Community-based class design: Shepherd/Skinner/Scavenger

I am starting this thread as a place where we, as a community, could collaborate on designing a new Discipline of Land, rumored in the past to be called "Shepherd".

http://zam.zamimg.com/images/4/3/43e...dcf3bdbc86.jpg

Originally this was a class listed among twenty or so as future classes under Tanaka's FFXIV Design. Over time it was nearly forgotten, apart from a smattering of images and ingame models. This topic is a means for us to revive the class as something viable in the future expansions of ARR.

The class would fill a niche in DoL, the gathering of animal-based materials that no other class is capable of providing, including bones, skins, careapaces, and sinew/meat, in a non-combat oriented means.

With increased levels, they may even be capable of leeching runic/magical materials from voidsent and other uncommon creatures.

As long as ideas remain constructive, all are welcome. Perhaps as a community, we can input design ideas which SE could consider balanced and viable. Edits, additions or omissions are fine, but please provide a strong argument for the changes you suggest.

Skeleton design for the class (To be updated as we pool ideas):

Mainhand
Skinning Knife? Beartrap style tool? (depends on direction we go)

Offhand
Digging claw (For use in scavenging animal graveyards) or foldable Spade

Housing function: breed and / or raise livestock to harvest for materials. Think tomagotchi on steroids.

Potential Job prerequisite, combined with Gladiator: --->>Beastmaster

Active Abilities-- TBD

Passive Abilities-- TBD

Isn't a shepherd more about raising and protecting animals, not killing and skinning them?

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance had a "Zoo" where you kept and raised monsters to be used by the Morpher job.

I cannot entirely explain the nature of the original name, but considering your argument, in the context of 2,0 it could be a secondary task of the class, like botanists could have a garden, etc. tied to housing.

well they could raise animals and sell there unique furs that you cant find buy slaughtering thousands. leathers to leather workes and teeth for whatever bones are under now. organs to alchemy. you know "eye of newt, fingers of a lalafell, tails of a galka." the rare stuff

with housing you could have sheep and other type of animals there. You could milk them cut there hair to make wool kill them for meat and bones and so on :) seem like a fun class.

You can also go out and do that to other mobs outside your own home area so i think that be pretty cool :)

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Originally Posted by KoujiGeki

fingers of a lalafell,

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Definitely a Culinarian item. >>

I'd love to see a little ranch for housing, but the question would be what kind of nodes would you find out in the world?

I'd love to see a pack of small, defenseless, harmless, and unattackable Marmots or Sheep or something you could brutally slaughter for their skins (sorta how you do now, except only against the ones that don't fight back!) Or maybe you'll just find fresh animal carcasses to skin or harvest meat from, though that's kinda grim.

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Originally Posted by Powercow

The question would be what kind of nodes would you find out in the world?

I'd love to see a pack of small, defenseless, harmless, and unattackable Marmots or Sheep or something you could brutally slaughter for their skins (sorta how you do now, except only against the ones that don't fight back!) Or maybe you'll just find fresh animal carcasses to skin or harvest meat from, though that's kinda grim.

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Other games had skinners that would habitually chase a farming party and skin the stuff they left behind. Quite lucritave, in fact.

As for offhand nodes, I have been playing with the idea of an animal graveyard (pile of mixed bones etc) where you can scavenge for unusual mats.

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Originally Posted by Duuude007

Other games had skinners that would habitually chase a farming party and skin the stuff they left behind. Quite lucritave, in fact.

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I was kicking that idea around too, the only problem is that it'd be highly dependent on other people, and the other DoL's are all very efficient solo. I mean, you could go pretty meta and have your character find an abandoned farming spot that NPCs "used" to kill enemies, and you'd find a pile of slaughtered random local wildlife, though that's a really meta concept that might take people out of the game.

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As for offhand nodes, I have been playing with the idea of an animal graveyard (pile of mixed bones etc) where you can scavenge for unusual mats.

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For some reason I thought they planned to remove offhand tools for DoL and DoH. Can't find the link though, maybe I'm just going crazy.

But yeah being able to go into a cave and find an animal's feeding ground or something would be kinda neat. Going too much further with Ghostbusters stuff like finding Undead shrines for scraps of cloth or undead bits would be a bit much for a Shepherd.

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Originally Posted by Powercow

For some reason I thought they planned to remove offhand tools for DoL and DoH.

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They have only mentioned one offhand going away: that of Fisherman. Based on THIS, both logging AND harvesting still exist, at the very least.

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Originally Posted by Duuude007

They have only mentioned one offhand going away: that of Fisherman. Based on THIS, both logging AND harvesting still exist, at the very least.

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Ah, my mistake then.

Some sort of sifting shovel for the offhand might work then.

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Originally Posted by Powercow

Ah, my mistake then.

Some sort of sifting shovel for the offhand might work then.

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My idea was a digging claw, but this could work too. Any chance we could reference a tool that actually exists? Like scythe and sledgehammer for botany and miner.

Edit: hmmm, a sifting spade, lol.

http://www.keeleyhire.co.uk/images/items/full/2575.jpg

Not sure if that fits the mood for the job, but would appreciate feedback.

Some other ideas that could be "dated" to be appropriate for the steampunk-ness of FFXIV:

http://www.dhresource.com/albu_255533495_00/1.0x0.jpg
or
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/GARDEN-MULTIF...Bsm!~~0_35.JPG

Yeah I was thinking of almost that sifting spade exactly. Animal feeding grounds are really, *really* nasty and I know I wouldn't want to kneel down in that gunk and try to hack away at the dirt and rotting muscles to get something out of there.

But if we're thinking like, long-dead animals where it's nothing but bones then yeah the little hammers would work better.

well its more of a shovel turned sideways , but yeah.

I am all for it under one condition...

Do we get a cattle dog pet?

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Originally Posted by Altena

I am all for it under one condition...

Do we get a cattle dog pet?

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Ok, youre going to need to expand on this suggestion, lol.

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The question would be what kind of nodes would you find out in the world?

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Flocks of animals (not normal monsters).

For offhand? don't we want offhand to be more static and somewhat differing mainhand gathering?

Thats where I thought the scavenging of an old pile of bones could fit the bill.

http://www.simpletrade.com.au/image/...l_gate_019.JPG

Cattle Dog

I think you are considering it for the more traditional term of Shepherd, lol.

And man, those puppies ARE cute.

http://i4.minus.com/jblBGMsHH1z0d6.png

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Originally Posted by Gramul

http://i4.minus.com/jOFe949C8D086.png

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Ahahaha thats great

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Originally Posted by Gramul

http://i4.minus.com/jblBGMsHH1z0d6.png

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you just made me choke on my cereal with this. LOVE IT!

Sounds like Hunter from ffta from what you described though they captured rather than killed/scavenged(but i can see it fitting their kind of lore). Doesn't really sound all that much like Sheperd, i imagine Sheperd collecting milk from cattle, wool from sheep nothing that actually kills the animal because the sheperd is only taking what the animal does not need to live. To me they should be two seperate classes(they use different tools as well), one based around raising livestock and reaping the benefits the other around setting traps, capturing, killing and excavating like you said.

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps681f17c3.jpg

Hunting Journal, please look forward to it. =D

I imagined Shepherd to be a class that carried shears and clipped stuff off animals. Or got a bucket and milked cows... You know like what you do with animals in minecraft if you don't kill them.. =o Shepards should get pet dogs!

Sounds ok but I don't want this game to be another farmville.

Idk, whenever I think shepherd, I can't help but think beastmaster. Besides, we can already hunt as a DoW, so wouldn't an animal resource gathering class be kind of redundant?

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Originally Posted by Vanguard319

Idk, whenever I think shepherd, I can't help but think beastmaster. Besides, we can already hunt as a DoW, so wouldn't an animal resource gathering class be kind of redundant?

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Not if they can supplement grinding. Skins (for example) are very low droprate despite DoW. This is why a number of major MMOs still have skinning jobs in spite of standard loot.

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/phot...4-1360-768.jpg