I'm surprised nobody's posted a discussion of what the Ifrit video means for Marauders. Here are my thoughts.
Starting in 1.19, we're getting automatic stat point allocation, at least until 1.20. The Ifrit video apparently gives a preview of how stat points will be allocated. And, since my love of Marauder is deep and abiding () I thought one of the most interesting things in the video was how it differs from what you'd expect.
One of the things that makes Marauders effective tanks is their huge HP pool. Typically, the guy with the highest amount of HP in any party is the Marauder. But it looks like that may change in 1.19. Both Gladiators have 3216-18 HP, and the Marauder has 2867 HP.
And Marauders typically have the least MP. But it looks like that may change in 1.19. The Marauder has the 2nd most MP of any DoW: 951 MP (!). The only class that has more is the Arc at 971. This is especially surprising since Marauders have a whopping one (1) attack that uses MP -- Iron Tempest. Which I haven't even equipped on my bar since shortly after figuring out how it works.
This leads me to believe that Marauders are going to have lots of attribute points spent on Mind. Which is an interesting choice.
Now, I'm not going to freak out and suggest that Marauders are going straight DPS, or they can't tank anymore, or that allocating MP to Marauders means the devs are nerfing Marauder. All of these differences could be at least partly explained by other factors that we can't see, like Materia or differences in levels. (Although the Marauder seems to be using a [item=4040404]Canopus Bill[/item], a r50 weapon.) Heck, the two Gladiators have wildly different MP pools (480 vs. 881). And let's face it, when you watch the video, pretty much everyone in the party seems to get killed, except one player ... the badass (a.k.a. Marauder).
But based solely on the video, it does look like Marauder is going to play differently when 1.19 hits. Our HP is going to drop. Our MP means that magic attacks and spells may become a bigger part of our arsenal. And if we do have higher Mind, we're apparently going to be better at resisting magic attacks. (For example, at 0:40 in the video, everyone gets rocked by an AoE attack, except the Marauder, who takes much less damage.)
The posters on this board are the most academic Marauders around. I’d love to hear your thoughts. See something I'm missing? Am I missing everything?
And, just in case there’s a dev around that feels like being awesomer than normal, stats currently have different effects on different classes. So if a Marauder and a Gladiator both had the same Vit, the Marauder will have more HP. Will that change in 1.19, so that attributes will effect all classes the same?