Quote Originally Posted by Ouch! View Post
I'm a little disappointed to hear that they're exploring new classes already for FFXIV:ARR (conjurer)
Arcanist.
but they've put second jobs for each class on hold. I guess I can appreciate that adding one new class and it's single associated job is much less of an undertaking than adding a second job for every already-existing class. Especially considering that the second job isn't so simple when it comes to keeping the classes to the same weapon.
It's not being put on hold - they are still hoping for Summoner to be there at release, it's just not expected at the moment.
What other job uses a polearm? Samurai can, but I can't imagine samurai without a katana. Dark knight has precedent for using a sword, and it would make sense to make two-handed swords dark knight-exclusive, but can you then imagine red mage, being associated with thaumaturge (which makes sense) but only equipping staves? Archer could easily go along the lines of other interpretations of the hunter/ranger class throughout the RPG world by making it class-based, but what about pugilist? I can see them adding a new class (ronin, perhaps?) from which samurai and ninja would branch off from. Or perhaps something like a rogue class having ninja and thief. There are so many ways everything could possibly break down, but it looks like the job system doesn't mesh perfectly with a class system based on equipping a single weapon. I suppose they could continue to do what they've done for relics where jobs get job-specific weapons, and that would grant them significantly more free reign.

Long story short, I really, really want red mage.
I think you're taking the entire weapon thing a little too literally. It's a very easy "problem" to solve and they already do it with Thaumaturge and Conjurer. Technically, Conjurer uses Radicals & Wands. Thaumaturge uses Scepters and Staffs. But really, Pastoral Oak Cane as an example - it's a staff. Everyone knows it's a staff. They just call it a Pastoral Oak Cane and they say "It's a Conjurer weapon." They can do the same with Dark Knight and Red Mage and all that. They'll say "Dark Knight uses Great Swords, Red Mage uses Rapiers." But all they have to do is make any kind of sword and make it a Red Mage or Dark Knight sword and... that's that. They do it with the mages already and I'm sure they'll do it with the other blades in future classes/jobs.

Red Mage etc. will all get their own classes at this rate. They stated in a conference recently that multiple jobs per class is something that could be looked into but would probably be a lot of additional work, which to me suggests that they won't be doing it any time soon. Not to mention that if you think about it, if they added additional jobs for each class then they may feel that they have to add an additional job for every single class, as otherwise some classes will be somewhat penalised. Remember, adding jobs to existing classes where people are L50 on those classes means that they will instantly be L50 on those jobs as well.