
Originally Posted by
Powercow
And I've seen Marauders sneak around and steal. Thus, Marauder would become thief before Gladiator.
FFXI was the only game I can think of that hard bards be a pure buffer. Everquest, NWN, and Rift all had bards in a support/DPS role. And where do you get "mid range" from? Seems like you're just making up stuff.
It makes more sense than Conjurer or Thaumaturge -> Thief, I'll give you that. It makes more sense than Culinarian -> Thief. But it makes less sense than any of the other Disciples of War. Yes, even Marauders are more likely to become thieves based off the story than Gladiators are.
So wait, wait. You're telling me the "thief" tag is so important that you wouldn't want to go with the "ninja" tag, even though Ninja would have everything "thief" would have, plus more? That seems kinda... silly.
Glad to see you decided to agree with me at the last second for some reason. Thief, seeing as it's always been either the starter or one of the earliest-accessed classes/jobs in Final Fantasy, should be a starter class. Heck, on three occasions the Thief actually upgrades to Ninja, and in one case there's a ninja who, by profession, is also a thief.
Incidentally, the only time a class actually upgrades into a thief is... Archers in FFT.
Lastly, there are other times when people are marked as thieves (Rikku, who uses H2H combat, and Balthier, who starts off with a rifle), but that just leans towards either pugilists or "thief" being more of a lifestyle than a combat style.
So the Final Fantasy precedent is:
Archers can become thieves.
Thieves can become ninjas.
Being a thief isn't necessarily a combat style, more of a lifestyle.