Originally Posted by
Kotemon
What others have said the idea may have been Musketeer (Class) => Machinist (Job) just like Thief (class) => Ninja (job). For all I know it could have been a coin toss between Thief/Ninja and Musketeer/Machinist as the last class job system for ARR 2.X block. With the latter having its class removed and being an advanced job like Dark, and Astro.
I can see why they wanted to mix classes to create advanced job combos but damn that's a lot to level up and arrange from. It almost looks like they wanted to reinvent the job tree from F.F.Tactics or FF2/3. I also see why Sentinel + Gladiator = Paladin and why by the naming of things Sentinel became just Paladin. Fencer looks like it could have been spliced with Mystic to make Sword Mage or other mages to make Red Mage. Flayer + Stavesman = Beastmaster with Shepperd being a job to raise animals like that pet pvp in FFXI's Aldun, or to raise personal Chocobo's. I'm also seeing why it would have been a real pain in the neck to balance and implement too. Although if ideas get simplified and recycled.. Fencer, Flayer, Mystic look like they could be recycled back into the game as a renamed advanced job. Then again I have no idea how whips would work in a FF mmo without looking like it came out of FF8.