Examples of what i'm expecting from Evolved

[Valence]

I'm not gonna pretend to present a full job design as it would be an exercise in futility—and I don't have the months to devote to this on my free time anyway.

But I thought I'd muse a little on the type of job design I'd love having when Evolved comes out. It definitely should imply more than just a gauge filling on 20s for every job and sequences of skills that don't really matter in the end.

And I do think that CBU often forgets the rich lore they have created behind each job, especially since they deleted most of the job quests.

It is a shame really, as I do believe it could be a great source of creativity and identity. I think that each job should really have unique mechanics, and this involves unique gauges, and not gauges that all work the same beneath the cowling.

Here are some examples I could think of. I'm mostly a DPS person, so I'll stick to what speaks the most to me.


Reaper

Reaper is all about getting attuned to your avatar from the void that you make a pact with. That pact demands that the void entity serves you, and in exchange gets to feed on aether—which is the usual currency made in a pact with voidsent.

As a result of this, I do believe that RPR should be literally built around gorging on aether and spending it. What is MP but aether? Then with this in mind, I do think this job could completely rely on MP management.

- It's pretty simple, big moves attached to the voidsent cost MP.
- Other moves and the filler would be trying to recover from MP by "reaping" at the enemy with the scythe.
- Getting into Enshroud would spend all your remaining MP, and the more you'd have to feed the voidsent, the longer they could stay and provide more attacks.
-> Very little recast timers required, people would just be gated by their resources/gauge/MP instead, which involves freedom but also decision making with managing said resources.
- The job should keep its gimmick mechanic when getting kills (notably from trash/adds), you'd get bonus aether from it (currently it's gauge), and potentially Harvest stacks as well (like in pvp, it's cool and rewarding).
- Ultimate move (like Skyshatter on DRG): Perfectio could potentially get insta kills on trash that is below a certain threshold of HP like an assassinate of sorts (it doesn't really matter it's trash, not a boss that would be immune obviously).

Ultimately it can stay gauge based instead of MP based, I'm just exposing the general concept.

Dragoon

Dragoon Knights are known for their jumping attacks, soaring through the skies of Ishgard, and falling down upon their enemies.

I do not think Evolved DRG that's been shown is too terrible aside from the obvious concerns people have for the filler. But if DRG has to be THE positional job where positioning matters to execute jumps and other attacks, then I do believe it should go all the way through.

DRG's identity throughout its history has always been about building upward and unlocking more and more powerful attacks as you build up. This should be honored and kept.

- Fang and Claw positionals as displayed.
- Jumps and attacks could work a bit like in pvp with Wyrmwind, requiring distance and range to properly function. You'd generate that way a job that does zoom in and out in a constant back and forth, which I do find elegant and cool, on top of offering a unique type of melee dance. You'd go back to melee with a short cooldown on High Jump (with stacks). You'd go away with the same in Elusive. Not too dissimilar from RDM's movement tools.
- Some jumps could actually go through the enemy, notably AoE moves, making the DRG strafe and slice through packs of enemies.
- More powerful jumps would be charged and powered up through the Eye like today. Executing those powerful, positioning related attacks would make your roar and awaken the Eye more with every one of those, leading to unlock Stardiver/etc.

Dancer

Dancers are skilled in the art of Kriegstanz, which demands physical athleticism and perfomance, dancing and moving all around the battlefield.

DNC has been a high priority and rng job, and it should respect that identity and build upon it. it should also, of course, keep its dance partner mechanic, but this should be more dynamic and less "done deal".

- Dancing steps would stay and serve to buff the dance partner's damage and provide them with a shorter damage buff enhancing their critical rate, etc. Ideally i'd even wish it granted them unique DNC partner procs to use on their end, but harder to do (how do you introduce this on the partner's hotbars?). Perhaps it could just be fan/feather attacks that automatically get triggered on the end of the partner as well as the DNC in unison.
- Dashing should be part of the dancing steps, some would be immobile like today, and some would actually involve moving. Plan carefully.
- They would unlock Honing Dance (from pvp, it's just a great and unique skill, bring it in pve please). This is a channeled ability that makes the DNC spin around, damaging enemy over ticks every second, and ending in a big AoE attack based on the amount of hits registered, also generating a proportional barrier to allies.
- RNG: rng would still be backed behind feather stacks, but I do believe it should also be baked behind the gauge instead of Sabre. Dancing would tap into the gauge, and be less of a tedium tied to a fixed recast. Dance whenever you want, dancer. Go with the mood, the flow, and the rng.
- Some big skills like Starfall would trigger dancing steps as OGCDs to weave in, charging up the gauge with each one, and allowing for more dances after.
- The GCD pacing should change and have different recast speeds so that the "dance" of the rotation is less stale, and more dynamic.
- Dance partner should work exactly like in pvp and be toggleable at will with no cooldown and by the press of a single button.
- Dance partner would provide the partner not only with dance damage buffs, but also movement speed buffs, support, mitigation and healing on both ends of the partner link. Swapping partner would therefore be something players would actively want to do to support their whole team depending on the need.
- Ultimate move (like Sky Shatter on DRG): Contradance would lock the DNC in (or replace Honing under specific conditions), which would spin and cast a long channeled ability, debuffing enemies, supporting allies in the process.

[Valence]

Adding to all of this and this would tie more to encounter design... which would require more considerations there. I'd really like each job to have unique things they could provide and do in fights. Harder to do with a boss that's just a dummy you hit in the middle of an arena until it dies, but for trash and other similar sections that people have come to find boring over the years since nothing happens there anymore?

Add stuns, knockdowns, slow and other FF signature debuffs to specific moves. What if your tank can pull in mobs (DRK)? What if your DNC using Honing or the MCH using Flamethrower would add vuln stacks to all the mobs you hit, and they increase as long as the skill goes? What if Samurai can dash through mobs with Zantetsuken and slice them for a specific % of their HP? What if gravity slows down enemies, and Holy would blind instead of just AoE stun? What if SCH gets Bane back, and have traits that make infected mobs spontaneously belch more bio puddles at random that work like Nozuchi + slow down affected targets? What if Slipstream actually gave allies that stand in it an evasion buff?

[BabyYoda]

I'm not gonna pretend to present a full job design as it would be an exercise in futility—and I don't have the months to devote to this on my free time anyway.

...

I really like the overall direction of this post, especially the idea that Evolved should not just be a new gauge or a slightly different sequence of buttons.

The strongest part, in my opinion, is the idea that each job should ask a different gameplay question.

Reaper should ask: “How well do you manage your pact and feed your voidsent?”

Dragoon should ask: “How well do you control positioning, jumps, and aerial pressure?”

Dancer should ask: “How well do you maintain flow while supporting the party?”

That kind of job identity is much more interesting than every job having a gauge that fills every 20 seconds.

That said, I think some of these ideas are still not fully mature from a gameplay perspective.

For example, Reaper using MP or aether as a real resource fits the lore very well, but if Enshroud duration becomes too dependent on how much resource you saved, it could become too rigid around burst windows. A safer version might be a fixed Enshroud duration, but with different payoff depending on how well you managed your pact gauge before entering it.

Dragoon having jumps that care about distance and positioning sounds great thematically, but FFXIV encounters, boss hitboxes, latency, and arena mechanics could make strict distance requirements frustrating. I think it would work better as bonus expression rather than hard punishment.

Dancer has a lot of creative ideas here, especially Honing Dance and more active partner gameplay, but I think constant partner swapping could become too much micromanagement in PvE. A middle ground might be keeping the main Dance Partner stable, while giving Dancer temporary support windows where they can “spotlight” another party member for a short effect.

So overall, I agree with the philosophy very strongly.

Evolved should make jobs feel mechanically different, not just visually different.

But I think the best version is one that keeps the fantasy while still respecting FFXIV’s encounter design, readability, and balance limits.