[Saltysquidoon]

Wanna know why Blizz doesn't add more abilities? Borrowed power is the new shtick. Accept it. That's your forever, now. FFXIV definitely doesn't have ability bloat. If anything, some classes (SCH mainly) feel like they are missing spells after the pruning FFXIV did. Maybe WoW should follow suit with abilities being upgraded if they want to avoid button bloat. A lot of classes got that in Shadowbringers, like my main class DRK.

Spread shot and auto crossbow: You will never use spreadshot when autocrossbow is available and you can't use AC when you aren't heated up. There is not a single reason on earth why these aren't the same ability that just upgrades when you heat up (they even have the same cone and potency).
Hypercharge and Heatshot: Seeing as how hypercharge is literally the "make heatshot available" button, there is really no reason why these are separate binds either.
Reassemble: Make AA/drill (but let's be honest unless there's downtime it almost always lines up with drill) do big numbers. The button, the experience based on the book of the film.

This is just Mch (which is one of the cleaner jobs), you can find shit like this strewn through all the jobs, even after the shadowbringers cull.

[Shattered Star]

rofl no rotation in FFXIV lasts minutes. Yes, I have all 80s. The longest rotation is Summoner at 1 minute, simply because it utilizes two 30 second cooldown uses. Other than that, said rotation doesn't change when waiting on the cooldown. The longest rotation I can think of that isn't because of cooldowns, is Dragoon, at 15 seconds, because it's a 6 point combo with off global cooldowns weaved in. Then... Black Mage is just waiting for things to fill up to use them while doing a filler rotation, like several WoW classes.

But nah man, several minute rotation.

Summoners Rotation is a 2min Cycle. You have a Dreadwyrm Trance phase, Bahamut Phase and Firebird Trance Phase. The trances have a 55sec cooldown. You die at any point you have to start at the beginning.

Longest after that is probably Black Mage Followed by Dragoon.
Black mage is 12 inputs. B3, B4, T3, F3, 3xF4, F1, 3xF4, Despair.
Dragoon is 10 Inputs plus weaves. Chaos Trust combo followed by Full thrust combo each having 5 buttons.

BLM averages out at about a 30sec rotation when you factor cast times and Dragoon 22/23sec ish depending on recast speed.

[Sevarin]

I think I counted over the free weekend, and my monk has 32 abilities that I use every fight. That's a lot to bind.

if youre referring to ff14 monk, then your counting skill is severely lacking. even counting potions, utility (stuns included which arent often used on bosses, and sprint) and defensives you have 30, including limit break. many of which arent used every fight. you shouldnt be including stances since those are set it and forget it, but that would put you at 32 if you removed potions and included limit break, or vice versa. youre intentionally TRYING to make it sound like you have far more buttons than you actually have to use.

your basic rotation as a monk uses 8 buttons fairly consistently, but generally on most fights you will use up to 17 including cooldowns

[blankfaced]

Or they could remove the useless ones and try to make the best out of the remaining ones.

Also, too much or too few buttons is a highly subjective opinion.

That's the mindset that lost hunters Eyes of the Beast for a decade. No thank you.

[Segus1992]

I can agree with that, but the number of abilities is laughably low right now imo. Why not have it at the same level as in WotlK, or Cataclysm? They could also rotate useless abilities out and give something new, not just downright remove without giving something back imo.

Oh, so kind of like borrowed power? Have I got exciting news for you!

Ability bloat is a real issue. It was an issue in Wrath/Cata and it would've been extreme if they'd continued. Yes the pruning was way overboard and we still have a bit longer to go for it to feel right again, but if every expansion was like the first ones, bloat would be horrible today.

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That's the mindset that lost hunters Eyes of the Beast for a decade. No thank you.

Was it? I'd say EotB was pruned because its purpose was misunderstood - "this isn't good for DPS, remove", but it wasn't useless (utility, flavour). Shit that was useless that was removed was stuff like Claw.