I know you probably don't want my honest opinion, but I'm going to give it anyway.
I read the entire petition, but this one paragraph stands out:
Quote:
If I'm correct in assuming the goals of your company, you would want us to be pleased with the game. When gamers are dissatisfied, they find a new game to play and bring their money elsewhere. No one wants to quit, we the players have so much time invested that it makes quitting painful, but we have no reason to play anymore as it stands. We the players are asking you to give us back the Ranger's ability to deal impressive damage, we are asking you to give us back our ability to have fun in the game we have played so long. If that however does not happen, the people who were willing to sign this petition feel strongly enough that they will deactivate their accounts. Without a reason to play, we won't.
Since my mains are both mages (RDM and BRD), rarely does it cross my mind that every time a ranger plays they NEED to spend a good deal of money. Not only do they need halfway decent equipment to be effective, but they also use expensive foods and arrows/bolt/bullets which definately add up over time.
However!
There are a lot of other GREAT DDs out there. Monks, DRK, DRG can ALL do great DoT rivalling even that of a ranger. Ufortunately, people like me (and I'm sure a lot of you) pass them over for rangers because we see the big damage up front instead of over time. I will admit, when setting up parties, I have been guilty of seeking out rangers simply because I wanted a major damage dealer.
That's why I personally feel that your above statement is so selfish. Yes, you put a lot of time into levelling ranger. But then again, so did every dark knight, monk, dragoon, samurai, thief, warrior, summoner, and black mage out there. Is it fair that they get passed up because a ranger is seeking? Is it fair that the get passed up because--while they may be seeking--there is a Ranger within your level range who isn't in a party yet?
Many events have occured on FFXI that have caused a job to be chosen or not chosen; not all of these have been "nerfs," some were just because it was the new "thing" to do. Before most of us even started, SE tried to nerf the TP on hexastrike so that SAM couldn't do endless skillchains. They did it so well that DRG was almost wiped from existance due to the negative side-effects.
Most summoners have a 65-75 job because that was the only way they could get all of their summons. After all, what good is a summoner to us who only has carby? And after all that hard work and dedication, we took them and stuck them on the back lines as gimped white mages.
Monks do AWESOME damage but because we only see 1 hit at a time, we never even think to equate them as DD. When we put all of their hits and counters together...wow.
Samurai gets TP so fast that you can often skillchain twice per battle (and as a mage, I know this can add upwards of 33% spell potency!).
What you see as a "nerf" to ranger is actually a boon to these and other jobs. It will force us to rethink our ways and maybe...just maybe, we may start inviting dark knights back into groups. In FACT, maybe the people who were discouraged from playing jobs they always wanted to be--like a Dark Knight--will finally get to do what they want because WE won't be discouraging them anymore. Who knows, we might actually start to see more GREAT dark knights instead of crappy-to-okay DRK.
People assume that having a ranger will automatically give you good damage. It's kind of like the misperception that people have about JP: just because you have a JP in your party...or a JP party...does not mean that it or they will be good. This is dependant solely on the abilities of that or those player(s).
If as a ranger you don't agree with anything I said, maybe you can at least agree on this. A ranger can get repetitive. If you spent all day mashing buttons with low results with any other job, would you even bother? Hell no. I get bored as hell on my bard because all I do is run > sing > run > sing > so on and so on. None of the damage is mine, none of the spells are mine. All I do is buff other people. If all I did was sing > sing > sing I can guarantee I wouldn't play as bard.
Ranger still does great damage, just not as much. So your damage was decreased while you are right up next to a mob. So what? If you can no longer stand right up next to the mob, move around during the battle. Don't be content to choose between sitting on the back lines or losing your damage. Move around. Play smart. But most of all, quit being so selfish. You are only as nerfed as you allow yourself to be.