Poll: Which of these FF jobs would you like to see added to XIV the most?

[Enkidoh]

Didn't see pure thief on there so I picked chemist. Thanks to the Mudra system I think chemist could be a cool healer to play.

Chemist is already in the game though technically - as a Disciple of the Hand (ALC). Before you pass judgement, the ALC Guild is lore wise a hospital and ALCs serve as medics there. Plus given how useless medical items are gameplay wise (potions and ethers heal for piddly amounts, even elixirs are rather lackluster, just like FFXI), a straight Disciple of War/Magic chemist-type class would be gimped fundamentally, making it even less likely.

Also on the topic of those complaining about certain classes being 'tanks' when supposedly 'traditionally' they were another role, when you think about pretty much every traditional FF Job is a DPS, as the MMO concept of the 'trinity' (healer, tank and DPS) did not exist, because there was no hate-system in the single player FF games - the first game to feature a hate mechanic was FFXI (and that was MMO too). (FF Tactics had a prototype hate system though which was more based on enemies being coded to attack the weakest character with the lowest HP, and thus that was more just a 'decoy' system rather than actual tanking (the player would have to keep other units nearby with healing spells or the Item command set to keep them alive and revive them with Phoenix Downs if they were killed). It's a gameplay mechanic that has only started being used in the most recent FF games, long after most of the 'traditional' FF Jobs were first created.

Accordingly, in the older FF games even PLD and WHM had a potent compliment of damage dealing abilities, so this mentality that 'DRK isn't a tank and neither is RDM!' is pretty laughable, as traditionally the 'tank' concept did not even exist in the FF series when those Jobs were originally created. You just have to think outside the.. uh.. square.

[Lilseph]

But...SMN is already a DPS... >o>

Oh snaps, Mimilu. I meant SAM. I'm sorry, don't eat my face!

[Kaitoo]

give me that charge based samurai

[Mimilu]

Oh snaps, Mimilu. I meant SAM. I'm sorry, don't eat my face!

IT'S THE LALA WAY

[Connor]

Also on the topic of those complaining about certain classes being 'tanks' when supposedly 'traditionally' they were another role...this mentality that 'DRK isn't a tank and neither is RDM!' is pretty laughable, as traditionally the 'tank' concept did not even exist in the FF series when those Jobs were originally created. You just have to think outside the.. uh.. square.

The mentality that traditional FF jobs don't fit into MMO roles is just as unfounded in my opinion. Paladin, Warrior, Dark Knight are tanks because traditionally they wear heavy armour and have high HP. The traditional identity of Paladin / Knight is of high HP, heavy armour wearing fighters that focus on defending the party with things like Cover, low level white magic, etc. Doesn't sound like a dps to me? White Mages generally have balanced HP / MP pools and focus on healing and supporting the party; they have access to some offensive abilities, sure, but nothing that makes it fit into any role other than healer in an MMO.

As for all jobs in FF being dps; what are Bards, Scholars, Chemists and Time Mages then? Harps and Potions don't particularly scream 'dps job' to me, nor does time-based support magic or mixing items to buff the party. The latter three have some offense, sure, but it's not why the job existed.

Dark Knights, like Paladins, generally had high HP and wear heavy armour, and focus on sacrificing resources (HP) to deal damage. If Dark Knight were to be a dps, they wouldn't have be able to have higher HP than other jobs or wear heavy armour for balance (why bring other dps when you can bring a squad of Dark Knights with lots of HP and defense?), and so its 'traditional' identity translates pretty easily to a MMO 'tank' role.

Red Mages traditionally use light armour, robes and some limited heavy armour. They have medium HP and MP and generally balanced stats at the cost of having less specialization than other jobs. That doesn't sound like something that could ever fit into a 'tank' role. If they gave it high HP, low MP, heavy armour and access to healing / attack spells on top of enmity control how is it any different from a Paladin but with cast times? Stuff like 'en-spells' isn't representative of Red Mages outside of FFXI, and you can't use the portrayal of a job from a single game to completely define how it is 'traditionally'.

I'm also unsure where the idea that Paladins and White Mages had potent damage abilities comes from. Cecil and Rosa could pack a punch, sure, but somehow I doubt we're going to see White Mages pick up a bow and arrow or Paladins that focus on offense instead of protecting their comrades. White Mages in III only had 4 offensive abilities (Aero, Aeroga, Tornado, Holy) and low Intelligence that further limited their offensive capabilities.

Personally I think it's always been clear that the traditional FF job identity is important to the devs. There aren't any jobs that don't fit their traditional identity except Bard because it's a hybrid of two jobs (and instead accomodates the traditional identity of both Ranger and Bard).

I think the notion of 'any job can be any role' is unfounded. If they wanted to make, say, a jack-of-all-trades tank that wielded magic, why would they try and fit the circle Red Mage into the square Tank role instead of just making an original job for XIV?

[CaptainLagbeard]

Red Mage
Viking
Fencer

And a real Time Mage

[Greedalox]

And a real Time Mage

I don't think you get how difficult and annoying it would be to have someone else altering time around you randomly. I think if there was ever a class that didn't fit the Singleplayer -> MMO conversion it would be Time Mage, especially if you want it to be "true".

[Mimilu]

Current Results:

Out of 510

1. Dancer at 87 votes (17% of the vote)
2. Red Mage at 82 votes (16%)
3. Samurai at 78 votes (15%)
4. Mystic Knight/Rune Fencer/Spell Fencer at 60 votes (12%)
5. Blue Mage at 45 votes (9%)
6. Geomancer at 26 votes (5%)
7. Chemist at 23 votes (5%)
8. Necromancer at 21 votes (4%)
9. Beastmaster at 20 votes (4%)
10-11. Puppetmaster at 18 votes (4%)
10-11. Viking at 18 votes (4%)
12. Hunter/Ranger at 10 votes (2%)
13-14. Corsair at 8 votes (2%)
13-14. Green Mage at 8 votes (2%)
15. Fencer at 6 votes (1%)

[Mugiawara]

Red Mage would not make a good Tank. It should be a DPS job.

It could. SE could make a job any which way they'd like. It's their game and they made Red Mage lol.
I mean hell, they could bring up some mumbo jumbo about how Samurai could heal.

Chemist is already in the game though technically - as a Disciple of the Hand (ALC). Before you pass judgement, the ALC Guild is lore wise a hospital and ALCs serve as medics there. Plus given how useless medical items are gameplay wise (potions and ethers heal for piddly amounts, even elixirs are rather lackluster, just like FFXI), a straight Disciple of War/Magic chemist-type class would be gimped fundamentally, making it even less likely.

K, then rename it. Salve Maker/Mixer. Scientist? Something like that.
They probably wouldn't ACTUALLY use real potions anyway.
Be nice if they did since potions are pretty null.

I voted Dancer btw.

[Shurrikhan]

Hard picks here. Depends a lot on whether one picks according to "which do I want to see in the way I'd like to see them designed" vs. "which do I think will be most attractive even after potential slaughter by XIV"?

Viking, Chemist, Corsair, and Green Mage least, respectively. I'd otherwise be thrilled with a good version of any of them, and no amount of interesting lore is likely to save my opinion of them if the gameplay is unnecessarily clunky or mundane.

(Voted Hunter/Ranger just because I think it'd be one of the hardest to screw up.)