Show your support for making Classes viable.

[Ryel]

Wow, talk about a lot of dismissive replies. Honestly, I'd love to see classes get their due, and it annoys me to no end that SE has simply continued to push them under the bus. That said, the actual cross-class system would need a heck of a lot of revision. As it stands one of the biggest problems classes face is that they don't have enough cross-class skills, and those they do are either pointless (Savage Blade and Skull Sunder) or not worth the TP cost (Venomous Bite and Fracture) when you cross-class them. A simple solution would be to add in the starter of certain combo-skills to the cross-class set--like Fast Blade or Heavy Swing--but not the ender, so that way the appropriate class can make the most use of it. Maybe we could also include the appropriate trait to certain skills, should the class we're drawing from have obtained it, such as Mercy Stroke receiving a reduced cooldown.

Jobs can keep their stat-boost and specific skills, but classes desperately need their own buffs, as well. It's probably not going to happen, but I do hope SE decides to give those of us who want to play the more versatile classes a helping hand, too. And who knows, maybe we'd even find some new party compositions along the way?

Except... changes to the cross class system could easily be applied to jobs making them more unique and interesting instead...

nothing proposed in your statement would make classes uniquely better that couldn't be applied to jobs to a greater degree

I have to ask, what is it people like about classes so much in particular that could not be applied to the job system? is it their names? It cant simply be the cross class system because cross class abilities as a whole need a bit of a rework as it stands and anything classes currently have could easily be applied to jobs in the future if they wish.

[Mysteltain]

Except... changes to the cross class system could easily be applied to jobs making them more unique and interesting instead...

nothing proposed in your statement would make classes uniquely better that couldn't be applied to jobs to a greater degree

I did say that it would take a lot of revision to the actual system, and that's why I doubt it will ever happen. However, to counter your point, SE has always said that they want jobs to focus on one specific task, whereas classes are meant for versatility. So going by their own words, jobs were designed to be 'blander', I guess, than classes, and aren't meant to become anymore 'unique' or 'interesting' than they come off as. WARs will always tank, MNKs will always DPS, WHMs will always heal. Sure, overgearing content means a WAR can DPS outside of Defiance (as I've done before on my alt, although from my understanding MRD is more effective at DPS), and WHMs can crowd-control just fine with Holy, but in terms of current-level content they're much more effective fulfilling their standard roles.

I've actually dabbled in classes a bit, myself, having my alt reach level 50 as a GLD without ever swapping, and I do see some potential. She can use Feint or Haymaker to slow the enemy and mitigate damage during tanking, pop Featherfoot to dodge some attacks, or use Blood for Blood alongside Raging Strikes and Fight or Flight to give her much higher DPS for a brief period of time, mitigating the increased damage received with Rampart. Yes, she lacks the stat boosts and the abilities granted by jobs, but the extra utility, situational as it may be, makes her much more interesting to play. I can definitely see classes allowing more interesting party compositions and playstyles outside of the standard Tank/Heal/2xDPS and the 1-2-3 skill rotations that the game largely is right now.

EDIT: Sorry, I quoted your post before you edited that last part in. For me, I just want to see classes mean something. If they're going to keep classes in, and keep the cross-class system in, and not simply overwrite classes with jobs when we hit 30, I'd like to see them do something about it. It's a silly hope, to be certain, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to see something come of it.