A License For Individual Thought?
For many, many months, the common belief was that everything that there was to know about FFXI gameplay, and more specifically, job/subjob combinations was known already, and further, was learned so long ago, as to have two years of tried and true experience backing it up. This argument was often a cudgel used to beat uppity newbs over the head with, who sought to go against the grain. Such a newb would enter a party, and a player of more traditional make would suggest/demand that the newb amend the error in his ways. When the newb asked why the cookie-cutter setup was the only way, the answer would be that said combo was proven to work for two years or so, and that no other setup works because we would've discovered it already. It's the same sort of argument that kept people in the Renaissance arguing that the Earth was the center of the universe. Years of blind repetition of a belief make it an untouchable truth.
At QCDN forums (a fora for Quetzalcoatle players), someone provided a story of a Ninja/Black Mage that dealt incredible damage by taking advantage of the BLM's Magic Attack job trait, elemental staves, and Ninjitsu elemental magic. It worked well enough to turn quite a few heads. I think a similar post was brought up on Allakhazam's Ninja forum. Why am I posting this? Only to inspire anyone with some creativity left to keep on trying to find the next great job combo, and to ignore the nay-saying parrots. There're still good combos out there, and benefits to previously disdained combos that haven't been discovered yet. All you have to do is find them, and you can enjoy the satisfaction of making all your critics eat their words. Don't leave your creativity at the door when you select your character. Nin/Blm has given players of a less conformist nature a golden-shiny-wire-of-hope. It's about time some people climbed it.
