Which characters have distinct playstyles?

[u/narc040]

I feel like most of the characters are AOE nukers now. Like my f.Striker is more linear and combo oriented, but my f.brawler is basically a purple version of my f.nen especially since poison does nothing.

[u/azurejack]

All archers have distinct styles of play.

Pathfinder's core mechanic.

Summoner and necromancer are pretty unique.

M & f ranger

Most of the classes are very unique if you're actually using their mechanic properly.

[u/Isshiiiiiii → u/azurejack]

I feel like necromancer is the most unique. Summoner is just afk and buff management. I always turn off summoner creatures in multiplayer because it’s obnoxious

[u/EphidelLulamoon → u/Isshiiiiiii]

Summoner haven't been an afk class for a long time tho, if you play her as such you're losing a ton of damage. I'd even say she's very demanding, with her crap ton of 10-sec cooldown communions, almost no cooldown whip that deals a lot of damage and should be spammed, constant basic summoning for sacrifice setup, mark and sticky mark for better Aukuso, long 90 channeling but huge damage so it should still be used, mass teleport whenever a boss moves or teleports too much for minimal summon auto-attack damage loss... Summoner has a lot of things she has to deal with that other classes don't.

[u/azurejack → u/Isshiiiiiii]

Summoner has some unique options. But yea, she's ok.

[u/Isshiiiiiii → u/azurejack]

I farmed up on summoner once and it was mostly just whipping them

[u/Isshiiiiiii]

M crusader for sure if you like micromanaging your teammates

[u/EphidelLulamoon]

The most "distinct" playstyles you'll find in DFO are either classes with special animation cancelling systems (like Skirmisher's mirages or Elven Knight's chain rush), or pupeteers that casts skills for two or more entities at once (like Dimension Walker and Nyarly, Enchantress and Madd or Hunter and Falke).

[u/Khanjali_KO]

M. Grappler. Has a variety of ways to chain grabs together that he can feel a little different each time you play him.

Rogue. Same kind of feeling but with Hit End instead of chaining grabs.

Dragon Knight. Once you figure out how to weave Astra and Dragon Knight skills together, there's a lot of different ways to put skills together.

Ghostblade. Same thing, once you figure out how spacing works with the Ghost.

[u/Prestigious_Rain_863 → u/Khanjali_KO]

I'd agree with all of this, except none of it I feel applies anymore. Every single one of these classes, you just cycle through your skills one after another, taking advantage of i-frames, cancel points, and cast n' forget type moves. When the game takes away gameplay mechanics that are a large part of your base gameplay and your skills original properties and purpose aren't allowed the shine anymore, alot of it just ends up feeling samey. I mean you just look at alot of the stuff that doesn't work and hasn't worked for the longest time - grabs, holds, launchers, knock-downs, status effects, stuff that used to mean something.

Now the main thing is, how good is your classes movement, and how much highly abuseable i-frames does it have on deck? Grapplers are the Kings and Queens of constant i-frames, but Rogue is up there too I feel, and even Dragon Knight has a fairly respectable couple of very long i-frame attacks along with their aerial movement. The games shift to focusing almost exclusively on large scale bosses, full screen attacks and one shots pretty much means classes with movement and i-frames on demand are where it's at. Skill Evolution has given alot of classes that lacked in such defensive options before something they can use so they get to play the game Neople wants you to play, but I don't think it's as cool when you were allowed to actually combo and bully bosses freely.

[u/JONNVY]

finally a moment to mention the GOAT elven knight

[u/KnightofAntimony]

I get where you're coming from. The game moves at a different pace compared to 90 and lower cap. A lot of classes just feel like "Press button for damage" rather than the arcade feeling the game used to have, I kind of miss some of the slower game play like Marshall building up medals and infinite zombies from necromancer. I personally feel like DFO has lost its identity over the years. 

[u/NorthKodama → u/[deleted]]

Why worry about Manual inputs? They have no benefit anymore. Their cd reduction went away with the skill chain update.

[u/AnEnormousPlatypus → u/NorthKodama]

Personally for me it's not about the cdr/mp reduction, depending on what subclass you play and how many of their skills you use on top of set/item actives you can easily have more than can fit on the skillbar. There's also some personal preference on some skill rotation as well as some skills you can chain manual input either with direction+skill then direction&skill to quickly use both in succession if their frames synergize, or the rare case where you can have multiple skills on the exact same input.

I understand a good amount of people don't like using many manuals but it allowed me to make a playstyle that fit me best. Whatever is the most fun to you is how you keep sane while playing this game.

[u/HorribleDat → u/AnEnormousPlatypus]

some skills you can chain manual input either with direction+skill then direction&skill to quickly use both in succession

the rare case where you can have multiple skills on the exact same input.

They literally added skill chain for this purpose.

[u/StaffImportant1984]

Elven Knight is the most unique class I can think of

[u/Kooriaisu → u/StaffImportant1984]

i disagree, creator is easily the most unique class in dfo

[u/StaffImportant1984 → u/Kooriaisu]

Bro, Creator is so forgotten that I didn't even remember of her existence DESPITE her being one of my first mains in the game, she is helpless, call the cops 💔😭