"I hope Stormblood brings....." [GAME]

[Jack-Frosttiger]

iJust want Domtrain as a Primal
i Just want Magus Sisters as a Boss in a 24 man Raid
I Just want Anima as a Boss in a 24 man raid with 12 people on each side

[Gravehill]

Top of my list would be more interesting itemization

[Kaurie]

Only the aetherial (pink) gear had randomly selected stats, and that gear kinda acted like crafted gear with possible melded stats already included (example: Aetherial Iron Gauntlets and Iron Gauntlets). The majority of the gear dropped in the 1-49 dungeons was still green quality, and had set stats. All the Grand Company gear was like this too, as well as the job gear. Nearly every job overshadowed classes by the time you unlocked them, except maybe BRD, since they mostly got songs early on. I'm not sure how that was different. Cross-class abilities were as important back then, as they are now.

I'm not sure how that example hooked you, since it hasn't really changed much since then. Dungeons still drop green gear, crafted gear is still around (which allow you to add stats of your own choice to it, similar to aetherial gear), cross-class abilities are still there, jobs still overshadow classes (although I've heard some classes are useful when soloing PotD). The only difference being that there's no more aetherial gear, but that's alleviated by the fact that you can just meld crafted gear (which has become more accessible in the more recent patches).

Perhaps it is you who changed, instead of the game?

Pink gear was incredibly frequent, and I had the impression that gear had randomized stats. It was not til end-game did I realize it did not work that way. Gear having ?'s in linked messages etc. definitely gave me the impression that they embraced a randomized secondary stat system.

In terms of the jobs overshadowing classes, that isn't related to what I said. I'm guessing being as you and Bourne_endeavour both quoted on it, I was probably unclear. What I mean is that jobs had a base class, and that there was at least 1 class with multiple jobs splitting off. Having SMN/SCH branch from ACN made me think taht future jobs with branch off the existing jobs. Then NIN was added, but it came with a new class as well. It wasn't til Heavensward that they started adding jobs without a base class system and I saw the class->job system go out the window. Up until then, I still thought new jobs would branch off classes and give that "specializations" feel that you have in other MMO's. More importantly than all of that is that jobs required you to level multiple classes, this was a great way to force me to try out all the different classes in the game.

With Heavensward, and even more so Stormblood, they've shown that they care little for this class to job system and want a job only system. This upsets me as I felt the class to job system was unique, interesting, rewarding and well designed.

I never said that classes were more powerful than jobs.

How were classes embraced? They have always been a hollow equivalent to the jobs which succeed them. Lancer, for example, is literally Impulse Drive spam until level 26. Four levels after that and you're done with it. Conjurer has most of its offense spells replaced by better versions. Classes have always an afterthought, and frankly, one aspect of the game I feel contributes to people's boredom. The aforementioned two and Arcanist being chief offends usually.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I hope Stormblood brings... Viera.

Bigger butts and bust.
More sliders to customize our appearance.
More fights with pronounced randomness.
Less fights that can be perfectly mapped out to the dot.
Tank red mage.
The option to give Au Ra an Irish accent.

...Hmm. what I'd want most would be more randomized savage fights really. Since that's actually fun as opposed to the same predictable song and dance. I don't mind if some attacks have lead in moves that can be expected, but make it so you won't know exactly what happens because you've been fighting for x minutes/seconds.

[Kusanagi7]

more than 2 dungeons for extreme roulette.

[VanilleFang]

job system was unique, interesting, rewarding and we'll designed.

Unique? Not really. All you do is gain more power, and lose access to some cross class abilities. How is that really unique? Do you mean no other game starts you out as a gimped version of your level 30 self? Than yeah, I guess it's unique.

Interesting? Sure, I suppose it is pretty interesting as a Lore aspect. Otherwise, it's just "equip this stone and become better".

How is it rewarding? It's just a line of quests that give you crappy equipment and access to new abilities. It's mandatory if you want to be even half relevant in any content. So outside relevancy what is rewarding about it?

And lastly, the reason they are stepping away from it is because they realized how bad a design it is. Your example of SMN/SCH is literally how they discovered how bad it was. SCH and SMN are incredibly hard to balance because there is always the issue that the other job will be effected by any change done to the other. They've acknowledged that having a healer and DPS branch from the same class was a bad idea. So no, it's not well designed.

[DBelmont]

- Glamour log
- Bold and interesting changes in jobs
- Tanking improvements: Parry revamp, make tank stances matter
- Samurai
- DRK gets drain skill and hp-sacrifice skill
- NO Dancer

[Nezerius]

Up until then, I still thought new jobs would branch off classes and give that "specializations" feel that you have in other MMO's. More importantly than all of that is that jobs required you to level multiple classes, this was a great way to force me to try out all the different classes in the game.

What's the point of adding more and more base classes when the main focus will still be the actual new job?
It just sounds like wasted resources, since people will just forget about the pre-job class once they hit 30 and unlock the job. As for trying out, it's a very minimal way of trying out, since the pre-HW jobs only require level 15 in the secondary class. Besides, branching them off existing jobs would end up taking up way more time than necessary, as they'd have to create a skillset that meshes well with the base class.

This upsets me as I felt the class to job system was unique, interesting, rewarding and well designed.

You hit level 30 on a class, your class trainer congratulates you and sends you on your way to the job trainer, and then the entire class thing kinda fades out, complete focus on the job. I'm not sure how you think this is unique or well designed.

[Soralis]

"I hope Stormblood brings VIERA RACE!"

[AdventZero]

...A voiced CS with Raya-o and she has speaking lines this time. I want to hear the voice of my favorite NPC for once. >.>

...Swimming and underwater combat. Yes, I'm one of the crazy ones who likes this kind of thing.

...A focus on long hairstyles over short. HW has pretty much been the short hair expansion, now it's time for SB to be the long hair expansion.

...Rune Fencer as a European sword wielding holy knight themed DPS job. Pipe dream, I know, but I still want to believe I'll get to play a knight and not have to tank for once someday. Also PLD's story is more like highlander, and DRK are just emo edge lords, we still need a true "holy knight" role in this game.