Beastmaster: Can it work?

[ty_taurus]

You both forgot this bit from my original post:

Beastmaster could very well be a "regular" job, but then they'd have to throw its "collectable" aspect out the window (because of the "rigid" structure/learn-set inherent to being a "regular" job).
Unless, of course, you could change its pets aesthetically (not mechanically) through a glamouring system, similar to how SMN's Egi glamour should be working.

I was just responding based on that one statement and generally would prefer we not ever do another limited job because I just don't feel like it's worth the effort when we could do better instead. Having said that, I would gladly throw out the concept of creature collecting to make Beastmaster work for FFXIV, and I was perfectly content doing the same for BLU prior to its release. Back when BLU was a hot topic of new job potential, I stated multiple times that you should just learn spells from the enemies you encounter in the job quests, or similiarly to how SMN has been given Bahamut and Phoenix, introduce spells from enemies we encountered in past expansions.

The way this game is structured means that we just can't have a free-for-all with abnormal mechanics. I mean just look at how livid people get over job balance now over incredibly tame mechanics. Could you imagine if we had a traditional BLU that wasn't limited?

Having said that, it completely baffles me that if we were to have compromised on BLU's traditional roots in any capacity, that it would've been tantamount to sacrilege in the eyes of the producer. But yet, look at RDM... RDM is not at all like the traditional RDM, yet we were able to create something that works within the restrictions set forth by FFXIV while still respecting those origins and using them to add respectable flavor to the RDM's playstyle. Why couldn't we have done that with BLU instead? And where is this righteous will to protect the traditional roots of a job's identity for BRD?

In short, I see no reason why we have to protect the sanctity of Beastmaster's roots when we could just create a modern interpretation respectful to the job's identity from past titles. And since Beastmaster is not a standard job that has been consistent over the years of Final Fantasy, there's a lot of room to be flexible and creative with it. Same is true for Puppetmaster. They can both be jobs that are neither pet-reliant nor limited and still feel like respectful, exciting jobs to play.

As I mentioned above, taking inspiration from Rinoa, for example, or even the Trainer dressphere from X-2, could be great places to start.