Regarding Beastmaster as a potential job

[AriaValkyrie]

So there's several posts with general discussions on Beastmaster, generally also dismissed saying it would likely be a limited job like Blue Mage. While its true it could, I wanted to also see what people thought about some general concepts for it.

Beastmaster itself typically does involve a catch-and-release method of fulfilling its namesake, which certainly would fit with a limited job system, even if their captured/befriended beasts weren't released in between "uses" of a particular beast. All well and good, since it would provide a lot of variation in gameplay and entertainment building a bestiary of friends from all expansions.

If we wanted to, however, we could make it a full job by removing some of the variation and dropping the total list to a few iconic monsters for core gameplay.

Mechanically, this could look something between how Summoner works and MCH's Automaton Queen or DRK's Esteem/Living Shadow; basically calling a monster for a short series of attacks before doing a "finisher" for them.

Rather than a pet type, this could be a tandem assault, keeping the beast at their side and performing certain attacks as the Beastmaster executes weaponskills. These weaponskills would likely also shift in form and function, entering different stances as each beast gets called to ensure a combat flow that flows and shifts. sort of like how summoner's DWT worked back in HW, where a calling starts a higher-powered "phase", which could be ended at will to do a burst or otherwise boosting damage. Could also be a type of "mounted" combat, since this would be new animations and could easily be something we haven't seen yet.

The trick with this latter idea is determining which beasts they would actually have access to, since it would likely end up being specific iconic monsters (like a Coeurl would be pretty much guaranteed).

This is mostly to gauge how interested people would be in something like this before I try to make a job concept for it; Could make one for the former showing what few things Beastmaster would have before/without making their friends, or one for the latter with tandem assaults and general ideas behind gameplay.

Also for bonus points based on what weapons Beastmaster themselves use, would y'all prefer a one-handed axe or a whip for them?

[aveyond-dreams]

I would only support the addition of Beast Master as a full, normal job. Limited jobs, actually no the word "limited" should have never been allowed to enter FFXIV's vocabulary full stop. It's content that goes nowhere, and other games have hunter classes that run around with pets that can do the same content as everyone else.

Also axe > whip.

[fulminating]

From the beastmasters we've seen, both Pagaga and Lyon use axe and shield. There's no real reason for the player character to swap to whips.

I think beastmaster would work far better as a limited job than another warrior or melee reskin. It absolutely deserves to have some uniqueness to the job and being able to select from a decent array of beasts with different associated skills rather than the tedium inflicted on current summoner.

[AriaValkyrie]

Honestly if I made this concept as a full job it would likely still have a good array of monsters to choose from, just with different boosts depending on the beast chosen, and having them combo from calling to weaponskill, I was comparing it to smn, mch, and drk purely to show what the beast call might look like.

Also, not gonna lie, I definitely forgot that Lyon was a Beastmaster, might need to check his stuff again while I'm making this. At least there's a precedent for an axe/shield combo we could work with, so that's one thing probably set in stone.

[fulminating]

I think it would be quite hard to balance a distinct identity for each beast, the beastmaster's roles and general flow of the job while keeping to ~30 actions and not having it feel too skeletal. Being able to select a handful of more involved beasts could help by having a lot of inaccessible depth, but they would have to bring their own positives and negatives or it'll end up as completely interchangeable or largely worthless

[ty_taurus]

I brought this up in the "Other Battle Systems" forum before, but I really like the idea of BST being based off of Rinoa as a ranged physical DPS with a pinwheel as a weapon. The idea is that you have a specific pet, not overworld enemies you collect, and they are used specifically as a gauge mechanic that allows them to combo off your actions. For reference, here's the Rinoa trailer that showcases what I mean. Note that she does switch between physical and magical stances, but the idea here would just be the first half expanded upon.

It's also not unlike the Trainer Dressphere from X-2 where each character had their own specific pet.

[CKNovel]

Mechanically, this could look something between how Summoner works and MCH's Automaton Queen or DRK's Esteem/Living Shadow; basically calling a monster for a short series of attacks before doing a "finisher" for them.

I can garantee you, you don't want these pets.
They're flashy and all but once the flashyness settles, you quickly realise they're glorified dots.
Their AI are terrible and can make them lose/forget attacks if they need to search for a new target.
You quickly forget them and they often and they exist to make you think "Who is that idiot standing in the wrong spot? Oh, that's only Living Shadow/Automaton Queen..."

Bahamut and Phoenix are kind of okay but they're most magic turret you summon and do their signature move when you tell them to do so.

Ironically, the best pet you can ask for is the Reaper's avatar.
It's a pet in visual only and makes the kit extremely smooth to play.

[Aluja89]

The limited job concept is dead in the water, not sure why people keep bringing it up. They haven't even updates the one we have for quite a while.

Also, Beastmaster is going to be a tank. That's non-negotiable.

[Voidedge_Ragna]

I'd love beastmaster, but i feel like it would need to be a limited job or dumbed down A LOT.

And if its a limited job ... well look at blue mage, alive once for 2 weeks when something happens that's relevant to it, after that it becomes something like 1% of the players do.

The last time i was on Blue was to get the morbol mount and that was over a year ago because there's nothing to do for blue, and no the carnival does not count the stuff it gives is a joke.

So its gonna be, a poor mans version of beastmaster to fit it into the dps role ... and lets face it SE does not want any more pets ... all pets that were on the field are already reduced to basically a toggle stance.

Or it becomes a limited job that they don't care to develop.

F

[MagiusNecros]

Doesn't need to be a limited job and probably isn't going to have much interaction with pets since the game just can't do pet classes to save it's life. Closest thing is Healers managing the party as their pets.

It has a high chance of being a tank like Aluja says. And it probably is going to take a lot of notes from Lyon Helsos the Beast King. Alongside some callbacks to the Beastmaster in past SE games.

Beastmaster is a very popularly demanded job. Especially by Matsuno.