Thief/Ninja looks to be Inbound

[L-D-Omlette]

Just the opposite actually, earlier in this thread someone posted a link to a Q&A where Yoshi specifically said new classes would come with patches, not expansions, because most legacy players already have all classes at 50 they want to get new classes out sooner and new areas will be in expansions.

There are conflicting statements regarding timing of new classes/jobs.

He has never said classes and jobs would only come with expansions. What he said was they would be added in regular patches.

Yoshi has actually said that they plan on adding classes/jobs as they see fit, whether it be through a patch or an expansion, rather than attaching them only to expansions. I'd be curious to see where exactly you've seen him contradict this.

There was a recent interview (4th question) that implied, at this point in time, it was more likely that it would happen in an expansion. As with everything in this community that meant that this was the gospel truth, until proven otherwise.

I take it back, it was more explicitly stated than I remembered:

Nova Crystallis: With Final Fantasy XI Square Enix has released a lot of full expansion packs and smaller add-ons and now with FFXIV you guys are releasing a lot of new content as free updates. How do you decide when you make that split – when do you start charging for content and how much content is going to be in what you charge for versus what will arrive in free updates?

ARR4Yoshida: In regards to what defines an expansion – if you can imagine the amount of content and material that was released with the relaunch (2.0) – that would be about the size of what we would consider an expansion. There will be a lot of new dungeons added, a lot of deep story – something that adds value to the game’s own staff roll. There are going to be a lot of new fields that will open up as well as the introduction of new classes and jobs. So you can expect it to be pretty big for it to be considered an expansion.

We’re aiming for it to be when people see the information of the expansion coming, they will see it and say “Oh yeah, this is worth paying for.”

[Exstal]

I see what you mean but first, 1/3 of bards song set decreases magical resistance, encreasing the dps of any casters, 2nd, you couldn't really create a class that does more dps than bard without it being OP as bard is already the best dps in many situations.

...but that's what other people in the thread are suggesting about Ranger.
ARC => BRD (DPS) // RNG (DPS)

[DexteraDomini]

GE- With ARR we’ll see Arcanist added with Summoner shortly after the game launches. Are there any other classes or jobs you’d like to see added? And will these be added in patches or expansions?
Yoshida- What I would like to see right?
First of all, we are planning a new race for an expansion pack. For the classes and jobs, we will introduce them through patches because all of the Legacy players have level 50 jobs anyway. When we introduce new classes and jobs we will probably increase the level cap at the same time.
About what I want to introduce it’s more like what I think I have to introduce. Something related to guns because the (musketeer) guild in the game. Something related to that I think I have to introduce.
Also I do feel that scouting classes are lacking so I want to bring in Thief, Ninja and those that have to do with stealth. Also more casters like BlueMage and RedMage are something I would like to add.
Whatever the players want, I want too.

Don't see any conflicing info really, aside what other people are posting they may or may not have heard Yoshi say, this is the only direct answer I found from the producer himself.

[DexteraDomini]

...but that's what other people in the thread are suggesting about Ranger.
ARC => BRD (DPS) // RNG (DPS)

Personally, I think people that are hoping for ranger should not hold their breath. With already having a bow dps, and a gun dps in the works, where would it fit in?

[SamaelVantas]

Just the opposite actually, earlier in this thread someone posted a link to a Q&A where Yoshi specifically said new classes would come with patches, not expansions, because most legacy players already have all classes at 50 they want to get new classes out sooner and new areas will be in expansions.

Kind of late replying to that...lol

[Shuri]

NIN would be glorious.

[Deathscythe343]

Personally, I think people that are hoping for ranger should not hold their breath. With already having a bow dps, and a gun dps in the works, where would it fit in?

Well, they have mentioned adding more hybrid classes. Summoner and Scholar both use books, so it is possible that a ranger job could make it into the game and use a bow. I would bet that if this happened, bard dps would be lowered and their songs buffed to make them more of a support class.

[Hiroradius]

I believe they will go the way of making a new base class.. say Rogue for now, and then it's level 30 would be a choice between thief or ninja. Ninja being sorta caster dps, melee aoe, things like that, while thief would go the role of support more, in which they steal things from the mobs, like thier buffs, and applying debuffs, bleeds, dots, etc. So they could make Ninja a higher dps, but thief more of a support.

They may also go the way of suprising people and making one of them a tank class, ninja a dodge tank lol like FF 11? or thief they could steal hate off people and steal hp with their attacks, things like that.

I just don't think they will bring out 2 new dps classes... just have a feeling, seeing as how tanks are needed more, a dps and a tank class, I don't think we need a healer class, white mage and scholar are just fine, tanks a dodge tank and a magic tank are needed/missing (just using WoW for example, you have a paladin-aoe tank, warrior-single tank, bear-dodge tank, and dark knight-magic tank)

We just have to wait and see... I just wish SE was more open with what their plans are, or what's coming, etc.

[Hiroradius]

Well, they have mentioned adding more hybrid classes. Summoner and Scholar both use books, so it is possible that a ranger job could make it into the game and use a bow. I would bet that if this happened, bard dps would be lowered and their songs buffed to make them more of a support class.

At the same time, what would a ranger job be? Everyone ASSUMES ranger means Final Fantasy 11 ranger.. but look at the ranger class through final fantasy history.


Final Fantasy 3 - ranger job from the fire crystal (original version) where archers with white magic, sooo could Ranger be a dps healer? (makes sense with the limit break doesn't it?)

Final Fantasy 4 - Rosa is a ranger/white mage in the game... We all call her a white mage, but in a sense she isn't she's a multi class.. or could she just a ranger itself and like Final Fantasy 3, be a dps healer???

Final Fantasy 5 - Ranger job from the fire crystal was an archer that called upon animals for assistance (a beastmaster?)

Final Fantasy Tatics A2 - Ranger job is a trap setter?

And of course Final Fantasy 11 - powerful dps

Other final fantasy's who use archer class, don't consider them rangers, but hunters

So the question is, which Ranger are we talking about? People need to stop assuming Final Fantasy 11 decides the jobs for this game, look at Summoner lol

So we have 2 ranger versions that are healers, 1 ranger version that is a pet class, and 1 ranger version that sets traps (not sure how useful that will be but hey), and then a ranger who is dps.

Honestly, people need to stop looking at Final Fantasy 11 and assuming that will decide how a job works in FF14 (again look at summoner or even dragoon lol)

[Kitru]

I believe they will go the way of making a new base class.. say Rogue for now, and then it's level 30 would be a choice between thief or ninja. Ninja being sorta caster dps, melee aoe, things like that, while thief would go the role of support more, in which they steal things from the mobs, like thier buffs, and applying debuffs, bleeds, dots, etc. So they could make Ninja a higher dps, but thief more of a support.

And no matter how much you tried to differentiate THF and NIN with their 5 job skills, they would still play almost exactly the same, which is why you will never see 2 jobs stemming from the same class with the same role. If you want to claim that "support" is a role, it's not; it is a subrole of which BRD is the only real example.

They may also go the way of suprising people and making one of them a tank class, ninja a dodge tank lol like FF 11?

They will never make NIN a tank. Yoshi has said so, and everyone who hasn't played FFXI or played FFXI and actually understands the history behind why NIN became a tank realizes that, unless the devs do something equally stupid, NIN will not be a tank.

(btw, in FFXI, NIN wasn't an evasion tank; it was a blink tank; different set of mechanics)

or thief they could steal hate off people and steal hp with their attacks, things like that.

Enmity modification would be an essentially useless set of utility, and stealing hp is just a copy of any of a number of existing self heal based upon damage effects (Inner Beast is an "hp steal": it does damage and gives you the exact same amount as healing). Every other form of utility that a THF could provide based upon its historical abilities (re: steal) in the FF series would either be useless or end up making it a DoL class since the devs are never going to allow for one DoM/DoW class to have an explicit economic advantage over the other nor allow a DoM/DoW to tread upon the demesne of the DoL classes. Classically, the only THF attack is simply "attack" and they're not even particularly effective fighters. The only value in having a THF in party was gear/loot acquisition, which provided advantage because it often gave you gear that was unique and/or accessible earlier than you could buy it or get it through any other means.

I just don't think they will bring out 2 new dps classes...

Which is why we will never see both THF and NIN as (combat) jobs. The only roles they could possible be are DPS, and there's no way the devs are going to have both based off of the same class. The "separate classes" argument doesn't apply because Yoshi has explicitly stated that he's not going to include classes within the same niche, and THF and NIN are member of the same niche (light armored, stealth, short blade/dagger DPS).

We're either getting THF or NIN as a job; we're not getting both. If we're getting NIN as a job, it's going to be based off of the THF base class.