Letter to the Producer, Stay Class-less not Classy

[Mardel]

Dear development team,


I wish to thank you for all the hard work you have put into recreating/creating FFXIV. I am certain it has been a tough and stressful few years developing this game many, including myself, enjoy today. The purpose of this letter from me to you is not to heavily criticize your ideas but to pose a few suggestions that will help avoid potential problems in future expansions. This first letter has the focus set on the class/job/armory system.


First and foremost I see the reason behind the class system. It was put into place so that players could customize their character’s ability and game play. In fact I doubt many fans would say that they do not like the option of being able to play each role and set different skills on one character, we are Warriors of Light after all! However, there are many reasons why it should be heavily altered for the sake of gameplay, individuality, and simplicity.


Let us start with class gameplay issues. Currently when you are a level 50 Conjurer, as an example, you can set 10 different skills from other classes. If you were to tell this to someone they would be think, “Wow you could really customize how you play then!” but this is incorrect. Being a Conjurer over White Mage you lose around 20 Mind, not to mention loss in other stats such as vitality. This is a significant stat decrease, and the cross class skills are simply not enough, nor will they ever be, to make up for the loss of stats. Next, job specific mythology gear cannot be worn by a class thus people who play casually would need to farm content such as Binding Coil, Extreme Primals, and Crystal Tower to obtain gear that would be eligible to wear on the classes and not just on their job. Third when you become a job you only get 5 skills you can cross from other classes. These skills are not really “optional” if you do not have them well, odds are you will not get to progress very far in end game content. Next, the skills you do get to choose from usually have 1-2 “winners” and the rest are there just to set something, useless. (This does not apply to every class/job.) Furthermore cross class skills are unnecessary because “solo” content is easy to begin with. Not to mention if people wanted to solo they could utilize their chocobo and have an easier time!


Next let us touch on individuality. Why does a Dragoon do an odd pose while using Internal Release or do a Tap Dance when using Featherfoot? I don’t know, maybe to save time and not have to create anymore animations? As the game stands the gameplay between “roles” are different, but not enough to differentiate the essence of becoming a particular job. If the game did not utilize classes and instead gave 5 extra abilities per job (instead of cross class) it would make each Job a bit more fitting. As it is right now we have a sense of false customization and false individuality because the cross class skills are not always useful and very well may never be. The new job abilities could be similar to the options we have now, just using a different animation that is appropriate for the job/class itself.


Finally let us look at simplicity. The development team wants the game to be easily accessible to players. However the class system does the exact opposite! It requires you to level other things to be good at one job. I know, even the crafters have to deal with this but just from a DoM/DoW perspective this can be a turn off for many players who just want to play a single role. The way it is set up currently does allow for more people to go back and level other jobs in order to improve themselves thus promoting new players to play. However, a level sync would perform the same justice if someone just wanted to assist a friend. Also, what will happen when a new job comes forth? Say a new job based off of Gladiator. Does this job become an automatic level 50? Well according to the game in its current form, yes. Also they would get 5, yes 5, whole new skills! I can see how much different it would be from Paladin already, blatant sarcasm!

Suggestions - Thoughts

Moving forward, this part of my letter is to address these points and give suggestions that I’m sure very little people will agree with as we all have different opinions. This idea of mine is based on the removal of the class system as we currently know it but keeping a portion of it intact for the purpose of lore.


First up are our soul stones. The way to change classes in this game is based on the weapon we have equipped. This approach works fine in the current system, but ask yourself is there a reason we are forced to wear something in our main hand? Jobs have soul stones, and we cannot become our job without one. We can’t even equip certain weapons w/o the appropriate soul stone anyways. This means somewhere in the system there is redundant coding where the system must check for a soul stone before it checks for a weapon thus allowing you to switch jobs/classes. So why do we not have soul stones for classes? These would be obtained at lv 1 and if we didn’t have a weapon equipped we would not be able to use any skills. At level 30, after the final class quest, we would continue onto the job quest and like Final Fantasy 1 they would realize we are “chosen” and our soul stone would upgrade to the new job. EX: You have inherited the soul of ____ you are no longer a Lancer, you are now a Dragoon! This would also solve the problem of gear in the game needing to work on Classes and Jobs. The Gear could just fit the Job only! I.E. Vanya Robe of Healing would be wearable by Sch/Whm because there is no such thing as a 50 Conjurer or Arcanist.


Second, no more cross class skills currently each job only gets 5 extra skills over the base class to make it different from the other. If we were to remove cross class requirement that enables us to become a new job, we could fit more unique skills in! That’s right jobs like Bard could get more support abilities, Paladin could get some unique shield skill/special magic, Warriors could get a different stance (Berserker) to enter a “DPS” mode, and who knows what else we could get. Even if the skills are just buffs based off existing buffs at least we could possibly get new animations to make the fit the essence of the role we are playing.


Finally as I said before this new variation of the class/job system would prevent issue in the future that we avoided recently. The Scholar/Summoner issue, the game based it off a class that uses carbuncle, Arcanist. Once we get our job form we never use Carbuncle again. This is wasted code and abilities; sure the Carbuncles get replaced when we enter job form. However, what was the real point in having it if it was only going to be replaced later? Why force people to choose between the 2 classes and use the tome to reset our stat allocation. With each class becoming a single individual job post level 30 this would no longer be an issue and at the same time avoid future similar issues. It would also provide more “content” when newer jobs are released because we would need to level them from level 1! Aside from this, the bonus +30 stat points should be removed and hard coded in over a few levels. I would say 95% of the population will just stick it into the job’s main stat anyways, thus making it a pointless system to have in place.


TLDR: Have classes eventually become jobs via soul stone. Hard code the stat allocation. Remove cross class abilities and add 5 new job abilities.


Thank you for hearing me out on this, first, Letter to the Producer. I ask that people take my ideas with a grain of salt as they are not for everyone and obviously still have some holes in them. Also, please look forward to my next Letter to the Producer, “When Magic Goes Wrong.”


Sincerely,


Haqua Herminium
Saragantas Server

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...pW62d-18t8/pub

[LioJen]

I like it. Classes started off as a good idea, but now they're pointless as they are since the free-flowing character creation idea was scrapped after 1.xx in favor of predetermined roles. Each class should just be a single and automatic upgrade to a Job with more new abilities and forget the whole Soul Stone deal. This whole "cross-class skills" thing is just as pointless because everyone always uses the only couple of skills that have any use. There's nothing custom about it, and no choices to actually be made.

Although I don't see issues with new Jobs starting at level 50 for those who already have their classes maxed. At that point they probably don't want to grind FATEs from level 1 all over again and will be glad to get a head start

[Zantetsuken]

Like the OP, I recognize that there are problems with the relevance of the Class system and I'm sure we can all agree that changes are needed.

However, I'm of the school of thought that Classes should be given more gear, more abilities, and more relevance in endgame -- not less.

The fundamentals of the Armory system are actually very good and well suited for casual players or experimentation and variety, it's the implementation of endgame support that's missing.

Here is what I've suggested to give Classes (and some of the other, underutilized features of the game) more relevance:

• Introduce 5 new Class-Exclusive abilities (not useable by Jobs) for each class along with new Class Guild quests from lvls30-50. A decent amount of these new abilities should be usable cross-class.
• Introduce (and/or modify) recipes from iLvl30 - iLvl90 that are meldable with higher stat caps, but are only Class-Exclusive (again, Jobs cannot equip them).
• Introduce new Materia that enhances some traits and abilities, but in exchange, has negative effects on other stats, traits or abilities.
• Add Class AF gear -- Craftable but it should require special rare mats from dungeons as well as Tomestone purchased items. Like DoH/DoL AF, it should be meldable. Also, it should look more 'realistic' and less flashy than Job AF. Something along the lines of:
  
• **This last one is a bit radical, but I really like it** All future endgame Job-exclusive gear should be unmeldable, unconvertable, and it should be gained via dungeon drops or currency purchases. (As 90% of it is now, so no real change). All future Class-exclusive gear should be convertible, meld-able and crafted (just like DoL/DoH "AF" is). The Materia system is one of customization, just as the Armory system is. These systems should work exclusively with each-other and create parallel path to endgame.. One that is less powerful, perhaps, but that offers great flexibility and opportunity for innovation on the part of the players.

These changes would make classes a viable option in endgame, it would revitalize crafting an materia markets, and it would open the game up to some 'sandbox'-type play in regards to builds and tactics -- All of which are either unfulfilled promises or un-met expectations in the current state of the game.




TL;DR - Dev's please GET CLASSY, and start supporting the armory system that was touted as the foundation for the game. Don't treat the Armory system as second-Class (pun :P ). Classes need real relevance in the game, be they DoW & DoM, or DoH & DoL.

[Nekodar]

[*] Introduce 5 new Class-Exclusive abilities for each class along with Class Guild quests from lvls30-50. A decent amount of these new abilities should be usable cross-class.

In other words you want to transform the base class into it's own job, just with the ability to crossclass more...

[Zantetsuken]

In other words you want to transform the base class into it's own job, just with the abilityto crossclass more...

I want the original development vision of the Class and Job systems to be realized:

• Classes are supposed to be generalists with loads of customization and the optimal choice for small group/soloing.
• Jobs are supposed to be specialists, with very little flexibility, but tuned for full party play.

**For those that are familiar with MtG terminology , think of Jobs as "Timmy Cards" and Classes as "Johnny Cards"**

Also, like Classes, I don't believe that Jobs have achieved the vision set forth either:

• WHM/SCH should not be able to reliably DPS, (that should be the function of CNJ and ACN). - FIX: When used for WHM or SCH, 'Cleric Stance' doesn't boost damage, but intead Reduces Emnity at the cost of Healing Potentcy.
  
• DRG, MNK, BLM, and SCH should have lower Max HP and Def than their respective Classes, but should have higher Determination and Crit rate.
  
• WAR and PLD should do less damage than MRD or GLD. 'Defiance' and 'Shield Oath' should be Job TRAITS not abilities. Change 'Sword Oath' for PLD to a 20sec buff with a 3min cooldown. (like 'Unchained' is)
  
• BRD should be a first and foremost a Support Job, not a DPS Job. but that's a whole other discussion that involves adding another Role to the game.

Then the argument should be for them to scrap bonus attribute allocation surely. It's a pointless mechanic anyway because DPS will always go STR/DEX/INT accordingly, VIT for tanks, MND for healers. There's this illusion of choice that doesn't exist except on the one tree where they merged a MND job with an INT job and left one or both gimped.

I agree that it's pointless for Jobs..
Stat allocation should also apply to Classes Only.. Jobs stats should be auto-allocated - for the exact reasons you stated.

[Mardel]

@Zantetsuken

Again IF, they were to do this I think I would have a better outlook on classes. The problem is that they do not want to add new abilities to jobs and are under the false impression that people even want to utilize classes. If I recall they want us to use Jobs in a party setting and the classes were meant to be used in Solo play. Thing is the solo play is so washed down that the only people who would struggle to solo are those probably wearing lv 1 gear at lv 30.

Now, I like where you are going change wise with jobs. Many of the suggestions you state would allow for ability slots to freed up and replaced. This would allow for a better method of play.

Side Notes:

1. The reason WHM/SCH have DPS skills was so that casual players could play the game at their own leisure and solo some.
2. This is also why bard is not pure support.
3. Sch/smn have a bad base class, well more like inappropriate. (I'll touch on that in my next letter)

[Mihana]

-snip-

I completely agree with your suggestions there, classes DON'T get much in the way of use anymore. Aside from solo play in some scenarios, playing a job is still better suited. The sad part is they were attempting this process with 1.0 nearing the end by making specific kinds of armors and weapons exclusive to a class. I loved this way of thinking and I hope they expand upon it later down the line once more. Jobs should by far be always the preferred choice in any situation but content that offers to the flexibility that classes can provide that jobs cannot is needed. Sure you can pull it off with use of jobs instead, but the ideal choice are classes where having access to a wider array of skills creates new and interesting strategies that get the job so to speak, done more effectively.

Personally when I'm not in a party I still switch to Archer over Bard just for the extra healing potential alone. This is especially true with Pugilist over Monk. However I'd like to see more opportunities to use this in a light party setup over something like Warrior, Bard, Black Mage, White Mage.

[Mardel]

I would be okay with classes if they got the 5 extra abilities and the same stats as jobs. If they make those changes then sure I would be okay with classes, but I HIGHLY doubt they would do anything with them. Plus it would not solve any of the main individuality issues the current jobs are facing.

Also zantetsuken, what glasses are those?

[Zantetsuken]

what glasses are those?

Dated Weathered Spectacles (Green)

You can always check a Character's gear here (As long as they are still wearing it in-game.)

[Mardel]

Dated Weathered Spectacles (Green)

You can always check a Character's gear here (As long as they are still wearing it in-game.)

I had a pair before, but I lost a few things that didn't end up on retainers or calamity salvager.