Roles for Samurai, Red Mage, Dancer

[Claymore65]

There's no shortage of tanks problem to begin with.

Except for the fact that the "Role in Need" is 95% of time Tanks. Tanks also have "instant queues". That indicates that there probably aren't enough people playing Tanks and Healers, at least in Duty Finder. Now the actual role distribution among characters is a bit better (19% Tank, 19% Healer, 62% DPS according to the official 2015 census here: http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/Eorze...N_Census_L.PNG), but in an ideal world it would be closer to 25% Tank, 25% Healer, 50% DPS. Note that this isn't really surprising. In pretty much any "Holy Trinity" based MMO there is always a surplus of DPS players and a shortage of Healers and Tanks. There are multiple theories as to why (Added "responsiblity" when playing a tank or healer, more "cool" class options as DPS, "Damage is fun") but it's very rare to find a Trinity MMO where Healers/Tanks are more popular than DPS roles.

When Ninja was first added, DF queue times dramatically increased as many players who would normally play Tanks or Healers flocked over to the new DPS job. I can't imagine if the expansion were to add two, let alone three new DPS jobs. That's why I'm guessing it'll be "Tank, DPS, Healer" for this expansion. It keeps the roles balanced and should lessen the effect on queue times, although they will still be affected, especially if a more "desirable" class is the DPS.

For the question above, I could see it going more or less anyway. I'd lean toward "Samurai = DPS, Red Mage = Tank, Dancer = Healer". but I'm not really sure.

I feel like Samurai would work best as either a Tank or DPS. As a tank, they'd likely focus on a "counter" mechanic, similar to the "Swordmaster" class in Bravely Default. As a DPS, I could see them having stances, focusing on either quicker strikes or slower "casting-like" strikes (iaijutsu). As a DPS they could have the added benefit of sharing equipment with Dragoons, which would be pretty nice. I could easily see them going either way.

For Red Mage, they could technically fit all three. Red Mage is going to be tough to fit in this game, if only because they are defined by being "Jack of All Trades, Master of None". The Red Mage will see quite a bit of change, and depending on what they decide to emphasize it will change. As a Tank, they could easily have a number of defensive abilities, support abilities, and offensive abilities (not unlike Paladin), while still fighting in melee. It might make a great fit. However, it would likely need heavier armor, which might not work as well. As DPS it could probably still do all three as well. Healer I see being a bit harder, if only since it's supposed to be melee, but it could fit. I think Red Mage is a pretty good bet for the expansion though. The two major Ala-Mihgan characters we've seen have both combined swordplay with fire magic (Ilberd and Raubahn), I'm just not sure what role they'll fill.

Dancer I could easily see as a Healer, or a DPS. As a DPS they could easily fit the "melee bard" kind of role, with support focused dances and quick melee strikes. As a Healer, they could focus on party wide support abilities, although I'm not sure how they would handle "melee" healing. Tank fits some of their aspects thematically (attracting attention), but I feel like would be a bad fit. Either they would have to wear heavy armor, or they would have to be an "Evasion" tank, and to be frank I don't see that happening. "Evasion Tanks" are notoriously hard to balance correctly, as they usually end up either too weak or wildly overpowered. So, I don't realistically see "Dancer" as becoming a tank, though healer or DPS could work.