Shared Classes Are Not Failures (ie SCH/SMN)

[AceofRains]

As the title suggests, I first would like to say that Scholar and Summoner are a success. I’m tired of pretending it’s not. Because the devs felt like it was some kind of failure and difficult to balance, the community as a whole seemed to have let HORIZONTAL growth go by the way side. Instead we can individually level almost 20 Jobs. Job Stones had such a cool vision back when I was a 1.0 player and they just dropped it because they could not make ability sharing work well between Scholar and Summoner. It's too stifling on design and I completely get that.

All jobs should share a base class with another job, SOLELY for exp purposes. It does not mean they necessarily share the same role, or abilities. This is a means to consolidate level progression, and give players flexible options when it comes to end game metas. Only have Arcanist at 80? That’s cool because I can choose to Heal or DPS. Couldn’t get into that group because I only leveled Pugilist, and Monk isn’t optimal for this raid, that’s cool because I can become a Dancer, which is.

I don’t want to level 20 different jobs to 80. It takes an obnoxious amount of effort to do it especially as more jobs get added. At first it was fun trying to max all my jobs, then I said okay only Healers and Ranged. Then in Shadowbringers I did one of each role, which is actually nice to have, but it’s so easy to get burnt out on the leveling grind- especially if it’s going to take getting that many jobs to max. At the end of the day, it's way too much. I want to be able to enjoy trying out every job at their max capacity, but level grinding 20 different jobs is a pain in the rear. And while I'm not advocating for increased exp or level skips that bring you to 80, I am advocating for reducing the amount of Jobs to level as to also revive the class system. The reality is that the jobs that I have leveled now, took YEARS, almost a decade, of playing this game to achieve. That's not palatable to a new player what so ever. Leveling for Crafting and Gathering has been streamlined by the addition of the Firmament. Because of this, I am FINALLY taking the time to level these Disciplines, whereas I missed out on them before. Leveling Disciplines of War and Magic need streamlining as well.

BIG EDIT - I apologize for less structure in my original post. Maybe I was not very clear with my message, but I also needed to discuss this with other people to better understand my own thoughts. Thank you to those who bring up valid points of discussion even if you disagree. Trolls and those who do not contribute to discussion will be ignored from here out, and I will be using the report button liberally.

This is what I’m proposing as a shared class structure. If you have better ideas about it, even if you don't care for this kind of system, I'd be happy to hear where you choose to pair expansion jobs with a class.

Gladiator - Paladin & Dark Knight
Why did I group these together?
-Gladiator gets 2 Tank Jobs, because it is the "primary" tank.
-Paladin and Dark Knight are polar opposites and been so since FFIV's Cecil famously changing jobs.
-Paladin and Dark Knight do not have the same tanking style, allowing for specialization.

Marauder - Warrior & Machinist
Why did I group these together?
-The Marauder's guild features gun users among the Yellow Jackets, known as Musketeers.
-Marauder can be DPS or Tank, depending on your needs.
-Warrior and Machinist are heavier damage dealers among their role categories.

Lancer - Dragoon & Gunbreaker
Why did I group these together?
-The Gunbreaker quest already starts very close to the Lancer's guild.
-Gunbreaker is already a more heavy damage Tank.
-If Gunbreaker were a DPS job, it would probably wear Maiming Gear.

Pugilist - Monk & Dancer
Why did I group these together?
-In 1.0, Pugilist could initially use Chakrams for ranged attacks.
-Many of us thought Lyse would be a Dancer with her fluid movements, but she's a Monk.
-One could pair Samurai here, but I'm intentionally avoiding jobs that are functionally similar in a pairing.

Archer - Bard or Samurai
Why did I group these together?
-Most players according to a poll would prefer Bard to be a more supportive job.
-Archery is a common skill for Samurai, and not just according to FFXI.
-One could pair Dancer here, but I'm intentionally avoiding jobs that are functionally similar in a pairing.

Rogue - Ninja & Red Mage
Why did I group these together?
-Ninja's rotation is about fighting at melee range using jutsu at range.
-Red Mage's rotation is opposite, fighting at range and entering melee.
-This wasn't an easy decision to pair, but I wouldn't want to give RDM to Conjurer or Thaumaturge.

Conjurer - White Mage & Geomancer
Why did I group these together?
-Both (If Geomancer is the new healer) have different ways of playing the role, like PLD and DRK.
-White Mage has gone further from its "roots" as a nature mage, and now uses light magic.
-We heavily anticipate Geomancer as a new job. Conjurer as a nature class, matches Geomancer.

Thaumaturge - Black Mage & Astrologian
Why did I group these together?
-Thaumaturgy is an introspective art. Similar to reading cards.
-Y'Shtola and Urianger both became Black Mage and Astrologian as their darkworld counterparts.
-Black Mage is to White Mage as Astrologian is to Geomancer.

Arcanist - Summoner & Scholar
This Is The Example.
-Does not need explination.

No Class or Animist - Blue Mage & Beast Master
Why did I group these together?
-Blue Mage can do a lot, but it cannot become a Physical Ranged DPS, which is the gap not filled.
-Beastmaster will clearly be the new job, some in game hints point towards this.
-Blue Mage and Beastmaster have always been complimentary.

How Does This Impact New Players And Existing Players
For existing players, who have unlocked the expansion job, the lower job will be brought up to the higher job's level. Like if my Machinist were 80 but my Marauder/Warrior was 50, after consolidation I would be an 80 Marauder that can either become Warrior or Machinist.

For new players who unlock an expansion job, like Dark Knight, the job will be automatically tied to Gladiator's level. If they have not played Gladiator at all, then Dark Knight will also be level 1.

PROS & CONS
What are the benefits of consolidation?
-Less level grinding for those who do not have time to grind so much
-Class selection for new players is more meaningful.
-More opportunity for players to queue for duty finder faster under a different role.
-Cleaning up arbitrary level gates in earlier content, that made sense back then but does not now.
-Having 2 specialty jobs under 1 class at max level allows the developers to focus a tiny bit less on homogenizing between roles.

What are the drawbacks?
-Less level grinding for those who like level grinding.
Objection:If you like grinding that much, you can always start new character.
-More work for developers to re-edit old content.
Objection:The developers are always improving the game, its just part of their processes.
-I feel that it treads on class lore.
Objection:Class lore and job lore are already essentially separate entities. Doing this won't impact lore. It only improves systems.
-Existing players who benefit consolidation, or players who don't touch the other job while leveling might not know how to do their job right!
Objeciton: Mogstation currently sells level skip and content skips. Scholars can play Summoner and vice versa. Players will learn and adapt. Anyone can play bad or make mistakes on a job they have played often. Additionally, many players may take an extended break from the game yet find a job they have maxed to be reworked or need to remember how to play it. Babying others is not your job.