Wow! Ever since the big announcement at VanaFest 2010 regarding the start of beta for Final Fantasy XIV, we all have been waiting to hear any new tidbits from Square Enix. Tonight, the floodgates have opened once more to a plethora of new and amazing information!
Before you continue reading, the JP FFXIV website also got a new background music, you can play it while you read along this post!
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(Download here)
First off, some news straight from Famitsu thanks to our friends over at Zam. The new details include a development team interview discussing everything from battles and tactics, to the use of elements and how they’ll effect a character. Finally they end with a closer look at each of the new jobs and some of the new abilities they’ll bring to the field, including the newly unveiled Conjurer and Thaumaturge!
Battle wise according to the development team, the first big difference between XIV and XI is pacing. Rather than fighting a single prolonged battle and then resting, characters can expect to be facing off against multiple foes in a short period. Since apperently MP doesn’t heal up through regular rest (this is handled through Aetheryte), conserving your resources will play an important part in battle. Personally, it’ll be interesting to see how exactly this will work in-game.
Also, the development team discussed positioning in the field of battle. As you may suspect from the image above, your melee jobs of course will be manning the front lines of battle, while ranged attackers and mages keep safely out of range. They also hint that their positions relative to the enemy will play an important part of combat (perhaps setting up opportunities such as sneak attacks and flanking perhaps?)
Next up in the interview, the dev team talks about elemental affinity and how it will affect characters. As you know, in FFXI, elements not only represent the ability to resist magic and abilities of a certain element, but are also closely tied with attributes (strength representing fire, ice for intelligence, and so on…) Final Fantasy XIV will continue this tradition, but will also take it to the next degree as a characters affinity for a specific element will directly impact how they grow and develop. Perhaps even a player organization of fire dwellers? *laugh* Who knows, it could very well happen.
Lastly in the interview, the dev team gives us our first up-close look at the professions and how they’ll play in the realm of Erozia. One thing of particular interest for all professions is that TP will play an important role. Whether a sword-swinger or a spell-slinger, every action will generate this valuable resource for players to work with.
Gladiator – A master of arms, Gladiators serve as both the bastion of defense for a party, as well as a solid source of offensive power. Able to equip a wide variety of weapons and armor, this job will certainly be a popular roll early on.
Lancers – Masters of the polearm, these valiant heroes strike from a short distance and maintain a large sphere of influence around the battlefield. Their extended reach will allow them tactical options unavailable to close-range melee combatants while keeping them safely out of harms way.
Pugilist – The classic hand-to-hand combatant, Pugilists stand toe to toe with their foes and pound them into submission with savage ferocity. Although generally straightforward in battle, Pugilists will have a number of unique stances (think classic martial arts styles and such) which they’ll use to punish their foes. Down right fierce if you ask me. =)
Archer – The tried and true huntsman of Erozia, these ranged attackers stay outside the fray at a distance and pepper their foes with lethal arrows. Distance and positioning will be key for these rangers to make the most out of their varied abilities.
Marauder – When subtle blows & magical mayhem won’t do, the Marauder uses a more straight forward approach… brute force! These heavy hitting melee combatants may be slower than others, but their signature battle axes deal awesome blows to their wicked foes. Against multiple foes, the Marauder can also sacrifice some of their brute strength for faster strikes.
Conjurer – A disciple of magic & master of the elements, the Conjurer can bring forth a cornucopia of powerful magics to the fray. From offensive magic, to defensive and healing spells, the Conjurer can both sooth the aches of a party, and place plenty more pains upon their foes.
Thaumaturge – While the Conjurer is more an all-around mage, the Thaumaturge excels in blowing stuff to smithereens. They specialize in area-effect magics both destructive and dangerous, quickly turning the tide of any battle in their favor. The development team has noted though that they will be paying particular attention to this job and are asking players for their input during the beta phase (something I’d be more than glad to give in the near future).
Lastly, we also got a quick glimpse at the newest crafting and gathering professions, two that go hand in hand with one another, the Blacksmith and the Miner. The Miner of course digs up ore and other precious metals from the land, while the Blacksmith turns those ores into weapons and armor of all shapes and sizes. While they will have only limited abilities in terms of combat, they’ll have certain traits valuable to all professions (maybe Blacksmith is the new treasure hunter? *LOL*).
Kimiko loves pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. On her free time, she wrestles Bogies by moonlight. She also spends 3 years of her life writing literature on 
Bit late, but oh well. Thanks
Where is thief D:
Man im getting so hyped about Pugilist. Two difference stances ftw!
Im happy Mining will be making a return to FFXIV as well. I was a miner in FFXI on and off depending on the economy. I actually always wanted to use it to get my Goldsmithing up but never had enough time to. I hope I could use Mining in FFXIV to raise something like Blacksmithing though ^^
If you read this carefully, it starts to look dangerously close to WoW..I hope they haven’t gone that route.
Well sometimes you have to learn from the best. If that means that FFXIV has to take a few pointers on what works and what doesn’t from WoW, I welcome that so long as they keep it fresh and unique.
I hate SE and wish the company the worst. If they treat us like in FFXI, this game with be crap too with ff13
Thanks for this post! I simply can’t wait for it to actually be done and available to play! Very excited to see how all the integrated elements will work!
I think I’m leaning toward Archer as my first job class. My first character in FFXI was a ranger that I took to 75. My first character in WoW was a hunter that I capped at 70 in Burning Crusade. I’m sure I’ll enjoy playing the mage jobs as well, really looking forward to jumping into a new game!!!
I have already quit WoW and left my 5 level 80′s to my son. I hope the release date for this isn’t put off for too long. If that is the case I may have to re-up on FFXI for a bit to get my Taru-taru fix…
sounds fantastic!
Still dying of anticipation. ¬_¬
The screenshot up top says it all. This is a MUST HAVE game and I am gonna buy it for PS3 as well as PC. I am playing FFXIII now and must say that I am drooling over the beautiful details in graphics. The most beautiutl gfx I have seen so far. In my opinion far better than Uncharted 2. Once again Japanese Square-Enix set the new standard for gfx and I love them for that ^_^
this is a definite must have.
if any1 is worried about this not being vast enough selection of jobs(not me) just think about ffXI and over 7 years how much stuff they put into it. i wouldnt be surprised if by the time the beta is done they have an expansion pack with even more classes! I CANT WAIT
Hey you should check out my website @ (site deleted per admin) I keep all of the beta and alpha leaked info. Check it out
After playing Aion with the PvP i hope that FFXIV has something to offer in that realm (if i missed an update on FFXIV pvp some1 pls post).. but i know it hella nice to get back to an FF MMO!
@Matt Keith: I apologize for deleting the link to your site, but we are not at liberty to disclose or facilitate leaking of info regarding the alpha/beta per the non-disclosure agreement. Yeah, I know we’d all love to have news from the inside, but until SE gives us the green light to do so we simply cannot allow it at this time.
@Chris Motley: Unfortunately they announced a while ago in a developer interview that they do not plan to have PvP support in FFXIV
Maybe we can hope for something like Ballista later on down the line though.
@Kimiko: Awesome blog :3 Adding you to my feeds
Looking forward to blowing stuff up as a mage!
I cant wait. I have to say my first job will be either a Gladiator (which ill take it to tank) or a Marauder and become a awesome killing machine he he he! I can hardly wait!
I hope to see some release info or like an open beta or something. I signed up but I didnt get anything :’(
cant wait to start playing FFXIV… yes i pre.orderd it.. my main job was a PLD75. on FFXI and i had COR75 to. i hope some older jobs like PLD. come in the game later.
While FFXIV looks proper amazing…
I’m worried..
I mean,,
Wheres the “Dragoons” Wyvern.. =/
Summoner?
Bahh..
I loved how “Classic” like FFXI was.
thoughts people?
Lozzy
Dragons and summoners came in the Rise of Zilart expansion pack in FFXI (which coincided with the NA release to PC). The “classic” FFXI began with only six jobs. I imagine new jobs will be added in time just the same. It gives SE room to expand by not opening up all the jobs all at once.
Judging by the spells they’ve released so far for the mage group, it’s seems the Thaumature is more like….I dunno a cross between a Rdm and Brd, or some other debuff/party support job, with a few Drk spells thrown into the mix. The whole blowing stuff to smithereens I don’t see. A heavy debuffer’s attack spells will hurt more, but a nuker? I dunno. Unless this happens… The Conjurer being our Blm/whm, with a few other spells tossed in, will be our Party Support/Attack mage while the Thaumature, our Blm/Rdm with a few specialized Dark spells tossed in like AoE Drain, will be our Nuker/Debuff mage. Which would mean that the Thaumature at some point will gain the use of elemental damage spells. If not, then I just don’t see how a Thaumature will out damage a Conjurer. Unless of course there is going to be like some crazy ass new spell, Dark Thundaga. It’s got me alittle confused as to what the they mean when they classify him as a mage that excels in blowing sutff up.
@Alt3rdBeast
I believe that Thaumaturges are the new black mages, while Conjurers represent a mix of scholar/red mage. A thaumaturge appears to only be able to cast destructive and enfeebling magic, whereas the conjurer has spells like protect, cure, and fire. I anticipate the unveiling of a 3rd mage type, most likely a focused healer.
Also, what’s FF without a thief? I believe that will be unveiled along with the healer. We’ll see what funky name they give it.
Needless to say, I’m here, I’m reading, I’m excited. I’ll see you all in game or on these random posts again
@Vaal
Lol, I was wondering what they were gonna do about all those peeps who love thf’s and nin’s. You gotta know there’s alotta people out there that would miss flee.
So yea about the mages. That’s exactly my point. I look at the Thaumaturge spell list thus far, yes we all know it’s far from complete but I do believe it’s to let us know what the mage is going to turn out like, and I see no pattern that suggests he’ll be our new nuker. Maybe I’m getting confused with the terminology. Do you mean destructive spells like drain and bio? Or do you mean direct attack spells? Because if the Thaumaturge’s spells list so far is a clue as to what he’ll be then I don’t see him “blowing stuff up.” I say that because what will he use to blow shit up with lol? The Conjurer seems to have the classic elemental chart on his side which would tell us that he’ll* be getting the direct dmg spells via elemental nukes. So either that Thaumaturge is going to be getting some shit we’ve never seen, or somewhere maybe the translation was lost. It’s like….if you’ve ever played Oblivion. Which I’m sure a lot of us have. Were RPG folk. There were elemental spells like lightning, which would be our Conjurer. And spells like dmg healh, which just basically….damaged health. That would be our Thaumaturge. If that then is the case then our Thaumaturge will be attacking with spells like that, which will later be defined as our nuker. Then that’s the only way I can see him being that “destructive.” Right now he just looks like a strong debuffer with classic drk spells mixed in.
I maybe completely wrong here, but isn’t also possible that the translation of the information from Japanese to English could be off? Cause all the info for it has been coming direct from the creators right? Destructive can be taken many ways. To damage a mob with spells like AoE drain then enfeeb his ass then debuff his ass sounds pretty destructive to me. Would make him a bruise, anyone could finish him off. But not necessarily our nuker? I dunno. They never give us enough information to say anything for certain. But yea, thanks for responding. ^.^
“Down right fierce if you ask me. =)”
i c wut u did thar… hadooken