The Ultimate guide to Job Crafting for FFXIV

[Eloah]

It's all right there in the title folk. It's everything you've ever wanted to know about how to craft a job for FFXIV. Now before anyone comes back at me with "hate" this is just a list of Guidelines. by no means is this how a job should be designed or the "proper" way. It's just a way to organize our thoughts so that we all have an idea of what is going on when we each craft a job we'd like to see in the game. Now then shall we, XD

Okay, with 3.4 coming soon and we all feel the impending 4.0 on the horizon, a lot of players are Job crafting again. Throwing out ideas about future jobs they'd like to see implemented and giving their own spin on the job. I thought it would be a good idea if some "guidelines" were written down so that we are all almost on the same page. And anyone who speaks either, French, German, or Japanese; if you visit their forums and know they do the same thing, job crafting, then feel free to share these ideas with them. Now, again, this is not an end-all-beat-all, its just a fun set of guidelines we can all enjoy.

Don't Go Beyond What Has Already Been Established
Okay to start, Rule 1 is, not to go beyond what the game has already given us. What is meant by that is, if the level cap is 60 (at the time of making this), don't go beyond that level. Now, brainstorming beyond that is fine, for when that level can be reached. But we as a player base are unsure how the current Jobs and new Jobs will be implemented or changed so it is best to share what we are familiar with and not go beyond it.

Experimentation & Simplification
Now while we shouldn't go beyond what has already been set up in the game, don't be afraid to experiment and see what new and fresh ideas you can add to the game in the form of a new job. However, while Experimentation is good, remember to to keep things simple. Skills and Abilities shouldn't require the use of 4-5 other skills or mechanics to use. If you think about all of the Skill and Abilities they have 2 functions or mechanics tops.

Do your Research
Be sure to do some research on the Job you wish to design. Check out past Final Fantasy games and see what utilities those jobs had in the various games they appeared in. Check out "real life" versions of the Job if one exists. Look at how other games have implemented similar jobs. Learn as much as you can, so you can make a great Job.

Know the Role you want to Create
Currently we have the MMO Trinity of Tank, Healer, and DPS, with each DPS being further broken down into Melee, Ranged, and Magic. Each Role has different mechanics to them depending on their function. Right now each Healer and DPS has their own individual mechanic, with Tanks having a semi-shared mechanic of MT and OT stance with an extra mechanic added in for 2 of them. Know which Role you want to make and it can help you design the mechanics better.

Create a New Mechanic or Mix and Match the Old
Creating a new game play mechanic from scratch can be hard, but it's not impossible. But don't be afraid to look at the mechanics already in the game and mix and match them to create a new but familiar one. Maybe combine the freeform mechanic of Monk with the stacks of Summoner/Scholar, or the Stacks of Warrior with the swapping mechanic of Black Mage. The possibilities are endless.

Create a Playing Curve
No one is given their full skill kit right off the bat. From level 1-30 each job starts out easy and transitions into a medium difficulty, introducing the main mechanic of the job and slowly adding to it. From 30-50 New abilities that add to the jobs mechanic and allow for new avenues within appear. 3.0 then added an additional feature to each DPS's mechanic from level 50-60. Keep this in mind as you think of the main mechanic of the job and how the players will feel as they learn how to play it.

Organize Skills and Abilities and Traits Together
As you think of what Skills and Abilities to make to create your job, don't forget that Traits are important too. And all 3 will be given at a certain level. But what level?
Having everything organized for people to see helps both you and them understand the flow of the job and when things will begin to pick up speed. not sure how to fix a skill that is slightly not working in later stages? add a Trait. Don't have enough Traits? try removing an extra part of a skill or ability and adding it in with a trait. Working on all 3 at once can help you create a more cohesive job.

Be Creative with Names
Each job will need Skills, Abilities, and Traits to function, and what we call them will be up to you. You'd want those names to stand out, to pop; so do more research, lol. Some names might be easy, as you can just use a past name, but others will be more difficult.

Consider MP and TP Usage
Be sure to know whether the Job you are making will use TP, MP, or both and how much each ability should cost, and if there will be a recovery skill/ability that can be used. while TP might be a bit easy to understand, seeing as how the value is always 1000, for now, this chart might help you get an Idea for MP values and where you'd like them to be at the current max level (60 at the time of this posting)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nf...Kjnxl1DG6RMALw

Use the Other Jobs as a Reference
Don't be afraid to use the other jobs as a reference when trying to create a new skill or ability. All tanks have a basic damage reducing skill, when do they get it? how much damage does it reduce? Each healer has a basic heal, when do they get it? what is the potency? Don't be afraid to look at these skill and abilities and emulate them if you need to. Most common abilities, heals, guards, combos, share a great deal than you might think.

Try to Maintain Balance
Hey you have a great idea for a skill, its awesome, but its not practical. Either its useful, but takes to long to use, or its so OP it makes the other Jobs in that particular role useless. Try and keep those things in mind when creating the Job as a whole. How long should the CD be? Should this skill be part of the jobs main mechanic? what skills or abilities do the other jobs have that might be similar to this one? Good questions to ask yourself and other players.

Don't Worry About the Lore so Much
Lore is great, no one will deny that. but if you focus on the lore of the job you'd like to create it might hinder you. It's best to create the job first and fashion the lore around it and not the other way around. This way you don't back yourself into a corner before you've even begun.

Accept Critiques
And finally, the best thing you can do when creating your job is to accept the feedback of others. Sometimes we know, in our heads, how we want things to play out, but we may miss something minor, or something game breaking. But someone who is viewing these ideas fresh might see something we missed. Don't take their critiques personally, most people just want to help you adjust your idea to be the best it can be. But at the same time, know which critiques to accept, and what changes to make, and know which ones to ignore. Some ideas people offer you will be good other not so much, but in the end you still want it to be your idea.

I believe that is everything I can think of as a "basic" guide to follow when job Crafting. Again this is a fun set of "guideline", and is not meant to hurt anyone.

In addition, while I cannot say that this thread should be "pinned" to the discussion thread, though it might be nice, I think we as a player base should ask the Developers if they can create a Pinned Post where we can share job ideas and feedback in one place, instead of having several threads that get lost most of the time.

[Vivi_Bushido]

I clicked this expecting to see crafting rotations and macros.

[ADVSS]

I too thought this was about upping my crafting game lol

I have to say these things seemed like common sense.

Was also expecting some sort of new forum meta xml or something we should all agree to just c/p and fill in.

Probably a bad idea, since typing it all up prevents everyone from making a new job ideas thread

More importantly i never pay attention to potencies when people make these, this ones simply something devs can do for balance if its a little overboard. What i read most is the skill list, how they chain, what traits are given, and then decide if it sounds fun, broken, or a pain in the arse. tp/mp regen is easilly solved by a cooldown -like- invigorate, bloodweapon, shroud of saints, aetherflow so if its something lacking it can easilly be worked in place of something.

[Eloah]

sorry poor wording in the title. i'd delete the thread and start over but i can't seem to get "delete" to appear for me, T.T. And yeah i realize most of this should be common sense, but we are all human aren't we? well some of us are others are Lalas, Roe's, Kitty-people, Dragon-people, etc, lol.

[ADVSS]

nah the title gets it more hits, thanks for the PSA /salute

[Warlyx]

It's all right there in the title folk.

lalas arent trustworthy

ppl can craft jobs all they want , is already all made outside some very cool ideas (Blu on FFXI ) there is hardly anything "new" , plus FF universe has nearly every job fantasy covered , even then they keep mixing magic , melee , guns , and nightcrawler-esque movement (FFXV)

[Eloah]

lalas arent trustworthy

I'm trustworthy, T.T... but uhh... don't drive your car for a while, hehe...

ppl can craft jobs all they want , is already all made outside some very cool ideas (Blu on FFXI ) there is hardly anything "new" , plus FF universe has nearly every job fantasy covered , even then they keep mixing magic , melee , guns , and nightcrawler-esque movement (FFXV)

yeah i know plenty of people have made ideas and have had thoughts on how to change or add new/old jobs, but you'd be surprised how convoluted they sometimes make the job, which can sometimes turn playing the job, or even reading about it a chore. I've never played WoW, but when i look at their skills I'm not too sure how they all interconnect, but to be fair i'm just looking at the skill to see what it does not the job as a whole, ;P.