[AlysenMinase]

I just read the news put up on the front page, and in the Q&A section I saw something I must have missed before.

Q: Can only disciples of magic use magic? Is there disciple of magic that can use swords?
A: It is more dependent on how adventurers raise their character rather than being hard-defined by classes.

If I understand this right, this is getting me worried about the balance of the game. It looks like classes can use skills and spells from other classes, which is going to be very hard to balance. Anyone worried or is it just me?

[Phylis]

Balance really isn't as important in a mainly PvE game, I wouldn't worry about it. Balance will be dealt with during the beta stages... so :)

[weeble]

aye, i think it will be how you want to play the game and what you want to put into a group. i'm sure se will get it right. there will probably be ways to create your class to be stronger then people that put theres together differently but in the end i'd say it no different then a whm vs a pld, granted rdm/nin was a great tank for some hnm's, perhaps there will be specialized for things aswell. guess we will see.

[Infares]

Actually, the fact that everyone has access to everything means it's more balanced this way than it would've been otherwise.

Where balance will matter is in making all disciplines attractive enough that you don't end up with cookie-cutter builds.

[apoc81]

Yes, I am worried about balance.

I've seen in other MMO's, where some classes have been useless at ceratin points during a games life. In vanilla WoW, hunters were useless, and noone would group with a pally unless they had on a dress. Then, they improved Pet AI and gave pally's the 'I WIN' button (pally bubble), and warriors and rogues turned into pvp classes, noone wanted them raiding, nowadays, locks arent good for anything other than the services they provide (summons/soulstones), warriors and pally's are the best tanks, Melee dps is all death knight and rogues, and priests are one of the best classes in the game, all around.

I hope ff does a better job of managing classes. I really wish they would release more info on whats going on with class structure and advancement.

[Requiem]

I'm sure it won't be an all-you-can-eat skill fest. I'm sure there will be restrictions as to the number/potency of skills one may wield at a given time otherwise it would deter from their goal of making combat strategic. I'm sure they're steps ahead of us.

This post has been edited by Requiem: 28 January 2010 - 10:01 AM

[Smurf]

Infares, on 28 January 2010 - 09:57 AM, said:

Actually, the fact that everyone has access to everything means it's more balanced this way than it would've been otherwise.

Where balance will matter is in making all disciplines attractive enough that you don't end up with cookie-cutter builds.

Pretty much this. I really hate it when there's one class that ends up overshadowing another of the same type due to what it's capable of. And I also hate cookie-cutter builds just as much; why is it that when one person plays any class, they can't use a different legitimately viable build because it's "worse" than what the general consensus says?

[Requiem]

Smurf, on 28 January 2010 - 10:53 AM, said:

Pretty much this. I really hate it when there's one class that ends up overshadowing another of the same type due to what it's capable of. And I also hate cookie-cutter builds just as much; why is it that when one person plays any class, they can't use a different legitimately viable build because it's "worse" than what the general consensus says?

min-maxing ftl?

what is it about optimization that makes it so seductive...

This post has been edited by Requiem: 28 January 2010 - 11:23 AM

[Eyedea]

I gather there will be the ability to choose magic for you war or dd aspects to a mage but in the end your gonna have a unit that will be good for the solo aspect. When you get into the harder battles and fight i am sure the people going to these will want you to choose a "class" per say and come as that unit to its max ability ..so no half assed healing unit that wears chainmail with an axe to grind ...just my thoughts

This post has been edited by Eyedea: 28 January 2010 - 11:29 AM

[Thaigare]

I have to agree with most the fact that you choose how you want your character to be played I cant seeing balance being a big problem if you find that your character is weak in certain areas then pinpoint those areas and begin to level it up a bit. From what I've heard you can be anything its completely flexible so if you feel unbalanced then tweak yourself a bit for better results

[Teflon Billy]

Infares, on 28 January 2010 - 09:57 AM, said:

Where balance will matter is in making all disciplines attractive enough that you don't end up with cookie-cutter builds.

Herein lies the problem.

The number crunchers will come up with cookie-cutter builds and a good percentage of the playerbase will lap them up in their quest for the most efficient bulldoze to the top.

I really do hope that we can avoid the discrimination against certain classes/weapons/builds that exist/have existed in other games (including FFXI), but a part of me knows that it is wishful thinking. Players, and a game's community, can sometimes be their own worst enemy.

That said, I do think that making the game more accessible to individuals and small group play, will go a long way to ease the painful memories of sitting in Jeuno for hours while flagged LFG all because you didn't play a 'flavour of the month class'.

[Quijen]

Teflon Billy, on 28 January 2010 - 11:54 AM, said:

Herein lies the problem.

The number crunchers will come up with cookie-cutter builds and a good percentage of the playerbase will lap them up in their quest for the most efficient bulldoze to the top.

I really do hope that we can avoid the discrimination against certain classes/weapons/builds that exist/have existed in other games (including FFXI), but a part of me knows that it is wishful thinking. Players, and a game's community, can sometimes be their own worst enemy.

That said, I do think that making the game more accessible to individuals and small group play, will go a long way to ease the painful memories of sitting in Jeuno for hours while flagged LFG all because you didn't play a 'flavour of the month class'.

^^ This........well said ,

[Kaze]

im a tad worried about this.
however im sure they'll fix any overpowered classes after they see how beta runs

[Celeste]

Requiem, on 28 January 2010 - 10:00 AM, said:

I'm sure it won't be an all-you-can-eat skill fest. I'm sure there will be restrictions as to the number/potency of skills one may wield at a given time otherwise it would deter from their goal of making combat strategic. I'm sure they're steps ahead of us.

^this

I don't really see a FF10/FF12 scenario where every character can do everything without harsh penalities. I see this as just expanding on the SJ concept by being able to possibly bring in secondary skills to enhance your primaries. I really don't expect to see a warrior running around with the best skills out of all the classes. It would defeat the whole purpose of class changes on the fly if you could have everything from other classes.

[Dagget]

Celeste, on 28 January 2010 - 12:43 PM, said:

^this

I don't really see a FF10/FF12 scenario where every character can do everything without harsh penalities. I see this as just expanding on the SJ concept by being able to possibly bring in secondary skills to enhance your primaries. I really don't expect to see a warrior running around with the best skills out of all the classes. It would defeat the whole purpose of class changes on the fly if you could have everything from other classes.

Yep, I agree with you guys. There has got to be restrictions.

[Evicerator]

Requiem, on 28 January 2010 - 10:00 AM, said:

I'm sure it won't be an all-you-can-eat skill fest. I'm sure there will be restrictions as to the number/potency of skills one may wield at a given time otherwise it would deter from their goal of making combat strategic. I'm sure they're steps ahead of us.

said all I was going to add.

SE knows the limitations of their game for the most part. Sure we tanked as NINs when they didn't want us to, but at the end of the day it worked out. I think we'll see something similar within FFXIV where the player base will simply define the roles of the Classes within the game. Simple as that.

[Threx]

I have no doubt whatsoever that there will be "cookie cutter" combos. It's virtually unavoidable in MMORPGs. Once an overpowered combo is nerfed, the number crunchers will point their fingers to the new combo. And it will just keep going on and on.

I just hope that it's not as drastic as it was in XI.

[Obscura]

I'd like to think it'll be like blue mages skill slots. You skill/advance pugilist for awhile, switch to gladiator and pop some pugilist skills onto it. Only, after skills reach a certain skill level you can't assign them to a different class. Either that or they'll figure a completely obscure way to limit it that will catch us all by surprise.

[liondude]

nah i dont think there will be a major balance issue, but yea the community will build the cookie-cutter builds and assing them to people in the guilds for raids and other stuff.

but even then i think they way SE is going about it, no matter what people say its the best build at the time, FFXIV will be so flexible as to let us play our own interpetration of that build.

But with that said people with still want to be a god and create a red mage style build that everybody is gonna want to use. Just like the majority of the people that leveled rdm when they saw the uberness of the class.

But im pretty confident that we will all be happy with the final product, one of the most if not the number 1 complain in MMO is balance issues(specially in PvP oriented ones which r the most famous), SE will be sure to be on top of this if they are serious in doing their homework.

[Gyli]

Evicerator, on 28 January 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

I think we'll see something similar within FFXIV where the player base will simply define the roles of the Classes within the game. Simple as that.

I agree with this. The one thing I've learned with FFXI and other MMORPGS in general is that when a class doesn't have a role set in stone such as white mage the community will manage to transform it into something that it might not of been intended by the company and I'm sure we'll end up seeing it happen again in FFXIV without a doubt.

That's the power of creativity a community has.