Man as someone who played about a year ago and got both my Pal and War to ~40, it is so weird going back and playing on a new character in Stormblood, levelling them again. I always preferred War at lower levels, since between heavy swing being an early oGCD and Fracture being a DoT to manage, it felt like you had so much more to do versus Pal which was just doing a 2 part combo over and over for like 25 levels.
But now, it is so totally different that it is glaring. Wars get no DoT early anymore, and it doesn't look like they get any oGCD damage moves till after level 50 at least. And for the first 30 levels you open with one 2 part combo and you spam another over and over. While Pal got to keep their oGCD damage move they get at 18 and get their 3 part combo at 26, plus another oGCD at 30. Not to mention both get a damage buff on a 60 sec CD early now, but Pal lasts 25 sec while War lasts 20. Pretty much the only downside to early Pal is that you still only have Flash as an AoE until 46, and spamming Flash in dungeons is pretty much the definition of lame. Just really jarring to go back and play now.
E: Realized I worded things a bit confusingly, I think the complexity is actually similar between the two now up to 30, Pal gets an oGCD and a 3 part combo to spam, War has a 2 part combo with a debuff to maintain and another 2 part combo to spam, both are hella simple but not THAT different for the first 30 levels. Mostly commenting on how pre-stormblood War had a lot more early game complexity than it does now.
But now, it is so totally different that it is glaring. Wars get no DoT early anymore, and it doesn't look like they get any oGCD damage moves till after level 50 at least. And for the first 30 levels you open with one 2 part combo and you spam another over and over. While Pal got to keep their oGCD damage move they get at 18 and get their 3 part combo at 26, plus another oGCD at 30. Not to mention both get a damage buff on a 60 sec CD early now, but Pal lasts 25 sec while War lasts 20. Pretty much the only downside to early Pal is that you still only have Flash as an AoE until 46, and spamming Flash in dungeons is pretty much the definition of lame. Just really jarring to go back and play now.
E: Realized I worded things a bit confusingly, I think the complexity is actually similar between the two now up to 30, Pal gets an oGCD and a 3 part combo to spam, War has a 2 part combo with a debuff to maintain and another 2 part combo to spam, both are hella simple but not THAT different for the first 30 levels. Mostly commenting on how pre-stormblood War had a lot more early game complexity than it does now.