Will SE possibly rework the skill/job system in the future?

[iWaRTuRTLe]

I think the uniqueness of XI was the main/sub aspect of each class. Not only did this add uniqueness i think it could also add to the content side of things. I underdstand SE said right now there isnt any content out right now that requires cross class skills but this doesnt leave it out for future content. Ifrit 1.0 certainly needed it. Im not saying to add the main/sub thing into ffxiv put maybe get a 2nd slot for a soul crystal which will let u carry a few skills from those 3 classes. This can add more defense/evasion for a tank or even have a dps type tank. Mages with extra defensive buffs for critical fights. And same with dps classes having cross buffs. Some things would of course be scaled down so things wouldnt be so over powered.

[Radacci]

Probably not.
There isnt any critical fights, really.
There's different mechanics that you can completely avoid (Landslide) Or for Twintania, kill snakes, to debuff asclepius and burn it. Stand in neural link, to take reduced damage from Aetherial Profusion/Hatches.
War is DPS type tank.
And BLM has manawall, that can completely block 2 attacks, mana ward can reduce damage of stuff, by quite a lot, and apocathesis that increase resistance. None of them are necessary for anything.
They removed archer skills from DRG cross-class, so we can't use straight shot, raging strike, cause they made DRG rather OP...so...i doubt they will add other cross-class buffs, that will make you OP again.
Tanks don't need more defensive skills, unless you want the game to get even easier than it is. Ofc more defensive skills wouldn't save you from Twisters or blighted, though.

[Souljacker]

I'd prefer that they add uniqueness to the classes\jobs.

For example, I can't think of many instances to use Maurader over Warrior. Why not change maurauder's later levels into a DPS role instead of a lesser warrior tank? The same thing could be done for Lancer - leave Dragoon as the DPS but add uniqueness to Lancer in the 30+ levels that allow you to function as a tank. Conjurer? Pure DPS. Why not, they already used over half the spell slots for DPS spells. White Mage remains healer.

It would add some variety to the unfortunately small amount of jobs and give us reasons to play the initial jobs. I haven't switched back to lancer or conjurer since getting the advanced job, but if I could take my lancer into a dungeon as a parry-tank I sure would.

[Adrian74]

NO to improve the skills using gear... I'm already tired of gear progression...

YES to this idea: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ills-or-traits.

[Garlyle]

As cool as subclassing in XI was in theory, it also resulted in a lot of just useless combinations. Essentially player traps. Though I know a lack of customization sucks, it also means content is way easier to make feel balanced because you know similar players at similar development points aren't going to actually have a massive gap in effectiveness between them because of subpar choices like that.

There are ways more customization could be implemented; but I'm not sure even a limited subclassing system like that would actually be all that great.

[Monsalvato]

I don't get what you're asking.
A second slot for a soul crystal?
But you can already do this, to a certain extent...

Or did you imply that cross-actions as a whole, aside a few exceptions, are useless?
I could agree with this maybe, at least partially, but I don't see it happening.

The only core aspects of the game they need to tweak imho are:
1) Make multiple jobs per class a standard, or give classes a new purpose. Atm the situation is a bit confused.
2) 17+5 actions for all is imho a limit. They showed a lot of creativity to circumvein it on NIN/SMN/ACN, but why go that far when you could simply remove it?
3) Not a problem now, but it will the more classes/jobs they're gonna add in the future. Imho they need to raise complexity in the trinity system. Tank/Healer/DD won't cut it once you have many jobs.

These can be seen as small or big tweaks, but it's nothing that would completely rehaul the game, and I can see this happening in the future. The expansion maybe?

[Souljacker]

It wasn't that there were useless combinations - it was more that specific combinations were SO necessary or powerful that you really didn't have much of a choice. You HAD to sub ninja for shadows. You HAD to sub warrior for provoke. You HAD to sub whm for cleanses. I agree that a system that uses more hybrid, cross-class skills is the wrong direction to go in. Classes need to stand on their own and NOT be defined by a skill from another class. It's one reason I'm so against provoke being a level 22 Gladiator skill. EVERY tank needs their OWN taunt. It's little things like that which give the ILLUSION of choice and "customization", but in reality it just locks you into the same cookie-cutter build EVERYONE has because you can't get what you need from your own class.

[Hulan]

It wasn't that there were useless combinations - it was more that specific combinations were SO necessary or powerful that you really didn't have much of a choice. You HAD to sub ninja for shadows. You HAD to sub warrior for provoke. You HAD to sub whm for cleanses. I agree that a system that uses more hybrid, cross-class skills is the wrong direction to go in.

On the other hand, one of the things I kind of took for granted in FFXI until now - as this thread made me think of it - was that despite the relative rigidness of the main/sub combinations, I made a conscious choice every time I put on my BLM robe..er..tattoos to sub WHM or RDM. There really is no analog for that in FFXIV.

That being said, while I find it an interesting observation, I think that FFXIV is blazing it's own direction, and should continue to do so. If memory does not completely fail me, Yoshi-P said a ways back that while the current Job:Class relationship is very rigid, they had considered unusual and unique relationships and it may not always be in the same form that it currently is. I have always believed that while the patches bring interesting content, the first expansion is where we will really see if FFXIV has the chops to be really interesting or not.

[Monsalvato]

IIt's little things like that which give the ILLUSION of choice and "customization", but in reality it just locks you into the same cookie-cutter build EVERYONE has because you can't get what you need from your own class.

You raised a valid point. The "illusion" of customization. It's the same in 99% of MMOs.

But once again, "actions customization" was a core element of Tanaka's FFXIV 1.0, which was a very very different game. More of a Sandbox than a Themepark MMO (if you know the difference).
In a themepark MMO like FFXIV it makes little sense, especially in the current form where the number of cross-equippable actions is small, it's even smaller for jobs since they can only equip from a specific set of classes, and ultimately even smaller because of the small number of eligible actions, only an even smaller amount is really useful.

So yes, at the current state of the game it's more of an "illusion" than anything else.
But it serves a secondary yet useful purpose.
It "forces" people to explore other classes by being forced to level them up to a certain level to get that one useful cross-action. As annoying as it may seem, it's a "noble goal" to shake some people from their otherwise lazyness :P

[Garlyle]

It wasn't that there were useless combinations - it was more that specific combinations were SO necessary or powerful that you really didn't have much of a choice..

Fair enough. In practice though, it isn't really that different - especially when developpers then have to build content expecting those 'strong' combinations, otherwise there's no challenge - which in turn is too much for non-optimal combinations to handle.

It can still be a fun system - but it's distinctly not one of the philosophies XIV has chosen to follow, at least right now.