I hope this clears up some of the Rogue>Ninja rage

[MartaDemireux]

I'm not sure I understand. Are you worried that the class won't play how you'd want a THF class to play, or is the only problem literally the name of the class?

I think it's more that people want Thief but Thief can't be a class because it's a staple FF job name therefor Thief needs to be a job with its own AF, job quests, etc.

Rogues focus on poisons.
Ninjas focus on mudras with Rogue's base poisons.
Thieves would need their own gimmick to play differently from Ninja. Unless of course Ninja plays so differently from Rogue that Thief could then just play like Rogue.

I personally would love Thief to be in the game. It could stem from Rogue and become a tank. Thievery is hated afterall. FFXI touched on THF tanking with the addition of enmity manipulation abilities.

Of course Thief could still come as its own job (as a DPS) from another class that uses daggers (or maybe even boomerangs which have been popular Thief weapons in the series) and then play entirely differently. Since Rogue uses "Twinblades" they could easily make a single-handed dagger user. Could call it Scout (the Scouter's Guild could focus on scoping/surveying new areas) or Trickster (the Trickster's Guild could focus on entertainment/slight of hand) and then Thief could branch off either of those concepts to plain ol' thievery. In fact, the removal of daggers from Gladiator's weaponry could be a precursor as there are no signs that the removed dagger models will be reconstituted for use with Rogue/Ninja. This is especially of note with the term "Twinblade" being used and the weaponry we've seen being long, curved mechanical blades (appear to fold) not counting Ninja's Relic weapon. They could focus on laying traps and/or utilize a steal mechanic which doesn't steal actual items but facilitates the use of other abilities. Such as Steal Life could be a self-heal or could give you a charge to use on some support which gradually heals the party (similar to BRD).

Speaking of BRD, Yoshi has once hinted in the past to making Thief as a 2nd job to Archer. That's what his original plan was anyway. And it does make sense historically as Thieves could make good use of bows in many of the games and in some, such as FFT, Thief wasn't even available until you had experience in Archer. Just food for thought.

Edit: Heck Scout/Trickster could combine daggers and boomerangs and use the "Daggerang" (see: "Barp" and "Bowrp")! Fold it out like a boomerang for ranged attacks, collapse it for a pointed tip for melee stabbing attacks. It would work thematically for Scout as a way to distract an enemy temporarily or lure it away to survey the area or the Trickster as a slight of hand trick, throwing your weapon only to have it return to you. The pointed tip when collapsed offers basic utility for each profession in self-defense. Thief would take it further to be a bit dastardly using the hidden weapon for their sneak attacks and the ranged part to distract their enemy before they go pilfering.