Why do we have classes AND jobs again?

[Colvin]

So I have had alot of discussion lately with friends and players about the continued use of the armory system and this has come up a few times:

Why do we still have both the Armory AND Jobs?

I really just want to get people's viable opinions about the continued existance of both.

1. I know that they are not going to remove Armory and that it's existance is a forgone conclusion
2. I know that the current opinion is that, for the most part, Armory is solo and Job is party
3. Currently most of the discussion has been about how we can differentiate between them to make them more individual

What I would like to see is if people think it is even smart to keep around.

for posterity:

My Opinion

I think they should get rid of classes. Then they said they were bringing out jobs, I thought they would be a kind of "Job Change" like in FF1 where you were what you were before, but with more. I know people wanted to ability to have situationally specific jobs, but I have never liked the restrictions on selectable abilities. The arguement that it was necessary to make the jobs more play-specific in parties is kind of moot because if you chose to equip the party-specific abilities, those would inherantly take up slots and, therefore, lower the other abilities you could equip. As it stands, I see no reason why you should NEED to make Gladiator a seperate class than Paladin to just give Paladins the option to select different abilities. I found it very limiting in comparison to previous Job-based final fantasy games (XI not withstanding).

I should also note that I realize 2.0 is supposedly totally different and how they will approach abilities really isnt known yet. I just want to see where the discussion will go.

DISCUSS!

[DoctorMog]

They need to make classes distinct enough to warrant using them.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[Colvin]

They need to make classes distinct enough to warrant using them.

Nothing more, nothing less.

right, but everyone who is thinking about playing asks me about them and I can't really say why they should even exist. they say there are 16 classes but there are really more like 8, so why not just stop pretending, deal with the fact that we have 8 and plan more? What is the benefit to keeping them around other than "because they are there now"?

[indira]

They need to make classes distinct enough to warrant using them.

Nothing more, nothing less.

easy just make somethings in game class only.

[NoloeTazier]

easy just make somethings in game class only.

Just because they can, doesn't mean they should. People don't want to carry around or have to purchase Class only gear so they can go into Class only content, when 99% of the content they do do, they are on Jobs.

[indira]

Just because they can, doesn't mean they should. People don't want to carry around or have to purchase Class only gear so they can go into Class only content, when 99% of the content they do do, they are on Jobs.

thats an excuse people carry around everything anyways and gear sets wont use up inventory in ARR.

[Imoen]

thats an excuse people carry around everything anyways and gear sets wont use up inventory in ARR.

If we get more than one gear set for class and job then win, if not lame. "Example if I have ... warrior damage set and enmity set then my marauder lets say has 2 situational sets as well, that's 4 gear sets."

[NoloeTazier]

thats an excuse people carry around everything anyways and gear sets wont use up inventory in ARR.

Depends on if there's a limit of gear sets. Even then like I said, you have to purchase the Class gear. That's even more gear for people to purchase and meld. People complain about gearing 2 jobs, let alone gearing those 2 jobs then even 1 Class. Sure they may allow Class/Job gear, but the 'best' Class gear will be Class only, just like the 'best' Job gear is Job only.

[Ralliare]

They need to make classes distinct enough to warrant using them.

Nothing more, nothing less.

That's the opposite of what they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be free to be what you want to be and do. JOBS are supposed to be the distinct things with a set role.

[whoopeeragon]

That's the opposite of what they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be free to be what you want to be and do. JOBS are supposed to be the distinct things with a set role.

I think what she means is distinct in its versatility, so that there is a reason to play them. Right now asides from extra skills and a bit of more freedom, they bear too much of a similarity to jobs.

They just need to make class-specific abilities which can be used across all the classes with effects aimed at class-play to make it more idle to use. That's the 'something' I want classes to be distinct at. Not a specialisation in a role, but something that emphasises the versatility of classes.