What New Jobs Will Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Add?
Another new Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Shadowbringers, is coming up, and you know what that means. We’re going to take a stab at predicting what the new jobs will be added to FFXIV when it releases this summer.
I have to pat myself on the back a little bit. Each of the last two times we’ve done this, I have gotten at least a few right. Although I’ll admit some of them were obvious.
I accurately guessed that Samurai and Red Mage would be added, and I’m going to count Blue Mage too since that technically came out during the Stormblood era. For Heavensward I whiffed on most, but I did nail that Dark Knight would be added as a tank.
We don’t have nearly as many clues to go off of as we did in Stormblood, so it’s a little trickier this time. However, a key piece of information we do have is that the expansion is likely going to take to us to the homeland of the Garleans.
If there was an expansion that would feature non-magic using classes, this would be it.
So starting with the DPS classes, let’s take a stab at what jobs Shadowbringers will add into the mix. We’ll give you three of our best guesses for each role, starting with what’s most likely and then moving onto the longshots.
One final note: arguably the most likely option for every single role would be something completely new. This is especially true with this expansion since once the development team got Red Mage, Samurai, and now Blue Mage out of the way, they covered the three most requested jobs by far.
However, since we can’t get into the mind of the development team and pull out the exact name of a brand new class they may or may not be considering, we’ll stick to guessing old jobs they could bring into FFXIV.
Most Likely DPS: Gunblade
I’m almost 100% positive that a Gunblade class is going to be added in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. It was hinted at during the reveal of Shadowbringers, and Gunblade users are already firmly established as a thing that already exists in the game.
The big question is whether it will be a DPS or a Tank job (I don’t think anyone seriously thinks it will be a healer).
The DPS argument is the easiest for us to wrap our heads around based on what we know of the job both in FFXIV, and also Final Fantasy VIII.
When you think of a Gunblade, you’re picturing a bad ass weapon that can be used to not only slice, but pierce too with its bullets/explosions. It could fill a role of being a DPS effective at multiple ranges, and damage attack styles as well. It would be a natural and unique fit.
We’ll also consider it as a tank class, but Gunblade being added as a new DPS job feels like the more obvious pick.
Plausible DPS: Oracle/Mystic
The Oracle’s chance might have passed with the release of Stormblood. When we spoke to Yoshida-san before the release of the most recent expansion, he told Twinfinite that they considered an Oracle-like job for Stormblood, but they ultimately landed on Red Mage.
The two are historically a bit similar, though not exactly. While it’s more likely the development team will search for non-magic based jobs, it certainly would be silly to completely rule them out.
Since some thought went into Oracle already, it’s very plausible that the development team would choose to revisit the idea, and give it another go for Shadowbringers.
The Oracle could focus on being a debuff/buff class similar to Final Fantasy XI’s take on Red Mage, and boost overall DPS that way.
It would certainly be more creative than just another job that whacks things. Although they tend to carry sticks around. So maybe still some whacking.
Longshot DPS: Necromancer
Necromancy has never had a huge place in Final Fantasy lore (although it does exist of course), and this is especially true in the MMORPG games.
However, it’s an extremely common class in other games, and considering we’re going to be getting more in touch with our dark side in Shadowbringers, it’s possible that this is the opportunity for the FFXIV dev team to experiment with a job fits into that theme.
It may not be a Necromancer exactly in the way that we’re imagining it; a pet job like what is seen in Diablo. But something along the lines of using traditionally “evil” magic has its best chance of emerging in this expansion.
