I Miss Cross-Class Skills

First off...this isn't a petition to bring them back. I understand why they're gone, and for new players, it actually makes sense to have role actions that make the game easier for them to learn, etc. It's a lot easier to have all tanks learn 'Rampart' at lv8 rather than needing to specifically level up GLD for it, for example, and it's certainly a QoL improvement to not need to level CNJ so your PLD could use Stoneskin (although I do miss stoneskin, it was cool).

Rather...I just remember it being really neat how we had them, and am slightly nostalgic for them.

(Or, if you're not a person who's been around forever, consider this an older gamer going 'I loved many parts of this game even back in 2.0'.)

Most of them were useless. The ones that were useful were mandatory. It was a bad system

I think nostalgia is a good word for it and I'd advise you not to think to hard about... because each time I recall the good old times and spend more than 2 minutes thinking about it I'm internally screaming "OH MY GOD I'M SO GLAD THAT ITS OVER!!"

...okay, not that extreme, but in essence that.
After I recall how nice it was to have stoneskin and protect as paladin (and being able to raise people who died in the open world!), my thoughts drift to...
...absolutly having to level up THM to get swiftcast when playing as healer...
...the total need to pick up archer no matter what dps you played to get that damage-buff...
...having to get monk to level 42(!) to get mantra - something quite a few people I knew didnt bother to do...
...running into BLMs who only leveled their archer far enough for Raging Strikes, but not Quelling (the skill that reduces the aggro one would generate) - as a tank that was quite annoying...
...basically having to play jobs you didnt like, spend your time on those, only to support the job you did like.

Specially thinking about the last point there: In my mind that is/was a great thing! Having this system that supported that you went out and tried different jobs and didnt only stuck to your main! Great encouragment, specially when it suggested you try something different from your main-role (aka: healers trying a dps with thm/blm or a paladin trying to heal as conjurer)!
But when I look at it a bit closer, I begin to wonder if thats really such a great thing - being forced to level something you might be totally aware of you dont want to play. I knew I didnt want to play monk (still cant stand that job, I only got it to 70 two weeks before 5.0...) but I had to level it anyways, because my bard "needed" that mantra.

I understand your sentiment, because I feel the same - for 2 minutes, then my memory really kicks in and I'm like "oooh... right, thats why this is gone. Yeah. Yeah, I like that its gone. Good job, SE! This is much better now!"
...so... better not think to much about it if you want that nostalgia to stay...

I fondly remember sub job system in FFXI, but then I also think about how much time I spent leveling stuff lol... Or sometimes being narrowed down to only one "good" subjob choice after which sometimes changed due to a patch and then I had to level something else haha. Although to be fair to current FFXI I've heard it's a lot faster these days.

If you're talking about old experiences waaaaaaay back in early 1.0, pre jobs, we had cross class on a real level (could mix a lot more skills back then). Mage tanks and all that :P.

Back then you had physical level and class rank, I think the concept of the armoury made more sense back then. At this point while it works they could probably have reorganized it to job changing (then we could run around without a weapon, or use other weapons lol), we're so tightly wound onto the weapons in part because of that ancient 1.0 stuff.

It wasn't ready for the light of day though, that old 1.0 system, which is why it had to be reborn in a new realm ;).

I liked cross-class too, think tweaks and changes to the system would have been fine.

Role actions are ok I suppose, just a bit boring really.

Ive never been a fan of cross systems and I hated FFXI's version and the expectations it created. I didnt play much of XIV when it had it but I think I ignored it entirely.

In FFXI I just rejected others opinions. I ran THF/RNG and WHM/BLM because I dont like SMN and I found Wide Scan more useful for things I was doing. Those were weak decisions despite being more fun.

Cross class is interesting on paper, and fun to think about, but when you add a gaming community to the mix they just suck all the fun right out because anything that's not minmax is "wrong". Itd be neat if it worked though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Most of them were useless. The ones that were useful were mandatory. It was a bad system

---

Yup. Thank the flippin’ Fury they removed the idea completely instead of tryin’ to improve it, that woulda been horrible.

Plus we got this GREAT new piece of shite instead. Which still had the same problem o’ crap for choice for a whole expansion. But luckily for us they realized they couldn’t create compellin’ choices for shite an’ sanded that down instead. Thanks for the flavorless plastic abilities Squeenix, yer the tops.

Find some RPG to play. It's a genre of game where there are this kind of things and better.

go play FFV or Tactics if you want this sort of gameplay.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

There will always be a best choice. Most games still add in fluff that never gets used for the illusion. They just followed the players here and cut it all out. Same result. Less dev work.

---

Havin’ one choice be mathematically best absolutely ain’t the same as an “illusion” o’ choice, and there ain’t anythin’ wrong with situational or fluff abilities. 99.9% of XIV ain’t savage content, and that’s the only place where the nutcracker’s so tight ya need ta be doin’ it just so. No, I’m not sayin’ XIV has ever made a good choice system before, but they could if they wanted. Like ya said though, that’d take dev time. And they opted for the easiest, simplest solution, no doubt.

I just wanna clarify that while I am personally a fan of choice in RPGs, I understand XIV is designed ta be incredibly safe an’ accessible. They ain’t about ta make it more varied on us ‘cause they designed everythin’ around a status quo. But I can say I miss it back in the beginnin’ when it looked like they might take it in a more interestin’ direction. With the changes in Shadowbringers, it’s clear it ain’t goin’ off that course, an that’s fine. Lots o’ people, includin’ me, are enjoyin’ it this way. But I’ll still lament what coulda been.