Quote Originally Posted by Vanguard319 View Post
I guess you never played FFXI, Paladins in that game (and red mages for that matter) could equip bows and use them, there were also NPCs who were dual class Pld/Rng, essentially a tank class that could hold hate through high damage as well as through emnity skills. (I even played Pld/Dnc in a few parties with some success, and I was also known for sometimes using greatswords rather than a sword/shield)

The biggest problem in XI was that even though the job system looked like it had flexibilty, the moment players DECIDED what role a job should be, you were treated like a retard if you dared to play it differently. Ninja went from DD to Tank, Samurai went from tank to DD, Red Mage was forced to sit in the back and toss refresh and pretty much nothing else, completely making the fact it was a multi-role FRONT-line job moot (I guarantee Dancer would have befallen the same fate if it's dances didn't require TP.) Parties were made or broken based on who had what, and I've been in parties that ended as soon as one person had to leave, simply because there wasn't enough flexibility among jobs to continue. Even worse, some jobs were almost impossible to level without resorting to highly risky methods, or waiting for hours, if not days for a party invite (I sympathize with any Thf, Drk, or Blm reading this who understands what I'm getting at.)

In short, the job system in FFXI is an example of what should be avoided in FFXIV, any job system should be flexible enough that it doesn't require you to form a specific type of party just to level up. You should be able to form an effective party with whatever classes are available, that means jobs should have some degree of flexibility. Gld may be considered the best tank, but Pgl and Mrd are no slouches in that department. Likewise, a Gld can play a good DD if required to do so. the only class that is exclusively a single role is Archer, and even it can play the support/healing role with the right gear and cross-class skills set.

Since the job system is being designed to complement, rather than replace the armoury system, it sounds like it won't be like XI. Still, we'll have to wait and see before we can make a final judgment.
I did try to play FFXI, as a Thief infact, and spent most of my time either dead or extremely confused. When I saw how some classes could be mixed/matched I thought it a clever idea, I was gonna grab White Mage as my secondary class so I could spend more time just being confused and less time being dead.

But yeah I did mention this earlier, players in the game will start to dictate what classes they want and don't want, and treat people like idiots for playing in their own certain way instead of what elitists think is 'right' and 'wrong', I saw exactly the same thing in Warcraft and found it totally disgusting. A Warlock was just as effective at doing damage as a Mage, but everyone wanted a Mage because their over-glorifying' made them look superior, and people laughed at fire mages just because they were fire and not arcane. Tanking is tanking, damage is damage and healing is healing, it doesn't matter what class or job they're doing it with, if they're capable of doing it, don't knock them for it.

Wishfull thinking...