So Why assume removal of Classes?

[NeverYolo]

no new class for 3.0 have pretty much been confirm by Yoshi-P when a) said new job for xpac not classes
b) at the gamerescape interview when they ask him about why he only said new job he reply with basicly, good catch

Good point, I forgot about that... didn't know what to think about it at the time.
Yah, sounds like the expansion IS bigger than any of us were thinking... probably a whole new redesigned job system. Thank Yoshi-P! We might get a real Summoner and not a dinky Arcanist with different looking pets! Perhaps this will give individuality back to other jobs as well.

[lololink]

Good point, I forgot about that... didn't know what to think about it at the time.
Yah, sounds like the expansion IS bigger than any of us were thinking... probably a whole new redesigned job system. Thank Yoshi-P! We might get a real Summoner and not a dinky Arcanist with different looking pets! Perhaps this will give individuality back to other jobs as well.

I wouldn't bet on this personally, I think we will keep the class system for the first classes.

[Radacci]

who cares about lore and such? dump the classes!
nobody cares about classes, after lv30, so just remove them.
(slightly sarcastic)

Well, he also said that once you buy Heavensward you'll be able to get a Dark Knight.

To me that seems to heavily suggest that Dark Knights will become a starter class/job.

if i remember correctly, it was Koji, that said that...and it was on par with WHM punching stuff (in reference to what cross-class, rog would use, so Yoshi started punching in the air, and Koji was like: WHM?)

[Airget]

This is speculation but they could be doing this. If they revamp the class system and say make "onion knight" the base class a player is and then the job crystal changes person to said job then the first trick is what do you do about going from weapon to job when you first get the job in question.

If they indeed do away with classes I feel like they may do the following:
-Onion Knight will be the base "title" for every adventurer
-The weapon the Onion Knight uses will determine the skillset they have available
-When you change to a job and have no weapon in hand you will be bare-handed
-Abilities will have a "required weapon/job" tool-tip attached to them so in the case of changing into a DRK with no greatsword you would not be able to use any of the abilities which require a Great Sword to use

That's my best guess though if they want to make all the current jobs the same however what they could do for the current class/job system is just have it where 50+ they level separately so from 50+ you have to level both SMN and SCH if you want them at 60 and you can't just lv Arcanist to 60 and have both jobs at 60. With that in mind SMN and SCH would learn completely unique abilities from one another from 50-60 and woudl not share anything between one another in that window of lvs. AKA there will be no addition to class abilities rather abilities will only be tied to jobs from 50+ however abilities from 50+ may be cross-classable.

[Radacci]

snip

or they could just have a class for each wep.
why dump it, to make everyone an onion knight? i don't want to be an onion knight, by default...
so instead of cross-class, you want to cross-job? ya that wouldn't be imbalanced at all. Ninja with shoulder tackle, fist of fire, drg jumps? SCH with fester and summons?
why can't ppl understand: you lv your class, not job; job is just an extension to class, not the other way around. SCH/SMN lvs both go up, cause you lv up ACN. Jobs don't have any lv, by themselves. You unlock job skills, from soulstones, once you're skilled enough in your class. Classes have lore purpose...

[Ronyx]

We wouldnt even need the Soul Stones if classes were removed. So just by equip a weapon would be enough to job change.

[Radacci]

We wouldnt even need the Soul Stones if classes were removed. So just by equip a weapon would be enough to job change.

which is basically what we're doing already, so what would that change? except removing a large chunk of story/lore.

[Tupsi]

Yep we have to keep in mind that Lore wise the Jobs are special because only few people are able to actually learn and master the Jobs.

Dark Knight most likely will have a Lore reason why it is a Job without a class while keeping the concept that Jobs can only be learned by very few people worthy of the Soulstones.

Funny enough he said if you register a code you "might" be able to become a Dark Knight from the get go, wonder how they're gonna fit that into lore? As much as they claim "lore" on everything, it doesn't keep them from breaking it continually throughout 2.x - to the point they even said to ignore certain lore because it wouldn't make sense if you go: "but the lore stated..."

If we're to take lore into consideration: Conjurers are Black Mages that can also use healing magic. Thaumaturge are Black Mages that can reanimate and control the dead.

which is basically what we're doing already, so what would that change? except removing a large chunk of story/lore.

None of the story is dependent on classes, actually - nor even on the jobs. The story is focused around a set of NPCs and the adventurers.

[Anatha]

I think it's more like "Don't expect to see any new classes in the game once they add in Rogue".

[lololink]

None of the story is dependent on classes, actually - nor even on the jobs. The story is focused around a set of NPCs and the adventurers.

Seems logic for a dragoon to learn at the lancer guild while the DRK will have a DRK master or guild, absolutely.

I think it's more like "Don't expect to see any new classes in the game once they add in Rogue".

Well they might add one if they find a good design idea, I wonder if with the class and job system they could do things like a RDM class that has 3 RDM jobs, one for each role.
(Soul crystals being then the memories of different ways of the RDM )