We need a Greatsword Dps Class!!!

[EdwinLi]

Do we need another melee so soon? It's the most saturated sub-role. With the advent of old SMN (as well as the dev team being too stubborn to return SCH to its former glory) the game lacks a proper venomancer/DoT mage. Whether it be Puppetmaster, Warlock, Shaman, Geomancer etc. I don't really care, I just would like a new Caster job that isn't half melee (RDM) or has less casts than SAM (SMN).

By the Job release schedule pattern (we had Tank+Healer+DPS for 3.0, DPS+DPS in 4.0, Tank+DPS for 5.0, and Healer+DPS for 6.0), we are at the Double DPS release expansion for 7.0 so it is going to be either 1 Melee DPS and 1 Range DPS (mage or physical) or a Double Range DPS Job release.

So it is expect we are going to get another melee dps in 7.0 if they are not going double range dps release.

Of course they could go Tank+Healer, Tank+DPS, or Healer+DPS in 7.0 but we already have a Healer+DPS release on 6.0 so it comes down to Tank+Healer and Tank+DPS release if they are not going double DPS release for 7.0.

One of the main reasons for avoiding duplicate weapon types is that it makes unique weapon design and job identity more difficult, which is enough of a problem with six different sword variants as it is. Half the time the 'Greatswords' in this game are being redesigned as oversized cutlasses to avoid overlapping with some very similar albeit downsized PLD swords and NIN daggers.

If you want to avoid ending up as Pirate Strife, you're better off looking into more unique weapon designs. A better alternative is to look at the likes of FFVII Advent Children's Fusion Sword or better yet, FFXV's Armiger. In the case of the latter, you'd effectively be fabricating weapons from the air, and each Weaponskill could very well be a different weapon type. A variant of this type of fighting style could be something similar to Xenogears' Esmerelda, where you have a job that situationally transforms limbs into weapons while fighting. I'm not sure what the current lore situation is on BST post-Bozja, but that's one way of implementing it as a partial shape-shifter. Perhaps give them a bell.

Mystic Knight is a very popular choice, but doesn't fit with the SOLDIER aesthetic. I would have expected something either Thavnarian or Corvosi in design. If you want to distinguish them from all of the other sword-wielding gish jobs, you could give them a whip or flail instead, and let their casting have more of an elemental buff/debuff focus, in place of the standard magic-as-damage routine.

That being said, I do think that it will be some time before we see more melee jobs. Could we have a blitzball-wielding physical ranged? A Void Mage that uses Lulu style dolls mixed with curses and DoTs? What about a melee-range healer that uses a pole or quarterstaff, and generates and mixes proximity aura effects by smashing potions? Could you design a tank that uses Ward's Anchor or Nero's Hammer? Swords are only the tip of the iceberg.

Variation of the weapon type is certainly the key to release a job based on a similar weapon type. Though swords are the most common weapons in Fantasy theme games which is why a lot of class/jobs and characters in Fantasy theme games are always sword based with their version of the sword having some kind of unique flavor to separate them.

This maybe a bit off topic but this thing just goes back to how we are conditioned growing up when it comes to Fantasy theme characters.

The sword is the most common weapon we see used for Protagonist and Antagonist's weapon of choice and default weapon. It literally represents the character down to their core. If we all look back in fantasy theme stories we experience growing up, we will realized majority of them have main characters and antagonists that use swords as their weapon of choice. We are literally conditioned since childhood to like sword theme Jobs because it is the most common weapon chosen to represent a Hero and Villain. Heck most Fantasy stories Ultimate weapons are Swords. You can also bet most fantasy games released in the future will still have the sword as the Main Character's weapon of choice by default as well.