Wings of the Goddess

[Yeargdribble]

FFXIclopedia Preview with lots of pictures.

Recent Interview

Latest Trailer

Can't believe nobody has made a thread about this yet. Let me give the highlights.

First of all, if you don't know, WoG takes place in the past around the time of the Crystal War.

Two mobs. (I'm hotlinking like a bad man, so I'll re-up if needed)

Ochu


Basilisk type


Also among the FFXIclopedia pics you will see current areas as they looked in the past.

The trailer just shows tiny tidbits of the areas in motion with some new music.

What seems to be of most interest to people is the announcement that there will be new jobs (confirmed more than one here). So let the discussion and speculation begin.

[Crossblades]

My guess is that the new jobs will be a Geomancer, Onion Knight, and a Sage.

[Miriel]

DANCER, PLEASE!

I just want a pretty job. Don't care what the job does, just gimme PRETTY.

I'm actually really surprised that they're releasing new jobs in the next expansion. Pleasantly surprised though.

[Yeargdribble]

I think most people are surprised considering the lack of polish on ToAU and its jobs.

I think Dancer could be a viable alternative to the BRD dependence in the game. I'm not sure how they could make Chemist work with Alchemy and all, but if they could manage it, it could also help with the number of potential healers. I'd personally most like to see Geomancer. Some have also mentioned Time Mage considering the them of the expansion.

I'm all for any of those. Another tank wouldn't hurt either, though I'd prefer they stick with traditional FF jobs rather than pull a stunt like WTFPUP again. At least if they do pull some random job out of their nether region, I hope they take steps to keep it from sucking horribly.

[Del Murder]

Geomancer and Chemist! Maybe someone from SE read my thread from a while back and will do it just like I laid it out!

[Markus. D]

My guess is that the new jobs will be a Geomancer, Onion Knight, and a Sage.

Sage~

Doubt it.

[No.78]

Geomancer would be awesome, but they've harnessed alot of weather related elements into summoner n stuff so in my eyes it's unlikely. Time Mage seems to be the most logical, if it doesn't come now it probably never will... But, I don't see how Time Mage would work in FFXI.

Chemist, now that would be good! Also, the job I've always wanted to see in the game is Mime.

[Khaotic]

Geomancer would be awesome, but they've harnessed alot of weather related elements into summoner n stuff so in my eyes it's unlikely. Time Mage seems to be the most logical, if it doesn't come now it probably never will... But, I don't see how Time Mage would work in FFXI.

Chemist, now that would be good! Also, the job I've always wanted to see in the game is Mime.

Basically a RDM type, I'd give them Gravity, Refresh(yeah yeah I know, quit whining) Regen, Haste, Haste II, and some new spell which enhances movement speed for a set amount of time(this would be the spell they're popular for, sort of like a BLM and their warping) although it would cost like 100mp so it can't be used over and over.

I think I may come back if they add a Geomancer or a Chemist.

[Garland]

I figure Chemist would round out the gil-for-exp jobs. With a combination of job specific potions and maybe even some blm spell items that were common in single player FFs, the Chemist could be a pay-to-cast. We have a Pay-to-tank, pay-to-dd, and a pay-to-support, so this really is the last niche left, unless they split magery into white and black.

Geomancer is number one on most fanpick polls in both Japan and the west, so I can't see any reason why SE wouldn't include it. The world of FFXI is already massively intertwined with elemental affinities for everything.

Time Mage fits the premise of the new storyline. People say it'd be redundant with White and Red Mage, but Red Mage is already redundant with White and Black, and Summoner is largely redundant with White and Black, and all of the melees are redundant with one another. Who cares about being redundant? Time Mage could be a unique take on support jobs. Also, we have yet to have a mage with an A rank enhancing skill - a counterpart to Rdm. Hopefully SE wouldn't make "Time Magic" its own skill.

[Del Murder]

Which one is pay-to-support?

[Garland]

Corsair - they're pretty much bards that shoot. I vaguelly remember some debate when the job was first released as to whether they were more bard than ranger or vice versa, but apparently bard won. In fact, they're treated like bard so much, that their potential is wasted. Parties sending them out to pull like bards in merit parties when they should be spending that time keeping their roll timings correct, then they end up subbing ninja, and then they lose all their /rng perks, and then corsair becomes a lackluster job that noone plays. It's remarkably unpopular on Quetzalcoalt, despite the internet's apparent fetish with all things pirate and ninja.

[Yeargdribble]

That's just one of the bigger problems with FFXI. I can't put my finger on the exact reason, but I think it's a combination of the players and the design of the jobs. Every job gets pigeonholed, and even if a job can be useful in another way, it is never given the chance.

There are a lot of jobs and most of them are DDs with absolutely zero other options. BLU could potentially play a more mage-like role, but almost never will. SMN could play a DD role, but very very rarely does. Why? Partly because there are other jobs that fill these roles better. So with XP being such as grind as it is, people want efficiency.

I fear for the new jobs. They will either have to be game breaking to replace another jobs as the #1 in a certain area --in which case the old job is screwed-- or they will become second rate versions of the old job the way COR is just a second-rate BRD even though it could easily function in a much stronger capacity given the chance more frequently.



As for Geomancer, it's obviously the top pick... but I keep hearing how it can't work. I'm actually hoping SE will just bite the bullet and find a way to make it work, though I can see the potential problems that people point out.

What I think the game really needs is another tank, another healer and maybe another support job. Of course we all want the tradition Geomancer, which is just a DD... totally something we don't need. Chemist could potentially fill the healing role. Dancer could fill a support role. I'm not sure what traditional job could fill the tank role. There's just not a lot of strength in that area. I hear Viking, Mystic Knight and even Gladiator get tossed around. I guess we'll just have to wait.

[Siegfried]

I know this sounds foolish but I think berserker would be a cool job...
they get abilities that raise attack and lower defense and use 2-handed axes...it sounds too much like war but they could mix in some other stuff that would add more to it than War

[Miriel]

Hey, so, like... wouldn't it be awesome to have a job that was super cute and had frills and lovely costumes and involved lots and lots of pretty pretty pretty? Yeeeeeaaaaah.

[Garland]

A lot of the community's skepticism about Geomancer is something like this: "What good would earth based spells do against earth based mobs in Altepa?", for example. They assume that Geomancer spells will cause damage in the same element as the region. This doesn't have to be so. Blms and Nins both have spells of one element that affect the enemy in another element. The Elemental DoT spells, and the ninjutsu elemental wheel come to mind. It would be foolish to have Geomancer casting earth spells against anticans and worms, for example, but surely SE would realize this. They make mistakes now and then, but usually in terms of understanding the mentality of the playerbase, not in effective game mechanics. They'd never release a job that could only cast spells potential opponents would be strong to. I imagine Geomancer spells would work like the Ele DoTs - doing effects based on some element related or opposed to the current element somehow.