So, what is the hold up on Beastmaster?

[MonsutaMan]

XIV has been out for 12 years, counting the version XI killed off from 2010. BST is not some one off class that appeared in one game.

It also appeared in Bravely Default, a FF-esque title.

It is by no means WAR, but it is odd for an MMO not to have a hunter/beastmaster class. If this was FFXVI, so be it........But not a MMO.

FF has Summoner, I get it.....But FF also has Beastmaster.

I also feel BST should get to name pets, and must level them up for group play, hence everyone won't be walking around with the same monsters......Like those Grasshoppers in XI. Everyone is bug catcher Joey in XI (Myself included).

[Packetdancer]

Didn't the devs say that all jobs going forward would be original to FFXIV, specifically because people end up with preconceived notions of a job (based on some other FF game) which don't fit how a job might work in XIV? (Honest question, not rhetorical; I am fairly sure I remember that being said in a live letter, but it's almost midnight and I am far too tired to go digging through live-letters to check myself on that.)

I mean, beyond that, this game has been steadily moving away from pet-based combat; the SCH fairies are two appearances for the same thing, SMN pets no longer have HP, etc. Whether you think that's a good thing or not, it is a thing... and an XIV version of BST seems like it would be a sharp U-turn in that regard, which I suspect is unlikely.

[Cidel]

Didn't the devs say that all jobs going forward would be original to FFXIV, specifically because people end up with preconceived notions of a job (based on some other FF game) which don't fit how a job might work in XIV? (Honest question, not rhetorical; I am fairly sure I remember that being said in a live letter, but it's almost midnight and I am far too tired to go digging through live-letters to check myself on that.)

I'm leaning towards "no;" I have yet to see that said in any actual interview in recent memory or any live letter unless it was officially translated much later after the actual broadcast and not by a third-party translator as it was live. One person dropped that claim in another thread and I haven't seen a follow-up referencing where that claim came from. The only thing anywhere near this that I recall was any time around Stormblood and Shadowbringers when Yoshida said he wanted to start introducing some jobs that are unique to XIV (Gunbreaker and Reaper, and arguably Sage which is literally a Sage in name-only). Other personal job comments said by Yoshida was a far-eastern styled caster, but that might have been mentioned as far back as Heavensward. If he claimed all jobs going forward after Dancer will be new creations, it flew over majority of the playerbase's head.

I mean, beyond that, this game has been steadily moving away from pet-based combat; the SCH fairies are two appearances for the same thing, SMN pets no longer have HP, etc. Whether you think that's a good thing or not, it is a thing... and an XIV version of BST seems like it would be a sharp U-turn in that regard, which I suspect is unlikely.

I agree, they are so bad at pet-controlling concepts that if they ever decided to open that can of worms known as limited jobs again, it would probably be so far removed from the core gameplay of XIV, moreso than BLU that it would probably be a Eureka, Island Sanctuary, or Verminion-esque content that even having a Beastmaster job stone would be a superficial afterthought (though given BLU's treatment, that's par the course). They could literally make a Pokemon-esque side content and call that "Beastmaster."

[RukoBoshi]

I'm leaning towards "no;" I have yet to see that said in any actual interview in recent memory or any live letter unless it was officially translated much later after the actual broadcast and not by a third-party translator as it was live. One person dropped that claim in another thread and I haven't seen a follow-up referencing where that claim came from. The only thing anywhere near this that I recall was any time around Stormblood and Shadowbringers when Yoshida said he wanted to start introducing some jobs that are unique to XIV (Gunbreaker and Reaper, and arguably Sage which is literally a Sage in name-only). Other personal job comments said by Yoshida was a far-eastern styled caster, but that might have been mentioned as far back as Heavensward. If he claimed all jobs going forward after Dancer will be new creations, it flew over majority of the playerbase's head.

Here's the source of the interview where Yoshida mention job design going forward.
https://we-are-vanadiel.finalfantasy...id=381&lang=en

The quote :
"Yoshida : Job names are especially tough. (laughs wryly) After all, there’s no point if a job is similar to its namesake in name only; its gameplay experience needs to match their pre-established design too. At this point, I’m thinking we have no choice but to come up with brand new jobs that haven’t appeared in the FF series before."

[Winterfang]

Here's the source of the interview where Yoshida mention job design going forward.
https://we-are-vanadiel.finalfantasy...id=381&lang=en

The quote :
"Yoshida : After all, there’s no point if a job is similar to its namesake in name only; its gameplay experience needs to match their pre-established design too.

Maybe I'm not understanding what he's trying to convey here, but isn't that exactly what they did to Sage?

[RukoBoshi]

Maybe I'm not understanding what he's trying to convey here, but isn't that exactly what they did to Sage?

Yeah, that's exactly what they did, and i think they are trying to move away from that.
This is something they definitely must have noticed when they started to design a Sage job and end up with something completely different.

I don't know why they named it Sage anyway, but i think they don't want to do that again.
Next time they'll create something fully from the ground up instead of sticking a popular job names on it.

[Deveryn]

Maybe I'm not understanding what he's trying to convey here, but isn't that exactly what they did to Sage?

Not really. Looking at past versions, it's still a mix of white and black magic (DPS and healing).

Summoner is now more accurate to previous designs as well.

Beastmaster as a playable job would definitely be that name only situation. I believe he's specifically thinking about that job when he makes that comment. Pet AI doesn't work well, especially in dungeons. There are versions of BST that would charm and nothing points to that even being possible here. Regardless of that, it would also be severely limited in many instances. What you're left with is just another melee job.

[rainichan]

When the devs introduced BLU as a limited job, they made sure to make mention of BST in the same breath as "we're looking into other limited jobs such as..." and since BLU has a very... mixed opinion of it, I'm not really sure if they're going to continue with limited jobs. At this point, only the devs know if they'll keep putting money into a limited job, and if they'll bring out BST like that if they do.

[NekoMataMata]

When the devs introduced BLU as a limited job, they made sure to make mention of BST in the same breath as "we're looking into other limited jobs such as..." and since BLU has a very... mixed opinion of it, I'm not really sure if they're going to continue with limited jobs. At this point, only the devs know if they'll keep putting money into a limited job, and if they'll bring out BST like that if they do.

Considering the weird mess that BLU is I don't think people would really want them to bring out BST. But... if they bring it out in a similar way to BLU, they can probably make it something for people to grind on.

[rainichan]

Considering the weird mess that BLU is I don't think people would really want them to bring out BST. But... if they bring it out in a similar way to BLU, they can probably make it something for people to grind on.

I mean, I don't mind BLU, it's fun and some friends and I were doing some of the harder fights for funsies on it! I enjoy it for what it is, but I know they got a LOT of backlash for it not being a full class, not being exactly like the other FF games (XI in particular since it's a full job there), a lot of people get irritated with BLUs when they swoop into FATEs to one-shot them during things like relic item grinding, etc. so while I think BST would be fun in a limited capacity, trying to balance it as a full job would end up being more of a SMN but with dungeon monsters sort of deal but less fun (or... more, I guess, if you don't like the SMN rework lol.) The limited job idea in general was a pretty mixed reaction to some enjoying the idea of something to do during downtime, and others complained that it should just be a full job, the devs were just using the balance issue as a cop-out, and so on.

Time will tell if they go ahead with more; I personally hope they do because I always enjoy more content to do when I'm not doing main content prog haha.