So there's only 5 jobs that work now?

[Leonlionheart]

all JOBS are useful, not all PLAYERS are. level what feels good, put some polish on your playskill, develop a style that works for you. Good players will find you, bad players will continue to be stuck in the corner they've paited themselves into... screwed when they need the help of your chosen job and they don't HAVE one in their closed group.

What happens when GOOD players play GOOD jobs?

[Glamdring]

if a player can't make ANY job good then they aren't a GOOD player...

[Zatias]

When good players play good jobs it cancels out.

[Leonlionheart]

if a player can't make ANY job good then they aren't a GOOD player...

Ok I agree, any job can be "good"

Not any job can be the best though. That's just irrefutable.

[Vagrua]

I think the more experience you get from playing a job, the better you get at it.

[Malamasala]

I should probably mention, even if it is late, that when I referred to zergs and SMN not being useful, it was all the fights where all you need is soul voice. I've done this on for example Einherjar bosses, KV, Kirin (though it could perhaps help with Alexander there).

Alexander is of course useful for the more rarer fights, like AV or PW.

[Glamdring]

Ok I agree, any job can be "good"

Not any job can be the best though. That's just irrefutable.

problem is, define "best". different jobs do different things. Throw out the Atmas and their game balance destroying nature and just get down to a job-to-job comparisson. Nukers, ok, that's blm and noone is likely to even try to Refute that. Party support-I vote bard, but some may argue corsair and technically even whm and rdm deserve to be in that discussion. Enfeeblers-I still vote rdm, but I know a few blues that would like to have a word with me. I split DD, Single strike DD I would say Sam, with dark and 'goon right there behind them; damage by accumulation is monk, although thief and dancer can come VERY close. Tanking-sorry folks, without the Atma I still say it's pally. Ranged damage, obviously ranger. Pet jobs, I still say beast, but barely considering pup's range of damage (beast doesn't even have a magic damaging pet, unless they charm a hecteyes or a worm) and summoner can use avatars that are immune to damage types, exploit elemental weakness and get a new pet without spending thousands on a new jug but in the absence of Atma charm is back, making this a different story.

Then you have the issues of being "1-trick ponies". Many jobs are awesome... in the right fight. Once you take them out of that comfort zone they are gonna be screaming for help. SE has put in many battles that do just that. Nins hold themselves out as great tanks, but there are fights where your shadows are done in about1-2 seconds and without them nin doesn't take damage very well, conversely pld can take a hit better than anybody but some mobs can 1-shot with that hit which is where nin shines. Think of all the fights where you keep the DD off entirely, using just a tank and all your DD coming from nukers/ranged attack-there's a reason a War isn't in there. I remember all the folks calling me for help on bard when they fought soulflayers because rdm Dispel always failed (and the blues were usually to close meleeing, so para'd themselves). The list goes on...

[Neonii]

Then again, some of us don't enjoy being chameleons who mindlessly follow the trendy elite and the talking points that come from their foghorn-like mouths. Some of us play various jobs for our own enjoyment and not to be one of the "cool kids".

To the thread starter, any of the 20 jobs can be fully functional if you're committed to making it so. Take the ramblings of so-called "experts" with a Stonehenge-sized grain of salt.

But if you happen to have a "useless" job you enjoy prepare to do solo stuff. You won't be getting invites to be in the action. I'd say have a fun job you enjoy but also have a utility/work job to get invites (whm is nice for this in Abyssea in particular).

[Rearden]

damage by accumulation is monk, although thief and dancer can come VERY close.

Stopped reading after that

[Neonii]

Real life application:

What do you think would look better on your resume?

1 main that you're REALLY good at, but isn't applicable for the job at hand
or
I'm capable of doing this, but I'm only using it to further my main.

I agree with this but I find it very sad. What it comes down to to is spending your fun/leisure time playing an applicable job at the expense of one you really enjoy and have fun on. IMO this kinda changes the game into work instead of play. That begs the question why would anyone want to have fun on a game? They could be playing a applicable (work) job instead.

Edit: The game design itself should be balanced as to where sure you spend some time on a work job (pay your dues) but also be able to play your fun job in a meaningful way. My last online game was designed with different ways to reach an objective with different jobs. Players were not boxed into playing work jobs all the time because we could design a strategy which included our fun job. FFx1 is very different from my last online game in that aspect.