Quote Originally Posted by Galamantyl View Post
Alright, I'm open to more variety of buffing classes, yes. But out of the 7 war/magic classes we already have, why do we not have a buffing class already? This should've been in since conceptual design, long before alpha even.

And also, that's just a terrible breakdown of needs for a party in FFXI. It obviously wasn't thought out very good. Minimum tank/healer is enough to get a party going, and what classes would be acceptable depended heavily on level. Don't just make up nonsense to support your argument if you're going to make one.
Because it's a lot easier to balance if classes buff themselves, rather than having one dedicated class to do it (plus, you don't have to burn a party slot on a buffer). It's much easier to tune on a job-by-job basis, to keep every DD on an even keel, and doesn't require accounting for a huge variety of outside buffs that have to be accounted for (e.g. difference between no BRD, one BRD, two BRDS, BRD+COR, and whatever songs/rolls might be selected (which might well not benefit all jobs equally, requiring some compromise or one or more jobs getting suboptimal buffs)).

And, if I'm honest, when I think about job roles, I really only care about activities done at the level cap. Could be small man, could be large groups, but I frankly don't give two craps about XP party. That said, if there's one job every single party is better off with at every single level, it's BRD. If that's not poor game design, I don't know what is.

Plus, how can it be a terrible breakdown, as those are the 3 major archetypes for any MMO. Buffer would be #4, but can easily be incorporated into the first 3. For FFXI in particular, BRD almost becomes a 5th, because it is so incredibly valuable compared to any other class, in any situation. Every other job can be replaced with very similar end result, except for BRD.

Quote from an old LS mate: "Asuran Fists' modifiers are 50% Acc, 50% BRD".