Final Fantasy XIV Hot Takes

[SieyaM]

Here is a hot take. The convenience of being able to change to any job on your character at any time has made it impossible for your character to have any real identity. You are forever just the generic WoL.

[SeverianLyonesse]

Here is a hot take. The convenience of being able to change to any job on your character at any time has made it impossible for your character to have any real identity. You are forever just the generic WoL.

I think that attitude of "impossibility" only applies to people who have no restraint. Since some 3/4 of the jobs add very little to my enjoyment of the game or how I envision my character, I simply don't play them.

[SieyaM]

There are a lot of jobs I don't play since I also don't have any interest, but that does not change the fact that I was a WHM for ARR, AST for HW, and then RDM for StB and ShB and now Summoner. There is just no consistent identity for your character since in RPGs and MMOs so much of it is tied to character class or job and for us that is constantly changing.

[SeverianLyonesse]

There are a lot of jobs I don't play since I also don't have any interest, but that does not change the fact that I was a WHM for ARR, AST for HW, and then RDM for StB and ShB and now Summoner. There is just no consistent identity for your character since in RPGs and MMOs so much of it is tied to character class or job and for us that is constantly changing.

The identity is only as consistent as you make it. My character went PLD -> DRK -> GNB, then picked up RDM and SAM to become a sword generalist. And even now, after I dropped a couple of those and picked up a few, I still am playing jobs that I feel all work within a kind of theme I set for my character.

At any rate, I don't think it's the game's fault for following a job system that has been around since 1994. If you don't like that your character doesn't feel consistent, be choosier about which new jobs you pick up--which you are clearly capable of doing if you skipped the ShB jobs. I would further argue that your character does have at least some higher degree of internal consistency than a lot of other players' characters, since you seem to be sticking primarily to mage archetypes--add a BLM and maybe a SGE and your character could just identify as a master of magic.

[Teno]

Here is a hot take. The convenience of being able to change to any job on your character at any time has made it impossible for your character to have any real identity. You are forever just the generic WoL.

I think the opposite, since you don't need a separate random alt you don't identify to to play something different. It's all on the same and you mold it to your liking.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Here is a hot take. The convenience of being able to change to any job on your character at any time has made it impossible for your character to have any real identity. You are forever just the generic WoL.

Completely disagree as a roleplayer. Being able to change jobs has made my character quite Unique. Note that I do not actually have my WoL learn every job in the game for RP purposes - as I can separate that out and it would be quite the Mary-Sue (more than they already are) if they were adept at literally everything.

He began as a White Mage for reasons I came up with for his backstory. Due to something important that happens in Shadowbringers, he found himself taking up the Axe as a Warrior. By Endwalker, due to how much he's been through he took a liking to being a Reaper.

In other MMOs I cannot have my character grow or express other talents without rerolling- in which case they then have forgotten their entire prior history since I had to reroll to change classes.

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Even narratively having all classes makes sense. The WoL is written to be an "Adventurer" who befriends and interacts with people and cultures all over the world. That he or she is willing to maybe learn from these diverse peoples and adopt parts of their styles here and there IS the character.

[SieyaM]

Completely disagree as a roleplayer. Being able to change jobs has made my character quite Unique. Note that I do not actually have my WoL learn every job in the game for RP purposes - as I can separate that out and it would be quite the Mary-Sue (more than they already are) if they were adept at literally everything.

He began as a White Mage for reasons I came up with for his backstory. Due to something important that happens in Shadowbringers, he found himself taking up the Axe as a Warrior. By Endwalker, due to how much he's been through he took a liking to being a Reaper.

In other MMOs I cannot have my character grow or express other talents without rerolling- in which case they then have forgotten their entire prior history since I had to reroll to change classes.

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Even narratively having all classes makes sense. The WoL is written to be an "Adventurer" who befriends and interacts with people and cultures all over the world. That he or she is willing to maybe learn from these diverse peoples and adopt parts of their styles here and there IS the character.

The disconnect for me is that I am never really anything if I can be everything. Right now my job is Summoner but I can be an Astrologian in the very next scene. The only other MMO I can really compare to is EQ since it is the only other one I played at length, but in there my character was an Enchanter through and through. I began as one and everything I did in that world was as one. Sure I can practice discipline and restrict myself as I want but that doesn't do much to change the world around my character since they all have to treat me like I am any possible job at any time.

[ZephyrMenodora]

The disconnect for me is that I am never really anything if I can be everything. Right now my job is Summoner but I can be an Astrologian in the very next scene. The only other MMO I can really compare to is EQ since it is the only other one I played at length, but in there my character was an Enchanter through and through. I began as one and everything I did in that world was as one. Sure I can practice discipline and restrict myself as I want but that doesn't do much to change the world around my character since they all have to treat me like I am any possible job at any time.

It's really your choice to play like that, and easily fixed in performing story quests as a specific class if you want some level of coherency.

Having access to many class options as the same character just means you have to take more ownership as to how you craft your character's journey. If anything this really offers more storytelling opportunities for your character than less, as in other MMOs where you are one class. Not everyone can handle that well, though.

As far as MMO stories go, most are not designed around a class if the game offers like 12+ classes. The story is typically written generic enough for the player to insert their version of the Hero into them. Elder Scrolls Online for example doesn't even have class-specific story quests like we get in FFXIV (nor does your char even need to use any of their class skills at all either).

[SieyaM]

It's really your choice to play like that, and easily fixed in performing story quests as a specific class if you want some level of coherency.

Having access to many class options as the same character just means you have to take more ownership as to how you craft your character's journey. If anything this really offers more storytelling opportunities for your character than less, as in other MMOs where you are one class. Not everyone can handle that well, though.

As far as MMO stories go, most are not designed around a class if the game offers like 12+ classes. The story is typically written generic enough for the player to insert their version of the Hero into them. Elder Scrolls Online for example doesn't even have class-specific story quests like we get in FFXIV (nor does your char even need to use any of their class skills at all either).

The other barrier this system places is that some jobs you cannot be for your entire journey. If you go back and do New Game+ you can, but there are a lot of jobs now that just are not available until you reach an expansion. Thinking a little more it's also about feeling like my character really worked to reach the level they are at in their class or job. For instance when you changed jobs for the next expansion, you didn't start at level 1 and work your way up from there in the perspective of the narrative, you showed up as a level 50 or 60 job with a slew of skills and abilities that as far as anyone in the MSQ is concerned you just knew. When I became and AST for HW I had to be level 50 before starting any story content and my journey getting there with that job was a disconnected roulette spam that was completely removed from how I arrived in Ishgard.

[ZephyrMenodora]

The other barrier this system places is that some jobs you cannot be for your entire journey. If you go back and do New Game+ you can, but there are a lot of jobs now that just are not available until you reach an expansion. Thinking a little more it's also about feeling like my character really worked to reach the level they are at in their class or job. For instance when you changed jobs for the next expansion, you didn't start at level 1 and work your way up from there in the perspective of the narrative, you showed up as a level 50 or 60 job with a slew of skills and abilities that as far as anyone in the MSQ is concerned you just knew. When I became and AST for HW I had to be level 50 before starting any story content and my journey getting there with that job was a disconnected roulette spam that was completely removed from how I arrived in Ishgard.

I can agree with this - especially if you are designing a character and envision them as being say, a Sage for example. Well, you can't do that until lvl 70. It would be nice to have an option to start new classes at level 1 also as a choice, or you can choose to have it at level 70 to start for convenience.

(This probably won't happen though as they'd have to design more story quests probably..)