A light party begins their Leveling Duty Roulette in the infamous Aurum Vale. From the get-go, the healer has a hard time keeping the tank’s health up before the party inevitably wipes. The White Mage hasn’t thrown Regen onto the tank at all, and there is a significant lack of Holy spam to mitigate some of the incoming damage. Like the unmasking of a Scooby-Doo villain, it isn’t until the tank realizes that their “White Mage” isn’t a White Mage at all, but a level 47 Conjurer, urging the question, “Where is your Job Stone?”
Many Final Fantasy XIV players have encountered this scenario at least once. If the Conjurer had their Soul of the White Mage equipped, they would have had Regen unlocked at level 35 and Holy at level 45. Instead, they were limited to Conjurer skills, which added unneeded difficulty for the party since Duties past level 30 were designed for the advanced jobs, not classes.
Players will often gripe about others not equipping their Job Stones when entering content above level 30, but Square Enix could be doing a better job explaining what they are and why they’re important. Some players miss the feature entirely, and others have a reason for not equipping them. Whatever the case may be, entering into a Duty Roulette and having a party member without one is almost always frustrating for veteran players. Back in A Realm Reborn, when classes started at level one, the use of Job Stones made sense. As the years progressed and new jobs were introduced, they became an unnecessary, archaic feature, and is an often missed step in the early stages of the Warrior of Light’s journey.
What are Job Stones in Final Fantasy XIV?
Soul Crystals, also known as Job Stones by the community, are items unlocked through the progression of a starting class’s class quests that change it into an “advanced” job when equipped. Once the Job Stone is equipped, new abilities become available to players that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to, even if they meet the level requirement.
While Soul Crystals usually play an essential part in quest lines surrounding the jobs themselves, it isn’t explicitly clear that you must go out of your way to equip them once they’re obtained. Instead, they’re shoved into a pocket of the Armoury Chest, often going unnoticed by new players who don’t yet understand their importance. It isn’t until they’re the culprit of an unfortunate party wipe in Aurum Vale that another person may point out their rookie mistake.
Only the original starting classes from A Realm Reborn should worry if they have their Job Stone in their gearset since the jobs introduced in Heavensward and onward automatically equip them. Jobs added after A Realm Reborn, like Dark Knight, Dancer, and Reaper, start at level 30 or higher and cannot unequip their Job Stone at all, meaning they’ll never be the one to point the finger at for not wearing their important, fancy crystal.
Instructions unclear, Job Stone gathering dust
There are a few reasons why you may find yourself in a level 50 Duty with a Lancer in your party rather than its Dragoon counterpart. The first and most likely reason is that the player doesn’t know they have to go out of their way to equip the Job Stone, or perhaps they have yet to catch up to their current level’s class and job quests that provide the Soul Crystal in the first place. New players, or sprouts, are the most likely to be unaware of what benefits their Job Stone provides. A gentle reminder to the doe-eyed sprout should be in order if this is the case.
When a class completes their respective level 30 class quest, they unlock their advanced job. A message takes up most of the screen celebrating the milestone, and there’s even an Active Help tutorial on using the newly acquired Soul Crystal. While it’s up to players to read the tutorial in the first place, Square Enix’s details on the importance of these crystals are a little fuzzy. The Active Help section regarding jobs explains where you can find your unlocked Job Stones and that using them unlocks new actions, but the game’s wording could make it mistaken for an optional feature. It does not stress that your Warrior of Light will be severely limited if you leave your Job Stone gathering dust in a pocket of your Armoury Chest.
The Job Stone issue in FFXIV is an easy fix
Many players in the FFXIV community have voiced their complaints about their own run-ins with a high-level Gladiator or Archer in their party, leading to many rants and others retelling similar situations. During these discussions, many suggested ways Square Enix could prevent these scenarios from happening again.
One possible solution is to prevent queuing for level 30 or higher content without a Job Stone. An error message is sent if you do not meet the item level requirements for a Duty, so why not check if a player has their respective Soul Crystal in their gearset when attempting to queue? Not only would this prevent the underpowered classes from doing content designed for jobs, but it may also bring attention to the Job Stone itself to those who were blissfully unaware of its existence once they unlocked it.
Another solution is preventing players from unequipping the Job Stone entirely, mimicking the behavior of the jobs introduced in later expansions. Instead of hiding the Job Stone in the Armory Chest, Square Enix could automatically equip the item and disallow players to unequip it. Players would only need to do their job quests and move on.
There are currently no known plans to change the behavior of Soul Crystals in Final Fantasy XIV. While running into someone without a Job Stone might be rare throughout your adventures in Eorzea, it is an annoyance when it happens nonetheless. So here’s a friendly reminder to stay caught up with your job quests when they become available unless you want to be the least favorite member in your party.
