One minor criticism

[LisSquid]

It would be nice if we had glamours for jobs that made our weapon look different. AST could have crystal balls, WHM/BLM could have wand and shields back, etc etc. We already let PLD tank with their shield hidden so it's not like these little changes are unheard of or game breaking.

A WHM with their wand and shield would look a lot like holy pally (well, more resto shaman but same deal with the mainhand-offhand :P).

[HyoMinPark]

It would be nice if we had glamours for jobs that made our weapon look different. AST could have crystal balls, WHM/BLM could have wand and shields back, etc etc. We already let PLD tank with their shield hidden so it's not like these little changes are unheard of or game breaking.

A WHM with their wand and shield would look a lot like holy pally (well, more resto shaman but same deal with the mainhand-offhand :P).

Regarding the PLD shield, there is an item that glamours it to be invisible. It was first available during the Garo event, and I think there’s still a version available in the Gold Saucer? I can’t remember if they took it out with the rest of the gear from there after the event ended or not.

EDIT: misread and thought you were talking about letting PLDs hide their shield versus already being an option. Apologies.

One-handed weapons and shields for WHM/BLM are a 1.0 carryover. Don’t expect them to return, as they were mainly left in the game for any 1.0 player that came back to the game and had a character with one equipped. I know they had some 2.x ones, but it’s a fairly abandoned system at this point.

[LisSquid]

Regarding the PLD shield, there is an item that glamours it to be invisible. It was first available during the Garo event, and I think there’s still a version available in the Gold Saucer?

Correct! The Garo version is gone, but they still have the Emperors available to them.

One-handed weapons and shields for WHM/BLM are a 1.0 carryover. Don’t expect them to return, as they were mainly left in the game for any 1.0 player that came back to the game and had a character with one equipped.

Merely a suggestion to add visual diversity without having to rework the code in the game to add more weapons and animations. Those stances already exist in the files from 1.0, and would be the easiest to implement to suit OP's needs. Thus, I brought it up.

[linayar]

I think specializations are there for games where your character is limited to a single class, thus enabling a single character the option to play multiple roles as needed depending on available specializations for that class.

FFXIV doesn't have that restriction. Even having SMN and SCH be tied together in FFXIV is a mistake, in my opinion, even if I did benefit from it.

On the other hand, specializations (and talent systems), just don't feel good to me. You flip a switch and suddenly your paladin forgot how to do an ability. Of course, you can also make that argument with FFXIV's job system, but that is to a lesser degree as you're changing the entire job. A paladin is still a paladin and knows all abilities that a paladin should know to be a paladin and never forgot any of it (job changes aside during various patches of the game).

[Imoen]

Yeah, I do add this disclaimer because I have been jumped on before for expressing my opinion. I enjoyed Paladin healing in WoW and when I first came into this game, I thought Paladin was going to have a healing option but it wasn't.

They could totally add a new class at some point, who knows. I don't think we need specs personally just because we can swap jobs easily enough, but I totally understand the desire.

[EzekielBook]

The specialization system is generally covered as a different job - you just have to learn it from scratch (or level 40 or so depending). So when you want to DPS, instead of playing a Paladin, you play a Samurai, or maybe a Dragoon. it varies.

Personally, I wish there were a class that let you do DPS damage, and still have a shield - in WoW or FF. My Paladin is fun, but he's kinda slow at killing things compared to other classes. But that's a discussion for another time. :-)

[TaleraRistain]

I
so if I want to play something like a Paladin (which have traditionally been all 3 roles), I need to be a tank.

In WoW, yes, but as SnowVix pointed out paladins in Final Fantasy games and tabletop are the fighters and knights. When I play in tabletop, I'm a holy knight protecting my party and the skills available to me are patterned around that. There may be some instances of one or two utility spells like a heal or special attack, but paladin just isn't traditionally a damage dealer in media outside WoW.

[Mortime]

I always wished there was some minor job customization in the game. Not in the same way as GW2 or WoW has but maybe more in the sense that as a machinist you could choose to either be more of a gunner type with reduced cd and maybe more damage on your gun abilities or be more of a mechanic type with a stronger robot and maybe even getting an extra turret or robot to go along it. I mean just small flavor things to give an illusion of choice.

[Elleia]

It will be interesting to see what they do over the next 10 years, because this engine has held them back a lot. All the limitations from 1.0 that they had to work around.

At the same time, I think a really drastic structure change would be better off done in a brand new game. I expect they'll mostly stick to the formula and optimize and improve where they can.

[Penthea]

However the one minor criticism of this game that I have is that there is no specialisations, so if I want to play something like a Paladin (which have traditionally been all 3 roles), I need to be a tank.

Its sad that there weren't more choices when it comes to classes

WoW needs specialisations because you can play only one class per character. In FFXIV you can play literally every class in the game on one character, including any additions that come in the future. There is significantly more combat choice per character in FFXIV than in WoW.

I enjoyed Paladin healing in WoW and when I first came into this game, I thought Paladin was going to have a healing option but it wasn't.

FFXIV is a different franchise made by an entirely different studio so the class fantasy isn't going to be identical to WoW. Paladin in FF has always primarily been a tank class. It's been like that for over thirty years.