Job Crystals for Squadron Members?

[Krotoan]

Yes, they can become everything beside crafter I think xD

OK, I dunno cause I only have one "job" retainer and have never bothered with any other job for them since it's all the same.

So.. if Fetchy McGogetstuff can be a WHM I don't see why someone who actually adventures with you cant =]

Also the other people in your party while you're doing raids and dungeons are technically canon, so there's usually a WHM or two in there.

[LastFireAce]

OK, I dunno cause I only have one "job" retainer and have never bothered with any other job for them since it's all the same.

So.. if Fetchy McGogetstuff can be a WHM I don't see why someone who actually adventures with you cant =]

Also the other people in your party while you're doing raids and dungeons are technically canon, so there's usually a WHM or two in there.

Your right, so this argument is basically settled.

[Rongway]

Also the other people in your party while you're doing raids and dungeons are technically canon, so there's usually a WHM or two in there.

That you take other adventurers with you into (most) dungeons is canon. That they bear soul stones is not. There is exactly one non-Padjali WHM in the world.

[Krotoan]

That you take other adventurers with you into (most) dungeons is canon. That they bear soul stones is not. There is exactly one non-Padjali WHM in the world.

You're able to "handwave" away that your retainer is a WHM on player convenience but not for squadron members? Their adventures are quite non-canon as far as I know as well considering that the stories that play while you do your squad runs of course cannot be canon since you've run those adventures already. I don't see any reason it cannot be done or shouldn't be done.

[Rongway]

You're able to "handwave" away that your retainer is a WHM on player convenience but not for squadron members? Their adventures are quite non-canon as far as I know as well considering that the stories that play while you do your squad runs of course cannot be canon since you've run those adventures already. I don't see any reason it cannot be done or shouldn't be done.

It sounds like you meant to quote my earlier reply, because the post you actually quoted is less to your rebuttal.

Retainers get jobs because we get gear that is job-specific, and if the retainers don't get jobs, then we can't give them some of our gear when we're done with it. Retainer jobs exist strictly for the convenience of the player.

Squadron members don't have that same need. Without jobs, they can still be given (and in some cases, already have been given) abilities that a player cannot use as the same class and level. So they don't need jobs.

[Krotoan]

It sounds like you meant to quote my earlier reply, because the post you actually quoted is less to your rebuttal.

Retainers get jobs because we get gear that is job-specific, and if the retainers don't get jobs, then we can't give them some of our gear when we're done with it. Retainer jobs exist strictly for the convenience of the player.

Squadron members don't have that same need. Without jobs, they can still be given (and in some cases, already have been given) abilities that they cannot use as their classes or as their current level. So they don't need jobs.

What I'm saying is it's not exactly game breaking to allow it. While I don't think there's an urgent need I don't see why this couldn't be considered. But on the OPs original question: I don't think we've heard anything about them implementing this.

[KisaiTenshi]

You're able to "handwave" away that your retainer is a WHM on player convenience but not for squadron members? Their adventures are quite non-canon as far as I know as well considering that the stories that play while you do your squad runs of course cannot be canon since you've run those adventures already. I don't see any reason it cannot be done or shouldn't be done.

That's because in the grand context of the game, the retainers don't exist. They're a prop, not a player. Nobody else can see your retainer unless you own a house and park them outside it. You can't take them into dungeons.

The Squadron, other players can't see either, but unlike the retainers, the characters you recruit are all "existing" people in the game, and you can take them into dungeons.

SE just painted themselves into a corner with now classes/jobs work. They either need to retrofit a reason to give them a job stone, or they need to create a precursor class for Astrologian, Machinist, Red Mage, Dark Knight, and Samurai

Or they can bend things just a little. The entire purpose of the Class -> Job is a throw back to Wizardry that FF1 used up to FF5. Where in Wizardry it let you either do a full on upgrade of the base class, or you could pick a job that was a merger of two classes.

I don't expect the squadron to ever be playable on the field, nor do I expect them to be brought into 8-player trials or raids. So that means they should be able to have any job YOU do not have.

[basketofseals]

The most basic, and probably cynical, reason is probably because this won't improve performance at all.

Squadron AIs seem to operate on an VERY simple AI Roulette with just a few modifiers like healers prioritizing esuna way too much or melee DPS missing 3 GCDs just to land a positional. I can easily see MNKs formshifting at random. Squadrons also lack cooldowns for whatever reason, and it may not seem obvious now, but it'll be noticeable by everyone when a WHM uses assize every 15 seconds. Personally my favorite was my WAR who kept alive at 1 HP for 20 seconds by spamming holmgang.

[Raldo]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned DRG as another job that would have trouble, from a lore perspective, allowing squad members to be the job. The lore seems adamant that there is only ever one "Azure Dragoon" (are there other dragoon colors?) except in a small handful of cases where there are two. Even if there were other dragoon job stones, you know Ishgard has that stuff on lockdown.

Personally, I'm fine with hand-waving away the ability for squad members to be jobs, similar to the retainer argument.

The most basic, and probably cynical, reason is probably because this won't improve performance at all.

Counterpoint: There are a variety of important actions that are job-specific (and EVERYTHING above 50 is job-specific) and as such, not available to classes. If they plan on continuing to raise the cap for the squad, they should really allow them to be jobs instead of classes, as they will continue to be less and less useful as the levels increase. Tank stances, Blizzard 3, anything involving Aetherflow stacks... all job actions. Perhaps they wouldn't need the AI to be able to spam the same actions over and over and over again if they actually gave them access to the same kit that players have.

[basketofseals]

To all the BLMs out there: Could you imagine not having Bliz3? I feel bad for our THM squad members.

They can feel sorry for themselves on the bench they've been put on since the beginning.

Have you payed close attention to what they do? More abilities isn't going to make them more effective. They aren't even effective with the abilities they have. There's a reason ARC is the god-king of squadron members even after the engage nerf. The other classes spend too much time doing nothing. They only have a few dead abilities: invigorate, diversion, tactician, and refresh. I don't think I've ever seen them use second wind, and they thankfully use tactician and refresh infrequently. On the other hand I've seen my ROG go true north, bloodbath, shadewalker, diversion, blood bath, second wind, and by the time he finished the mob was already dead.