Ideas for Samurai

[Shurrikhan]

snip

While I agree with some of this, keep in mind that Samurai was a class later and a contractual position before (though with its name reserved from otherwise similar buddoshi as if for a class thereof), much like a 'Knight'. They're not to be confused with yeoman, serf, or otherwise conscripted infantry or general mercenaries.

Like knights, if not to a greater extreme, they often had their own standards for involvement in combat and commonly did not combat infantrymen (aside from slaughtering them from atop a warhorse, which was still honorable, while stabbing a charging samurai with a pike as a lowly serf would have been dishonorable). Archery was not limited to the samurai class, but it was just as much a show of a samurai's prowess as the sword; the sword could make a more renowned samurai out of his duels, but his archery skill determined his general worth if a lord, the emperor, or a throne-contender were to be hiring...

To be clear though, I have no wish to see FFXIV's Samurai be an archer. I simply don't see even a fifth as much that can be done with archer gameplay as a Samurai compared to the sword. The spear wouldn't be all that much better. Both would likely feel the overlap with the other shared classes than the Sword (despite likely having the most classes using it) would. The sword is not only iconic and a more traditional representation of an FF Samurai, but also more lucrative/practical/call-it-what-you-will. If the armory system eventually broke down, allowing each job to use multiple weapons, then depending on how they're built the spear and sword might fit well enough with their existent tools, but I'd rather see whatever system is made for SAM capitalize completely on the sword than hold out for any alternate weapons.