Do you think we need a 4th role, a support role?

[AzraelX]

I heard some people requesting a 4th role/support role.

I do not support this b/c every class has a support role fxn. in a sense all roles are DPS/support, Tank/support...etc.. due to having support skills that aid the entire party.

Adding a 4th role would just make it much more difficult to get balance groups together. DPS is always the most popular role in any MMO.

So what do you guys think?

[nuyu11]

I wish yes... Just like Shiroe The enchanter in Log Horizon.

[aerialrave]

Doesn't seem to fit into the current game style.

Right now the game is focused on dealing as much damage as possible and speed running things as fast as possible. This involves things like Solo Tank and Solo Healer in 8 man groups. Some people even go so far as to drop the defensive stance on tanks and make the healer do DPS.

It wouldn't make sense to add a class that doesn't deal significant damage.

Besides, pretty much every class has some supportive abilities built into it. Or at least cross-classable.

[silentwindfr]

the trouble to make a support role (even if i wish for it) it's to modify the whole game.... mostly because he was create for be tuned around tank/heal/dps
even the group will need a rebalance and the jobs will need to be changed and it will displease a loooot of player. why do you ask?

first they will need to make the BRD (and probably the Machinist) into support role, downing them dps a bit more and changing the whole feeling of the class by adding more support capacity, while taking out a few of the offensive capacity.
other point even if they do this, we will still be blocked with 3 tank (paladin, warrior, dark knight), 3 healer (white mage, scholar and astrologian), 2 support (bard, machinist) and 5 dps (monk, ninja, dragoon, black mage and summoner). where the problem is, it's into the fact that the game will still have 5 dps jobs for 1 spot in dungeon. if you find 30 minute long for enter a dungeon, wait they do this.... because it will probably reach 1-2 hours.

why you do ask? good question, because people love big number and prefer play dps, that why a lot of role did disappear over the course of the evolution of the mmorpg. before we had more role than 3, you had the debuffer, the buffer, the controller.... but the trouble is the people playing this different role is not that much.... people want to be dps more than healer or tank or....support. do it's good for the game? sadly nope.... it's why yoshida was talking to create more hybrid class.

ps: for make simple, is not a trouble to fit into the game, but to fit into the mmorpg world now.... people don't want to be a sub role as support, you can see it by seeing the number of post about how weak the bard is because he don't do the same dps than the dragoon, ninja, monk.....
oh and the post about how sad they are that the machinist will be a bit similar from what was announced.... people don't want support they want to be the one that do big number.

[StouterTaru]

The issue is that a support job would either be overpowered in an 8 man run, and/or underpowered in a 4 man run. It can be done, but would require a job that plays much different in the two different setups.

[Iromi]

I love support roles. Would be so nice to have one in FFXIV, but I dunno how it would fit in...what with job balance and what not. :/

[Welsper59]

Do we need one? Nope.

Would it be interesting to have one? Definitely. It'd be pretty reminiscent of FFXI, in particular (due to circumstance). I'd definitely take up the support role. They're usually the easiest to pick up, hardest to master (and reaching that point is generally never necessary).

The thing people need to know about support roles is that they're generally going to be overpowered in potential (not by themselves). Devs tend to attack this by looking at the mobs/boss/etc and basing their content around it, generally making these roles mandatory (balance becomes stricter in player freedom). In a game like this, there would be far too much work involved to create something like the traditional BRD job. The output potential would be ridiculous in how the devs would basically have to make the support role distribute its effectiveness to all other party members to make up for the potential. Meaning, in the case of DPS, the support would need to throw out damage buffs equivalent of the group putting out an additional players average worth (e.g. ~350 DPS). That's just looking at it from supporting DPS... this job/role would have to encompass more than just damage output, afterall.

[Tiggy]

They already told us we would eventually get a 4th hybrid role.

[AzraelX]

the trouble to make a support role (even if i wish for it) it's to modify the whole game.... mostly because he was create for be tuned around tank/heal/dps
even the group will need a rebalance and the jobs will need to be changed and it will displease a loooot of player. why do you ask?

Well I read an a few weeks ago ( i don't have link) and Interview asked about possible for 4th role. Y was kinda like ehh about it and stated a possibly of granting jobs the ability to use skills/traits from other jobs. ( more customization) - not sure how i feel about that from a balance standpoint.

[Canadane]

They already told us we would eventually get a 4th hybrid role.

This was never said with concrete certainty. Everything is up in the air until it actually happens.