Beastmaster: Can it work?

[ty_taurus]

Why do people wish for beastamer so much?
The concept is already taken .. we got summoners.
"BuT ItS nOt tHE sAmE". The hell... i dont want to have a damn Ladybug fight against a primal.

I agree, they shouldn't make jobs that I don't like or want to play. Like tanks. I don't play tanks, so why do they keep making them? It's all just the same anyway, put on a suit of armor and grab an oversized weapon. No originality

[aveyond-dreams]

Why do people wish for beastamer so much?
The concept is already taken .. we got summoners.
"BuT ItS nOt tHE sAmE". The hell... i dont want to have a damn Ladybug fight against a primal.

err...that is...not what people think of when we refer to Beastmaster/Hunter. Summoner, while an excellent job, is focused on more fantastical creatures as opposed to more natural ones, like wolves, bears, lions, tigers, etc. Given that some variation of the class has appeared in many mmorpgs, it's not surprising people would wish for it here in FFXIV since no class really covers that archetype.

To date, there is no class in FFXIV that covers *this* look or gameplay effectively:

[TankHunter678]

err...that is...not what people think of when we refer to Beastmaster/Hunter. Summoner, while an excellent job, is focused on more fantastical creatures as opposed to more natural ones, like wolves, bears, lions, tigers, etc. Given that some variation of the class has appeared in many mmorpgs, it's not surprising people would wish for it here in FFXIV since no class really covers that archetype.

Well if using H'aanit as a baseline then sure Beastmaster could work as a regular job... just without actual persistent pets. Functionally it would be "summoning" the beasts from off the field to perform one and done style attacks. This would make a number of people unhappy with the class but its probably the best way to go about it without making it limited.

The best way to reduce the grumbling would probably be an expansion to the clunky pet glamour system by making use of systems similar to glamour collections and triple triad decks. You can "tame" a creature thus adding it to your collection, you have a set of attacks that is performed with the assistance of a creature and thus you can select which creature you wish to use as the base for that animation.

Example: Lets say the class is built around using a combination of weapons (simply call it Hunter's Kit) so you (ala Red Mage) have both a Melee and Ranged component. Your charge in causes your character to whistle and jump in the air landing on your selected charge creature: a boar which rams into the target. You then go into your melee combo which is backed up by your melee creature: a bear which stands up on its hind legs to start slashing with its claws. You then use your disengage where you whistle and grab onto your disengage creature: a swooping hawk which carries you a short distance back. While doing your ranged combos you call upon the assistance of your ranged creature: a gorilla which chucks boulders at enemies.

Thus you basically have 4 slots to "glam" with different animations from your collection, and you could setup to have "decks" of creatures akin to glamour plates. Sure it would not be an expansion to the companion system like some suggest but the companion system can be expanded without having to have a beastmaster job implemented. Especially since companions would never be let into instances because the Trust system is overall easier to work with in regards to NPCs fighting alongside of you as even now the Chocobo using the companion system basically stands in everything and face tanks on sheer damage resistance even if you can customize what it actually can use.

[BaconBits]

I will 100% use a True Griffin for every single slot if that ever happened.

Melee slot? Griffin tearing stuff up with it's talons.

Ranged? Griffin whipping up storms with it's wings.

Engage and disengage? Gonna hop on my Griffin's back.

Yes I am a Griffin enthusiast, why do you ask?

[SeverianLyonesse]

Thus you basically have 4 slots to "glam" with different animations from your collection, and you could setup to have "decks" of creatures akin to glamour plates. Sure it would not be an expansion to the companion system like some suggest but the companion system can be expanded without having to have a beastmaster job implemented. Especially since companions would never be let into instances because the Trust system is overall easier to work with in regards to NPCs fighting alongside of you as even now the Chocobo using the companion system basically stands in everything and face tanks on sheer damage resistance even if you can customize what it actually can use.

The way I see it, the Companion system doesn't need to be fair/balanced to be opened up for instances, in the same way that BLU isn't fair/balanced and can be used in instances. Even if all your Companion does is facetank things (and I argue they could very easily improve the AI to be more on the level with Trusts), just give each Companion some semi-broken abilities like BLU so it is a) fun, janky spectacle and b) helps make the game soloable in this "Beastmaster" capacity.

What I am suggesting is an unlimited mini-game collection side content ala BLU, but without an actual job attached. Because a) BST definitely would be lame as a standard job due to lack of choice/variety, and b) BST would also be lame as a limited job because leveling limited jobs is a slog. On top of the fact that the Companion system works better for what it is than any other attempt at pets in XIV, and the additional flexibility of getting to customize how *you* want to play alongside your animal companion, be it WAR/MNK/BRD/whatever.