Post EW Poll: Which of these FF jobs would you like to see added next?

Link to Poll

It's that time of year; the time for Mimi's Job Poll!
This time around, I'm doing something different: I'm allowing multiple choices!

For those who are new/don't know, since the release of Heavensward (HW) I've done polls after the launch of every expansion to see what classic Final Fantasy jobs people would be interested to see added to the game next.

During the HW poll, SAM and RDM were both 1st and 3rd (with DNC being 2nd), with the SB poll DNC and BLU were 1st and 2nd, and for the ShB poll SGE was in a three-way tie for 22nd-24th place.

Job Descriptions:

Arithmetician/Calculator: Mathematicians who can alter spells with algorithms and formulas.
Assassin: Killers who focus on taking out targets quickly and efficiently, aiming for weak weak points.
Beastmaster: Tamers who can summon and control fierce beasts.
Blitzballer: The fan-name for Wakka from X's "job". Sportsmen who attack with blitzballs from afar, imbuing them with various elemental and status-effect properties.
Cannoneer/Flintlock: Bombardiers who use their cannons to both attack enemies and support allies from afar.
Chemist: Medics who specialize in using and mixing items together for more potent and/or varied effects.
Chocobo Knight: Knights who fight alongside and even riding on top of chocobo companions.
Corsair: Pirates who fight with guns and gambling tools to strengthen allies.
Dragonkin/Heretic: Reis from Tactics' special job. Those with the blood of a dragon flowing through their veins, allowing them to transform into dragons.
Elementalist: Shaman who commune with elemental spirits to attack and impair their enemies.
Festivalist: Festival goers who use fireworks and festival games to liven up the battlefield.
Foebreaker: Warriors who use special techniques to break their enemies’ offenses and defenses.
Gambler: Daredevils who use gambling tools and games to turn the tides of battle for better or worse.
Geomancer: Feng Shui masters who can tap into the nearby powers of nature.
Green Mage: Supportive mages who specialize in strengthening allies and weakening foes with green magic.
Gunner/Fusilier: Gun-toting sharpshooters. Known for their trickshots and sometimes wielding two guns.
Hunter/Ranger: Woodsmen who hunt their prey from afar. May set up traps and/or be in touch with the magics of nature.
Judgemaster: Judges who control battles by enforcing, changing, and negating the laws of engagement.
Mascot: Warriors dressed in cuddly costumes and wield dolls.
Morpher: Mages who can use the crystallized souls of monsters to transform into them.
Mystic/Oracle: Onmyoshi who bend the powers of the universe to debuff enemies.
Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer/Spellblade: Knights who can imbue their weapons with spells and/or elemental powers.
Necromancer: Dark magi who commune with the dead and use dark hexes and curses.
Onion Knight/Storyteller: Knights who start off sad and weak but get stronger as they master more and more jobs.
Psychic: Warriors who use psychic powers and the laws of physics to attack and disorient enemies
Puppetmaster: Entertainers who control and fight alongside puppets.
Sword Saint: Cidolfus Orlandeu from Tactics' special job. Peerless warriors who cannot be matched in swordplay.
Time Mage: Masters of Time and Space magics.
Trickster: Con-artists who spin a web of deception to twist the flow of battle to their advantage

Previous Results

Link to HW's Results
Link to SB Results

ShB's Results (Somehow, the poll was restarted so these are the last save results from before)

Out of 2,034 votes

1st. Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer/Spellblade: 309 votes (15% of the vote)
2nd. Chemist: 302 votes (15%)
3rd. Time Mage: 214 votes (11%)
4th. Gunner/Fusilier: 168 votes (8%)
5th. Necromancer: 150 votes (7%)
6th. Beastmaster: 134 votes (7%)
7th. Geomancer: 126 votes (6%)
8th. Puppetmaster: 74 votes (4%)
9th. Green Mage: 73 votes (4%)
10th. Sword Saint: 59 votes (3%)
11th. Chocobo Knight: 46 votes (2%)
12th. Judgemaster: 43 votes (2%)
13th. Hunter/Ranger/Sniper: 41 votes (2%)
14th. Mystic/Oracle: 39 votes (2%)
15th. Viking: 38 votes (2%)
16th. Corsair: 31 votes (2%)
17th-18th. Illusionist and Psychic: 22 votes each (1% each)
19th. Arithmetician/Calculator: 21 votes (1%)
20th. Elementalist: 16 votes (1%)
21st. Morpher: 15 votes (1%)
22nd-24th. Cannoneer/Flintlock, Dragonkin, and Sage: 14 votes each (1% each)
25th. Onion Knight/Memorist/Storyteller: 13 votes (1%)
26th. Mascot: 10 votes (<1%)
27th-28th. Juggler and Orator/Mediator: 8 votes (<1%)
29th. Animist: 6 votes (<1%) )
30th. Pictomancer: 4 votes (<1%)

And finally, Jobs that didn't make the list this time:
Animist
Bishop
Illusionist
Ink Mage
Juggler
Merchant
Mime
Netherseer/Hell Knight and/or Skyseer/Sky Knight
Orator/Mediator
Pictomancer
Risk Breaker
Sentinel
Sky Pirate
Templar
Thief
Viking

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

During the HW poll, SAM and RDM were both 1st and 3rd (with DNC being 2nd), with the SB poll DNC and BLU were 1st and 2nd, and for the ShB poll SGE was in a three-way tie for 22nd-24th place.

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Coincidence? I think not.

I'd vote for Time mage & Mystic knight. I can see them happening in the future unlike most of the rest.

There you go, go nuts. :D

Mystic/Oracle sounds very cool. Voted for just that.

I voted for Necromancer cuz I always love that in games, but then also Corsair and Sword Saint because I really just want a more straight up physical damage dealer type that is more grounded. No Samurai or Monk nonsense, no Dragoon hyper jumping. Like Warrior but actually a DPS.

I want chemist and calculator so much. At least chemist seems to be popular. There is hope since it seems to be a community favorite. Calculator is a long shot but I can dream hah.

please no geomancer and time mage, I want whm and ast to regain their roots

Many of these are almost copies of the jobs we already have, aside from the name.

What a strange poll Astrologian has the most votes.

I voted for Beastmaster, Corsair, Necromancer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

please no geomancer and time mage, I want whm and ast to regain their roots

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Geomancer as a magic dps wouldn't step on WHMs toes at all.
Time Mage in anybform however would need to steal back Gravity.

I voted for Blitzballer, Green Mage, Cannoneer, and Judgemaster.

The rest really don't seem like they have much potential within XIV's design sensibilities. Even then, I expect most of what I voted for to not be very pure forms of their old job, with Green Mage likely taking cues from Geomancer and Druid, and Cannoneer from Corsair and Chemist. And I still have no idea how a Judgemaster would work, just that it is very likely given several major factors like XIV favoring XII, popular characters associated with it, and a unique weapon niche.

The top jobs so far:

1) Time Mage - We already have AST, it is better, and I don't know how people expect this to be substantially different, if not an actual downgrade because time mage was always an ill-defined concept
2) Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer - We already have DRK and RDM...AND SAM...AND GNB...AND Heroes Gauntlet I don't know how people expect an elemental imbuement job to be good design at all at this point
3) Geomancer - between WHM, AST, SMN, and Swallow's Compass and I don't know how people expect a bell weapon to be fun
4) Chemist - We already have ALC and SGE I don't know how people expect a mixing class to work in a non-limited scope
5) Beastmaster - We already have companions I don't know why people want an express downgrade from that
6) Corsair - We already have MCH and an entire grand company that can dress up any class as a corsair and I don't know why people think a second pistol class would play substantially different
7) Gambler - We already have AST and I don't know why people think we will ever see an RNG class again
8) Necromancer - we already have RPR and Heroes' Gauntlet and I don't know what exactly people want here, a pet healer or another emo git like RPR but its not a good idea

To me this is pretty solid evidence that mob mentality will always favor the comfort of familiarity over whether or not the ideas are actually...good? It is highly improbable that we will get any of these, and I absolutely guarantee that if we do get them they will be nothing like what the players requested (with maybe Geomancer being the only one that could survive not being merged with other jobs, and even then it is a struggle given that it can't decide if its lore is WHM or AST or how to play differently from SMN+water spells). What players are lazily parroting from prior FF intallments are generally not good ideas. They are only popular because they have had years and exposure to gain more memetic traction than ideas that actually add something to the game.

I feel like the more jobs they add, the less attention existing jobs get, both in terms of balance and glamour. Therefore I vote "None"

Unless they ever add something like alternate specializations to existing classes that let them shift roles, I'm fine with thematically and aesthetically similar Jobs as long as they fulfill different functions.

Corsair and Mystic Knight. I know that’d be two dps, but Mystic Knight would be such a cool addition. And it’s a freaking pirate, and I want.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I feel like the more jobs they add, the less attention existing jobs get, both in terms of balance and glamour. Therefore I vote "None"

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Never gonna happen, but I agree with the sentiment.
I'm hoping for just one job per expansion from hereon out.

Current Results

Out of 770 votes made by 203 voters

1. Time Mage (68 votes, 8.83% of the vote)
2. Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer/Spellblade (67 votes, 8.70%)
3. Geomancer (56 votes, 7.27%)
4. Chemist (53 votes, 6.88%)
5. Beastmaster (52 votes, 6.75%)
6. Corsair (48 votes, 6.23%)
7. Necromancer (35 votes, 4.55%)
8. Green Mage (34 votes, 4.42%)
9-10 Gambler and Puppetmaster (32 votes each, 4.16% each)
11. Sword Saint (26 votes, 3.38%)
12. Hunter/Ranger (24 votes, 3.12%)
13. Judgemaster (23 votes, 2.99%)
14. Trickster (22 votes, 2.86%)
15. Dragonkin/Heretic (21 votes, 2.73%)
16. Mystic/Oracle (19 votes, 2.47%)
17. Assassin (18 votes, 2.34%)
18. Arithmetician/Calculator (17 votes, 2.21%)
19-21. Blitzballer, Chocobo Knight, and Elementalist (16 votes each, 2.08% each)
22-23. Cannoneer/Flintlock and Gunner/Fusilier (15 votes each, 1.95% each)
24. Morpher (12 votes, 1.56%)
25. Psychic (11 votes, 1.43%)
26-27. Mascot and Onion Knight/Storyteller (7 votes each, 0.91% each)
28. Festivalist (5 votes, 0.65%)
29. Foebreaker (3 votes, 0.39%)

Mystic Knight/Rune Blade for me, with a second for Hunter/Ranger/Sniper

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reinha

Many of these are almost copies of the jobs we already have, aside from the name.

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Thought the same thing. A lot of em sound the same to me. But most of em sound irrelevant, like they wouldn't work well, kinda dumb, and just plain boring.

I love my Assassin-types so that was a no-brainer. I got curious about Rune Fencer yesterday and did a small bit of research on it. It looks like a cool job that I think I'd be interested in and voted for it. Sword Saint sounds like it'll take some brainstorming if it were to ever become a job in this game. I voted for it nonetheless.

Foebreaker, I picked, cuz it just sounds cool and would be an excuse to put in a hammer job.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Never gonna happen, but I agree with the sentiment.
I'm hoping for just one job per expansion from hereon out.

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I would be fine with one job per expansion, but a few small thoughts:

1) I *think* we have just barely enough design space left to eek out two more really solid jobs and still have some ideas left for later expansions (taking my votes for example, that's already four pretty solid job designs without treading on existing jobs' fantasies, without going into extremely wild or unknown territory)
2) The devs will very likely want to have 2 jobs for the first post-EW expansion, if only to prove that XIV still has enough steam for another ten years, but also to gather back in a lot of the players who might be threatening to leave after the main story is complete.
3) There will always be a slashy-smashy DPS each expansion, and I feel like on principle there is a huge draw to want a tank/mage counterpart for the more cerebral types to latch onto. So as long as they can keep up that pairing with strong designs I think the devs will do it. Contrariwise, it will be difficult to sell an expansion on just a tank or healer.
4) Blitzballer is freaking weird and a tough sell. I think it is an inevitable job we will be getting, and I haven't decided yet if it is *so* popular that it could sell an expac on its own, or if it is so *weird* that it needs to be paired with something more traditional just to make it palatable.

Tl;dr: 7.0 will probably have 2 jobs, but I also suspect it is the most likely point at which we will stop getting 2 jobs per expansion if there are any plans to pull back to 1. I could also see that transition entailing experimentation with a "role-switching" job--like a not-limited, better-balanced BLU--to make the drop to one job more palatable to players.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeverianLyonesse

I could also see that transition entailing experimentation with a "role-switching" job--like a not-limited, better-balanced BLU--to make it more palatable to players.

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This would be my actual vote, even if it's just a pipe dream. I'd love a balanced, non-limited BLU option. Nothing else really jumps out at me. Maybe Geomancer with actual Quake, Tornado, and Flood type magic since WHM has stepped away from a lot of that. But, it isn't something I particularly am hungry for. Furthermore, Summoner has tapped into the first two quite a bit. If it gets Levi/Ramuh/Shiva later then it can easily have the big water attacks, too.

I'd love to see a necromancer that focuses on poison/corruption dot damage, with dots actually being the main source of the damage and not just an afterthought.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

I'd love to see a necromancer that focuses on poison/corruption dot damage, with dots actually being the main source of the damage and not just an afterthought.

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Same. Doesn't have to have pets but if it could raise a temporary minion that would be cool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

I'd love to see a necromancer that focuses on poison/corruption dot damage, with dots actually being the main source of the damage and not just an afterthought.

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+1 here, whilst dots and pets are vanishing i would love to see a necro cater for this somehow

I'd love to see a dark-themed healer. Perhaps Necromancer could be a healer?
So we can have a party of dark-themed jobs (DRK, RPR, BLM, and the healer one)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

I'd love to see a necromancer that focuses on poison/corruption dot damage, with dots actually being the main source of the damage and not just an afterthought.

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Yes pls, that's all I want for this game.

Arithmetician sounds hilarious though, are your abilities just numbers and you're presented formulas to solve for x?

Void mage, Witch, or Hexxor healing type with dots and de-buffs pulling health from the enemies to provide the party. (lol sorry imagination was running wild) the mystic knight sounds good.

I’d love to at least wait a few patches before we talk about next expansion. You know because the current one just came out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LauraAdalena

I’d love to at least wait a few patches before we talk about next expansion. You know because the current one just came out.

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I always do these polls during the first January or February of an expansion's release, it's just that expansions are usually released in July vs December.
I had thought about maybe waiting 5 months but I couldn't help myself. >w>()

Current Results

Out of 1117 votes made by 291 voters

1. Time Mage (99 votes, 8.86% of the vote) [Hasnt' moved since the last results]
2. Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer/Spellblade (92 votes, 8.24%) [Hasn't moved]
3. Beastmaster (83 votes, 7.43%) [Went up 2 places]
4. Geomancer (81 votes, 7.25%) [Went down 1 place]
5. Chemist (76 votes, 6.80%) [Went down 1 place]
6. Corsair (66 votes, 5.91%) [Hasn't moved]
7. Necromancer (57 votes, 5.10%) [Hasn't moved]
8. Green Mage (53 votes, 4.74%) [Hasn't moved]
9. Puppetmaster (50 votes, 4.48%) [Broke the tie with Gambler, staying where it was]
10. Sword Saint (40 votes, 3.58%) [Went up 1 place]
11. Gambler (38 votes, 3.40%) [Lost tie with Puppetmaster and went down 1-2 places]
12. Hunter/Ranger (34 votes, 3.04%) [Hasn't moved]
13. Mystic/Oracle (30 votes,) [Went up 3 places]
14. Judgemaster (28 votes, 2.51%) [Went down 1 place]
15. Dragonkin/Heretic (27 votes, 2.42%) [Hasn't moved]
16. Elementalist (26 votes, 2.33%) [Broke tie with Blitzballer and Chocobo Knight and went up 3-5 places]
17-18. Blitzballer and Trickster (25 votes each, 2.24% each) [Blitzballer broke tie with Chocobo Knight and went up 2-4 places, Trickster went down 3-4 places]
19-21 Assassin, Cannoneer/Flintlock, and Chocobo Knight (24 votes each, 2.15% each) [Assassin went down 2-4 places, Cannoneer/Flintlock broke tie with Gunner/Fusilier and went up 1-4 spaces, and Chocobo Knight didn't move]
22. Arithmetician/Calculator (22 votes, 1.97%) [Wend down 4 places]
23. Gunner/Fusilier(21 votes, 1.88%) [Lost tie with Canoneer/Flintlock]
24. Psychic (17 votes, 1.52%) [Went up 1 place]
25. Morpher (15 votes, 1.34%) [Went down 1 place]
26. Onion Knight/Storyteller (15 votes, 1.34%) [Broke tie with Mascot, staying where it was]
27. Mascot (10 votes, 0.90%) [Lost tie with Onion Knight/Storyteller]
28. Festivalist (9 votes, 0.81%) [Hasn't moved]
29. Foebreaker (6 votes, 0.54%) [Hasn't moved]

Guess it really depends on the available weapon concepts and whichever job role has the least options atm.

So a scouting variant will be very likely (even though I still don't know why reaper got maiming instead of scouting but I digress...)
A nimble dual wielding sword job would fit Spellsword/Runefencer the most, especially as the Ninja mudras also have elements in it, why not have a similar physical mudra combo system. Assassin would make sense as well being a deadly scouting class from the shadows.

as for the second one, maybe it'll be either ranged again or caster (cause lul BLU)
That would leave some space for fun new jobs like Festivalist for ranged or Beastmaster/Geomancer that uses bells from afar.
As for a caster, Time Mage is sadly already pretty much AST at this point but Green Mage also might make it as a mace wielding red mage equivalent without the doublecasting.

Although my ultimate choice would be a job that would use weapons similar to Armiger that zooms across the battlefield (cough)

Many of these jobs skills are already covered by the currently existing jobs. To me only Time Mage and Dragonkin seem somewhat unique

I personally voted for Green Mage, Chocobo Knight, Blitzballer, and Festivalist (this one isn't happening, but would be a cool pRanged or Healer).

Many of these jobs ARE jobs we have in everything but name (AST = Time Mage / RPR = Necromancer / Chemist = ALC/SGE). That or they have so much thematic overlap, they would end up being retreads of what we already have (CNJ and GEO / gunner and MCH / sword saint and PLD/DRK). Also some jobs that they have explicitly said are not happening like non-limited BST and PUP (although I would like this to change), Necromancer, and Assassin.

Jobs remaining in the franchise and Jobs that will be added in future has nearly zero intersection.

To be fair, a lot of them either overlap thematically, are way too specific (chocobo knight lmao) or just won't fit next to the already existing ones. I'm really curious to see where they'll go seeing as Square rely on weapons being unique for every job and we already a huge chunk of them covered (I guess there's no hammers yet despite WAR having a few)

I think the ability to turn existing jobs into some of these as a different variations would be nice, like 3 variations of each job, with slightly different abilities and animations.

Some games do this with talent trees, but I think you could achieve something similar with just swapping out variations of most of the main spells to behave differently. This cuts down on having to roll alts and grinding new gear but allows some variation to prevent boredom.

I didn't really see druid in this list, which I think would be good addition.

I can't help but wonder what the next Scouting job will be. I keep brainstorming ideas.