Thief/Ninja looks to be Inbound

[Langureion]

Fixed for you, np.

During the two major cutscenes with Thancred and Yugiri they mention that the two "share similar styles". At one point, Thancred even switches his style to something similar to her own. Thancred was raised in the "mysterious underground" (read: mysterious underground) guild in Limsa and Yugiri is very clearly going with them to teach them her ways while learning theirs before *as she states* offering her services of training the people of Eorzea. It seems pretty clear to me the path they're taking, the only question is how the layout of the class>job/job will be. Personally, I think they'll have a base class that leads to THF/NIN but this is wildly speculatory and only because Thancred and Yugiri seem to make easy and effective leads for the two respective jobs.

[Warlyx]

Whichever role ninja fills, half of the community is going to be severely annoyed. A new tank would go a very long way in this game. If there was one role that would be great as FOTM for the game as a whole, it would be Tank. Ninja was very popular in FFXI as a tank. My vote is for Thief base with Ninja(tank)/Assassin(DPS) jobs. IMO it makes the most sense.

But I won't complain about it either way. I'd still be excited about a new class/job.

Ninja tank? *shivers* , u really want a flood of wannabe ninjas tanking for u? ....if ninja is becoming a tank .....it wont be pretty , because the warrior BIG AXE im dps not tank !!! ppl wasnt enough :P

[Exstal]

Whichever role ninja fills, half of the community is going to be severely annoyed. A new tank would go a very long way in this game. If there was one role that would be great as FOTM for the game as a whole, it would be Tank. Ninja was very popular in FFXI as a tank. My vote is for Thief base with Ninja(tank)/Assassin(DPS) jobs. IMO it makes the most sense.

But I won't complain about it either way. I'd still be excited about a new class/job.

Except Yoshida said Ninja won't be tank. Unless he's a liar.

[Kirinichibon]

Ninja tank? *shivers* , u really want a flood of wannabe ninjas tanking for u? ....if ninja is becoming a tank .....it wont be pretty , because the warrior BIG AXE im dps not tank !!! ppl wasnt enough :P

I haven't come across WARs since 2.1 that wanted to DPS just to DPS. If Yoshida really did say that he didn't intend for NIN to tank (which IIRC was specifically referring to blink tanking - not the entire concept of NIN as a tank), as long as they hold enmity and mitigate well, I don't really care. The game does not need another DPS job right now.

If you have your heart set on some class to fit your vision of some role that you think it was always intended to do, be prepared for disappointment.

If I were to bet on what role NIN was to fill in 2.3 if implemented, with the current itemization and gameplay, it would be as DPS - likely STR based, possibly DEX. But I do miss XI ninjas and hold on to some hope that a nimble tank is implemented instead.

[Exstal]

I'm sure they could just make Dancer or something for an "evasion" tank. Kitru made a long post about why Ninja historically in real life wouldn't make sense as a tank. The short version, "their entire mission was to not be seen, much less take the attention of anyone". So based on that, Ninja as a tank is illogical but FFXI, being imbalanced as it was, took that and turned it on its head. Hopefully Yoshida would be foolish enough to let that happen (which probably can't happen without emnity modifiers anyway).

[Legionius]

I'm sure they could just make Dancer or something for an "evasion" tank. Kitru made a long post about why Ninja historically in real life wouldn't make sense as a tank. The short version, "their entire mission was to not be seen, much less take the attention of anyone". So based on that, Ninja as a tank is illogical but FFXI, being imbalanced as it was, took that and turned it on its head. Hopefully Yoshida would be foolish enough to let that happen (which probably can't happen without emnity modifiers anyway).

Technically in FFXI it wasn't supposed to be a tank either according to SE. They just gave it a tool that contradicted that and kept building on it instead of changing.

[juntaru]

If you can prove that there is a way to make 1 class into two of the type job role without basically making a new class, you will win.

Let's say Pug get acces to Dancer Job, DPS role.
Dancer would get dancing skills to help party through new and unique debuffs (life leech ?) making it more of an assist DPS than a full DPS.

And remember that new classes and jobs will most likely come with a new Lvl cap, thus new skils...

[Exstal]

Let's say Pug get acces to Dancer Job, DPS role.
Dancer would get dancing skills to help party through new and unique debuffs (life leech ?) making it more of an assist DPS than a full DPS.

And remember that new classes and jobs will most likely come with a new Lvl cap, thus new skils...

Let's look at how Puglist functions.

Greased Lightning Stacks
Progression based skills (chain)
Directional based

What does Monk bring? Gap Closer, Damage increase stance, Damage skill, Damage skill that can remove debuff, aoe

Fundamentally, the Dancer would play just like Puglist unless you're going to rework how Greased Lightning Works and what skills chain into what.
Of course, with level cap they *might* be able to make 1 X base class => 2 X job instead of 1 base class => X job / Y job

My assumption is at 55 there will be 10 job skills along with 2~3 class skills and 1~2 new traits. Within 10 skills, it should be enough to differentiate 2 same function jobs from each other (I'm hoping). Then it gets into the area of, "which classes/jobs should be implemented first?". That's a whole different ball game.

[A_Magical_Unicorn_Rider]

If THF/NIN, I can only imagine it'd actually be a support-type DPS role.

Consisting of…

Status effects galore. Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Confuse, Bind, Heavy, Slow, etc.
Along with elemental-based ranged attacks. (see: Fire/Water/Thunder/Wind shuriken ability)

[Kaiza77]

I'd say you have a better chance of seeing Samurai as a new Tank. Higher Dodge and Parry rates, along with whatever new moves are included in the Job. You would end up with 3 balanced flavors of Tank. PLD Defensive, WAR Huge HP, and SAM Avoidance.