Quote Originally Posted by SilvertearRen View Post
You know why I say this in the subject heading?

Because there are people looking for inordinately LARGE numbers of a specific class, for Dzemael Darkhold. This is the kind of pigeonholing we need to avoid for classes.

I saw someone shouting in Ul'dah for three archers, for his party at Dzmael Darkhold. That is almost half a full party. There is something wrong with this picture, in terms of class balancing.

Does anyone remember when Dragoon was not loved in FFXI? Does anyone remember when Dark Knight was not loved in FFXI?

If this is the direction FFXIV is taking, then I want no part of it.

I do not want to relive my experiences in FFXI in XIV.
This is one of the drawbacks of having a strategy-based system. People will find a "best" strategy to beat something, and then stick only to that strategy, and after that it spreads like wildfire. After a while, it becomes canon... with almost a religious following. The "only one good way" to do something results in high demand for specific classes. I don't really see that as a flaw with FF MMORPGs, but a deficiency in human character. Let's face it, humans aren't that creative or intelligent on average -- we mostly mimic and follow the leader. (I study primates, and I see the same thing in other species.) I really don't see how SE could design their game to get around that fundamental trait short of going back to mindless button-mashing and jobs that can be intermixed any which way.

Trust me -- I don't like it either, but after preaching 'til I was blue in the face on FFXI about there being more than one good solution to various problems and being either ignored or told I didn't know what I was talking about (by people who hadn't tried anything else but the "conventional wisdom"), I really don't see a good way to change it.

Another classic example is the recruiting feature in the game. Most people expect a LFG flag and search. The recruiting system works the other way around and could be a superior system in most cases, but because it doesn't work the way everyone expects, it's seen as a flawed/failed system. If people can't think outside the box, then this game may go to hell in a hand-basket.