Samurai Weapon: Nodachi or basic katana

[Starkbeaumont]

a Naginata

[ChocoFeru]

Katana and Bow like a true Samurai (FFXI style).

Maybe even making it shoot mounted!

[Ashewalker]

You guys are so focused in wanting a two handed dps or even a sword dps in general that you forget that Samurai is and always has been Parry and Counter focused, which means Tank, which is where i would like Samurai to be.

If any sword type dps is to be added, please, a Fencer or even Red Mage with rapiers, even i would be happy with just Fencer, it makes more sense than Samurai.

[ChaozK]

Tbh the question is kinda moot since weapons in FFXIV tend to be fairly oversized, so they would probably be nodachi size regardless of what its supposed to be.

In the end we will get a good amount of fairly differently sized katanas.

[ChocoFeru]

You guys are so focused in wanting a two handed dps or even a sword dps in general that you forget that Samurai is and always has been Parry and Counter focused, which means Tank, which is where i would like Samurai to be.

If any sword type dps is to be added, please, a Fencer or even Red Mage with rapiers, even i would be happy with just Fencer, it makes more sense than Samurai.

But Samurais always were archers on a horse with a katana for melee combat D:

FFXI Samurai was designed to be a tank and ended up being a DPS, and NIN was designed to be a DPS and ended up being a tank.

Yoshi-P already said that was looking for a 2h tank, and decided DRK as tank, so SAM will probably be a DPS.

[Ashewalker]

But Samurais always were archers on a horse with a katana for melee combat D:

FFXI Samurai was designed to be a tank and ended up being a DPS, and NIN was designed to be a DPS and ended up being a tank.

Yoshi-P already said that was looking for a 2h tank, and decided DRK as tank, so SAM will probably be a DPS.

Still, it can be another 2h tank, with a diferent weapon and a diferent tanking style, remember that in 4.0 they probably will add another tank dps and healer. although would be nice to see a tank with another type of weapon, there isn't one that would fit, unless you go with beastmaster and that is pet controling... which i do not think it fits the tank role.

And when you said it was designed to be a tank, why do you think that is? It's because in Final Fantasy in general, Samurais are Tanks, to put it as a dps you need to redesign it heavily, and move away from the original idea of a Samurai. And they can use a bow as a non equipable weapon, think of it as a the ranged enmity skill. Like bards, they have a harp which they use for a certain amount of skills, it would not stop a Samurai from using a bow.

[Jonnycbad]

Samurai was never designed to be a tank in FFXI, ever. They had 0 tanking skills outside of Third Eye, which was a 30 second cooldown that allowed you to evade a single physical hit. It wasn't for about 5 years after SAM was released that they implemented Seigan and Hasso, the former which enhanced Third Eye to absorb multiple hits. This wasn't to make it a tank, but to provide an answer to 1-handed jobs who used Ninja subjobs. /NIN gave 3 shadows to absorb hits, and then the SAM buffs gave 2-handed jobs an equivalent for the shadows. The only jobs that were intended to be tanks in XI were WAR, PLD, and RUN, but WAR became a DPS and NIN became a tank.

[Jonnycbad]

Stop with the SAM tank. YoshiP already said SAM, if implemented, would definitely be a DPS. I doubt he would reneg on that. They won't get a spear or a bow, those exist already as arms for other jobs. Katana has been the premier Samurai weapon in every FF game and XIV will be no different. The only thing that I wonder about though is that attacking from flank or rear is unusual for a Samurai because they're all about fair-and-square combat/bushido honor etc. but all dps have positionals, but rear attacks are not a Samurai's style really.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Looking at past FF games to determine what kind of role Samurai would take doesn't really work (except maybe for XI)... Since pretty much every class would then be a DPS, outside of a few obvious ones like PLD and WHM...

But honestly, the Samurai class from most FF games where it was, it was a damage dealer in heavy armor.

But if you want a DPS class that uses Katanas, I would like to mention from Final Fantasy Tactics A2, the Parivir/Yojimbo class.

[Nalien]

Katana and Bow like a true Samurai (FFXI style).

Maybe even making it shoot mounted!

Every time this topic comes up, I always suggest a Dexterity based Bow-Samurai... I believe Yoshida said he wanted a more cloth-based Samurai, rather than the old heavy armor set XI saw, and stuff like the Serpent Elite Jerkin and Yasha Dogi of Aiming are perfect fits for Samurai, IMO...

It would also be nice to have a true physical ranged DPS, since both Bard and Machinist have been butchered in the name of having a "support" class... Rather than directional bonuses on combos, Samurai could have ranged based requirements, so you're more mobile than Bard/Machinist, with the combo finishers being flashy katana based attacks at close range... It would have to have a katana of course, no problem though, just work it like Paladin; Bow in the main hand, katana in the offhand... Could also always flip that around and make it a tank with a blade in the main hand and bow offhand, would be a shame to go back to tanks with ranged attacks that make no sense... Would downplay the bow aspect somewhat I guess, and Samurai would end up in VIT gear, unless SE listens to me and starts giving us more freedom with gear and roles... I'd want Blue Mage as a tank then though, wearing the same INT gear as Black Mage and Summoner, that way rather than gearing up a tank and only being able to play tanks at that item level, I can pick between two roles with my gear...

I think my only problem would be that Bard has already gotten Yoichi Bow... Then again, Warrior stole Ragnarok from Dark Knight, and the lore even acknowledges that Ragnarok should have been a great sword... Really have to wonder who OK'd that, given Dark Knight was on the table at the time...