Quote Originally Posted by Nebo View Post
Job Adjustments

The other issue is job adjustments. Another major factor contributing to the difficulty of forming and finding groups for content is this: many people are passionate about playing and gearing jobs that aren't valuable in endgame content...only a handful of current jobs are worth an alliance slot in endgame events.

I am a Thief main. I do not enjoy playing on Bard at all. Guess what job I've been stuck on since Delve came out?...Mostly Bard.

^ This is what happens to people. They get stuck on jobs they DON'T want to play to get gear for the jobs they DO want to play...only they never get to PLAY the jobs they love and they get burnt out...eventually quitting.

A wider variety of jobs needs to be made viable in endgame content. Based on your stated goals, this should be priority number 1.

Making it easier for people to participate on the jobs that they love will invariably make them more motivated to form (and join) groups by virtue of being able to play the jobs that they love in endgame content...something they cannot do now.

If you can correct this (MAJOR, FUNDAMENTAL) design flaw, you will accomplish your goals just doing that alone.
I'll agree and add my own words as well.

Long Version: As a Red Mage, I've endured not only the identity crisis my job has felt since the first job revamp, but continuing misconceptions perpetuated by the playerbase and the developers doing nothing about it. We sat through the entirey of TAU being a refresh and cure-bot for parties. We spent more of the same during WotG while both camps (pro-caster and pro-melee) tore into each other. Abyssea gave us a reset and a chance to get our purpose in the game fleshed out, and instead we were allowed to fade into obscurity and uselessness. Then Tanaka returned and gave us a mistranslated job manifesto ("adept at self-enhancing through magic" does not translate to "turns their allies to demigods", by the way).

I doubt I'm alone in feeling this, as there are people not only within the RDM community, but with jobs like PUP and BST and SMN and THF that wish more could be done with their jobs to make them relevant and fun while giving room for the varying playstyles in the cases of the more versatile jobs.

In my case, I like swinging my rapier while bringing utility to the fray over standing in the back and spamming spells. I for one would like it to actually be useful to a party instead of being the shameful thing I get to do by myself. You've attempted to give us cheap imitations in the past. Now it's time to fix RDM.

Short version: Focus on fixing jobs. I don't mind the developer team bringing out new content, but with the gross imbalance of participation in events, that should really be priority #1. People do derive more fun when they are playing a class or playstyle they enjoy over being forced to play something they are not interested in.