So, what is each Job's identity?

[VeyaAkemi]

With all the talk about Evolved Jobs lately, I caught myself thinking, what, exactly, defines each Job, is it a specific gameplay mechanic? is it a vibe?

I can see the argument for something, like say, Red Mage or Ninja having a specific gameplay mechanic as its identity, Dualcast and Jutsu specifically.

But then what about Paladin? I can't say there is a single gameplay mechanic in that Job's kit that I'd call distinctively Paladin, maybe Cover, but an overwhelming majority of Paladin don't use Cover, you can be one of the best Paladin in the game, clear every Ultimate and so on so forth, without needing to touch Cover. So is it a vibe then? is it the look of the armored defender with a sword and shield?

And if a Job's identity can be a mechanic or a vibe, where is the line? how much does it need of one or the other?

I am not trying to challenge anything or anyone, it's just a thought that I am curious to see where people stand about this, can a Job be all vibes, or all mechanics, so on.

[StriderShinryu]

I think it comes down to the individual job but ideally it's a combination of both vibes and mechanics that both reinforce each other.

For Paladin specifically, I'd say it's the holy defender that combines sword and board with magic that can both hurt enemies and heal their friends. And I'd say it's most iconic ability outside of the ranged swords combo is easily Wings (which falls into both vibes and mechanics I suppose).

[Yuella]

If we're taking about tradition throughout the franchise:
Paladin - have white magic and can cover allies
Dark Knight - sacrifice HP to deal damage
Dragoon - jump and be untargetable while in the air
Ninja - can do elemental magic in addition to fast melee
Warrior - none, but in FF14, its job identity is combined with Berserker, whose identity is lose control and auto attack (more damage) the rest of the battle
Summoner - summon something, it does huge damage, then disappears
Red Mage - can heal, deal magic damage and melee damage, but not as good as specialist like WHM, BLM and WAR
Bard - sing songs that have various effects like hp regen, increase allies' attack, increase allies' defense, sleep enemies etc. Bard's harp also deals damage with the attack command
Dancer - same as BRD but usually have better offense
Sage - Can do White Magic and Black Magic but no swordplay. Their white magic and black magic are as good as whm's and blm's
Scholar - Can see enemies' weakness (which is why they're repackaged as the tactician in FFXIV)

[Supersnow845]

What the identities of a job is in wider FF shouldn’t mean anything compared to the lore of what the job is in 14

People wanting jobs changed to better suit how they view a job from an old FF game or wanting jobs made easier or different because “I like this job in x final fantasy but it’s too hard to play in 14” are the origins of some of the worst job changes we’ve gotten over the years

If jobs differ between 14 and another FF 14 should win out,

[Oizen]

PLD:
-Only tank with a full magic ranged combo
-Only tank with Cover to fully take damage for allies
-Only tank that can drop uptime for non conditional instant healing with Clemency
-Only tank with three raidwide mitigations

Just cause you don't use the tools doesn't mean they're not useful or not there at all. PLD is busted and the best tank for prog easily.

[Turtledeluxe]

PLD:
-Only tank with a full magic ranged combo
-Only tank with Cover to fully take damage for allies
-Only tank that can drop uptime for non conditional instant healing with Clemency
-Only tank with three raidwide mitigations

Just cause you don't use the tools doesn't mean they're not useful or not there at all. PLD is busted and the best tank for prog easily.

Off topic but your sig takes me out every time I see it. Simply well done.

[ThreeBeastSmile]

I'm of the opinion right now some jobs just don't. They don't have identities. DRK has struggled to have an identity since conception; that only got worse over time, as what faint vestiges it had that were kind of unique got removed. For that job it's merely graphics. For RPR now it's kind of only graphics ever since VPR (filched the Enshroud-like stuff), and even before that... just the Enshroud being its thing has been kinda weak, but there I was thinking it'd get developed more after EW. Certainly more than an additional ogcd and some bonus throwaway after Communio. Oh well. You could say current DRG's LotD phase stuff is just another budget shroud too, only without a gauge. WAR's Inner Release as well, and DRK's Delirium. PLD's Imperator too.

Personally, just graphics -- or vibe as you've put it -- is not adequate. I desire a strong enough signature mechanic to be a part of the blueprint too. At the moment I can only find it in PvP, barely. There's too much near direct crossover between abilities in PvE. The game encourages job switching, yet what's the point when everything is so similar? Guess the devs don't want to overwhelm players too much, or maybe it's to give them the impression they're super masterful to be able to play so many jobs at the same time. Who knows? It's irrelevant to me as I prefer to specialize in just one or two things, but even I'm swapping jobs frequently because there's no meat to focus into. In MMOs (or games in general) where I've done that, I tend to leave shortly after. That's the cue, usually. Looking on to 8.0 timorously...

[Laerune]

I hope WHM gets the pvp laserbeam.

[Absurdity]

PLD:
-Only tank with a full magic ranged combo
-Only tank with Cover to fully take damage for allies
-Only tank that can drop uptime for non conditional instant healing with Clemency
-Only tank with three raidwide mitigations

Just cause you don't use the tools doesn't mean they're not useful or not there at all. PLD is busted and the best tank for prog easily.

I think "protector" fits here quite well, because it used to also be the tank with the strongest mitigation (40% when everyone else had 30% at most) in exchange for either really long cooldowns (Hallowed Ground, Sentinel being 3min) or very short windows (Blocking being 36 or 38% but only for a single hit).

But I feel like we need to go further than just "what is the job's unique gimmick?".
Because they can clearly do the unique gimmick as evidenced by evolved Dragoon.
We need to ask "what is the job's unique gameplay flow?". How does the moment to moment gameplay differ from every other job? Because spamming filler and then pressing all your burst cooldowns every 60 seconds is not noticeably different from every other DPS.

[RaionKansen]

To a degree, each job's identity is a subjective and personal thing to each person. I could try to comment on what I think each job's identity is, but im sure there would be plenty that would disagree since its now how they personally view the jobs.

PLD: Wings, Ranged Combo, Cover
WAR: Self-healing, Holmgang's low CD
DRK: Being Edgy, TBN
GNB: Continuation

DRG: Backflip, Dragon sounds
MNK: Punch Stuff, Perfect Balance, Mantra
NIN: Ninja Stuff, Mudras
SAM: Big Damage, Tengentsu (third eye)
RPR: Enshroud
VPR: Turn Blue + Uncoiled Fury

BRD: 2 DoTs, Procs, Song Optimization, Warden's Paean
MCH: Guns, More Guns, Queen
DNC: Dance Partner, Procs, En Avant

SMN: Getting killed by Ifrit Gap Close, Watching the boss move away from the Garuda AoE you just placed, crayon-eating
BLM: (non-standard is pretty dead), Leylines, Transpose, no 1-2-3 combo
RDM: Dualcast, Verraise, Red, Melee combo
PCT: Painting, Silly Hammer Combo, Smudge

WHM: Healslu- just kidding, Bene, Lillies
SCH: Chain, Fairy stuff, Spreadlo, Expedient
AST: The Balance, Macrocosmos
SGE: Holos, Panhaima, Icarus Dive