The Pigeonhole

[Lelouchi]

lolllllllllllllllllll

[EvokerKeii]

We're going to give you 30 stat points to distribute into whatever stat you want to! Except everyone is going to dump all 30 into their primary stat.
We're going to give you cross class skills to make your jobs unique! Except they're so limited and restrictive that everyone is going to choose the same ones.
We're going to give you dyes so you can create a unique look! Except it doesn't work on 90% of the gear in the game so everyone ends up looking the same.
We're going to give you different sets of gear with different stats so you can pick and choose what works for you! Except the spell speed stat sucks and everyone is going to stack crit.

Everything in this game is an illusion of choice.

[ScummyGuy]

All these complaints make me miss the FFXI job system and how much variety it offered.

[Fayto]

All these complaints make me miss the FFXI job system and how much variety it offered.

Now that is the true definition of pigeonholed.

[Ri_ri]

The whole armoury system seems like a leftover from 1.0, just like crafting.
It became clear that they have no intention of making it better since they made Thunder exclusive to thaumaturge.

[Neralyte]

I think using the heal for PLDs as an example was the wrong choice, people seem to have misunderstood and think I want it to be this amazing ability that lets you solo tank without the need for healers. What I meant by using it as an example, is that in its current state not a single PLD uses cure, though the majority will have picked it as a cross class ability because the rest of the abilities you can choose from are just as useless.

This is not just limited to PLD either, all classes have 5 cross class abilities they can choose from, however, there is usually only 1 or 2 abilities that are useful but they don't do anything aside from slightly buff your core role. Remove any, or even all cross class abilities and you still won't see any real difference in how people play or how effective their core role is. Pigeonholing is the term used when things are classified into single categories despite the fact that they could fit into multiple categories, and that is what jobs essentially do, they place your class into a category with a defined purpose, negating the fact that we have access to cross class skills. To help make matters worse, instead of embracing this ability to diversify (which was clearly the point), the skills we get access to are so watered down and/or unusable that we are further forced into this pigeonhole.

As pointed out earlier in this thread, hybrid classes like DRK can't possibly function with this current setup and the only way they will become a viable class is if SE stops pigeonholing and embraces the diversity that was claimed as a major attribute for FFXIV.

[Parodine]

Agreed. From your post I see you haven't touched SMN yet, but the cross-class abilities are really pathetic for it too. The job itself is still very versatile, but outside of Raging Strikes and Swiftcast, they're mostly unusable. It's sad that out of 2/5 choices of cross-class abilities are all we really get to work with...which of course, every SMN [should] be using. It's not much of a customization as it is a branching attempt to fool us into freedom of choice...which mostly failed.

[Chiramu]

FFXIV is still a baby. The development team has to work to expand the game, at the moment the game is still stretching it's legs, it's not old enough to think of great things. It's still learning to crawl.

[Neralyte]

FFXIV is still a baby. The development team has to work to expand the game, at the moment the game is still stretching it's legs, it's not old enough to think of great things. It's still learning to crawl.

We all understand that in the early days there is going to be a lot of features that don't feel fleshed out or need iteration and consolidating. This is all a learning curve and in time things will change, improve and feel more fleshed out.

Unfortunately though, that doesn't change the fact that current implementation is lacking. This is not the only thing that has been pointed out that lacks focus and vision, the 2 systems are at odds with each other and don't meld to provide any clear indication of what SE is trying to achieve.

The job system pushes us in one direction while the cross class system tries to pull us in another, most classes find little to no benefit from the abilities which give no gain in diversity for the class, nor do they provide more focus into your current role. On top of that, the balance across classes is terrible where a PLD has almost no gain in using cross class skills and a WAR gets a whole raft of usable abilities that actually do boost your role.

[Atheena]

FFXIV is still a baby. The development team has to work to expand the game, at the moment the game is still stretching it's legs, it's not old enough to think of great things. It's still learning to crawl.

Over 3 years and it's still crawling! There was no expansion to the Game since only shrinkage! 3 years we have nothing but a broken mess and no i don't mean by raiding content. I mean everything to the game like 3 rehashed Primal Fights (realy with all of the past FF summons this will make it simple to make quick-uninteresting content) or the Butchered PvP!