Please no spec trees. This is what every other MMO does. Why can't we have something new and revolutionary?

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Class-Renaming
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...9889#post19889

These two posts are more along the lines of what I would like the battle/class system to turn into. We already have this cool idea of changing classes depending on what weapon we are using...unfortunately these shouldn't be thought of as traditional RPG classes and that's where a lot of the confusion comes in because we are trying to apply our old familiar framework to what are some new ideas and ways of doing things in this game. What we have right now should be thought of as a more advanced form of a weapon skill system. You equip a sword you learn sword skills, they are just more involved than the old weapon skills associated with weapons in ffxi and contribute far more to your character identity.

Part of the confusion comes with the translation or localization of some of the game terms. The Japanese terms are far more closely and literally associated with the weapons that are being used. Gladiator = Sword Expert, Marauder = Axe Expert, etc. Thaumaturge and Conjurer are a little more difficult but Thaumaturge would be something like Curse/Sorcery Expert.

Unfortunately when we hear terms like Gladiator, Marauder, Thaumaturge, etc. we think of more traditional RPG classes and we get frustrated because these "classes" don't seem like enough to create the type of identity we are looking for in a RPG. I think it's safe to say this is an incomplete system, but when people start saying that we need to change names like make Conjurer = White Mage, Thaumaturge = Black Mage, Gladiator = Paladin, they don't really get what this system is about. What we need is to flesh out this system and introduce a complimentary system that is going to give us that class uniquness and role identification that we are looking for.

I think having some sort of Title system which would be more of a traditional class system that would work with but not destroy the armory system gives us the best of both worlds and creates a truly unique and revolutionary battle/class system that has amazing customization while maintaining defined play styles.

So the idea would be something like you have your weapon "classes" but on top of that you have the ability to gain Titles, for example "Black Mage". There's different ways to implement them, but one idea is that they could be unlockable after doing quests once you attain certain ranks in the appropriate weapons. So maybe to unlock the BLM quest you would have to get rank 20 Conj and/or rank 20 THM, after completing this quest you can apply the BLM title which gives you bonuses to damaging spells and debuffs improving the effectiveness of these abilities coming from any cross weapon abilities (so you will gain bonus damage effectiveness to poison or to blizzard regardless of whether you are using a CON wpn or a THM weapon) However, you will gain the most effectiveness if you are using a particular title/weapon combination, so for example nobody will be able to cast Blizzard or direct damage spells as powerful as a BLM/CON. A BLM/CON would be a direct instant damage specialist, while a BLM/THM would be a direct over time damage specialist (roughly speaking). This creates a new kind of Class/Sub Class system that is way more customizable and effective than the old FFXI system, you won't have and really gimp combos like having WAR/PLD where your cure spells are pretty awful because you are using the low-end of a low-end heal.

There should obviously be some kind of progression through a title just as there is with armory and physical levels...you don't necessarily have to level it up the same way, maybe you can have abilities unlock through ranking up your weapon skills or through questing after hitting certain ranks...but these titles can give access to traits and abilities that further define your role as a BLM or spell damage dealer. For example these titles could allow you to learn a 2-hour special ability that would only be available to you if you have that title active.

This could lead to a lot of cool combinations and niches of play style while maintaining class uniqueness and role identification.

Even if they don't implement something like this, I just hope we don't have to revert back to a cookie-cutter skill tree system that is used by like over 90 percent of the MMOs out there. Let's have something new and original and way more fun.