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You know, I am starting to think more and more that the way FFXI and FFXIV do the whole "one character, switch to any combination of class/builds etc." is really the way to go.
I've got like... 3 level 85's and a level 89 in WoW I'm trying to level to 90 - but I keep finding myself seeing another player and being all like... "Man, I should level my Paladin..." or "Man, I should level my Priest..."
It's SO much work, and it is nothing but 100% redundant / nausia inducing tedium to level multiple toons through the same content over, and over, and over again.
Not to mention gearing them up, building reputation, and for the love of Jesus grinding through professions and secondaries...
I hate it.
And in the end, I want a character that heals like a Priest, Tanks like a Paladin, and DPS' like a Elemental Shaman.
#firstworldproblems I know
But I'm starting to really, really like the idea of "one character to rule them all" if anything just for the consistency.
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one character, all classes? i think Final Fantasy 5 did that. I love that.
THis is brilliant. However, if i can switch to any class with one character, i assume they offer some sort of character customization in game? Im an altoholic so if i wont create more characters i expect to be able to change my appearance in game. Otherwise ill just keep gaming many characters with different looks
As a hopless altoholic, I approve...
Might also cut down on the lack of tanks/healers when everyone has the option to fill a role in a pinch.
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I came in a bit late to the game in version one after all the sweeping changes had been made, so I can't say too much about the original system.
But from when I started playing it, around patch 1.9 - 1.23 When you levelled up a class, you could take any ability you earned and use it on any other class. THere was a limit, you had a certain number of ability points you could use and each ability cost so many points. But by level 50, and with several classes of varying levels, you could make a really unique character.
There was a also passive traits, which I beieve you oculd use similarly. I think. (It's been awhile.)
Now, the Jobs were different. Jobs had specialized roles, and so you could only use abilities from specific classes to help sort of specialize you. As a Lancer (class), you cold use whatever ability you've earned on any class (more or less). As a Dragoon (Job), you oculd only use abilities from Lancer and Pugilist (Dragoon had several Dragoon only abilities), the benefit to thhis being it was specialized in doing lots of damage, far more than a lv 50 Lancer for example. Utility vs Role.
I really liked it.
I'd imagine that since this was one of the more succesful and well-liked aspects of the original FFXIV, they will be keeping it for ARR. I hope it doesn't change too much haha.
It's much better like that. I actually really don't understand why other MMOs don't do it like that. Especially ones that are heavily oriented toward raiding as it allows way more options on the fly.
Whatever else people might have as a concern about ARR it shouldn't be that.
FFXI was my first MMO, so it was a bit of a shock for me to go to WoW and found out I could only play one class per character. Didn't stop me from having five 80s in WotLK because naturally I'm going to want to try different things, but logistically it's much easier to do everything on one character.
I think I'd rather be known as that guy that can do 15 different things instead of having 15 different characters to be able to do the same thing.
This should be a standard feature in MMO's moving forward. I cannot fathom why no one else does it.
The ability to level alts is still there for people that enjoy that. For me, i hate alts with a passion. I liked that my name meant something in XI and the ability to level every class on one name only helped that.
My favorite part is that there are no Crafting Gathering "Professions" in this game.
They are all their own CLASSES with abilities and gear! ANd you can be ALL of them. I really likd that feature.
I don't understand...is this game finally out yet?
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No, it is in closed beta testing ATM.
But Phase 4 is open Beta, and should only be a month or two away, then release! It's not far off, I'm hearing a summer release form certain sources. :P
I was wondering about this as I never got a chance to try it out in the original game. Diciples Of Hand are the crafters and you can be one of these classes leveling up and gettting gear?
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There is a bit more depth to this than back in FFXI, while also having some parts that are simplified.
The simplified bit of it (so as to get it out fo the way) is that there is no longer a subjob. However, to replace this there is a system whereby you are able to pick say 1-5 abilities (not sure how it is in ARR but the higher level you were the more abilities you could pick and choose from other classes you leveled) from any starting class and add it to your hotbar. Though to place those abilities, you had to have leveled that class.
For instance, if you were a level 30 gladiator and wanted Protect and or Cure II, you had to be like a level 20 conjuror as well (just as an example, I don't remember the exact level). As a level 20 conjuror you could select any of the 1-20 abilities and place it on your hotbar as a gladiator (up to the maximum limit of however many skills you were allowed that were not your classes depending on your level).
You could also level each class individually (the way you got other classes to these levels), and essentially get each one to the max level on a single character (while picking your favorite abilities from other classes on your favorite class). There were exceptions to this, such as abilities that required the use of a specific weapon type that you didn't use.
In patch 1.18 they extended this into also added Jobs into the game. This was essentially like the advanced jobs from FFXI. Once you got to level 30, you could unlock these advanced jobs. It was used in a slightly different way, more along the lines of Ragnarok than FFXI. In that I a mean, each class could only advanced to a specific job (it has been said that each class may be able to advanced into multiple paths as more jobs are released after the launch of A Realm Reborn).
So basically if you wanted to be a Paladin, you had to be a level 30 Gladiator. There was usually a secondary condition as well. Since paladins could use White Magic, you also had to be a level 15 conjuror before the questline to unlock paladin was available to you.
Level 30 Gladiator + level 15 Conjuror = Quest to unlock the Paladin Job.
From there Paladin did not simply replace Gladiator. You simply got what was known as a Job Soul (Gem) that you could equip, and it will then turn you into that Job. So basically, you could be a level 50 Gladiator if you wanted, even if you unlocked the Paladin Job.
Jobs were intended to basically be the best for group content. Classes were the best for solo content.
This is mainly because as a Job you were no longer able to use any skill you wanted from other classes. You could no longer use your favorite monk skill as a Paladin as a Paladin was too focused on his/her own path. To make up for this, Paladins had very special abilities that were exclusive to them.
So basically if you equipped your Paladin Soul and thus turned into a paladin, you had access to new things while also being barred from being a jack of all trade.
Paladin Limitations:
Gladiator + Conjuror abilities and magic.
Paladin Specific abilities
Paladin specific stats (higher defense than a gladiator)
Paladin Exclusive Skills:
Level 30: Cover - Take damage in place of an ally.
Level 35: Divine Viel - Healing cast on you by other players adds a Heal Over Time effect to allies within range.
Level 40: Holy Succor - Spell that restores HP; when used on another player, you also get 50% of the amount healed.
Level 45: Spirits Within - Delivers a melee attack at close range; able to be combo'd with Phalanx; high threat generator
Level 50: Hallowed Ground - Renders you impervious to most attacks
Exclusive Paladin Artifact Armor gained through difficult tasks.
As you can see, the Job is very suited to being a tank whereas it will be missing some of the attacks or buffs you usually have as a Gladiator due to having access to other class's abilities.
Each job has it's own unique Artifact armor, in addition to the various armors within the game available through dungeons, boss fights, NPCS, the auction house, questing, levequests, Grand Company Seals and of course crafting. Pretty much only Artifact armor is exclusive to jobs. If your class is able to wear plate, it should be able to wear any type of plate. You are also able to wear specific crafting gear that may look like fancy cloth and the like. In the past you were able to pretty much wear any type of armor, even if you were the right level for it. It just wouldn't be very effective since you didn't specialize in it. I can't remember if that changed or not by 1.23, but I think it did start to restrict level and armor type with the new items that were introduced thenceforth.
Physical Level was removed in 1.0 because under that system you were limited to one stat build basically, and it was just a mess.
So when you start a new class/job/craft/gathering you are level 1, but if you have others leveled you get the benefit of some of their abilities. This is useful in crafting/gathering too as you can use boosting abilities from other crafts/gathering jobs.
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My first MMO experience was in Runescape and I just assumed all these type of games gave you one character who had the ability to do whatever you wanted. I would put on mage robes and I was a mage! I would equip a bow and I was an archer! I absolutely loved this type of play. I was irritated when no onther game that I played allowed me to do this. Then I discovered you had to buy additional character slots and realized companies liked us making alts so they could sell us more space for our characters. When I first started telling people that why can't my one character do everything I want, they would laugh at me and say , "This is an MMO".
I would love to see this in Final Fantasy XIV.
It is a great system. It's nice not having to repeat certain parts of the game after you've completed it (crafting for instance). FFXI was great because not only could you level up every job on one character but they also had the job / subjob system which created so many possibilities.
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No. Not the regular quests and story quests. Only repeatables, dailies and such.
What i want to know is, how does it work with class/job switching? (or if its NDA, how was it in v 1.0)
If everyone can level up all the classes but use only certain abilities of each class at a time, when can you switch weapon to be a different class/set of abilities? Out of combat? X minute cooldown? In town for some cash?
Quests aren't repeatable. There are levequests which are sort of like daily quests. There will be other ways of leveling up once you run out of quests though. Yoshi-P said they will also add more quests over time, but probably what there will be at launch is maybe enough to level 1 or 2 out of the 8 battle classes.
In 1.0, swapping your weapon changed your class and automatically equipped the abliities you had set when you were last on the class. This had to be done out of combat, but you could do it anywhere; in fact it was common for people with multiple leveled classes to change on the fly in dungeons depending on the situation. The abilities activated their cooldown as you changed classes so you'd have to wait for those to be available before being able to use them. Was kind of obnoxious with the 15 minute cooldown Job specific abilities, but it did prevent abuse of the system.
I can't say whether or not it'll be the same in ARR or not.