As of Endwalker, Final Fantasy XIV has a total of 20 Jobs (if we’re counting Blue Mage) heading into the dark corners of Etheirys to defeat demigods and monsters. Expansions for FFXIV arrive every two years and, generally, each expansion offers at least two new Jobs. Heavensward introduced Dark Knight, Machinist, and Astrologian; Stormblood offered up Samurai and Red Mage; Shadowbringers added Gunbreaker and Dancer; and Endwalker brought Sage and Reaper to the table.
Generally, these Jobs are references or direct adaptations from the broader Final Fantasy franchise. Dark Knight is pulled from Final Fantasy IV, Gunbreaker is a reference to Squall and Seifer from Final Fantasy VIII, and Sage debuted in Final Fantasy III.
In an interview between Final Fantasy XI producer Akihiko Matsui and FFXIV creative director Naoki Yoshida, the pair talked about adding brand-new Jobs to their respective games. Yoshida admitted that the future of FFXIV will likely involve having more original Jobs that aren’t pulled from the rest of the franchise.
“From a system perspective, if the number of jobs is fixed and well-balanced, there’s no need to add more, and adding new jobs would obviously cause a stir. But nevertheless, we always need to add more jobs to keep providing new gameplay experiences,” said Yoshida.
“Job names are especially tough. After all, there’s no point if a job is similar to its namesake in name only; its gameplay experience needs to match their pre-established design too,” he added. “At this point, I’m thinking we have no choice but to come up with brand new jobs that haven’t appeared in the FF series before.”
This isn’t entirely new territory for FFXIV, however. Astrologian is only a very light reference to Astrologer from Final Fantasy Tactics, and while Reaper has appeared as an enemy in other Final Fantasy games, it made its first appearance as an entirely unique Job in FFXIV. Still, having more Jobs that spring out of the mythology of Eorzea specifically would be an excellent way to expand the franchise as a whole.
It will be interesting to see where FFXIV goes in terms of Jobs as we head to new regions like Meracydia or the New World. Still, that won’t be until 2023. While we wait for fresh new Jobs, you can check out what to expect in the upcoming Patch 6.15, the Make It Rain campaign at the Gold Saucer, or jump into PVP thanks to the Patch 6.11a changes (which might’ve gone too far). You can also take a peek at the excellent things the community is doing, like our interview with the folks who completed Dragonsong’s Reprise first or the group building their own aquarium in-game.
