Deeper Class Quests

[Belhi]

Ok, I think the Job quests are a mixed bag. Only the Paladin really felt Meh to me but the other quests varied in what they were aiming for and how much they touched on the class.

In the HW story I noticed a couple of things. Generally they were either about either making a particular discipline more accepted or active in the mainstream of Eorzea or more accessable to other Eorzeans, or they had to the rebuilding of martial orders fallen on hard times. In some cases I think the questlines were 'to be continued' much like the middle movie in a trilogy. I think the for me the White Mage questline fit this best. There is some pretty serious questions raised in that which weren't addressed fully and clearly have been set up for continuation. The BRD fits into that too though that is a much more complete story in its own right.

In general the Job quests either explore the history of a Discipline, the nature of the Discipline or how the Disciplines place in the World, or a mix of the three.

For example, though it was a bit round about, the HW NIN was really about the nature of being a NIN, while the WAR questline deals with the nature of WARs but in a different way.

The BLM and the WHM joblines focus on the place of those Disciplines in the world. In the BLM case it was challenging the stigma attached to the Discipline as much as it was dealing with a potential threat. BLM is a forbidden magic. While many might not recognise it, its actually illegal in a lot of places to practice it.

SCH on the other hand has for quite a while focused mostly a lot on its history which is frankly awesome.

On the actual topic of patch storylines for Jobs, I would LOVE this. However I don't think its realistic. Making engaging quests for each of just the combat Disciplines would require 12 different questlines in addition to what we already have. That's a lot of work and resources. Its probably why they leave the Job story development to expacs.

On the topic of Job companions, I think that is unlikely, particularly since it sounds like they are working at building a system which involves building a team of NPCs to fight with you linked to the Grand Companies. I think this is more likely where they will chose to develop it.

I will say two things. A lot of the Jobs seemed to have themes of strengthening the military strength of the city-states though our actions and, in the case of the new Jobs, a movement to start to push Ishgard out of its old established traditions and into accepting new things.

Tbh, I wouldn't mind if we were getting job/class quests even after capping a certain job. Not every time for every job in every patch, of course, but...yeah. Like, the DRK quest took me back to Stillglade Fane to talk to E-Sumi and I definitely felt a pang of "whoa I haven't been here in forever even though I love this place and this kid"... which kinda sucks. All our old mentors/tutors barely even remember us and we virtually never have a reason to visit them. Kind of a pointless waste that makes NPCs degrade into a soulless state. It's sad.

Its worth noting that their dialog does change. If you visited them after 2.55 all of them had things to say about the events at the end of that patch story. It was kind of cool seeing all your old trainers believing in you. I kind of hope they do bring them back into the story more going forward. Some of them could be incorporated into on going Job quests linked to the class like Jacke is with NIN.