Would you support a Final Fantasy XIV "Classic" option like WoW with 1.0?

[TaleraRistain]

And then there was the huge downside, which was you actually had to level another class to 15 to even unlock your Job. If you wanted to unlock Summoner for your Arcanist, you actually had to arbitrarily level Thaumaturge. Or if you wanted White Mage, you had to level Arcanist. And there weren't universal Role actions in those days either -- essentials like Raise or Swiftcast were locked behind other classes. Swiftcast in particular was such a miserable grind for me, I can't stand playing THM...

That was one of the things that made the system silly. There was no choice in which extra classes you leveled and which extra abilities you picked up. If you were a healer, you got ragged on if you didn't have Swiftcast. We had no choice but to level THM. Swiftcast IS a very useful skill. But that's why it's good they just made it a Role action. It was a system with the illusion of choice, just like being able to assign your stat points. SCH/SMN was a nightmare with that, too, since you had to keep re-assigning stat points to play one or the other.

To the OP, story yes, gameplay no. I didn't last as long with 1.0 as some. I did beta and then some live and it was just bad. But there are tendrils of the story still left and references I don't get, especially in ARR, where it would be nice to be able to experience the previous story.

[Bright-Flower]

That was one of the things that made the system silly. There was no choice in which extra classes you leveled and which extra abilities you picked up. If you were a healer, you got ragged on if you didn't have Swiftcast. We had no choice but to level Thaum. Swiftcast IS a very useful skill. But that's why it's good they just made it a Role action. It was a system with the illusion of choice, just like being able to assign your stat points. SCH/SMN was a nightmare with that, too, since you had to keep re-assigning stat points to play one or the other.

To the OP, story yes, gameplay no. I didn't last as long with 1.0 as some. I did beta and then some live and it was just bad. But there are tendrils of the story still left and references I don't get, especially in ARR, where it would be nice to be able to experience the previous story.

Yeah. I hated how that system was implemented and was glad when they swapped to role actions instead.

[TaleraRistain]

Yeah. I hated how that system was implemented and was glad when they swapped to role actions instead.

It wasn't a bad idea and if they had had abilities that were a bit more balanced then it probably would have worked. But it just turned into an situation where abilities were "required" by the community and we all just became the same cookie-cutter builds. So there was no point in retaining the system.

[Bright-Flower]

It wasn't a bad idea and if they had had abilities that were a bit more balanced then it probably would have worked. But it just turned into an situation where abilities were "required" by the community and we all just became the same cookie-cutter builds. So there was no point in retaining the system.

I think it's bad on principle. If someone wants to play a white mage and heal, they shouldn't have to level a different role just to unlock another ability. If you want to tank as a warrior you shouldn't have to level gladiator for some basic abilities, etc. You should just be able to play the job you want and have all of its tools by playing THAT job.

The early SB role action system before they just gave up and gave you all of them could have been interesting, but honestly the abilities tended to boil down to few must haves and the rest situational or not great rather than being a meaningful choice most of the time. But at least you didn't have to go level other jobs or even other roles at times to get all your abilities.

[Jandor]

I think it's bad on principle. If someone wants to play a white mage and heal, they shouldn't have to level a different role just to unlock another ability. If you want to tank as a warrior you shouldn't have to level gladiator for some basic abilities, etc. You should just be able to play the job you want and have all of its tools by playing THAT job.

That the cross-class system incorporated important actions that you needed to play your job into it was a poor balancing decision, but it was not core to the idea and didn't have to be implemented that way. The idea was good in theory, but bad in execution.

[linayar]

That the cross-class system incorporated important actions that you needed to play your job into it was a poor balancing decision, but it was not core to the idea and didn't have to be implemented that way. The idea was good in theory, but bad in execution.

If it didn't incorporate important actions, then why the need to level another class? And if you don't need to level another class, then why have the system? People are already leveling another class of their own choice, and increased job customization could lead to balancing issue and unnecessary design complexity as jobs are changed through the expansions.

[Jandor]

If it didn't incorporate important actions, then why the need to level another class? And if you don't need to level another class, then why have the system? People are already leveling another class of their own choice, and increased job customization could lead to balancing issue and unnecessary design complexity as jobs are changed through the expansions.

You wouldn't need to level other classes, you'd have the system for fun and world building reasons with some occasional niche use.

To be honest though, the initial complaint about leveling other classes has pretty much aged out of the game. We're level 80, soon to be level 90, even if they hadn't touched it since ARR it'd be trivial to get what you need these days.