Will primary classes still be relevant after new jobs are released?

So, yea I never played ffxi. I started playing ffxiv in august and very much enjoy it. I would like to think I have done a lot of content and I still find things to do each and every day. My favorite class to play for all this content I am enjoying is my archer.

When I first started the friends and people I met told me. Get a few of your favorite classes to r20 then choose a class from there. So I took their advice. I level'd archer, lancer, pugilist, and conjurer to 20. I loved archer! It was my favorite class out of the ones I had played to 20. So, I continued to level it and play it. I love the fact that I can keep up with the many different classes in damage or even out damage them at times. I really enjoy the fact that I can be out of the general damage area making the conj's not have to worry about healing me. I like playing a damage dealing character a lot.

When I heard about bard and the way they described it I loved it! I'm not sure if I misunderstood what had happened or what but I thought when bard was going to be released I was going to be a damage dealer whom could also be more supportive to the group. But after talking to people and friends whom have played ffxi. I keep being told you'll be nothing but a support as a bard. So, assuming that bard is only a support class I wont have my ranged damage dealing class I enjoy so much.

So, my question to you is will my favorite class archer still be relevant and useful as a damage dealing class if I do not enjoy bard or any of the other new classes?

Edit: I know jobs are out soon and I shall find out then I was just curious what everyone's thoughts might be. Will I have to wait for musketeer to be a ranged damage dealer? Or will I still be able to play archer and be useful as a damage dealing class? D=

Just wait and see. This is ffxiv, not ffxi, so Bard doesn't have to be a carbon copy of ffxi's. With bard's songs being useful, I can imagine you will be expected to sing them, we can't really answer you whether SE will leave you your DD damage or not, that has to wait till after patch.

There is one other factor to it - even if SE leaves you your dmg, the community can still demand you concentrate on songs and not DDing.

I can see MNK being forced to sap -> regen mp -> sap for example.

Please use Paragraphs.


You are confusing Job & Class. They are not the same thing.

Think of Jobs as complimenting Classes. Like a Stance. A Role.
Even when you MORPH into BARD, you are still an ARCHER.

You still still do all the things you do now on Archer, but also have Bard abilities in addition to that.

They might nerf it somewhat damage wise, but we'll have to wait and see.

Now that they've released the job system information, it's a bit more clear as to what roles jobs will play. It still seems as though jobs will be more for party based play, while classes are more for solo content, but still being able to equip certain abilities from other classes as a job makes things a bit more versatile.

The big mystery is that attributes will change when in a job mode...For example, changing from archer to bard might reduce attack power, but increase MP, shifting the role from a DD to a support healer/buffer. We'll have to wait and see how dramatic attributes change the role when going into various job modes.

FFXIV isn't XI. Keep that in mind.

While no one is 100% sure how bard will work, I think you can be rest assured that you'll have a very active role in party combat. You'll be shooting arrows from a distance, but you'll also be running around the battle field buffing your comrades. MP regen to the mages, TP regen to the melees and HP up to whoever you can get in range.

You won't be pigeon holed into being a support singer only. This isn't XI.