Beastmaster: Can it work?

[WiccaP]

Given the struggle they have had with SMN, I'm not really sure how they would implement beastmaster. Maybe as a limited job like BLU? Though people seem to hate that concept so I see beastmaster as an unlikely job to be added to the game.

I think the reason they've struggled with pet classes, is the Dev team overthinks it. It seems to bounce from extreme to extreme. Either you have no control over the pet and it doesnt really do anything or its micromanaged. Honestly I didnt see anything wrong with the version of summoner, where you had a carbuncle or egi out, it did a basic attack every so many seconds and had 1 or 2 bigger abilities that you could command it to do as OGCDs. To me they have tried to either overcomplicate the job or water it down to nothing.

[MagiusNecros]

They will use SMN rework as a baseline for Beastmaster if DPS or do something different and turn Beastmaster into a Tank.

A Limited job would suck but in return I expect lots of beasts to tame in return. Like if it's a mob out in the world I want to get it. Imagine having to fight hunts to get something for Beastmaster. Sounds like fun.

We also have Lyon Helsos to consider with the fact his discipline/job class is Beastmaster. So it could go either way.

Weaponwise you are looking at Whips or one handed axes most likely but they could do something different.

With the whole pet thing. I don't think XIV can do pets. The best they can do is Reaper with making your beast an ability or oGCD or integrate it as a weaponskill like SMN.

They consider Living Shadow and Automaton Queen to be "pets" so the typical MMO format of how pets work in games such as GW2, ESO, WoW just aren't going to work here with the limitations they have with servers but also consoles.

[Ransu]

Beastmaster as a tank would be.....interesting to say the least.

[SeverianLyonesse]

You have not understood me. I do not want a chocobo companion that I can only use in the overworld. I want a crossbow and a normal-looking animal that does attacks with me as I am playing with other people in the content of my choice.

So you want a pet job in a game that can't do pet jobs. And even if it could be implemented would likely fall somewhere between an inept fairy, a sluggish, inconsistent DoT shadow-clone, or a mousefox that stands there doing nothing. So purely aesthetic and probably mechanically disappointing if not outright detrimental. And if not to you, then certainly to your 8-man trial party because of either visual clutter or inconsistent DPS.

And also you would rather have some sort of fourth kind of animal sidekick system: on top of mounts, minions, and companions. Instead of just adjusting the already perfectly functional companion system to be available in duties.

AND you would want to limit the availability of having a wolf/bear/tiger companion tied to a specific weapon, probably something boring like two axes or a crossbow. So everytime I want to have a tiger, I need to *put away* my greataxe/claymore/scythe/claws/longbow (or any other weapon, not just "feral" weapons), and all the fun I am having with those weapons, just to have my tiger instead of a chocobo fighting next to me while I passively stand on the sidelines Pokemon mastering or maybe do some weak 1-2-3 combos that feel ripped straight from better melee/pranged jobs. I also get to enjoy the sheer awkwardness of having both a chocobo and an animal companion out at the same time and wonder why the animal world is divided into a caste system.

No thanks. To have the development resources for an entire job be put into this just to have so many downers associated with it is an utter waste. If that is your job fantasy, go play Guild Wars 2 which just is a better natural fit for that kind of job archetype. It would be just more parasitic, redundant bloat in FFXIV.

[aveyond-dreams]

...

I have no idea why you decided to respond in such a way, but if development resources could be wasted and probably still are being wasted in some way on Blue Mage then I think they can spare a little for a new SMN/Reaper style Beastmaster or Hunter class as opposed to bringing in a useless companion when I would just as easily either solo something unsync or bring in actual players/trusts. You might want to try to not lead in with doom and gloom, thank you very much.

[SeverianLyonesse]

I have no idea why you decided to respond in such a way, but if development resources could be wasted and probably still are being wasted in some way on Blue Mage then I think they can spare a little for a new SMN/Reaper style Beastmaster or Hunter class as opposed to bringing in a useless companion when I would just as easily either solo something unsync or bring in actual players/trusts. You might want to try to not lead in with doom and gloom, thank you very much.

The fact that you think a companion would be more useless than a BST animal is where your logic completely falls apart. Chocobo companions are the only pet players have no real complaints about, because they accomplish what a pet job should actually do but never can:

1) Give the pet enough agency and effectiveness that it can function on its own without requiring commands all the time. This allows the player to focus on engaging with the enemy directly instead of spending large portions of their rotation shouting commands from the sidelines.
2) Have the pets actions be completely independent of the player's moveset. This makes the pet function more as intended--assistance--rather than a necessity that the player is forced to babysit. Put another way, instead of being *integral* to the job's DPS that is constantly screwing up your DPS and a source of frustration, it is now *bonus* utility on top of whatever totally functional rotation you have with your normal job.

And that's not even pointing out the other things it already does better or could easily do better than your proposed job would likely do:

1) Better variety of beast choice.
2) An ability tree framework.
3) Naming, feeding, stabling, things that make pets feel like actual entities rather than some object following you around.

What you are proposing is a job-locked companion (or companion system) that either:

1) functions almost identical to the companion system with no particularly good reason to be job-locked and duplicating development efforts; or
2) is in some way *not* the companion system in a way justifying being job-locked, which will inevitably a "bad pet job" that eats up your rotation with frustrating pet-specific actions as described above; or
3) if neither of those, is just a longer-lasting Living Dead or Carbuncle that is just kind of there doing nothing except an aesthetic.

And there are numerous problems with number 3. No one will happy with it. There will be a pretty even split between players who think the one or two pet actions should be removed altogether because they are just DoTs with awful conditions placed on them; and players who are disappointed that the pets don't have more actions associated with them. I certainly wouldn't be happy with it either because it would mean that the devs wasted development resources trying to make a pet job and almost certainly failing when they could have been fleshing out the companion system and had a much more fun, robust, replayable experience.

[aveyond-dreams]

I'm not sure where it is you're not following but when I say new SMN and compare to *RPR* whose avatar shows up, then leaves, I mean the new gem summons/demis that for the most part work ok-not our now useless Carbuncles. As cool as a true pet system would be it's not happening in this game.

Beastmaster or Hunter's pets shouldn't be...war horses or chocobos that require stabling and feeding. I want to take my wolf or bear and go after enemies with it. I'll gladly sacrifice an ability tree and pet variety because ultimately someone will figure out a meta and every other option outside of it will be inferior if not useless.

[Shurrikhan]

Beastmaster or Hunter's pets shouldn't be...war horses or chocobos that require stabling and feeding. I want to take my wolf or bear and go after enemies with it. I'll gladly sacrifice an ability tree and pet variety because ultimately someone will figure out a meta and every other option outside of it will be inferior if not useless.

While I agree with this...

As cool as a true pet system would be it's not happening in this game.

I don't agree with this. We've seen functional pet systems, and their benefits, in too many MMOs to preclude them as even a possibility in this one.

Even without actual pet jobs, the exclusion of which would be a massive waste of iconic niches from the franchise, the benefits to better utilizing Squadrons, Trusts, and Companions are already huge.

[ty_taurus]

Or just not make it a traditional pet job. Regardless of what can or cannot be done with the pet system, it's pretty clear that SE is just not a fan of working with pets outside of a limited capacity. Just let BST use their "pet" not as an AI controlled ally, but a resource that you call at specific times on standby to perform specific actions that you dictate based on your rotation.

[Johaandr]

Why do people wish for beastamer so much?
The concept is already taken .. we got summoners.
"BuT ItS nOt tHE sAmE". The hell... i dont want to have a damn Ladybug fight against a primal.