dmuller30
06-30-2026, 07:16 AM
Now that FFXI seems to be getting more players again, I really think it is time for Square Enix to bring back regular job adjustments and seriously look at job balance across the board.
FFXI has 22 jobs, and that variety is one of the best parts of the game. The problem is that modern endgame often makes the game feel much smaller than that. Too many jobs are treated as niche, outdated, or only useful in very specific situations.
And before anyone says it: niche does not always mean useful.
Every job does not need to be the best. Every job does not need to play the same. But every job should have a real reason to exist in current content.
Tanking is a good example. PLD, RUN, WAR, and NIN should all be able to tank the same general content with different strengths, weaknesses, and difficulty levels. The tank identities already exist. The issue is that modern mob design makes most of them hard to use. Enemies spam AoE, wipe shadows, punish evasion-based tanking, and hit in ways that make anything outside of PLD or RUN feel like a liability.
So when someone levels and gears NIN to tank, the answer should not be, “Too bad, go level PLD or RUN.” NIN’s shadow and evasion style should actually matter in modern content, or the job needs tools that let it survive modern mechanics.
This problem goes way beyond NIN.
SMN could be a great support or hybrid support/DPS job, but both sides of its kit feel neglected. Its support tools are awkward or too niche, and its DPS does not justify bringing it to most serious content.
BST and PUP are also great examples. FFXI has some of the coolest pet job ideas in any MMO, but modern content often makes pets feel awkward, fragile, or hard to justify compared to safer, stronger meta jobs.
RNG has a clear identity, but ranged damage rarely feels like something groups build around anymore outside of specific fights. THF has Treasure Hunter, but a job should not feel like its main value is tagging a mob and then being replaced. BLM, DNC, DRG, MNK, BLU, and other jobs can work in certain places, but too often the question becomes, “Why bring this instead of a safer meta option?”
That is the real issue.
A job being usable somewhere does not mean it is healthy. Being good for solo, older content, Ambuscade, or one niche strategy does not mean a job has a strong place in current endgame.
Right now, too much serious content funnels players into the same small group of jobs: PLD, RUN, COR, BRD, GEO, WHM, RDM, SCH, WAR, SAM, and a few others depending on the fight. Those jobs should stay strong, but they should not make so many other jobs feel pointless.
This also matters because gearing jobs in FFXI is a massive time investment. You do not casually swap mains in this game. You farm gear, upgrade pieces, build sets, make macros, organize inventory, and actually learn the job. Then on top of that, inventory management is already horrendous, and Mog Wardrobes become expensive when you need multiple geared jobs.
So telling players to “just level something else” is not a good answer.
And yes, I understand FFXI still carries old technical debt. The game was built in a different era, and I am not pretending every change is simple. But the PS2 client itself is gone. That should not be used as a blanket excuse forever to avoid job adjustments, inventory improvements, or basic modernization.
Nobody is asking for FFXI to become a brand-new game overnight. We are asking for meaningful balance passes in a game people are still paying monthly to play.
Square Enix, please start doing real job adjustments again. Not every job needs to be meta, but every job should feel like it belongs in modern FFXI.
FFXI has 22 jobs, and that variety is one of the best parts of the game. The problem is that modern endgame often makes the game feel much smaller than that. Too many jobs are treated as niche, outdated, or only useful in very specific situations.
And before anyone says it: niche does not always mean useful.
Every job does not need to be the best. Every job does not need to play the same. But every job should have a real reason to exist in current content.
Tanking is a good example. PLD, RUN, WAR, and NIN should all be able to tank the same general content with different strengths, weaknesses, and difficulty levels. The tank identities already exist. The issue is that modern mob design makes most of them hard to use. Enemies spam AoE, wipe shadows, punish evasion-based tanking, and hit in ways that make anything outside of PLD or RUN feel like a liability.
So when someone levels and gears NIN to tank, the answer should not be, “Too bad, go level PLD or RUN.” NIN’s shadow and evasion style should actually matter in modern content, or the job needs tools that let it survive modern mechanics.
This problem goes way beyond NIN.
SMN could be a great support or hybrid support/DPS job, but both sides of its kit feel neglected. Its support tools are awkward or too niche, and its DPS does not justify bringing it to most serious content.
BST and PUP are also great examples. FFXI has some of the coolest pet job ideas in any MMO, but modern content often makes pets feel awkward, fragile, or hard to justify compared to safer, stronger meta jobs.
RNG has a clear identity, but ranged damage rarely feels like something groups build around anymore outside of specific fights. THF has Treasure Hunter, but a job should not feel like its main value is tagging a mob and then being replaced. BLM, DNC, DRG, MNK, BLU, and other jobs can work in certain places, but too often the question becomes, “Why bring this instead of a safer meta option?”
That is the real issue.
A job being usable somewhere does not mean it is healthy. Being good for solo, older content, Ambuscade, or one niche strategy does not mean a job has a strong place in current endgame.
Right now, too much serious content funnels players into the same small group of jobs: PLD, RUN, COR, BRD, GEO, WHM, RDM, SCH, WAR, SAM, and a few others depending on the fight. Those jobs should stay strong, but they should not make so many other jobs feel pointless.
This also matters because gearing jobs in FFXI is a massive time investment. You do not casually swap mains in this game. You farm gear, upgrade pieces, build sets, make macros, organize inventory, and actually learn the job. Then on top of that, inventory management is already horrendous, and Mog Wardrobes become expensive when you need multiple geared jobs.
So telling players to “just level something else” is not a good answer.
And yes, I understand FFXI still carries old technical debt. The game was built in a different era, and I am not pretending every change is simple. But the PS2 client itself is gone. That should not be used as a blanket excuse forever to avoid job adjustments, inventory improvements, or basic modernization.
Nobody is asking for FFXI to become a brand-new game overnight. We are asking for meaningful balance passes in a game people are still paying monthly to play.
Square Enix, please start doing real job adjustments again. Not every job needs to be meta, but every job should feel like it belongs in modern FFXI.