Assassin Hybrid Melee/Range

[Otoha]

Not sure if anyone has had this idea and posted it, but been thinking that it would be really interesting to have a hybrid of melee/ranged damage for an Assassin class, assuming one ever came out.

Sort of in the way that tanks and whms can switch stances, they could make it so that you could switch between a ranged and melee weapon with the class ability.

Another idea, is that if not a hybrid class, maybe giving this class the option to start out as one or the other, then branching into a ranged job or melee.

Just throwing this out there to see what people think.

[Nash20]

Unfortunately... if something like this were possible...than it would probably be the only dps wanted.

Shoot, BRDs complain about MNK or DRG damage...but have no idea how sh^tty it is to either have to eat unavoidable damage from certain bosses or have to run out off aoe range while dealing ZERO damage...MNKs and DRGs complain that BRDs can just run in circles (literally) you can just run around in circles and deal very respectable damage and support BLM, WHM and SCH.

If there was a job that could do both of these things...you really might as well eliminate all dps other than that class.

Edit_

Now if you wanted to make that dps inferior in both melee and ranged damage...maybe that may work...but in a game that you can have everything maxed out...why bother? Shit you can tank in T1 and heal in T2 and be a Botanist in T3

[Anova]

I don't understand how an assassin would fit in lore-wise, but i do see the appeal of a class that can mix melee and ranged attacks. And while Nash may be exaggerating things a little, he does make a valid concern over balance.

You didn't mention any particular mechanism, although it occurs to me that the most interesting way is to create a set of mechanics that let you maximize damage by switching between melee and ranged modes. If you really want to, it is possible to set a minimum range for the ranged mode. This ensures that the player has to pay attention to the rotation and positioning of obstacles as they quickly move to their optimal range and damage potential, which is a little different from existing dps classes. Amusingly, this might make certain fights such as Titan and Garuda tricky for them.

That is just a gimmick though, and admittedly not a very well-developed one. More importantly, the classification of melee and ranged dps use different limitbreaks. If this is a true hybrid, which LB would it use? What role and function do you want it to do in a party? How would it resolve issues in the game balance? Those are just some questions to think about for that class.

[Sypherblade]

Think it would be cool if the ninja/assassin could only do ranged attacks...like throwing their equipped duel wielding katanas... and their special moves made a shadow clone or something appear behind the target to do a backstab then vanish. You get the range and the illusion of melee....no pun intended.