Confusion: Archer to Bard? Where is the Ranger Job?

[JudgeN]

of course it's not going to be a heavy DD. Will it be at least decent though? Probably.

Decent like archer is now? Which is pretty damn terrible and not worth using for actual DD. But don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with the job bard what I have a problem with is going from a job that was traditional heavy range DD and turning it into a support job. That is not right at all, I'm sure plenty of people leveled archer with the intention of being a range DD and as it currently stands there specialist job is a job that traditional does the exact opposite.

But like I said i pray that archer leads into another pure DD based range attacker or else its just a kick in the nuts to people that wanted to be pure DD.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Yes JudgeN, going by your logic, they never made DNC into a healer...
They can make BRD into a buffer and DD. (aka COR)
We do NOT know.
Is it possible they will F it up? Quite.
But I still have the slightest glimmer of hope for Yoshida.
(But I won't lie, if they do ANYTHING stupid, like make BRD pure sing sing sing Buff Buff Buff, and that's it, I will know Yoshida is not capable of fixing this game properly.)

[JudgeN]

Yes JudgeN, going by your logic, they never made DNC into a healer...
They can make BRD into a buffer and DD. (aka COR)
We do NOT know.
Is it possible they will F it up? Quite.
But I still have the slightest glimmer of hope for Yoshida.
(But I won't lie, if they do ANYTHING stupid, like make BRD pure sing sing sing Buff Buff Buff, and that's it, I will know Yoshida is not capable of fixing this game properly.)

Shit when I quit FFXI DNC still weren't that great except for a subjob, can't say what they turned into now. I understand they can do a buffer/DD job like corsair but that is not my point, people didn't level archer to be a buffer. They leveled archer because it was a pure range damage dealer like ranger and they want whatever to continue to follow that path with its specialist job, right now it doesn't look like thats going to be an option.

I know we don't know what bard will actually do but we can look at traditionally what a bard has done in the final fantasy universe and form an idea of how its going to play correct?

[TheVedis]

For those who keep associating archer vs bard with them both having to be DD, let me put a few thoughts forward

JOBS make you a specialized role.
they DO NOT enhance your class itself

You can stay archer for DD, or turn bard for an enhancing class
you get 2 roles for the price of 1 with this! dont think of it as having to be 1 or the other, you just go as what is needed and leave it at that

[Vyncent]

Ok the real answer, they only have 6 classes and they wanted to make them fit the standard roles, melee dd, caster dd, tank, healer, and support.

So they basically had to make one caster DD, and make one DD support, they realized that they couldnt make any of the other DD support, but thier are some precedents for a support ranged class, also it would solve the issue of archer being too OP in DD with the least risk of any job.

one day they may add a ranger offshoot to archer, but not today. Dont worry though, theres a good chance bard will overall be a really powerful job, combining buffing with decent damage, is a pretty good pick, especially since no one else will have the ability to do any noticeable status boosting, and they will probably have good CC options.

You look like me.

[Coglin]

Are you serious dude? I'm refering to rangers in FFXI or other mmos which plays exactly like archers do now.

I am very serious. You appearently seem to be a little confussed though. The deffinition of ranger in FFXI is not a common one. You made one very incorrect assumption that all MMOS ranger's are archers and that just very wrong.

Rangers in MMOs got there name from the fact that whey were the characters of the definition I offered, and are offten duel sword or duel axe uses in MMOs.

[Coglin]

Shit when I quit FFXI DNC still weren't that great except for a subjob, can't say what they turned into now. I understand they can do a buffer/DD job like corsair but that is not my point, people didn't level archer to be a buffer. They leveled archer because it was a pure range damage dealer like ranger and they want whatever to continue to follow that path with its specialist job, right now it doesn't look like thats going to be an option.

Yeah, they leveled ARC to do ranged damage. Whats that got to do with bard though?

Everyone wants to act like they have to chose the job offered. Thats not the case. If you want a job and don't want the one for this class, change classes, and do that job. The other option is to wait untill a new round of jobs is released that you do like for the class.

[ellohwell]

In answer to OP: they thought it would be a bright idea to make absolutely no sense for the class progression.

[Engineer]

For those who keep associating archer vs bard with them both having to be DD, let me put a few thoughts forward

JOBS make you a specialized role.
they DO NOT enhance your class itself

You can stay archer for DD, or turn bard for an enhancing class
you get 2 roles for the price of 1 with this! dont think of it as having to be 1 or the other, you just go as what is needed and leave it at that

ya i think parties would accept archer if the party needs DD, and already has a bard.

Also, i think archer dd output needs to be enhanced alot since they have to buy/make arrows. If SE needs to lower their defense for balance is totaly fine with me.

[Physic]

ya i think parties would accept archer if the party needs DD, and already has a bard.

Also, i think archer dd output needs to be enhanced alot since they have to buy/make arrows. If SE needs to lower their defense for balance is totaly fine with me.

defense is only a balance for offense when defense matters. archers have the longest range in the game, if any one can avoid an attack through positioning, its likely to be an archer.

I still think they need to tweak archer, but to be honest imo it should never be the dps king, and it should only be equal dps if it has equal risk, maybe they can make game mechanics too that effect, but we shall see.

people are looking at ifrit as the ultimate test of all charchters worths, but it is not, its just one fight. Fact remains even now, you will probably have better chance of success in darkhold with a bunch of archers. And in the coming moogle battle i think archer will definately have an advantage if they give them a crowd control, debuff and buff options. when fighting multiple moogles at once, i think the guy who can bind, debuff and handle targets from a distance will have a definate advantage.

ifrit was a melee brn down, it makes sense he was designed that way, being the element of fire and symbol of power, I expect moogles to be a way more cerebral fight. Garuda? will probably definately have an advantage with arrows versus a monster that will probably fly. damn pugilist gonna have some probs on that.