[Suggestion] Ideas for additional jobs for classes and how to distribute them

[Hiruke]

I won't go into any detail on the jobs that are already implemented, and won't go into super detail regarding the suggested jobs. (Please note I haven't really looked at anyone else's suggestions regarding this topic. I just had a gander at all of the jobs in past FFs, and thought about what made the most sense to me.) This list should be fairly obvious in its intent, and is located near the top for the folks who won't want to wade through the lengthy explanations below:

Gladiator

• Paladin
• Dark Knight - Pretty much the classic DRK from FFXI, just with the focus on sword/shield. Should focus on damage and weakening the enemy with debuffs, and have very limited defenses.

Pugilist

• Monk
• Puppet Master - Similar to PUP from FFXI. We already have Mammets, so why not? Would be preferable to make them more useful this time around, however.

Lancer

• Dragoon
• Dancer - Yes, this would break away from "traditional" design, but there aren't a lot of options for a polearm job, and this one could work very nicely. The DNC-specific polearms could have a nice flourish to them, like a banner, flag, or ribbons attached near the blade, so they look awesome when the DNC is... dancing. I think this could be amazing.

Archer

• Bard
• Ranger - As opposed to BRD, RNG should focus less on support, and more on damage.

Conjurer

• White Mage
• Summoner - Thematically, I think we can all agree this makes the most sense. Please make SMN more versatile and fun to play than in FFXI, however.

Thaumaturge

• Black Mage
• Scholar - Again, this makes the most sense thematically. When you're doing the THM quests, you're always being asked to read huge piles of books. If that doesn't suggest SCH more than anything else, I don't know what to say. Also, SCH could potentially have CNJ as one of its related classes. Or you could go old school, and SCH only use "black magic".

Musketeer - Suggested in-game, but not yet implemented. Obviously should be some kind of gun class.

• Gunner - This should be the physical job equivalent of a BLM. Huge focus on damage, and attacking at range. Should have pathetic defense in exchange.
• Corsair - Similar to COR from FFXI. Basically, Musketeer and its jobs would mirror Archer and its jobs, but focus on guns, and have enough twists in their design so as to give more options without just copying.

Arcanist - For this idea, we should probably throw out any lore about Arcanist that is presented in-game. Like other casters, they should have a one-hand and a two-hand weapon. The one-hand weapon should be a very light sword (like a rapier - not sure we want to go the scimitar route as well), while the two-hand weapon should be a kind of staff. Or could just go one-hand weapon only.

• Red Mage - The classic RDM, of course.
• Blue Mage - Not sure what the specifics of BLU should be for this game. Would definitely prefer it be more useful than BLU was in FFXI. Luckily, FFXIV is more about scaling the abilities with your level so old abilities don't become obsolete, which was a problem that plagued BLU in FFXI.

Rogue - A dual-wielding dagger class.

• Thief - The classic THF. Sneak Attack, other fun stuff.
• Ninja - Not sure where we should go with NIN for FFXIV. I wouldn't mind if it was an evade tank, or was a melee debuff job.

Soldier - A class that, unlike Gladiator with sword and shield, focuses on using swords with two hands.

• Samurai - Preferably, I'd like to see SAM focus on iaijutsu style attacks, and have at least two equipment paths - one where it wears heavy samurai armor, and another where it wears more ceremonial clothing like kimono, hakama, etc. The former could possibly be a tank, while the latter could focus on speed and damage, eschewing defense.
• ??? - Sorry, I ran out of good ideas here. I'd suggest Berserker, but MRD/WAR already has a Berserk ability, and Berserkers in past games have used axes and hammers.

Some notes about this:

I'd vastly prefer there was not an "advanced advanced job" concept. That is, I don't agree with the idea that you would need to finish your PLD quests before becoming a DRK. To begin with, if you introduced DRK while the level cap was still 50, and then raised the level cap, would you only need PLD to 50 to start DRK? Or PLD to 75? Or... what? It makes much more sense to just let you open the quest for either job, in either order. Though, it may make sense to NOT let the player open a job quest for the other job if they currently have a job quest open (i.e., if I have the PLD 35 quest open, I shouldn't be able to start DRK 30 until I finish PLD 35).

I also disagree with the idea of THF being a class, and NIN being the job for that class. I'd really rather see THF be its own job, and really come into its own. I think THF and NIN should have different focuses.

As a minor tangent, I don't think we should be afraid to share certain spells across classes/jobs. As it stands, CNJ has Stone, Stonera, Aero, and Aerora, while THM has Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, and its Fire/Ice equivalents. It would be better for THM to have the three tiers of nukes for all 6 elements, and CNJ limited to the first two tiers of nukes for all 6 elements. (Or we can only give CNJ the first tier of nukes for all 6 elements, give Arcanist the first two tiers of nukes for all 6 elements, and give CNJ - or just WHM - Banish and maybe also Scourge back - multiple tiers of them.) The reason I include this here, is because RDM will be very bizarre if we stick to our guns of all classes having abilities completely separate from one another. The casting classes can and should have a slight bit of overlap, because mages should be nuking with the correct element, not nuking every monster under the sun with whatever their strongest spell is (such as how BLM is currently a "thundermage").

Lastly, I think jobs should have more "identity" than they currently do. 5 random abilities don't really go a long way from separating WHM from CNJ, for example. I'd rather see more unique job abilities. When playing CNJ, WHM, or SMN, let's say, all of those classes/jobs should be clearly defined and have a large separation between them. WHM and SMN should obviously build on CNJ, but they should have enough of their own unique abilities so that CNJ feels like something else, not just a poor man's WHM. Perhaps classes should get a few class-specific abilities that don't transfer over to jobs.

[AceofRains]

This

[Antanias]

[*]Blue Mage - Not sure what the specifics of BLU should be for this game. Would definitely prefer it be more useful than BLU was in FFXI. Luckily, FFXIV is more about scaling the abilities with your level so old abilities don't become obsolete, which was a problem that plagued BLU in FFXI.

[Zyph]

Arcanist -> Puppetmaster

There is no doubt in my mind after reading this info that was mined from the game's data at launch:

[Arcanist]
- A Disciple of Magic that makes use of magic along with mechanics.
- Their guild is currently located in Limsa Lominsa.
- Their magic skill is called "Arcanima."
- Their auto attack is called "Magic Missle", which uses "arcance" magic. Damage type varies with equipped item.
- They can use "Create Distaff" to create Arcane Distaffs and use "Animate Distaff" to animate them, placing them down and activating them. Distaffs are items imbued with power by the arcanist. They can be placed down as traps, arcanima fields, and more. There is a limit number of distaffs that can be placed down per party, and they have a set duration.
- Their actions "Create Distaff" and "Animate Distaff" are similar to "Refill" as Archer or normal attacks as classes. They cost no action points, MP, or TP.
- Their weapon is a combination of a staff and mechanics.

Also:

scaling the abilities with your level so old abilities don't become obsolete, which was a problem that plagued BLU in FFXI.

<Head Butt>

[Zahak]

I'd rather have Samurai than dancer in the same boat as my dragoon :x Don't touch me you filthy dancers!

[LlenCoram]

I really like these ideas, especially what you have for Musketeer. I think I like Ace's ideas for dancers more, but only because I'm already a Pugilist and I hate Lancer :P.

[EdenArchangel]

I just want more than five unique abilities...

[Quintalian]

I would like to see a class specialized around wielding a gunblade, such as those used by Garlean soldiers. I imagine the Dark Knight job could branch off of a Soldier class, or from Gladiator being allowed to equip gunblades. Such a weapon could utilize special ammo types which add various effects when consumed by a Trigger action.

[AceofRains]

I would like to see a class specialized around wielding a gunblade, such as those used by Garlean soldiers. I imagine the Dark Knight job could branch off of a Soldier class, or from Gladiator being allowed to equip gunblades. Such a weapon could utilize special ammo types which add various effects when consumed by a Trigger action.

Im toying with that idea on the solder class, at least maybe an AF gunblade would be cool.

[Nakiamiie]

I won't go into any detail on the jobs that are already implemented, and won't go into super detail regarding the suggested jobs. (Please note I haven't really looked at anyone else's suggestions regarding this topic. I just had a gander at all of the jobs in past FFs, and thought about what made the most sense to me.) This list should be fairly obvious in its intent, and is located near the top for the folks who won't want to wade through the lengthy explanations below:

Gladiator

• Paladin
• Dark Knight - Pretty much the classic DRK from FFXI, just with the focus on sword/shield. Should focus on damage and weakening the enemy with debuffs, and have very limited defenses.

Pugilist

• Monk
• Puppet Master - Similar to PUP from FFXI. We already have Mammets, so why not? Would be preferable to make them more useful this time around, however.

Lancer

• Dragoon
• Dancer - Yes, this would break away from "traditional" design, but there aren't a lot of options for a polearm job, and this one could work very nicely. The DNC-specific polearms could have a nice flourish to them, like a banner, flag, or ribbons attached near the blade, so they look awesome when the DNC is... dancing. I think this could be amazing.

Archer

• Bard
• Ranger - As opposed to BRD, RNG should focus less on support, and more on damage.

Conjurer

• White Mage
• Summoner - Thematically, I think we can all agree this makes the most sense. Please make SMN more versatile and fun to play than in FFXI, however.

Thaumaturge

• Black Mage
• Scholar - Again, this makes the most sense thematically. When you're doing the THM quests, you're always being asked to read huge piles of books. If that doesn't suggest SCH more than anything else, I don't know what to say. Also, SCH could potentially have CNJ as one of its related classes. Or you could go old school, and SCH only use "black magic".

Musketeer - Suggested in-game, but not yet implemented. Obviously should be some kind of gun class.

• Gunner - This should be the physical job equivalent of a BLM. Huge focus on damage, and attacking at range. Should have pathetic defense in exchange.
• Corsair - Similar to COR from FFXI. Basically, Musketeer and its jobs would mirror Archer and its jobs, but focus on guns, and have enough twists in their design so as to give more options without just copying.

Arcanist - For this idea, we should probably throw out any lore about Arcanist that is presented in-game. Like other casters, they should have a one-hand and a two-hand weapon. The one-hand weapon should be a very light sword (like a rapier - not sure we want to go the scimitar route as well), while the two-hand weapon should be a kind of staff. Or could just go one-hand weapon only.

• Red Mage - The classic RDM, of course.
• Blue Mage - Not sure what the specifics of BLU should be for this game. Would definitely prefer it be more useful than BLU was in FFXI. Luckily, FFXIV is more about scaling the abilities with your level so old abilities don't become obsolete, which was a problem that plagued BLU in FFXI.

Rogue - A dual-wielding dagger class.

• Thief - The classic THF. Sneak Attack, other fun stuff.
• Ninja - Not sure where we should go with NIN for FFXIV. I wouldn't mind if it was an evade tank, or was a melee debuff job.

Soldier - A class that, unlike Gladiator with sword and shield, focuses on using swords with two hands.

• Samurai - Preferably, I'd like to see SAM focus on iaijutsu style attacks, and have at least two equipment paths - one where it wears heavy samurai armor, and another where it wears more ceremonial clothing like kimono, hakama, etc. The former could possibly be a tank, while the latter could focus on speed and damage, eschewing defense.
• ??? - Sorry, I ran out of good ideas here. I'd suggest Berserker, but MRD/WAR already has a Berserk ability, and Berserkers in past games have used axes and hammers.

Some notes about this:

I'd vastly prefer there was not an "advanced advanced job" concept. That is, I don't agree with the idea that you would need to finish your PLD quests before becoming a DRK. To begin with, if you introduced DRK while the level cap was still 50, and then raised the level cap, would you only need PLD to 50 to start DRK? Or PLD to 75? Or... what? It makes much more sense to just let you open the quest for either job, in either order. Though, it may make sense to NOT let the player open a job quest for the other job if they currently have a job quest open (i.e., if I have the PLD 35 quest open, I shouldn't be able to start DRK 30 until I finish PLD 35).

I also disagree with the idea of THF being a class, and NIN being the job for that class. I'd really rather see THF be its own job, and really come into its own. I think THF and NIN should have different focuses.

As a minor tangent, I don't think we should be afraid to share certain spells across classes/jobs. As it stands, CNJ has Stone, Stonera, Aero, and Aerora, while THM has Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, and its Fire/Ice equivalents. It would be better for THM to have the three tiers of nukes for all 6 elements, and CNJ limited to the first two tiers of nukes for all 6 elements. (Or we can only give CNJ the first tier of nukes for all 6 elements, give Arcanist the first two tiers of nukes for all 6 elements, and give CNJ - or just WHM - Banish and maybe also Scourge back - multiple tiers of them.) The reason I include this here, is because RDM will be very bizarre if we stick to our guns of all classes having abilities completely separate from one another. The casting classes can and should have a slight bit of overlap, because mages should be nuking with the correct element, not nuking every monster under the sun with whatever their strongest spell is (such as how BLM is currently a "thundermage").

Lastly, I think jobs should have more "identity" than they currently do. 5 random abilities don't really go a long way from separating WHM from CNJ, for example. I'd rather see more unique job abilities. When playing CNJ, WHM, or SMN, let's say, all of those classes/jobs should be clearly defined and have a large separation between them. WHM and SMN should obviously build on CNJ, but they should have enough of their own unique abilities so that CNJ feels like something else, not just a poor man's WHM. Perhaps classes should get a few class-specific abilities that don't transfer over to jobs.

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Excellent ideas! I, too, would like to see more jobs per classes and more classes overall.
The combinations you two propose are nice and would definitely allow more different play styles. For example, a player might not like playing Archer, but might enjoy Musketeer.