Quote Originally Posted by Connor View Post
snip.
What worked in FFXI won’t necessarily also work in FFXIV. The gameplay is completely different.

The other thing that makes me think you might not be played FFXI is that everyone played a hybrid job. You had a subjob that gave you (as long as you had it leveled) all of the abilities of another job at half your main job’s level, minus the 2hr abilities. Back when I played, most Rangers would sub Thief, which gave much more impactful abilities than Ranger had on its own. Though I’m sure much has changed since 2008.

My whole point is that Archer/Ranger/Hunter type classes don’t typically get much in the way of varied abilities like other jobs do. It’s just “more powerful arrow”, “more accurate arrow”, or “more arrows”. At least Black Mage has spells of different elements and stance-changes. Some games throw in a pet, which judging from what happened to SMN, SCH, and MCH pets, won’t happen ever again unless for a limited job.


Bard was treasured in FFXI because it gave a lot of buffs, but it was rarer since it didn’t have much going for it except “put song on melees”, “run to mages and put song on them”, and “put song on everyone when we’re kneeling in between fights”. That type of gameplay won’t work at all in FFXIV where everything is faster paced and everyone is more mobile.

Even back then I don’t remember many people flocking to play it though everyone wanted one in their group. I ceased to really see Bards anymore at lower level content when Corsair came out and did much of the same thing except the mechanic was more fun for the mindless grind and it could also shoot guns.


Like I said before, I found Barcher confusing when it first came out, but I can see why they did it. In the gameplay they were going for, neither really stands out on its own.