Giving each job a second spec: would it work?

[Black_Rose]

i think the current build of the game will never allow for different class specs.
since we're pretty much being pushed into our roles by the strict holy trinity system and the job skills/equipment there is almost no room for customization.

in 1.0 before jobs like paladin etc. came out there were only classes.the good thing was not only could those classes cross-equip every equipment (that was only possible during the very early stages of the game) besides their designated weapons, they also had way different skills and also could share those skills with other classes.
Take Thaumaturge for example.instead of being a fire/ice/thunder mage, he used to be a Umral/Astral mage (or in other words, a mage using dark and light elemental magic) while the conjurer was the one handling the elemental work.
thaumaturge had a big amount of drain/absord skills, aswell as healing magic and various buffs/debuffs.

there has been alot of things that have been simplified over the course of development from 1.0 alpha to 1.23 to 2.0, making the game easier to adopt by new players, but also harder to give players a feel of costumization.
things like elemental weakness, cross class skilling and the huge amount amount of stat choice also often led to the result that some groups have been forced to overuse a class or job in favor of the easy win.
like multiple monks to zerg down the aurum vale boss, multiple black mages or archers for king mog, or lancer in favor of bigger distance to bosses like ifrit.
jobs now have defined roles and all play alike, making none of them better or worse than others so noone will be excluded from specific content.

as much as i loved the freedom 1.0 gave its players i also sometimes really hated it because most players usually want to go the easy route and therefor missuse the system that was given to them.

if you want to find out more about the old skill system, you can check it out here - http://www.final-fantasy-14.org/abilities/main