Devs, please make job crystals in lv 31+ content mandatory.

[kaynide]

Unfortunately I suspect that it's not that simple, due to the game allowing 1.0 players to import their old 1.0 character data into ARR, the game has to make allowances at the start due to many 1.0 players never having played 1.0 after SE added Jobs, and although putting some kind of flag to "upgrade" the 1.0 save data's class to a Job automatically would probably be possible, it might run into too many issues to bother with. Yes by now most old 1.0 players have long since returned, but there is still a lot out there that haven't, and with the whole who-ha over 1.0's failure, they're simply not going to throw 1.0 players under the bus again like that.

There is also lore at stake here - each class has an established Guild that's part of the storyline, the story outright says they're disciplines, and that the connected Jobs to them are rare or banned and you as the WoL restore them, so it makes no sense whatsoever to start as those Jobs, it's simple pragmatism. It would require all that story to be completely rewritten and everything currently existing retconned, which is just so offputting they'll never even consider it.

Certainly though there needs to be some kind of flag in post level 30 content at the very least, and especially by level 50 to require a Job's soul crystal to be equipped, although ironically the NPC fighters with the Company Squadron and now Duty Support only still have classes and they seem to manage just fine so, I don't know...

I’m not sure I understand the problem.

Your average new player still progresses the base class to level 30, and simply can’t get more xp (which ultimately gatekeeps content until job is unlocked). You can keep everything in tact including the crystals as a story thing. I am talking about removing the physical item that takes up inventory space. As in unequipping them is no longer an option.

If it was unclear, I meant a specific base class no longer exists for a specific player when they unlock a specific job, not a blanket game-wide “classes no longer exist”.

Regarding legacy players, if they can inject multi-point entry requirements for Crystal tower to proceed the MSQ, they can surely do it for the incredibly fringe/few 1.0 players that might decide to start playing FFXIV and import an old character. Worst case they just import as a level 50 with the same xp lock until they get their job.