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

[Cairdeas]

There's "support" which is somewhat different from healer, as Healers generally just keep the party alive and Support makes it so everyone else does their job better (either by buffing them or debuffing the enemy).

Thieves are damage dealers that just have the steal ability. They're more or less glass cannon types.

And another support would be Auron (Samurai) from FFX: he did pretty good damage but the real reason you wanted him in the party would be for his "Break" skills that lowered the enemy's defenses.

Thief in XI actually became a Subverter which is a type of support.

It was someone who used their damage dealing skills to manipulate the battlefield against the monster. In XI this meant they raised their single hit damage in exchange for placing the Monsters Hate towards a different character.

[SuzakuCMX]

Thief in XI actually became a Subverter which is a type of support.

It was someone who used their damage dealing skills to manipulate the battlefield against the monster. In XI this meant they raised their single hit damage in exchange for placing the Monsters Hate towards a different character.

There's more than just FFXI thieves, you know. About 16 of 'em.

[Cairdeas]

There's more than just FFXI thieves, you know. About 16 of 'em.

Yeah... And I was specifically calling out the XI thief.

Thief in I was a fast attack character that eventually could transform into Ninja which was a fast attack character who could deal Black Magic.

Thief Didn't exist in 2.

Thief in 3 was again a fast attack character who could steal and assist the party in running from battle.

etc. I know what Thief is.

I guess the point I was trying to make is XI never followed the Trinity when it came to character archetypes and roles.

Every Job essentially had two main uses in a fight, depending on their sub job they could force themselves into or exceed at more

Each Character could fill atleast one of these roles.

1. Healer - Could main heal concentrating on keeping the HP of the party up during a fight. White Mage was the best Red Mage, Scholar, and Summoner could perform this task. In a Pinch Paladin, Blue Mage, and Dancer can perform this task if the main Healer downed.

2. Tank - Could take and hold hate, taking on hate they take the damage the monster dishes out and either mitigates it or absorbs it. The best jobs at doing this were Paladin and Ninja. Ninja was a bastardization but it got the job done. The other jobs that could perform this task rather easily are Warrior, Samurai and Monk. In a Pinch or for short term coverage a Thief, Red Mage, Dragoon, Dancer, and Blue Mage can perform this task as well. I have also personally performed this task as a White Mage with Paladin Subbed. It was easy. Especially on Bones.

3. Buffer - The First Side of Support. Raises the battle prowess of the players in a party. This person would end up lowering the time it takes to defeat a monster or reduces the workload of other roles like White Mage and tank. Summoner is by far the best choice for this, but Red Mage, Scholar, and Dancer do it very well. In a Pinch Blue Mage, White Mage can perform this task.

4. Debuffer - The Second Side of Support. Drops the stats of a monster like a rock. Red Mage, Warrior, Blue Mage, Dancer and other fit this role easily. Thief can do it at the right level. every job has at least one debuff skill IIRC.

5. Subverter - The third side of Support, a Subverter changes the battlefield rules against the monster. Thief and Scholar are the best suited for this. Dragoon also can perform this task with their jump skills. Basically a Subverter is anyone who can prevent hate movement, forces hate movement, or Destroys a Monsters TP or removes the enviromental bonuses of the field like Weather.

6. Damage Dealer - Pure Unbridled damage. Every Job in XI can fit this role in the right setting. But Warrior, Samurai, Dragoon, and others excel at it the most.


Sorry. I didn't get specifics for each job in XI. but those are the roles in XI.