The future of Thief and Ninja (minor 2.2 spoilers)

[Saikou]

If they actually called the dual wield base class this, and it was a running gag in their guild and quests... That would be awesome. Yes, big FFVI fan here.

[Legendlives]

Thancred to me screamed Scout. He always went ahead to scout out the beast tribes, and gather information. To me that is Scouting.

I think the base class will be Scout, and branch off into Thief, i just dont see Ninja released at the same time as the other 2 classes/jobs that will be coming in 2.3+.

I also think Musketeer will be the base class (the guild of course has been in game since 1.0) with the job class being a ranged tank. What the class will be called could be any ones guess.

Those will be the ones i see being released first, then possible in the expansion each of those being expanded on.

[Reynhart]

Isn't a "ranged tank" kind of an oxymoron ?

I mean, tanks are supposed to take hits, and the vast majority of monsters hit at close range.
It's kind of weird to use firearms if you spent 90% of combat shooting at point blank.

[Hiroradius]

Thief will probably be a positional melee person, bet he will have a back stab attack, side stab, and even something where he has to be in front of the mob (cleave range), who probably steals enimity from people and can transfer to the tank, and can probably steal hp from the mob to heal himself.

Ninja I think will be kinda a either or, melee or range.. so in movement fights Ninja would be better, in tank n spank fights thief would better, and fights with adds, again thief would better because they could tag an add and transfer the enimity to the tank for control.

[Legendlives]

Isn't a "ranged tank" kind of an oxymoron ?

I mean, tanks are supposed to take hits, and the vast majority of monsters hit at close range.
It's kind of weird to use firearms if you spent 90% of combat shooting at point blank.

Hey it worked for SWToR im sure SE can make it work here as well. Im not saying thats what i'll be but i wouldnt be shocked if thats what his quote ment "not what we are expecting" when it concerns the gun class.

[Legendlives]

Thief will probably be a positional melee person, bet he will have a back stab attack, side stab, and even something where he has to be in front of the mob (cleave range), who probably steals enimity from people and can transfer to the tank, and can probably steal hp from the mob to heal himself.

Ninja I think will be kinda a either or, melee or range.. so in movement fights Ninja would be better, in tank n spank fights thief would better, and fights with adds, again thief would better because they could tag an add and transfer the enimity to the tank for control.

I dont like the idea of Thief transfering arggo nor stealing health. I see thief having more of an arggo dump in the form of going stealth or something, also i think they will play more like a debuff class that will help everyone in the group, like lowering armor and/or health, maybe evening crippling there speed/attack speed, something along those lines.

As far as Ninja job goes (i never played FFXI) i dont like the idea of them being a tank class. Ninja's are stealthy and sneaky, they like to attack from shadows and dispatch there opponents quickly and silently, an assassin, its what they are and should be played like one.

Also i think both will be jobs, not classes.

[Reynhart]

Hey it worked for SWToR im sure SE can make it work here as well.

How does it play in SWToR ?

[Malrend]

I dont like the idea of Thief transfering arggo nor stealing health. I see thief having more of an arggo dump in the form of going stealth or something, also i think they will play more like a debuff class that will help everyone in the group, like lowering armor and/or health, maybe evening crippling there speed/attack speed, something along those lines.

I highly doubt that you'll find Thieves able to stealth in any shape or form, as the closest thing to such in previous games would be the "Hide" ability, which was typically something that belonged to Bards.

The aggro transfer abilities on the other hand, would be something that has been seen in the series before. This is not to say that they can't implement something completely new and unique to ARR's rendition of the Thief, of course.

Personally I see them having a lot of debuffs, to reflect the abilities of more recent incarnations of the Thief, where they could steal equipment/stats/etc.

[Legendlives]

How does it play in SWToR ?

Just like any other tank in any other game. The only difference was that they were range.

The aggro transfer abilities on the other hand, would be something that has been seen in the series before.

Im sorry but refresh my memory on this, its been a long time since i've played the older FF games but i've never remembered any of the thieves having an aggro transfer ability.

Either way i still think Thief's will have a stealth base aggro dump cause Yoshi has said he wants to add a stealth class so i see them having stealth in some way.

[Malrend]

Im sorry but refresh my memory on this, its been a long time since i've played the older FF games but i've never remembered any of the thieves having an aggro transfer ability.

Either way i still think Thief's will have a stealth base aggro dump cause Yoshi has said he wants to add a stealth class so i see them having stealth in some way.

Well FFXI was the first.. In the sense that it had an actual aggro/enmity system, which isn't really something that is part of turn-based combat systems.
However, in the Tactics/Ivalice Alliance games, Thieves tend to be among the few who can inflict Confusion and Charm status, both of which are probably the closest to aggro management you can find in turn-based combat.
And a large amount of FF fans will loathe me for mentioning this, but the same thing was possible in FFX-2, and in that same game they could also inflict Berserk on enemies and allies.