Quote Originally Posted by Archwizard View Post
It was more that they intended to make Samurai as a tank, but got partway through development and realized the skills they'd made would be better-suited for a Dark Knight instead. My understanding is that the "aesthetic" of Heavensward had little to do with it.

(Just speculation on my part here, but it was probably something to do with the self-healing nature of their combo in addition to a tank's attacks being poorly paced for a Samurai.)

It's an iterative process, but it seems like the original plan was Samurai and (some iteration of) Chemist, both of which changed as a result of the designs being output. Unclear if they originally even intended to release a third job, but we know MCH and AST came as a result of splitting Chemist.
Well I might be remembering things wrong about DRK fitting the theme of heavensward better, but its pretty ironic SAM comes as a DPS next expac, which makes me wonder if they were debating a reversal with DRK being a dps as well before the final decisions were being made(I still think they should have given SAM maiming gear, but thats just cause original SAM and up through tactics wore heavier armor). Even if it wasnt openly stated, I cannot help but think Time Mage was looked at more than just a glance, with possibly its job quest ending up being made the entire Hildebrand questline, as well as parts of Alexander especially the final boss fight, and Alexander in general being tied to the theme of time magic.