Originally Posted by
Enkidoh
We had a shield class, it was called Sentinel. It was scrapped back in 1.0 and shield use became classless (as SEN used the offhand anyway and thus required a main class to actually use). And as it's abilities were all just given to GLA/PLD natively anyway I don't see this coming back in any shape or form.
Also I don't see SE going down the path of copying FFXI's Job system (despite some people here seeming wishing they would) with the whole 'Job and weapon type are seperate and you can equip multiple weapon types on the same Job', as that is not what FFXIV's Armoury System is about. Here your class/Job is your weapon (it's why the class, and to a certain extent, Jobs, feature a weapon image as an icon). this is why we also had the much maligned cross class system in the first place - the original idea in 1.0 was so you could mix and match different abilities with different weapon types. Of course players wanted dedicated roles and so SE ablidged by changing things to more rigid roles made even more rigid with the addition of Jobs (and further with the whole cross class ability system system's replacement with role abilities).
The sad fact is, you are not going to see a WHM being able to wield a great axe or a DRK a gunblade for instance. New weapon types will continue to be added, but as new Jobs, not simply tacked onto existing ones. It simply will never happen.