Cool systems, a touch of feedback

[einlanzer0]

I think the class/job system is actually really well conceived overall, but now that we have both I think a couple of changes would make a lot of sense, even if they would require rebalancing:

1. Remove restrictions on cross class skills for classes.
2. Let jobs equip more than one weapon type.

Now that end game is mostly ruled by jobs, I don't see the point of having restrictions on cross class skills at all. I want to equip Fire on my Gladiator - so what if it's weak? Any skills you would need to perform your role adequately are already bundled into your main class. This would just open up fun options for personal tailoring.

Class themes are based around weapons, but job themes are more about aesthetics. I just think there should be more cosmetic options for a given job. Many warriors in FF traditionally use Sword & board, so it should be an option in this game. It would also improve the scalability of the job system and help them stand out more.

[Enkidoh]

1. The thing is, players actually wanted a more restrictive system - version 1.0 launched with cross class skills indeed being unrestricted - you could literally equip any ability to any class with no real drop in efficiency, except in some minor cases.

The community at the time though didn't like this system and asked for dedicated class roles in battle, hence abilities were redesigned to have certain skills restricted to only being able to be cross classed by specific classes (and Jobs limiting it even more). Not being able to use, say, Blizzard II on my GLA/PLD for instance is not much of a big deal really, but I'd more prefer if certain abilities didn't entirely lose their effectiveness when cross classed (for instance, Cure's potency being cut down considerably when cross classed).

2. That's actually not possible due to how the Armoury System is set up - this isn't FFXI's system where a Job can equip different types of weapons. Here, your class is your weapon (why else does it show the weapon's type as the class/Job icon?). And because a Job merely piggybacks onto it's default class, it therefore uses the same weapon type as it's class.

Yes it's restrictive, but I actually like this system to be honest - I prefer it to FFXI's system where a Job could be able to equip multiple weapon types and the player would only ever use one (like, how many people ever bothered equipping a staff or katana to WAR in FFXI? Or great axe on DRK?).

[einlanzer0]

snip

1. That's my point - more dedicated class roles were somewhat "needed" prior to the job system, but now that the job system fills that niche, the classes no longer need to and the restrictions on cross class skills feel arbitrary and unnecessary. Opening those back up would allow for a lot more room for customization and serve to differentiate the jobs and classes more.

2. It technically is totally possible, they just may have to make some minor alterations to how the crystals work. I get why some people wouldn't care so much about this, but I do. Although, it will be less of an issue as they release more classes and more jobs in the future I'm sure.

[Kitru]

2. It technically is totally possible, they just may have to make some minor alterations to how the crystals work.

And you'd also be requiring the developers to create numerous additional animations for every ability for the new weapons. Every single weapon would require a new suite of animations for every single class. The only reason that the THM and CNJ have access to both 1h/shield and 2h options is because there are only 3 casting animations needed because spells are distinguished by their particles effects rather than the skeletal animation.

There would also need to be a balance tweak given for sword and board compared to 2h weapons since, unless 2h weapons get some kind of defensive benefit that equates to shield blocking, you'd just be changing WAR from using an axe to only ever using sword and board (WARs are tanks so they would use the optimal defensive loadout). There's actually an existing imbalance for THM/CNJ insofar as 1h/shield provides more than straight up 2h (you get the same stats as a 2h but you also get block value/rating), but seeing as THM/CNJ are both squishy caster types, it doesn't really mean anything.

The amount of work involved in allowing for multiple weapon options for each class is so large that it's pretty much never going to happen. It would be too much work for too little developmental payout: for the same amount of work, the devs could just as easily create a slew of new classes/jobs entirely. Try weighing 2 new entirely new classes against what amounts to cosmetic variability for existing classes (since you're asking for new options without affecting anything mechanical), and it's pretty obvious which is going to benefit the game more.