What new classes would you like to see in FFXIV?

[Del Murder]

What new classes would you like to see in FFXIV that weren't in FFXI? FFXI had a lot of great classes, but let's see something new. Don't forget to give your class a unique weapon since that's what defines a class in this game.

For reference, here is a link to classes that have already been announced (http://ffxiv.zam.com/story.html?story=21825).

Class: Geomancer
Weapon: The ALL POWERFUL bell!
Abilities: Has different abilities depending on the terrain it is on. Standing in water will alow it to send waves at the enemy, standing in snow will allow it to create an icicle barrier for the party, standing in sand will allow it to create sand pits, etc. I really wished for this job to be added to FFXI because it's always been a favorite FF job of mine and it's very innovative and creates some varied gameplay.

[Jessweeee♪]

That's what I was gonna say when I saw the thread title!

[Rostum]

Summoner!

If not that, more of a hunter type class. I liked beastmaster in FFXI but it really stands no chance of being a fun class like hunter from WoW. I'd love to be profecient in my archery skills, be able to set traps and fire status effected arrows along with having a wild beast as my companion that grows alongside me.

I do really like pet classes, but they're usually the outcast which is a real shame. They have so much potential but are never developed how I'd like them to be.

I would like to see some sort of ninja/rogue type class. Not for tanking, but just to be one of those sneaky, seedy and mysterious type classes roaming the lands. And yes, a geomancer class would be really awesome.

[Del Murder]

Yeah an actual ninja class that doesn't end up being a tank would be cool. Maybe make shurikens super cheap so Throw is actually a viable option. Throw defines ninjas in the FF series and no one in FFXI does it.

A pet class where your pet levels up with you would be sweet! I'd totally play that class. The weapon could be whips.

[Ouch!]

FENCER.

[oddler]

Fencer sounds cool. The way the jobs look like they're going to be split in XIV seems awesome to me because it appears that it'll be way open-ended as far as customization. Like geomancy sounds like it would fit in really well with a Conjurer's abilities with elements.

A mime ability would be sweet but it'd probably be hard to accomplish and balance correctly. And I'd love a Ninja's Throw ability to be a cost-effective option; maybe make shurikens really easy to make through smithing or something. Plus, it sounds like range is going to be a big deal in the game so that makes throwing sound even more awesome. :choc2:

[*Devore*]

Pet classes are pretty cool, thats why I was thinking Chocobo Knight. Although I guess you could just buy a chocobo and call yourself a knight. But I was think that as your chocobo levels up it could learn how to run on water and fly. Weapon....shield and lance would be appropriate.

[Miriel]

Hmm... FFXI had a lot of the jobs that I liked, so aside from Geomancer I can't really think of any! I do hope that if they have a dancer job, they revamp it so that it's better than it was in FFXI.

[Del Murder]

Yeah, FFXI had some great classes. I always want a Blue Mage class, but I don't know how they could do it better than they did in FFXI. BLU is the best.

Perhaps they can combine some classes, like Thief/Ninja that was already mentioned. It would be cool to see a class steal a weapon off an enemy and then throw it right back at them!

Also combine Summoner and Beastmaster to create the ultimate pet class. You have your own pet that levels up with you and you can choose what abilities it learns and uses in battle, without the restriction of mp. That would totally be my choice if it was offered. :)

[Ouch!]

DNC is generally unappreciated in Final Fantasy XI. Haste Samba is one of the most ridiculous things in the entire game, mostly because haste contributing to the job ability cap is so rare (the only other example I can think of off the top of my head is hasso's haste bonus, but I know there are others). That said, it's been more interesting in previous games simply because there was a lot more bleed-over between BRD and DNC which would have been unacceptable in FFXI.

To elaborate on my point about fencer, I'd really like to see a DD job which focuses on swordplay. RDM, PLD, and BLU can all utilize sword skill in FFXI, but RDM's is almost exclusively for solo ventures, PLD focuses too heavily on defense to really match up against other DDs (the only exception I've ever seen was a guy dual-wielding excalibur and a kraken club), and as proficient as BLU may be with a sword, there's no use pretending that BLU is made by their spells, not their swords.

I'd like to see a fencer to see a job that focuses on using a sword for offensive purposes (as I understand it, gladiator is closer to PLD than anything else). Perhaps they could focus on speed rather than brute force.

[Del Murder]

Or maybe precision? Like use a different strike based on how the mob is standing? It would be cool if they could implement a system like this. In real swordplay you don't just hack in the same motion over and over, you study your opponent's defenses and go for the weak point.

[oddler]

Maybe a Fencer could ignore/bypass certain enemy defenses, like piercing defense bonuses or the ability to block/guard. :)

[Miriel]

It would be super awesome if you we could give our pets/summons armor! :hyper:

[Ouch!]

I like the idea of adopting different stances. Perhaps one stance utilizes thrusts for piercing type damage while another various swings for slashing type. Since distance is an important aspect of combat, the thrusting stance might give the advantage of attacking from slightly further away while imposing a penalty to damage while slashing is more close-quarters at a bonus to damage. Hell, even defensive stances with penalties to offense for bonuses to parrying.

I'd love to see that kind of versatility, but I'm not banking on it.

[Mogi]

I had an idea for a Summoner-esque class! The class is Engineer, and they use items to "build" summons specific to their class. The strength of the summon would be based upon the character's class, the strength of the items used, the character's affinity with whichever summon it was (their experience "building" the model), and perhaps a Luck modifier here and there. It'd be neat if you could build a machine - or summon, if you must - and then, even though it's already "built," you could continue to add items to it in different ways. Items would become damaged as the summon took damage, and if the summon was completely killed, there's a risk of losing some of the items involved in creating the machine, but there'd be no MP involved, the summons would be much more dynamic than those called by Summoners, and they'd potentially be much stronger.

[Del Murder]

There are similarities there to the Puppetmaster job from FFXI. You customize your puppet to play the roll you want it to. It would be cool to build something from scratch though, like a robot.

It would be neat to take all the best parts from the pet jobs in FFXI: Beastmaster, Summoner, and Puppetmaster, and roll them into one for some ultimate pet job. I liked aspects from all three of those jobs in FFXI but they all had their drawbacks.

[Mogi]

There are similarities there to the Puppetmaster job from FFXI. You customize your puppet to play the roll you want it to. It would be cool to build something from scratch though, like a robot.

It would be neat to take all the best parts from the pet jobs in FFXI: Beastmaster, Summoner, and Puppetmaster, and roll them into one for some ultimate pet job. I liked aspects from all three of those jobs in FFXI but they all had their drawbacks.
Does the marionette's appearance change and stuff?

Yeah, I mean that there would be completely different styles of builds, body types, body parts, and all kinds of different things that you could use as materials for the machine. Then, you can add items as you go. You could always add items. Of course, some items, given in junction with other items already in use as materials of the machine, would detract from the specific machine's role. Say that you wanted a White Mage machine. You'd add potions, restorative items, maybe a few items specific to White Mage machines, a staff or two, and then the generic parts of each machine, such as the power source and the body parts. You now have a White Mage machine. However, if you then put an offensive item, such as an Arctic Wind (or such item's equivalent), the machine gains offensive points, but loses healing points. This would be detrimental to the Engineer if he wanted a White Mage.

There's a lot that one could do with this job! The basis for it is that the Engineer has very few attacks himself or herself, having mostly buffing skills which can only be used on the machine when s/he's building it. His or her main skills would simply be directions for the machine, such as the manner in which the Trainer Dressphere from X-2 acts in battle.

I'd rock this class up so good.

[Del Murder]

Yeah you are pretty much describing Puppetmaster exactly right now. :p

[Mogi]

Wow, well that's awesome! Hopefully it'll be back in XIV then XD

[Del Murder]

Well yours is a little cooler since it involves robots.

[Ouch!]

Wow, well that's awesome! Hopefully it'll be back in XIV then XD
Square Enix has already said that no jobs in FFXI will appear in FFXIV.

[Laddy]

Bababababababard!

[oddler]

I'm actually curious if musical instruments will be in the list of weapons for the game. If they are, I'm sure "bard-type" abilities will be brought back.


Square Enix has already said that no jobs in FFXI will appear in FFXIV.

Not by name, anyway. If you want to pick it apart, there are so many similarities between previous jobs and the current classes. It's just that they go by different names to allow for more choices, from what it looks like to me anyway. Seems more to me that all the previous jobs were mixed together and came out the other end in different combinations of abilities.

[Rostum]

Not by name, anyway. If you want to pick it apart, there are so many similarities between previous jobs and the current classes. It's just that they go by different names to allow for more choices, from what it looks like to me anyway. Seems more to me that all the previous jobs were mixed together and came out the other end in different combinations of abilities.

Please also realise the mechanics are completely different from FFXI. I understand that SE will be giving the battle system a complete face lift for beta, but what they've talked about gives no signs to it being like FFXI.

Therefor no jobs in FFXI in description or name will be in FFXIV, because the game plays 100% differently.

[Loony BoB]

I imagine some basic things will be obvious enough. I mean, a character who heals using magic is a white mage, and everyone knows that. :p

I'm currently not a fan of the new naming conventions they have. I mean, gladiator? Pugilist? Are we playing Final Fantasy or Age of Empires? Should've stuck with the original styling of names, I reckon. But that's just names, and so long as the gameplay is good I'm sure I won't be that bothered.

[oddler]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, Omecle. But it's just like BoB says; I'm sure there are going to be plenty of players that say, "Hey, set-up like a THF/NIN so you can get do this and this in battle."

I'm sure, in the end, the class you choose will depend on the necessities of the task at hand, be it ultimately a "Tank," "Damage Dealer," "Healer," or "Support." My point being that in an MMORPG setting when you shave it down to basics, how different can it be fundamentally?

[Del Murder]

Yeah I don't like the use of new names either, but I guess they want to differentiate this game from FFXI as much as possible. That part scares me because FFXI is really good.

[Miriel]

I agree with BoB. I understand the need to differentiate but the new names definitely make it sound less Final Fantasy-ish.

[Rostum]

Ok I'm playing the alpha so I'll clear some things up.


I imagine some basic things will be obvious enough. I mean, a character who heals using magic is a white mage, and everyone knows that. :p

I'm currently not a fan of the new naming conventions they have. I mean, gladiator? Pugilist? Are we playing Final Fantasy or Age of Empires? Should've stuck with the original styling of names, I reckon. But that's just names, and so long as the gameplay is good I'm sure I won't be that bothered.

There's no single job that will define who your character is. At the moment you can use abilities from other jobs, and so far the jobs are much more free and the mechanics encourage you to play in this way which is much more different than FFXI. At the moment there's two mage classes; conjurer and thaumaturge, there's healing, buffing, debuffing, and damage spells but there is no way you can define either one as being a red mage, black mage or white mage with how they are built and how they play. They just feel too different from those classes.


Yeah, I understand what you're saying, Omecle. But it's just like BoB says; I'm sure there are going to be plenty of players that say, "Hey, set-up like a THF/NIN so you can get do this and this in battle."

I don't think you do understand what I'm saying. I'm saying that the core mechanics are completely different and so you could not make direct connections to FFXI and try and use FFXI as a basis for what you should do. And the players that try and do that will soon find they have to better adapt themselves to the new game because it isn't just FFXI HD.



I'm sure, in the end, the class you choose will depend on the necessities of the task at hand, be it ultimately a "Tank," "Damage Dealer," "Healer," or "Support." My point being that in an MMORPG setting when you shave it down to basics, how different can it be fundamentally?

It can be very different considering you can change jobs on the fly and use another job's abilities. This is pretty much the ultimate freedom that no other MMORPG has really seen before and it sets players up to customise their characters in to even a few of those roles at the one time.

However, that's not the point I was trying to make. Yes, you get the basic kinds of roles players want to take and define themselves as, but I can tell you now none of the jobs in FFXIV play anything like FFXI and those fundamental core mechanics are a completely different beast, so none of the jobs in FFXI as they stand right now would work in the world of FFXIV.


I agree with BoB. I understand the need to differentiate but the new names definitely make it sound less Final Fantasy-ish.

While I was a little disappointed, I can fully understand why they'd want to. And I'll be completely honest; while playing the game feels far more Final Fantasy than FFXI, other than the class names - which to be honest isn't really a big deal and you get used to it rather fast.

[Del Murder]

So you can change classes mid-battle like in XIII or X-2?

[Rostum]

You can change classes in passive mode, anywhere in the world.

Also thought I'd add again; you can use any job abilities that you've learnt from previous job leveling. You also have two types of levels; physical and weapon (job).

[oddler]

What's passive mode? Does that mean you can only change weapons (jobs) outside of battle?

[Rostum]

Depends how much they are going to be changing.

Basically you have passive and active mode. Active is for battle and passive is for out of battle. You can freely change between either mode whenever.

I suggest looking at Eorzeapedia and FFXIV Core, as there's a lot of this information that has been out there for a long time.

[Loony BoB]

If I recall correctly, to enter active mode is to draw your weapon, and to enter passive mode is to put it away. With this in mind, I imagine that changing to passive mode to switch job mid-battle would be doable but not advisable as it could lead to you getting pretty badly hurt. Sort of like giving the enemy a few free hits?

But then, I can't check Eozepedia at work so I can't verify that. :(

[Rostum]

Someone .dat mined the alpha client and found this. Not sure if it is legit, but something interesting to look at and hope for:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/RahXephonII/classesmaybe.png?t=1276738842

[Del Murder]

Oooh interesting. Assassin wielding 'dark arts' sounds pretty cool.