The harp is a lie.

[Davorok]

[QUOTE]Warning! FFXI Comparison Alert! (and Wall O' Text)

In XI you could unlock any and all Advanced Jobs upon reaching level 30. You just had to do 1 quest (although a multi-part quest in some cases) and once unlocked, you could play as that job. In other words a r30 White Mage could immediately become a Samurai.

Of course you would want to have War leveled for a good subjob instead of /gimp Whm but the point is that once a Job is unlocked, everyone was instantly that Job regardless of previous training.

At least in XIV it appears that you have to level the appropriate Class 1st that unlocks the Advanced Job for that Class. Gladiator ^ Paladin; Lancer ^ Dragoon; Marauder ^ Warrior; Pug ^ Monk, etc.

Now if the argument is that Bard is not the most logical Advanced Job for Archer...that certainly is debatable (which we are...debating). My personal opinion is that it may not be logical for Archer to become Bard, but it is logical for Bard to come from Archer (as opposed to the other "Starting Classes").

(In my lore) Archers tend to be solitary wanderers who learn the weaknesses of enemies and acquire "Hit & Run" tactics for survivability but also acquire "Debilitating Damage" techniques for grouping up with others when the need arises, whether it be the Archers need or the parties need.

I see Bards also as wanderers who gain much knowledge in their wide travels and learn to survive through Soothing Songs and Battle Cries which especially shine in Party situations. An Archer could certainly learn these "songs" in his many travels and encounters with various humanoids, Beastmen and monsters, further enhancing both his Survivability and Party Tactics.

Lore can always be written (or rewritten) to fit almost any scenario in a Fantasy World but we don't get to write it. We just either accept it or not, enjoy it or not and play the game or not. "Barcher" is not a gamebreaker for me...however...

I agree with others who wanted to see a new "Minstrel Class", (essentially a Bard) that advanced to Dancer/Puppetmaster/Beastmaster, but that is obviously not going to happen. We will get new Classes eventually though as well as new Jobs for those Classes in addition to Multiple Jobs for all Classes old & new...eventually.

I believe that all these changes will increase our options for solo and party play rather than limit them because in reality you only need 3 Jobs in any party... Tank, Healer, DD...everything else is just icing on the Sweet Rice Cake and almost any combination of 5 Classes and/or Jobs will fill a viable Party. And with the Class System remaining largely intact even a party missing a Paladin or a White Mage will still be viable with multi-ability Classes instead of Jobs.

Even an "Elite Party" consisting of Paladin, Warrior, Dragoon, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Bard will still have room for one jobless Class that will still be effective either as a backup to the weakest link or as an additional DD or healer. Parties will obviously prefer Jobs over Classes but if any 1 Job is not available, the other Classes will still be able to fill the role of the missing job through custom class abilities.

In XI if you did not have a Paladin and a White Mage you were pretty much screwed unless you had a Bard and massive DD to kill quickly (Yes, Ninja's could tank but it took alot of effort on the rest of the PT to work).

In XIV (it seems to me) they are giving us many more options to create an effective party for any circumstance. The Class-Ability Armoury System will continue to shine no matter how many Jobs they introduce because Classes will always be able to fill whatever "Role/Job" is missing and if you are not needed to fill a Role, then you are free to be what you want to be (as long as you're not just leeching).

Summation of long incoherent boring post: I like the concept of Jobs built on top of Classes as I think it increases personal choice and increases party based adaptability. But of course, we will see and I'm sure adjustments will be made to imbalances in the system....Oh and I like Barcher whether it makes sense or not.