New Classes and Bard, the need for a second job.

[Surian]

They simply shouldnt make "jobs" be upgrades, more side-grades. Giving the job crystal a Stat+10 boost was the most terrible thing they could have done... :/

Why couldnt Gladiator for instance be a full fledged job? I remember loving it in Tactics. Yet in XIV it's demoted to simply being a requirement for Paladin, not suitable or used in any other way.

Archer too could have been great. Yet classes stop getting abilities past level 30. They could have easily let those be "replaced" by the job abilities.

They brag everywhere that they have 17 diffirent combat disciplines to play. Yet out of those 17, only 9 actually get used. That's just a massive waste of time, effort and potential...

[Nuinn]

Why couldnt Gladiator for instance be a full fledged job? I remember loving it in Tactics. Yet in XIV it's demoted to simply being a requirement for Paladin, not suitable or used in any other way.

Archer too could have been great. Yet classes stop getting abilities past level 30. They could have easily let those be "replaced" by the job abilities.

They brag everywhere that they have 17 diffirent combat disciplines to play. Yet out of those 17, only 9 actually get used. That's just a massive waste of time, effort and potential...

Dear Carbuncle, I'm so happy that I got you :3 Now, learn to savor the time we spend together cause soon I shall go down the path of either Summoner or Scholar and you SHALL FOREVER ROT IN OBLIVION NEVER TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!!!

<thuder storm sound effects>

[Nalien]

Yet classes stop getting abilities past level 30.

What? Classes get abilities all the way to 50... Jobs only add an extra 5 (and take away 5 sub skills). Classes are meant to be more dynamic, which is something new Classes should improve. Something like Marauder is already a great example of this though, more so in PvP, Warrior is absolute trash there compared to Marauder, though if Marauder gets a second, pure DPS Job, that'll change. Then again, if they go with Marauder > Dark Knight, maybe not.

I actually like how Classes become redundant with Jobs though, it reminds me of Final Fantasy; you never got to use Black Mage again after you upgraded to Black Wizard. They've definitely dropped the ball on "Classes are for solo" concept though, really can't see more sub class skills actually fixing that much either. If they were serious about it, they could have forced it by making it so Job Crystals only get equipped when entering a party, though with reseting skills and gear options, that would frankly be annoying.

[Shurrikhan]

What? Classes get abilities all the way to 50... Jobs only add an extra 5 (and take away 5 sub skills). Classes are meant to be more dynamic, which is something new Classes should improve.

They've definitely dropped the ball on "Classes are for solo" concept though, really can't see more sub class skills actually fixing that much either.

Class viability would probably only need traits that are more alike to mechanics (Freecure, River of Blood, etc.) and the ability to cross-trait another trait or two as a class. That said, that would require that more than a couple classes have unique mechanics outside of their default spells...
...which may be for the better, but is generally a pain to rebalance.

Even if these mechanics weren't worked in, the abilities will still be incredibly dull, but at least a Lancer could have reason to use Archer abilities at a 18s Venomous Bite and 20s Straight Shot, or the 2-min CD Raging Strikes, or a Pugilist the trait-enhanced 30-second Fracture. That said, an Archer could probably rip things to shreds with a 30% Internal Release, for better or worse...

(I also wouldn't mind seeing Skullsplitter and Savage Blade having a starting potency of around 130 to 150, as to be viable for DRG and Monk snap-tanking, being able to combo from each other, in case one wanted, for whatever silly reason, to be able to use two non-delayed high-enmity moves in a row (as opposed to the delayed RoH and BB), or even become a possible 4-combo at higher average TP cost per enmity (TP cost increase during such a combo... but whatever.)