Periodic job releases

[FallenWings]

3 tanks, 3 healers, 3 melee, 2 ranged physical, 2 ranged magical...
Since it's unlikely we get three new jobs, where would you put in new jobs to increase diversity? The obvious places I feel would be ranged physical and ranged magical.
Adding two ranged jobs feels out of place though, so chances are we get one melee and one ranged (physical or magical) in this expansion. Maybe a tank or healer and additional ranged in the one after... etc.

The DF outside of PVP does not make this differentiation and neither do most players.

It is 3 Tanks, 3 Healers, and 7 DPS.

You do not isolate a whole category of players unless you want the DF queues to suffer. Besides, it is unfair for healer and tank players if all the new classes are always DPS classes, same effect on the reverse, but to a lesser degree because everyone and their dog plays DPS.

[Radacci]

every class they release between expansions will have a handicap when it comes to relic weapons. ninja had to do all steps including nexus to catch up when he was released and the next relic step came around one month later in patch 2.45 - so basically you had one month to lvl to 50 and get a nexus relic weapon. otherwise you were falling behind.

relic is rubbish, it's only viable for a short time, before ilv-cap-increase. and you could do almost every step, before nin was released. you don't fall behind just cause you don't have relic. and if you need 1 month to cap nin/get nexus, then you're falling behind anyway.
you can do that now too - gather crystals, oils, crafted items - the only thing you'll need to do, is the lv 50-57 dungeons, so if SAM comes 27th august (anniversary) then you can get 230 wep as quickly as you can go through those dungeons. or save up tomes and rowena tokens, and buy 230wep right away.

[RiceisNice]

Seeing how some of the jobs turned out in 3.0, I'd much rather them work on the existing jobs than release more than 1 new job for the expansion. MCH in general feels incredibly dry from a perspective of a BRD main, BRD got WM'd, AST was a poor-man's healer that needed buffs that would not cover their primary role, and some jobs have become irreplaceable despite having more diversity (specifically WAR and SCH) The Job balancing takes time on it's own (and it's gotten bad to the point where taking one job was actively detrimental to the party because their kits were useless) and I honestly can't imagine how some new skills got through the final testing.

[Xenosan]

Seeing how some of the jobs turned out in 3.0, I'd much rather them work on the existing jobs than release more than 1 new job for the expansion...

^+1

My take away from watching that Pax Panel last year (where YoshiP made the comment the OP is referrign to) was more than just 'it being difficult to make 3 jobs at once.'


I think he meant the difficulty was in having those jobs developed and released simultaneously with the expansion (a new level cap) itself. Advertising the new job(s) as front-page features of said expansion

I imagine that is the development issue he was referring. Going forward he wants Job development being independent of expansions. (as in the case of Arcanist/Rogue)

But that's just me speculating. I hope they wouldn't bind a job's release to an expansion and forgo the testing and QA require of new jobs just to make a hard deadline.

Develop new jobs and release them when they're ready - not when Marketing Department says they need to, or to merely push sales.

[Maero]

Why would we need a new tank @ every expansion? Also queue times are still very looooong as dps, so not sure introducing more would be a good thing. Perhaps another healer job would be better, i really do not know the solution.

[LineageRazor]

Develop new jobs and release them when they're ready - not when Marketing Department says they need to, or to merely push sales.

This would be great, in an ideal world. However, this is not an ideal world, and when releasing a new expansion, new jobs are very likely not just a big selling point, but possibly the BIGGEST selling point. They are the most visible addition offered. Things like new zones, new quests, and a new level cap are a whole lot more hazy and difficult to sell.

When deciding whether or not to buy a new expansion, folks are going to look at the box and ask themselves, "Why should I buy this?" New jobs are often the first thing to leap to mind.

I can understand if SE decides to release two, or even just one new job with an expansion (queues would be terrible in the latter case, but whatevs), but if they don't have any at all, that's gonna hurt sales, bigtime.

[16bitBounty]

I think shooting for 1 new job a year would be a good setup that way the devs aren't pushed to throw at 3 classes at once and we're still getting new classes on a reliable basis.

[RiceisNice]

^+1

My take away from watching that Pax Panel last year (where YoshiP made the comment the OP is referrign to) was more than just 'it being difficult to make 3 jobs at once.'

It's not just "making 3 jobs at once", it's also expanding the existing jobs to level 60. When you look at BRD, there's always that unshakable feeling that WM was a last minute addition to them and wasn't thought out. If we're looking at 4.0, that's thirteen jobs to revision for the increased level cap, not only in a way that adds to their gameplay, but synergizes with their existing one (lest we get a repeat of WM again) on top of new jobs that need to establish their own identity.

[Lambdafish]

Why would we need a new tank @ every expansion? Also queue times are still very looooong as dps, so not sure introducing more would be a good thing. Perhaps another healer job would be better, i really do not know the solution.

Role variety and balance aside, having 1 new job and it being a tank (or healer) would result in a flood of players playing that job, and thus shortening the queue for DPS. This is the reason that the tank mounts exist, to incentivise tanking.

[CrystalRainbow]

My Nin, DRK, MCH, and AST are all ~30 and doesn't stress me at all. I will get to them when I get to them.

You don't have to get all content done the second it comes out. Many people don't and the release is nice all at ones because then it fits all player types. The tanks, DPS and HEalers each get something new to try if they want. If they just released a DPS. The Tank and Healers would be like... but I want something new.

Role variety and balance aside, having 1 new job and it being a tank (or healer) would result in a flood of players playing that job, and thus shortening the queue for DPS. This is the reason that the tank mounts exist, to incentivise tanking.

Sadly, I don't get rewarded for playing tank in content that needs it. So incentiving people is pointless.
Up the requirements for mounts to 3000 vs 300. 1 point every Roulette as a tank, 10 Points for Extreme content.