Class Trees

[AceofRains]

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Okay, yeah def. both of you make really good points about this. My whole schtick is about seeing Classes utilized as the vessel for jobs and jobs being the specializations themselves. Like that was the original intention of the job stones when they were introduced back in 1.4. Some classes give you the option to play a different style of a role, like Gladiator as Paladin or Dark Knight, and others might give you the option to switch role altogether, like our current Summoner and Scholar.

What I do know is that unless jobs and content become super bland, there will always be a meta. I think that designing fights that require the use of status healing could be an effective approach to those specializations. Like giving Red Mage Erase, or even a “VerWall” spell. Giving Monk Chakra with the ability to remove the ailments of nearby allies. Those little things go a long way towards identity. And if you need them during a hardcore fight then they suddenly become a lot more useful at facilitating a mechanic that Healers can’t overcome alone. As many jobs that can raise, I’m also surprised that Paladin hasn’t even gotten a raise. Some fights might require heavier DPS checks, so you’ll take things like Black Mage. Some bosses might favor hitting back lines, some might hit front line. In hardcore content, it should be normal to be selective about which jobs get in to execute the strategy- besides, most rewards can be applied universally and don’t have to be used on your progression job.

I think that in a game where jobs are the selling point, and we can play all jobs on one character, not only should the process of leveling be expedited by binding expansion jobs to classes, but jobs should have a little more situational use. I get some people like to play their favorites, and good balance does ensure that good players can continue to make it through on what they’re good at. The bigger problem with a job being excluded is not that the job itself is excluded, but when a player only has that job and the player is excluded. But over all I will always be of the mind that encouraging metas and specialization is the better road.