14' s hunt for new jobs may be overlooking a simple solution.

[Drkdays]

I recently read an article that spoke of the development team's difficulty in creating new jobs for new experiences and a thought occurred to me.

I've played the game since ARR, back when you had to develop two classes to a certain level to become a hero class. The base classes got a lot more attention then. They were more than simple a hurdle you had to pass before you got to the "real" class.

What if, rather than wracking their brains for new classes that they can squeeze in, they once again focused on those base classes. They could potentially add MANY new classes at once simply by adding more to classes that have long since existed.

Imagine a lv 90 Marauder. Kind of like a fighter in D&D vs a barbarian. It could even be a dps class instead of a tank, yet use all the same gear.

What base class would you play?

[DrWho2010]

They would rather just get rid of base classes if they could but it's too ingrained into the system to take out now.

[Hanayumi]

Unfortunately devs kinda hate the base classes, its just far easier for them to work on the job from the get go rather than working a class into the job. Also, kind of a big one, they really really dont want jobs being too esthetically similar and definitely dont want jobs sharing weapons, which is why theyre more likely to make an original job rather than use more of the classic FF jobs.

[ZeraSkiratea]

they specificaly dont WANT to have more "splitting classes" like Scholar and Summoner, as its a nightmare to work with.

[Xirean]

Considering just how much Summoner and Scholar have been separated every expansion since they were made, I don't see this system making any sort of return. At this point the only reason I think they don't completely delete base classes is because of retainers.

[LeonKeyh]

It would be neat if each job had a "DPS" version and a Healer/Tank version, but as others have said, they hate the fact that SCH/SMN are a split job and said that if they were going to do anything with the base classes, it would be removing them. They're a little too difficult though.

I wouldn't expect it.

Honestly, I've seen the quote being thrown around about "needing" to make new jobs, but I haven't seen the context behind it. There are a TON of both named Jobs that are not in the game and can be added (e.g. Rune Knight/Fencer, Chemist, Gambler, Gunner, etc), some jobs that have been hinted at in game that we haven't really seen (e.g. Geomancer), and even FF characters that don't have named jobs that they can use (like they did with Gunbreaker).

Even so, there's plenty of lore in FFXIV and I'm sure that they can come up with some really good originals.

[anhaato]

YoshiP: We have to start inventing more new jobs at this rate!
Beastmaster:
Puppetmaster:
Corsair:
Chemist:
Geomancer:
Arithmetician:
Templar:
Mystic Knight:

[Kes13a]

why do we need new jobs? work on the old ones.

a new job will inevitably need to take skills from the current ones.

[Ransu]

There's still tons of old school FF jobs that they haven't utilized.

Also, the base classes only had the focus they did in ARR because they were literally stuck with the design because of 1.0. They always intended to move away from it when they go the chance to. It's why after rogue we got no more new classes and everything in HW and onward was jumped straight to a job unlock.

[Catwho]

why do we need new jobs? work on the old ones.

a new job will inevitably need to take skills from the current ones.

I remember when Geomancer finally came out in FFXI and it was like.... black mage with an immobile AOE pet at first.

They've definitely gotten better at new class design, but I honestly don't expect to see more than one job in 7.0 and it'll likely be something that can use scouting gear.