Ninja: Walk in shadow.

[Dynza]

I'll preface this by saying at the time I hadn't actually watched the footage and had just made that assumption based on the information given and the talk on reddit. (making people work on a sunday should be illegal)

This was because [A] It was confirmed to not use Archer as a cross class therefore not utilizing Hawks Eye, which is one the major benefits of it being DEX [B] They also stated it shares gear with monk, which would also imply strength. [C] People spoke about how they had been joking throughout that segment. Upon review of the footage I can conclude that it was infact not a joke, and they are going the route of adding DEX to monk gear and sharing aiming accessories. This does make sense, it just didn't occur to me that they would retroactively change all of monks gear to accommodate for this. Someone in another thread stated how this now balances the jobs out to 2 for each attribute, and with the expansion they expect to see one job added for each attribute. (I assumed this may be the case aswell, I also expect that to create new classes aswell rather than branch off exisitng classes which would feel like a bit of a cop-out.)

I kind of wished they had gone PGL, ARC though as it would of been interesting to make use of Hawks Eye as opposed to the standard BfB and IR.

There's no real imbalance in gear or stat demands between classes. All tanks, casters, and healers share the same gear. Dragoons, bards, monks are equip gear that is unique to them. The so-called imbalance that others argue apply only to accessories which are rare in most end-game dungeons (only two or three dungeons drop accessories) and in those cases, much like the equipment chance, remains at 1 in 6. Competition for said gear depends on group composition which will vary between 1 and 2 (Tanks), 1 and 5 (DPS), 1 and 2 (casters), and 1 and 2 (healers).

In the case of weapons, however, that chance of getting something you need is 1 in 9 and depending on group composition whether you win the roll depends on how many classes are a part of that party at the time. Players argue that "well one DEX class means that bards don't have to compete for gear like monks and dragoons" is basically the same argument as an Ifrit lance dropping in a group with two lancers. Sure that lance is only used by dragoons, but if you have two dragoons on the team, they're going to have to compete for it.

Anyway, I've argued this enough. As more and more classes are introduced, and if they continue to make unique equipment for them, then the chances of getting something you need will be lower. For gear at 2.3 and down the chances remain at 1 in 6, yet all weapon drop chances and equipment found in 2.4 and beyond, the chance has gotten lower.


To clarify a few things with regards to Ninja, we know a few things due to interviews and information poured over the past few months and we do now that ninja do NOT have a standard clickable buff like Raging Strikes, Hawkeye, Blood for Blood, or Internal Release that directly increases their damage with abilities. We do know, however, that they have ninjutsu that does apply a buff on themselves and in fact, it's fair to say they have multiple ninjutsu that does this.

However, we don't know the limits on ninjutsu buffs or debuffs. There may be limits to how many ninjutsu buffs (or they simply may be too short) and/or debuffs the ninja can have or have applied to a single target. We also know that ninja have a multi-branch skill chain and they probably work similar to Marauder and Gladiator skill chains in that they apply buffs and/or debuffs depending on the skills used in the chain.

I also want to mention that ninja have been described as a DoT-DPS by Yoshida, himself. This indicates that their damage may not be particularly high and that they will rely on DoTs, debuffs and their unique poisons for damage. I doubt they will take away from the ubiquity of monks, dragoons and bards and will more than likely carve their own niche and want. In the end, it will be a "bring-the-player-not-the-class" sort of deal like it always has been.