In the End we received jobs and a race no one asked for.

[Firepower]

Well the survey that was taken was in early 2012 so things could of changed but you must remember this was BEFORE Arcanist existed.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...806-04-2012%29

29.6% - pet type job - SMN/SCH
23.4% - original - Astrologer / Machinist
21.9% - stealth - NIN
15.3% - enfeebling / close range mage
9.8% - enfeebling / close range melee - DRK

So for the job aspect it seems that they listened pretty well and introduced the most popular jobs first, Ninja came early because it was finished early as far as I was aware, I must assume they struggled to figure out what to do with musketeer until it became machinist which meant it wasn't the "free" job everyone was expecting instead it was Ninja. I would assume they are struggling to incorporate an element similar to RDM simply because a close range mage is going to have a lot of trouble with trying to cast whilst dodging close range aoe's and then I guess they would have to give them some kind of magic sword that was modified by Int so that could be their primary stat, which I assume they just didn't have time to make such a job so skipped that style and went to the least popular and made DRK (also as a tank to perhaps increase tank classes)

27.3% Mammal Demi-Beastmen - Viera example
23% - Mixed heritage
19.6% - More clans for existing races - (Male Miqote, Female Roegadyn)
12.1% - Reptilian Demi-Beastmen
11.2% - Reptilian Beastmen
6.8% - Mammalian Beastmen

The Au'Ra are definitely a Demi-Beastman with the majority of it being similar to hyur highlander (male) and miqote (female) All I could imagine is they decided they didn't want to go with the fan service and implement Viera (perhaps they felt its niche is already occupied with the miqote) and instead opted to go for the next most popular and that would be Reptilian Demi's as I assume they would be unlikely to introduce mixed races.

Personally it seems that they actually did listen to feedback from that survey and acted accordingly.

[Warlyx]

im just worried about playing with 2 machinist in DF .....boom BOOM boom boom , the sound of 2 guns firing non stop....ugh....

[KaerisKlyne]

#endnegativity2014, the hype is real, I may not have asked for what we got, but I'm really excited about how different some of it is and exploring how they'll all work in parties of different composition. Remember when it was cool to have trying new things in a video game? Let's bring that sense of adventure back and then decide if it was actually not a great thing it implement...even though for the most part it makes total sense based on the world these things have been created FOR...

[KaiKatzchen]

And in the end we got what Yoshi P. wanted the most. "A draconian" race, Dark Knight.. and well.. other jobs no one asked for

A gunner type class has been in the works for a long time, and the guild has been in the game since the start of 1.0. Plenty of people have been asking for it constantly, over and over again so I hope you're not counting that in with the jobs no one asked for. Personally I am very excited that I am finally getting my gunner type I have been wanting to play since 2010.

Race is fine, but nothing I'm jumping up and down for.
Also people have been asking for another tank and healer type class/job and that is what they gave.

DRK looks cool, gonna give it a try... not much a of a healer type so really have no interest in that. But to me it seems like they gave people what they wanted.

[Mirron]

Honestly, looking at the class/job poll, since 1.0 we've gotten most of the stuff they listed on there. You can't complain about them getting around to Dark Knight when they've hit every other option they listed on that poll, or will with the start of 3.0 with the other jobs as well. Whether those are particularly good examples listed is another matter entirely, but at least with that poll they're fine doing Dark Knight now. And personally speaking? I really want to try Astrologian at least.

As for the race, if you're only complaining about it now you're kind of late. It's not like we haven't known what it was going to be for a while, at least in terms of the reptilian bit. And if you were expecting it to be more "monstrous", that too is something we've known. The beastman races and the enlightened races are going to be pretty distinctive from each other in terms of the degree of monstrous.

[Volsung]

Misleading title. People did ask for these things. Just because
they weren't the "most asked for" doesn't mean they weren't.

[Ryuko]

"Everyone" didn't ask for viera. I didn't. I honestly wanted a race with horns, so I'm sort of excited about this. I'm not sure how I feel about the Au Ra. At first glance, it feels like the horns are copy/pasted on, but I haven't had the ability to play around with character generation yet, so I don't know. I wanted more monstrous features than a pair of horns and human bodies... I'm not as bothered by the sexual dimorphism as others are, although I would like the females to look a bit... scarier, and not as fair.

As far as the classes are concerned, what they did made sense. We currently have two caster dps, and one ranged (melee) dps. Now we will have two ranged (melee) dps, on top of the two caster... We also had two tanks and two healers, but with the typical group composition requiring two of each, everyone usually defaulted to the "one war, one pld, one whm, one sch" setup. With a new tank AND a new healer, choices can now be made. People can be a bit more creative with their party setup. The same goes for the two ranged (melee) dps, which also act as support... sort of.

If we don't get a new caster dps in the next 'batch' of new jobs, then I think your complaining would make sense.

[Teslo]

Personally I'm excited to see the new additions. It's hard to express how exasperated I've felt in regards to the new race. I honestly don't see why we need a new race, but I'm relieved it isn't some regurgitated FFTA race (People seem to forget that Viera and Bangaa were released in FFTA, not FFXII which came 3 years later. XII made the races popular, though) That being said, I like the new addition. It's unique in that it's something fresh and new. The counter argument is "Humans with animal features: Not new", but it's a new MIX of Humans with animal features. Beastmen are... Beastly in appearance and savage in nature. Civilized races humanoid or near-humanoid. This will not change thanks to the lore.

I'm excited for the classes. I love DRK and can't wait to play, even though it's a tank and not my preferred DPS. Machinist looks cool as hell and rounds out the ranged classes well. As already stated, another mage would have bloated out the ranged class balance, so this was a good move. Astralogian is a fantastic concept and I can't wait to give it a go, as well!

Are these the jobs I was expecting or hoping for? Not really! I wanted DRK more than anything and we got that so that's cool, but the other two were curve balls. I'm definitely not complaining, though. They look awesome. I do still want RDM and SAM, but I'm sure those will come later. We now have more ranged than Melee, and only one Melee that deals magic damage (Ninja's Mudras) as a large part of their DPS. I still suspect RDM will be a melee magic dealer, and will be added later during the expansion (Like ninja was) in order to round out the DPS spread.

MNK/DRG : Physical Melee
NIN/RDM : Magic Melee (Though NIN is Hybrid Magic and Physical, but they still deal a lot of Magic damage)
BLM/SMN : Magic Ranged
BRD/MCH : Physical Ranged

Try to remember that most MMO's get ... MAYBE one new class/job during an expansion. WoW got one new class every two expansions. Mostly because leveling alts sucks. With the armory system, we can level everything on one character, so alt characters aren't necessary. Be grateful that you're playing a game with that much freedom to add new content, enjoy the content that's given to you. They're not ignoring us. They have an idea of where they want to go and what they want to do. They ask us our opinion, then try to find a middle ground. But I suppose a compromise feels like betrayal when you're selfish. :x

[Kinseykinz]

Isnt it funny in the end? they conducted a poll .. everyone wanted "a veira like race"... jobs: Redmage, corsair etc.

Yes, they polled the 1.0 audience. The very slim in numbers and at times, of a very different opinion of the 2.0 playerbase.
Also, it's ONE expansion...an expansion that takes place in an area of the map 1.0ers HAVE been only asking to enter/see since the original launch. (Ishgard)

The jobs, and race introduced with this patch need to logically fit in with the culture and lore of this place.

It's a culture very 'anti-dragon' ...maybe the new race has something to do with that. Screw 'filthy Elezen, now it's filthy Au'ra!' :P
It's a culture that already seems to have an keen interest in the stars and knowledge of the skies...so Astrologists make sense...much more so than Redmage does atm anyway. (plus, RDM has 'other issues' which I will briefly state at end)

Dark Knight just screams for this patch...as again, the folk dealing with dragons, dark forgotten battle lore etc likely have this knowledge.

Machinist, well this one is potentially a little less 'had to be in this expansion' buuut, likely still fits (would also fit in a Garlean expansion...but we honestly don't know how much the Garleans will influence this patch/have to play). Still, it allows the addition of the 'gunner' class people again have been begging for since 1.0...but preserves the 'Musketeer/Pirate' style for potential addition later...without screwing with where they should come from. (We're all use to the LL Musketeer/soldier style...introducing the gunner class as outside LL and with a different name/feel makes it 'work' better...nothing however says we'll never get Musketeer).

As to 'no new mage dd' Well, we already have 2. Technically, we only have 1 ranged non-mage dd...and technically, that role is support. Meaning that really, the next logical addition to the 'ranged' roles would have been a non-caster type.

On the no puppetmaster/beastmaster thing...many people are already theorizing that Machinist actually will incorporate some of the pup/bst style of plays with the upgrading of the torret/torret gameplay. Either way, it's going to be a role a little more involved than 'pew,pew,pew' from the back lines. (meaning it's likely more complex to play well than bard or blm is currently...likely and no, this isn't me trash talking those 2 jobs)

As to the 'poor me, guess I'll be blm for another 2 years' thing...not everyone will be happy with everything ever. Look at it this way, at least you don't need to redo your relic quest :P So there's that

As to why not Red Mage yet:
I have said this before in other topics on the 'give me rdm now!' theme... but what all the RDM people need to understand is this:

The reason Red Mage is so beloved is because in part, it was so flexible and allowed the player to decide what kind of RDM they wanted to be. (even going back as far as FFI)
You could decide your weapon...most other roles never had as wide a practical option. Swords/wands/staves etc...all were acceptable choices
You could decide your magic specialization. DoTs/Enfeebles/Buffs/Heals/DD spells...all at your disposal.
Sure, the flexibility came at a 'jack of all trades, master of none' cost, but still you as the player could decide how you wanted to play.

Now of course, FFXI's average RDM was expected to use certain skills/spells and weaponry depending on the situation, but still overall, for most of that games lifespan, RDM was probably the most flexible role in the game. You could be main healer in one party, main dd in another, support in another, and solo play...all in the same day with just a change of your subjob/weaponry.

But this game already allows all that basic flexibilty on one character (albeit not within one class/role option). You want to heal...be sch/whm. DD mage.. blm/smn...Support Heals/smn or brd. Solo....any job in the game.
Furthermore, this games armoury is limiting at best when it comes to an iconic FF role that is known for it's ability to use different weapons well.
Which weapon option does RDM get.
A sword? (then it's likely going to be an enfeeble mage/potentially a tank/tank hybrid class and lack some of it's mage capability).
As staff? (then it's likely going to be a caster with very little melee, be up in the action potential...also, is it going to be a hybrid whm/blm caster...or dot caster...or time caster...or enfeeble/support etc.)
A different weapon?

My point. Just the weapon choice alone will disappoint a lot of people. Then when the spell/ability list comes out, more disappointment. Why, because in order to make the RDM people expect, currently, the role would either have to be super-op (which can't happen) or missing a crap-ton of it's flexibilty...which is what most people actually liked about the role if they were downright honest....well okay, that and the pimp hats.

So tl/dr: RDM can really only be introduced in the game when our characters are high enough level, and our skillsets diverse enough to allow for a fully fleshed out version of RDM...until then, he needs to remain in the wings (seriously, I doubt we'll see this role until level 75+ in game can be reached...my guess is level 100).

[kyuven]

As far as the race goes, it's MMO tradition to add a reptilian race as a bonus race with an expansion. Hell, EverQuest did it TWICE (Iksar for the original, Sarnak for the sequel)