So I just finished leveling ARCANIST to 15 to be a Black Mage...

[Alukah]

Yeah I also got confused with a FC mate that was leveling thm, I told him he had to level up arcanist and after we were done it ended up being archer.

I don't mind the way they abbreviate class and job names, as for the most part it's clear what they're referring to, but ARC could use a small change.

You could have just checked the requirements when you went to do the BLM quest before levelling Arcanist.

I may be wrong here, but doesn't it say "Lv. 15 ARC"?

[Ilenya]

Not sure why. ARC is Archer, ACN is Arcanist.

[Virtuso]

It wasn't a waste to lvl it anyways. Physick and Virus are mighty good to have as a BLM. Being able to self heal or heal others as a BLM, even for the small amount it does has been a life saver for me and my party countless times.

[Senfei]

BLM requires archer because you have to learn how to aim at things while squinting with one eye reeeeeeeeeeal hard. (Refer to BLM AF)

[TheRogueX]

...then I found out it's ARCHER (the physical DPS kind) and not ARCANIST (the magical DPS kind). So now I'm sitting here utterly baffled as to how the hell Square Enix and the developers processed this. I don't want to say I wasted a good chunk of time leveling Arcanist because it was fun, but WHAT KIND OF LOGIC WAS SQUARE ENIX USING?

The same logic that made Archer turn into Bard.

[saeedaisspecial]

The logic is that ARC has the best cross class skill for BLM, where as all the ACN cross class skills are mostly utility.

[Shougun]

The same logic that made Archer turn into Bard.

A while ago they mentioned possibly redoing the job system in some far away expansion.
Could I pre-order my expansion two years yearly if they will change the system sooner?

IMO: They've done well from what they started with, but not well if they had started from scratch.

BLM requires archer because you have to learn how to aim at things while squinting with one eye reeeeeeeeeeal hard. (Refer to BLM AF)

lol! I would have preferred if they added an extra eye to the AF as an inner eye rather than covering an eye, but your explanation is win.

[RyuDragnier]

OP, make sure to at least get Archer to level 34. As insane as it sounds to level another class you don't plan to use much that high, you get Quelling Strikes at that level, and it's insanely useful for BLMs to avoid grabbing a lot of aggro since it lowers the aggro gain for each attack you do (best used at the beginning of a long fight or boss, or in conjunction with Raging Strikes to cancel out the extra aggro gain). Since they buffed in the last major patch Fire, Fire III, Blizzard, and Blizzard III, the skill may be mandatory now to avoid biting off more than you can chew.

[Jasiwel]

The same logic that made Archer turn into Bard.

This.

BLM requires archer because you have to learn how to aim at things while squinting with one eye reeeeeeeeeeal hard. (Refer to BLM AF)

Then this.

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. I can imagine the typical run down of new BLMs:
"Okay guys, let's put to use the skills we got leveling Thaumaturge and Archer!"
"YEAA-Wait, what does archery have to do with being a mage that uses magic and a staff?"
"I think I need to go rethink my life."

It's not that I mind having the Arcanist abilities because Physick and Virus are invaluable, but it really makes absolutely no sense for Archer to be the subclass of the Black Mage. Also, for those who say ARC = Archer and ACN = Arcanist, as true as that is, logically I'm going to pick ARC for Arcanist since the class uses magic.

[Sadana]

Bonus! You get a head start on SMN! ^^