Please do not lock Jobs to the Weapon Class that unlocks them.

[Sephr]

I think the relevant part of Matsui-san's post is the following:



Note that he said "equipment", not "armour and weapons". I think the simplest possibly explanation to your question is that job-specific equipments could be armour (and jewelry) only. In fact, it seems pretty clear that there will be job-specific armors, as Yoshi-P posted up picts of concept art for Black Mages a while back.

There could be job-specific weapons, thought, and that needn't lock the jobs to a particular class. Just because there is a Dragoon-only Lance needn't mean that Dragoon couldn't be paired with a sword. Probably the job-specific weapon would make that job/class pairing a little 'better', or advantageous in certain situations, but no one (I think) is arguing that every job / class combo would (or should) be equally viable.

To make clear, this is just speculation on how it could be, in response to Sephyr's question. I really don't know if job / class will be locked or not. The wording is ambiguous (in my opinion). I just personally hope that they are not locked.

Fin.

That would be a negative.

-NEW-
Stage by stage implementation of job-specific weapons and armor

From the Letter from the Producer X.

Again, what you're saying seems like freedom for the sake of freedom. "It should be possible, it doesn't have to be good though" seems like a point in favour of the other system more than anything. Why implement a system thats so clunky that most options don't actually perform well and also don't actually give specialisation in any form?
As I keep saying, a dragoon wielding an axe isn't a dragoon in the traditional FF sense of the word, and that's what they're shooting for.

[Amineri]

That would be a negative.



From the Letter from the Producer X.

Again, what you're saying seems like freedom for the sake of freedom. "It should be possible, it doesn't have to be good though" seems like a point in favour of the other system more than anything. Why implement a system thats so clunky that most options don't actually perform well and also don't actually give specialisation in any form?
As I keep saying, a dragoon wielding an axe isn't a dragoon in the traditional FF sense of the word, and that's what they're shooting for.

I stand corrected! I forgot about that part of the Producer's Letter.

As to "freedom for the sake of freedom", I guess I'd word it more as "freedom for the sake of fun".

Sure perhaps, only two or three classes are "good" with a particular job. What are the options?
1) Allow each job only one weapon/class -- works for some jobs, but not all of them. Sure, Dragoon with an Axe isn't high in the lore, but Dragoon with a sword is. Not to mention the major issue with WAR..
2) Allow each job only a select set of weapon/classes -- I suggested this, and it was pointed out that would likely be interpreted as implicit endorsement that all such job / class combos are "equally good", thus putting pressure on SE to balance them all.
3) Allow each job to be paired with any weapon/class -- Allows some combos that people consider to be against FF lore, and many combinations are weak ; leaves it up to the players to determine which combos work and in what situations

P.S. Sorry if it seemed when I said "Fin" that the case was closed ... I was just trying to be cute in wrapping up my post >_>'

[Sephr]

I stand corrected! I forgot about that part of the Producer's Letter.

As to "freedom for the sake of freedom", I guess I'd word it more as "freedom for the sake of fun".

Sure perhaps, only two or three classes are "good" with a particular job. What are the options?
1) Allow each job only one weapon/class -- works for some jobs, but not all of them. Sure, Dragoon with an Axe isn't high in the lore, but Dragoon with a sword is. Not to mention the major issue with WAR..
2) Allow each job only a select set of weapon/classes -- I suggested this, and it was pointed out that would likely be interpreted as implicit endorsement that all such job / class combos are "equally good", thus putting pressure on SE to balance them all.
3) Allow each job to be paired with any weapon/class -- Allows some combos that people consider to be against FF lore, and many combinations are weak ; leaves it up to the players to determine which combos work and in what situations

P.S. Sorry if it seemed when I said "Fin" that the case was closed ... I was just trying to be cute in wrapping up my post >_>'

Sounds great and all, but it's totally forgetting what the purpose of jobs are. They're adding them to create more defined roles in parties for dungeon content etc. The base classes are there for experimentation and you can be a 'divine lancer' all you want with them.

[Amineri]

Sounds great and all, but it's totally forgetting what the purpose of jobs are. They're adding them to create more defined roles in parties for dungeon content etc. The base classes are there for experimentation and you can be a 'divine lancer' all you want with them.

That is a fair comment. Agree that the stated purpose of jobs is to create more defined roles in parties for dungeon content, etc.

However, the concepts of "job = defined role" and "job not locked to class" are not mutually exclusive, I don't think. I suppose in large part it depends upon how jobs are implemented. Having said that, there was also mention that the CLASSES are also being reworked to be better defined, and how that ties in with jobs ... who can tell?

I think the example that has been bandied about the most is "healer" role : almost certainly White Mage. Now, unless SE removes Sacrifice from THM or Cure from CON, both classes have healing spells already. So, maybe White Mage allows for reduced casting time / reduced MP cost / reduced enmity generation for heal-type spells, while eliminating access to damage spells. So, White Mage is a defined role. However, playing as a WHM / CON or WHM / THM would be equally viable in that role, no? And very possibly Arcanist, if it is opened up later?

This example and others tend to point to opening up jobs to more than a single weaponclass, which then leads to the discussion between points 2 and 3 above.

Final point: a job having a defined 'role' does not necessarily mean that there is only ONE way to play that role. As Matsui-san stated:

our objective is to implement a battle system that rewards player effort and innovation in such areas as equipment, hunting grounds, and party structure

[Cairdeas]

As I keep saying, a dragoon wielding an axe isn't a dragoon in the traditional FF sense of the word, and that's what they're shooting for.

Kain which is the "Definition" of Traditional Dragoon most people use. Used Axes.