The FFXIV Detailed Class Info
The day of the FFXIV Beta Test Site opening is upon us. Many people are anxiously awaiting a chance to play the alpha build and test out game play. What better time than today for Square Enix to give us more detailed information about some of the classes people will be playing around with! Both Weekly Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation have big spreads on FFXIV this week. Jumping the gun though was Famitsu posting the information on their website just after Japanese midnight last night. People on the forums and in our IRC chat room were excitedly trying to decipher the text while I…. I went to sleep. But I’m awake now and as we don’t have an official NA update yet, it’s time to dig into the article! Keep in mind that all of this is translated from the Japanese and does not contain official English terms for certain abilities and so forth. Also, the class descriptions are mostly ones we’ve seen before so I’ll leave those out for now. This article will cover the abilities, weapon skills, and comments from the developers on the fighting classes plus a little information about a couple other classes as well. Detailed weapon information can will come later if we don’t need an official update soon.
On to the info!
Gladiator
Gladiator Abilities:
Roaring Sword– Waving the tip of your blade to get the enemy’s attention
Cover – Protect the party members behind you by taking damage instead of them
Rampart – Using your sword to increase your defense (raises physical and magical defenses)
Precision – Lowers evasion and increases accuracy
Aegis Boon – When guarding with your shield, any damage taken heals your HP instead
Weapon Skills:
Phalanx – Anger the enemy by attacking after guarding with a shield
Red Lotus – A swinging fire elemental attack on the enemy
Shield Bash – Hit the enemy with a shield and prevent them from casting a spell
Spinning Stroke – Attack the enemy. Damage increases if the enemy is not attacking you.
Circle Slash – AoE weapon skill
Comments from the Developers:
Planner Iwao – They can wear many different kinds of armor, use large shields, and are blessed defensively. I think lots of people will use them to draw the enemies attention and serve to protect the other members of their party.
Battle Director Okuda – As this class is very good at using shields, people might think of them as a defender but they can do a lot of damage as well.
Planner Sato – Both an attacker and a defender, they can do just about anything perfectly so I think this will become a very popular class.
Okuda – When it comes to attacking, you can choose between two styles: swinging attacks and thrusting attacks. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so you will have to take that into consideration when fighting.
Iwao- I think it’s safe to say that this class is a very versatile fighter.
Lancer
Lancer Abilities:
Inspire: Party members receive TP for attacking their target
Ferocity: You lose HP but your next attack will give greater damage
Fighting Spirit: You lose HP but you gain TP
Collusion: Attack the enemy from behind another party member while the enemy is focused on that party member
Spirit Surge: Decrease enemy evasion while sucking away their HP
Weapon Skills:
Overrun: If you attack while the enemy isn’t aware of you, you can land a series of high speed successive attacks and increase your TP.
Feint: If you use right after an enemy has evaded your attack, your next attack will surely hit.
Leg Sweeper: AoE attack where you target the legs of your enemies and prevent them from moving. Cannot be used on aerial targets.
Moonrise: Attack the enemy and suppress their ability to gain TP
Skewer: Attack all enemies between you and your target. Movement for land-based enemies will become slower.
Developer Comments:
Iwao – This class uses the long range of their polearms to attack from a relatively safe distance. They also have a number of special attacks that can confuse an enemy or bind them.
Sato – Since they are back farther than other front line party members, they have a wider view of what’s going on around them. If the back line is in a jam, they are probably the class that is best able to quickly get over to help them.
Iwao – Lancers are really affected by the distance between them and their target. They will have to make adjustments to where they stand and constantly think about the location of their target, their party members, and themselves. This class requires somebody who moves tactically.
Sato – This person has to think about many things, not just about what they know about the enemy.
Pugilist
Pugilist Abilities:
Whistle: Gain the attention of the enemy
Blind Side: Increased damage when you attack from behind the enemy
Chakra: Use TP to regain HP
Steal: Steal things from the enemy
Feather Step: Increase evasion by a large amount for one shot
Weapon Skills:
Jarring Strike: If used after a missed enemy attack, your next attack will hit and bind the enemy but also anger them
Piercing Fists: Piercing attack. If done in succession, the chances of a critical hit increases.
Haymaker: If used after a missed enemy attack, you can do heavy damage to the enemy
Tackle: A rapid succession of attacks
Earth Render: An earth elemental based distance attack. Doesn’t work on enemies in the air.
Developer Comments:
Iwao – They have a very short attack range and their defense isn’t very high. However, they are tricky fighters who can tease the enemy with their wide range of abilities. They also can change between different stances which means they can change their fighting style in accordance to the enemy or party makeup.
Sato – Stance will make a huge difference. Players will have to think on their feet, taking the flow of the battle into account when choosing whether to go offensive or defensive.
Iwao – If you continue to use the same stance, the number of things you can do while in that stance will increase. While you can change your stance at any time, changing the stance means you go back to a previous level of ability. Your split time decisions on whether it is best to make adjustments or stick with the same stance to get the extra benefits could decide whether you are the victor or the vanquished.
Marauder
Marauder Abilities:
Blood Bath: The damage you give the enemy turns into HP for you
Power Attack: Increases the chance of critical hits
Defender: Use your Axe to increase your physical defense in exchange for not being able to attack
Disorient: Lower the enemy’s evasion
Unyielding March: Can move, albeit slowly, even when hit with binding magic
Weapon Skills:
Skull Thunder: Lasting damage on the enemy or gather your power to create a wider AoE attack.
Log Splitter: Very affective attack against plant-type enemies.
Fracture: If used after parrying an enemy attack, you can seal the enemy’s ability to use weapon skills while damaging them.
Brandish: AoE attack
Iron Tempest: A donut-shaped AoE wind elemental attack
Developer Comments:
Iwao – This class can do a lot of damage with their axe, enough to change the outcome of a battle with one swing. However, depending on the number of enemies and how they are scattered about, they might not be able to gather all of their strength and have trouble during battle.
Sato – They have more attack power than other classes but their accuracy is a bit lower.
Okuda – In order to use some of the Marauder’s special abilities, you’ll have to be standing still. So it takes foresight to play this class effectively.
Archer
Archer Abilities
Replenish: Fire off multiple arrows at one time (the description says all of your arrows)
Chameleon: Erase your presence to avoid detection
Stride: Be able to move quickly for a short period of time
Retrieval: Gather up arrows in exchange for some HP
Hawkeye: Increase the accuracy of your next attack
Weapon Skills
Shadow Stitch: Bind the enemy
Wide Volley: Attack your target and other enemies around it
Quick Knock: Use multiple arrows in rapid succession to attack enemies in a fan like AoE attack
Snakebite Arrow: Attack and remove enhancing magic from the enemy
Shrieker: Attack the enemy and cause it to retreat
Developer Comments
Iwao – More than anything, their role is to attack enemies from a distance. After that, it all depends on the technical abilities of the archer. If they attract too much attention from the enemy, they could get in trouble as they don’t have a high defense. So you have to think about where you are going to stand and the best way to attack the enemy without capturing their interest. This class has to look at the big picture.
Sato – Archers also have a lot of abilities they can use to put some distance between them and their enemies. I hope people use those in their battle strategies.
Iwao – The type of arrow you pick is also important. There are arrows for doing direct damage but you can also use arrows to affect the status of your enemy and thereby help out your party members.
Conjurer
Conjurer Abilities
Profound: Casting time increases but so does the spell power
Trance Chant: No matter what, your spell casting will not be interrupted
Spirit Bind: You bind yourself in exchange for decreasing MP costs per spell
Roaming Soul: You can cast while walking
Purge: You can balance off the elemental status of you and the enemy (translation note: I really don’t know what they mean by that)
Weapon Skills
Fire: an AoE fire attack
Cure: an AoE cure spell
Protect: an AoE spell that increases the physical defense of your party members
Shock Spikes: A thunder elemental spell that surrounds you and will attack and paralyze the enemy if you are attacked
Frost: a DoT AoE ice spell
Developer Comments
Iwao – This is a sorcerer with elemental magic.
Okuda – This class has to look at the situation a party is in and adapt to a changing environment. They also have to have a good understanding of the elements in play.
Iwao – They have attack magic, defensive magic, recovery magic, etc. They can cast a wide range of spells so they can be an attacker for a party or in a support role. I think we can call them an active almighty class you can look forward to. I think one special feature of this class is the AoE magic they can cast. The area is a circle of effect drawn around the player.
Okuda – By the way, all of the actions you do in battle go towards building your TP. That includes spell casting.
Sato – That means we have power TP moves for Conjurers as well.
Thaumaturge
Thaumaturge Abilities
Blood Pact: You lose HP but your spells become more powerful
Thorn: Damages the enemy that gave you damage
Dark Seal: Increase magical accuracy
Initiation: Spread a magical status you have to your party members
Paradigm Shift: Decreased attacking distance in exchange for a wider area of effect
Weapon Skills
Drain: AoE HP sucking attack
Gravity: AoE attack that slows the movement speed of enemies
Sacrifice: Give up your HP in exchange for the HP recovery of one of your party members
Siphon: Suck MP from enemies you have defeated
Absorb-Acc: Suck an enemy’s accuracy and increase your own
Developer Comments
Iwao- The Thaumaturge has a lot of status changing spells at their disposal. Their AoE is also fan shaped and they have many strong attacks. Compared to the Conjurer, they are more effective when they get closer to the enemy.
Sato – Basically, the Thaumaturge has been given strong damaging attack spells. However, there is also a risk to using them so you have to look for the right balance. We’ll listen to players’ feedback about this class and make adjustments in the future.
Iwao- The Thaumaturge can take and absorb different things from the enemy. They can also stack many spells. They will have to read the flow of battle and decide when is the best time to cast things.
For the Blacksmith and Miner, we don’t have abilities or weapon skills but you can get an idea of what they do.
Blacksmith
Blacksmith Handiworks
Iron Ingot (made from Iron Ore)
Sword Guard (made from Iron Ingot)
Spatha (made from Spatha blade, sword grip, sword guard, and a Pommel)
Pick (made from Pick head, Pick ball, and a grip strap)
Spiked Labrys (made from a Labrys and Bronze Ingot)
Miner
Things Miners Collect
Bronze ore
Gold ore
Saltpeter
Silica Sand
Little Worms
Developer Comments
Iwao – The Blacksmith is a crafting class that makes weapons, tools, or metal products. It can also repair these things. The Miner is a gathering class that mines up minerals. You can’t expect much fighting power out of either of these classes. However, we plan on adding abilities to make them useful in battle. For example, we are thinking of giving the Blacksmith an ability to discover the weaknesses of metalic enemies as well as find battle spoils afterwards. Depending on how you customize your abilities, a fighting Blacksmith might not just be dream.
There will be more information to come over the next few days! Keep checking back so you don’t miss a thing.