Musketeer class idea

[Nahara]

not entire sure I think that the piratical, gun-using job should lead into what has classically been "Gambler" but whatever

That, however, is entirely what the Corsair is.

It's quite possible my memory has failed me in the past several years, but the Corsair of FFXI is/was SE's answer to the desire for a gambler job without actually introducing a gambler job, because apparently the negative connotations of gambling was something SE wanted to get away from without loosing the luck-based combat style. In FFXI, they are what Bard is in XIV, a ranged damage dealer that had party-wide buffing abilities, though the mechanics of their Phantom Dice meant that their support abilities could be stronger or weaker depending on the player's luck. I think the biggest problem we have here is that... there's really not as many options for group-wide buffs without getting into ones that cause the "we must have this in the party" issue. Especially since Bard is already providing Ballad, Paeon, and Requiem.

I'm still a firm believer that Corsair should make a return for XIV as the ranged damage dealer and support job it is, though what buffs they could give the party without stepping on the toes of Bards is something I, unfortunately, don't have an answer for.

[Kitru]

That, however, is entirely what the Corsair is.

Well, the Corsair was only ever implemented in a single game so it's hard to say, explicitly, what defines the Corsair as opposed to the Gambler (which exists in multiple iterations, of which Corsair is one).If you look at Corsair as simply a synonym for the eponymous "pirate"s that has actually gotten a bit more play, it's a theme as opposed to a class. As such, it's entirely possible to use the term Corsair while completely abandoning the Gambler trappings since there isn't really a historical limitation beyond what FFXI players would expect out of the shared name. The devs did the same thing with Scholar (though Scholar actually had reasonable historical precedence but it was defined by Scan, which isn't much to build on).

I'm still a firm believer that Corsair should make a return for XIV as the ranged damage dealer and support job it is, though what buffs they could give the party without stepping on the toes of Bards is something I, unfortunately, don't have an answer for.

I fully believe that Corsair (which is what I fully expect Musketeer's job to be) will be a ranged damage dealer with support capabilities, much like BRD (part of it is derived from how Limit Breaks separates "ranged" from "caster" and give "ranged" the healer LB). My contention is that it's wrong to force the Gambler aspect upon the class/job simply because that's what FFXI did, especially whenever Gambler mechanics aren't really going to fit well into ARR's balance/content design (imagine if the existing support abilities were twice as strong but only functioned half of the time; they'd be seen as a helluva lot less useful because you use them because you want them and not vice versa). Within the confines of the entire series, "Corsair" has only one data point so you can't really say what defines it because what defines it, in that single data point, is actually the definition of Gambler. FFXI's Corsair is simply a Gambler by another name.

Because of this, I feel it's wrong to force the Gambler construct upon Corsair. Focus on them being pirate rather than turning them into Gamblers with guns. You could envision them as picaresque naval commanders so that they use speeches and rallying cries in much the same way that Bards use their songs; Merlwyb would be a *great* example of this kind of Corsair design (the Gambler model doesn't really work with her, as I see it, since I don't really think she would be one to leave things to chance). Another option would be to focus upon how Limsa Lominsa and her pirates are the chosen people of Llymlaen, which could provide them with various wind and storm themed abilities.

Corsair doesn't *have* to be a reskinned Gambler just because that's what FFXI did. Corsair doesn't really have anywhere near a long enough history within the annals of the series to really define them in any way so it's fertile ground for exploration of the piratical theme.