I'm really eager for another bow job.

[Shougun]

Any gimmick ideas? Sometimes I think it's fun to think of the gimmick that would make the concept fun.

With a crossbow maybe you have turns of the wheel / tension?

I would ask what are people looking for gameplay / visually? For example when I think Ranger I'm thinking not a lot of attacks like Bard or Machinist (who both pepper more like a machine gun lol), and a bit more like hyper devastating attacks. Though when I think of crossbow specifically I think of the repeater crossbow lol, which is machine gun like XD (though Machinist does have that under auto-crossbow skill). Like Demon Hunter in Diablo 3. So then maybe the job is a more selfish 'mobile' damage job? That's a bit hard to balance 'kindly' to other jobs since if you had the damage of a samurai and black mage but the mobility of a bard, . . . . . Then again you could say who cares as long as they're all very viable options, for example many times SMN was very mobile and very very good damage yet that didn't mean no one played SAM or BLM.

Another thought to mind is a ballista XD... Which could be a fun super move or something. Call forth a Ballista that gives the job a huge line attack they can fire off multiple times.

So given ranger I think less frequent but very heavy attacks (thanks to FFXI mostly probably), and with crossbow I think Diablo 3, autocross bows, and then the more realistic cranking and tensioning that creates insane strength in a small package (but isn't a very fast process, unless you've two people). So... my mind goes all over the place on what a crossbow job might mean.

Say you could have tension mechanics as I said above, which could be magically augmented like each smaller shot causes the magic in the crossbow to store energy and you can then release that for significant effect.. some cross between the ammo system and dancer feathers if they were more consistent.

On cranking, lol, and the wheel, maybe there is a mechanic of runes upon the turn of the device that causes augmentation of skills based on what is currently active. Meaning each time you crank the wheel new augments come about, which would be when firing off abilities and also perhaps a augment fishing / error correction skill (perhaps doesn't do damage, adds bonus potency to the next attack and moves the wheel once). Which I could see easily moved towards a corsair like trappings for theme if one wanted, add a little bit of variability into the wheel and perhaps amount of tension gained such that players are actively having to in a sense create their own combos as they fish and minorly-gamble for effects.

Then again I did like the idea of a more hunter vibe, since we don't have a ranger could be quite nice. I did have a pang of nostalgia for beastmaster being brought up since in WoW I had loads of fun as hunter- the ranger and animal combo is quite classic. As a wild aside, going back to the two people thing above, the job has a pet of some sort, not like a 'beastmaster', but still a buddy that helps them load their crossbows while they fire off the other. In which case you could have the job wield two two-handed crossbows :3, and have a cute minion who helps support you and could have some oGCD actions as you work on your next shot while making your current shot.

Anyway, just curious on the more specific things people wanted to see out of the job. I don't really have a big horse in this particular race, but I still think the discussion is fun to join in on and see what people were looking forward to.

[Eraden]

Really, what is so wrong with just adding a DEDICATED archer job that is primarily for ranged dps? As someone mentioned earlier, it could be added as another spinoff from the archer. But while the bard is more of a generalist with support abilities, the new archer job could simply be just focused on dpsing. Is it too much to ask for that?

[Doragan]

Why not just make bard a healer?

Because they do not care about healers, or the people playing them. I haven't forgotten that players asked for Dancer as a healer job back in HW/SB. Instant cast damage/heals, physical damage (maybe hybrid?), huge mobility, a different theme from what we had so far.. no. That was too hard for them to do, clearly. Phys ranged it goes. Then, disappointed players asked for Chemist to be added in. Ah, the child really wanting to be an apothecary in the MSQ. Healing with flasks! Poison damage! Something like defined heal puddles, strong regens? Sounds good,right? Scrapped because they couldn't figure it out. Have a Gundam Scholar and that will do.
Considering how in EW post game, there's a garlean talking about chemists.. i can't wait for it to be annonced as a DPS job as well. Ah, there will be a lot of ideas to implement there, you can count on it.

But while the bard is more of a generalist with support abilities, the new archer job could simply be just focused on dpsing. Is it too much to ask for that?

Well, with the dev teams insistence on removing dots, support abilities and synergy between jobs from kits since Stormblood, clearly that was too much to ask, yeah.
Support DPS jobs really ceased to exist a while ago, they are all competing for the rDPS race now. Only real outlier is Raise on casters, but they were thinking about axing it soon as well.

I'll say it though, to me, Mage's Ballad not giving mana felt a bit wrong ever since SB dropped. I didn't mind bow mage, but it was fun either way for me.

On another note I'd love a job with dual pistols

I would say that is probably happening, considering Merlwyb during Post-ShB MSQ had custom gameplay animations with her two pistols. For a Corsair job, I guess that would make sense. They would want to add some twist into it and not just a focus on the pistols, so it can go anywhere really.

[SaberMaxwell]

I'd love a gunner type job with active ammunition management myself.

[SeiyaSoiya]

I definitely didn't read that title as something else.

I read the title incorrectly too

[VirusOnline]

With a crossbow maybe you have turns of the wheel / tension?

i think this is an amazing idea




as for what i want in a ranger class:

crossbow/dual crossbow
we got a reaper
time for some van helsing vampire hunter action

VMH (vampire hunter)
Armour type - mail/plate with hints of leather
General rotation theme - multiple arrows coming out of crossbows, combo starts with one arrow, then two, then three, then four, and if you keep up rotation you're rewarded with some mega dual cross bow action
LB III - brd lb3 ? hah, what a joke. VMH summons the god Charon (Golden Sun style) purifying your enemies and directly sending them to the underworld all at once. Take that Atalanta.
Style - Flashy, edgy, Vampire Hunter D but even more broodier and stoic along the lines of the meme of wife and husband in bed and wife believes hes thinking of other women but no, he's thinking of his crossbows

also, nice title hah

[StriderShinryu]

Any gimmick ideas? Sometimes I think it's fun to think of the gimmick that would make the concept fun.

My thoughts for a bow focused DPS class or ranger class generally revolve around a few things.

First, a "focused" or "bow drawn" stance that has you planting yourself in a single spot before some of your more powerful shots. On a basic level it could basically be represented as a cast bar on some of your skills, but I'd see it more as something you need to actively engage. Once you've entered "focused" state you would then be able to start your shot. There could be multiple types of shots like single target shot, a straight line penetrating AoE, a ground targeted AoE, etc. Maybe think of it as a ranged DPS version of Leylines.

Second, "trap" abilities. While FF14 isn't really a game with much in terms of CC, there are two CC types that we do see frequently used, that being Slow and Stun. A ranger could have ground placed AoEs that functioned as a Slow zone or a stun zone. The slow zone could function as something of a version of Arms Length and the stun zone could function similar to Holy. They could be placed on the ground so the enemy could be moved into them like Ninja's Doton but could also be just directly targeted at an enemy. Of course, they would have to have some sort of damage attached as well so that they wouldn't just be useful for dungeon trash and nothing else.

Third, movement abilities. Bard already has a disengaging attack but Ranger could have more options because it would be intended to be less of a full on, move everywhere all the time class. An interesting option could be to have your movement skills end up with you in the "focused" state or stance so you would be rewarded for intelligent use of your movement skills into areas and with times that would give you faster access to your big attacks. Heck, now with Reaper we have a class that gains a buff to it's next ranged move use after using a movement skill so this basic idea would easily be transferred into an actual ranged class.

[Skiros]

All these people commenting on the title, first time huh? OP's double entendre is his trademark.

[Kahnom]

Crossbow + Traps or grenades or beasts attack ?

[NatePride]

Really, what is so wrong with just adding a DEDICATED archer job that is primarily for ranged dps? As someone mentioned earlier, it could be added as another spinoff from the archer. But while the bard is more of a generalist with support abilities, the new archer job could simply be just focused on dpsing. Is it too much to ask for that?

as was mentioned in a response to that person just below that is that they are not making any more branched classes arcanist being summoner and scholar was a mistake that they admited to.