Hints at Blue Mage in the level 60 ALC quest?

[Neophyte]

For healing jobs, something like Druid or Shaman would be neat, but given CNJ / WHM already have elements of those classes I don't see how that would happen. Not particularly attached to those classes, either.

Just tyi, in german translation the CNJ is already called 'Druide', which means 'druid' (yeah, that was hard to guess).
Which isn't to inappropiate, considering "Conjurer" indicates something like 'general magic' and in- or evocations (or even 'summoning' ;D) and 'druid' fits into the water/wind/nature-theme of CNJ.

But a more tribal class would be nice indeed. Whereby this might be a good idea for implementing blue mage, too, as a caster studying the way of beast tribes and monsters.
Perhabs by introducing a new beast tribe as well, based on the Ronsos' Lancet-ability, teaching the WoL as a first 'human' in several 1000 years their ways of copyright infringement.

[Aeliott]

Again answer this: if AST can do SCHing as good as a SCH, but has the added flexibility, why bring a SCH?

But they won't. If they have the same potency and shield power they still lack everything else a SCH has. They don't have virus or eye for an eye, they have to become actionless if they want to sacred soil, they don't have a pet, they can only "lustrate" once every 40 seconds, they can't buff their own healing output, they can't dps anywhere near as safely as a SCH can (or as much, their dps is pathetic compared to the other 2), they don't have the safe MP management of a SCH, they don't have as many free heals, they don't have shield crits. And you could say the same for WHM. The penalty for being able to dip into both other healers is pointless when they're locked into that role anyway and don't have the stuff that makes them what they are. WHM isn't just regens, and SCH isn't just shields. So the weaker potencies aren't justified. Buffing their heals (within reasonable levels ofc) doesn't make them outclass WHM/SCH.

They don't HAVE flexibility at all without changing stances mid-fight, like Alberel said, it's pointless when they're locked into a Sect anyway.

[Eecka]

*snip*

If they have 100% equal healing to SCH, then they have 100% equal healing to SCH. How, and through which CDs they achieve it is different, but the result is same. Mentioning for example Lustrate is pointless, because that same healing potency would be somewhere else in the AST kit to ensure the same outcome.

So you don't consider out of combat role swapping to be a perk of any value? Being able to adapt to a fight or any group composition is exactly 0 weight in the balance budget? Does it at any point stop being so? If you could, out of combat, assume a stance, that outputs the dps of a real dps class, or a stance that lets you tank as effectively as the tanks, all with the same gearset, would that have to be taken into account for balance?

[waifugenerator]

I really only want RDM so we can have all of the jobs from FFI, but I wouldn't if more unique jobs were added first. The game should also grow mechanically before we add in a jack-of-all-trades job like that, it just wouldn't fit as the game is now.