Job / Class System
Final Fantasy 14 allows players to change between classes seamlessly using what Square Enix have termed the ‘Armoury System’. In this system, whenever you equip a different weapon or tool that is not in your current class, you will instantly change to that class.
Classes are categorised in to four broad ‘Disciple’ categories, which contain multiple classes that represent the direction you are taking your character in. Breaking the hierarchy down further, each class contains multiple skills.
A players main class will be determined by the skills that are at the highest levels. The purpose of this system is to allow players to define their own job based on a conglomeration of skills of their own choosing, rather than the game restricting to a certain path, as has been the case with MMORPGs in the past.
With this system, players are given an infinite amount of flexibility as to which skills make up their character and it will also mean that there will be a vast difference amongst players in the game due to the differing sets of skills that different players will focus on. This is a huge different to current games in which you may encounter several Warrior/Monks, which are all essentially the same character aside from a few skill preferences.
Classes will all be allowed to be of a high level, no matter what class they are from. Therefore in theory, you could max out every skill in the game without affecting any other classes.
On the official site, you are guided through a life in the day of ‘Leeroy’, a fictional character who changes his class on a regular basis. This is there to give you an idea of how you can quickly adapt your character to different situations. Leeroy starts the day as a Gladiator and receives an invitation to join a party with his friends, however they already have a lot of physical power in the team. Therefore, Leeroy dons a staff which changes his class to a Thaumaturge, which makes him a Disciple of Magic. Leeroy then wants to fish, so he equips a fishing rod, and making him a Fisherman, which makes him a Disciple of the Land. There are a few more classes changes Leeroy indulges in which you can read on the official site.
Available Disciplines
Disciple of War
Disciples of War are weapon-masters who live for battle and have available to them various classes that excel at dealing physical damage. Disciples of War will be able to equip a broad range of weapons, such as swords, spears, axes, katana, daggers, bows.
View Classes
Disciple of Magic
Disciples of Magic wield magic to either harm and heal. They are be adept at striking foes with destructive spells or assisting their allies with healing spells. As with mages in the past, their weapons will not be physically offensive but instead concentrate on boosting the user’s power.
Disciple of Land
Disciple of Land will cover most of the HELM activities of Final Fantasy XI. These include Hunting, Excavating, Lumbering, Mining and Fishing. By taking a tool in hand, players can improve their skills in a variety of professions.
Disciple of Hand
Disciple of Hand drive the manufacturing and production side of Eorzea. By equipping various tools, the user can enter a number of trades. This is similar to Final Fantasy 11 and other MMORPGs which have allowed players to practice woodworking, blacksmithing, goldsmithing, clothcrafting, leathercrafting, boneworking, alchemy and cooking.
