With two level cap increases remaining for players of Final Fantasy XI, one of the biggest subjects for debate is future job adjustments. Today, Square Enix has released a detailed outlook of how they envision each job's role, as well as potential plans for additions and changes to better define those roles. While these foreseen changes are subject to change, it is clear that big things are in store for the plethora of jobs for Final Fantasy XI!

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From the official Final Fantasy XI forums:

Opening Remarks

Job adjustments to this point have been based on the previous level cap at 75, and creating balanced, challenging battle systems in addition to leveling opportunities for players in this environment.

Future job adjustments, however, along with forthcoming battle systems and their accompanying high-level notorious monsters, will be predicated on a level cap at 99.

We are working hard to ensure that each job plays an equally important role in the new systems and NM battles, and we welcome any comments you may have that will help us accomplish this objective.

*Multiple example adjustments follow each job vision. These are provided merely to illustrate the general direction we intend to take each job—actual adjustments implemented may differ from what is written.

Warrior

• Vision
  Damage dealers who use their brawn to continuously pummel foes with a barrage of physical damage, but also use their brains to adapt to the situation at hand.
  
  We will certainly preserve the warrior's physical prowess, which makes it such an imposing damage dealer, but we also want to make it a more flexible attacker. We hope to accomplish through such means as adding abilities that modify weapon properties, making for more enemy-overpowering carnage.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding new ability that would allow warriors to change a weapon's damage type (slashing/blunt/piercing) during combat.
  • Adding a new ability that would ensure the next melee attack lands a critical hit.

Monk

• Vision
  Persistent pugilists whose fists speak louder than words, partially because they also render enemy attacks completely impotent.
  
  We'd like to see monks further mature into an even more supportive attacking role within the party. There's still room to build upon their renowned self-defense tactics such as Chakra and Counter, and they can also benefit from some extra training in skills like Subtle Blow and Chi Blast that leave foes too weak to fend off attacks from other party members.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding a new effect to Boost that increases Chakra's effectiveness or makes Chakra's HP-recovery bonus gradually increase by level.
  • Adding a new effect to Chi Blast that reduces an enemy's TP.

White Mage

• Vision
  Veritable all-purpose physicians that are always on call and ready to provide medical assistance even in the most harrowing situations, they remove status ailments with scalpel-like ｐｒｅｃｉｓｉｏｎ, nurse the dying back to life, and prescribe preventative measures to their party member patients to keep them healthy.
  
  We aim to maintain their status as healing specialists while guiding them to new discoveries in the fields of magic defense and resistance. After mastering these new techniques, they should be able to protect their party members against any subsequent outbreaks of status ailments.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding a new ability that reduces magic damage taken by party members.
  • Adding a new spell that removes Charm from a party member.

Black Mage

• Vision
  Elemental magic wielders that bring colossal amounts of firepower to the battlefield, yet are weighed down heavily by the responsibility that accompanies such unbridled destruction.
  
  Black mages know their role, and they know what they need to ensure triumph: more powerful magic. We'll continue to introduce elements that increase both the risks and rewards for these potent spellcasters.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding new abilities that increase the likelihood of dealing more elemental magic damage at the cost of greater risk.
  • Adding a new ability that makes the next spell cast cost 0 MP.

Red Mage

• Vision
  Support specialists who excel at transforming their allies from mere mortals into demigods with their enhancements, while rendering once-formidable enemies impotent with enfeebling magic.
  
  We want to see red mages play a more vital role in HNM battles by making enfeebling magic more effective against high-level notorious monsters and their legendary levels of resistance as well as allowing them to better contribute to party member enhancement.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding abilities that reduce to zero the casting time or recast time for the next spell/ninjutsu/song.
  • New enfeebling magic spells.

Thief

• Vision
  Stealthy pickpockets that duck and weave to land sneak attacks while keeping party enmity under control from the shadows.
  
  We wish to see thieves further develop the cunning they are so aptly known for by providing them with even more means of manipulating enmity and continuing to fatten the party's coffers.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding a new ability that complements Sneak Attack and Trick Attack.
  • Raising the chances of successfully executing Steal and Despoil commensurate with Treasure Hunter.
  • Adding a new ability that intimidates an enemy in proportion to the number of members in the party.

Paladin

• Vision
  Paragons of virtue who never hesitate to step in and defend their friends in a fight, nor to take the brunt of enemy attacks while wearing the heaviest armor imaginable.
  
  We respect the unselfish and bold nature of the paladin, so we plan on further developing their ability to maintain control of battles and keeping others out of harm's way, if only temporarily.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding a new ability that reduces the amount of damage taken by a party member for one hit.
  • Adding a new ability that slows enmity reduction.

Dark Knight

• Vision
  Purveyors of pain who can inflict crippling amounts of damage upon enemies while hardly breaking a sweat...at a cost that not many are willing to pay.
  
  We intend to give dark knights a change of pace and introduce abilities that allow them to sacrifice something other than HP or MP to tap into veins of unrivaled strength.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • A new ability that sacrifices TP gain to make attacks more powerful.
  • A new ability that raises the amount of damage the dark knight takes, but also raises the amount of magic and elemental weapon skill damage it deals.

Beastmaster

• Vision
  Charmers (not necessarily the kind that would buy you a drink at the local tavern) and masters of animal communication that tame feral beasts and call them forth as pets to aid in combat and provide support to their allies.
  
  We plan to broaden the range of monsters that beastmasters can coax into becoming their pets. Furthermore, we'd like to see beastmasters shed their reputation as lone wolves by endowing their pets with more abilities that provide assistance to party members.
  
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • A new ability to call forth pets that, like the avatars Odin and Alexander, immediately use their characteristic ability then disappear.
  • Adding more pet-specific abilities.
  • Revising the effects of the Familiar ability.

Bard

• Vision
  Singing saviors who are constantly called upon to rouse a party to action with a marching tune, fortify a friend by playing an operetta, and countless other forms of succor.
  
  While bards already possess a remarkable repertoire when it comes to enhancing and enfeebling, we want to expand their musical horizons into new genres that affect categories such as magic defense.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding a new song that reduces enemy magic defense.
  • Revising enemy resistance to Foe Requiem.
  • Adding a new ability that increases the effectiveness of the next song sung.

Ranger

• Vision
  Hunters who use the wisdom they gain from tracking Vana'dielian beasts to deliver excruciatingly painful and precise attacks from long range, yet almost never draw the target's attention away from the front lines.
  
  We plan to enhance rangers' ability to stay out of sight and out of the minds of their targets while rewarding their long-distance efforts.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding the effect of Subtle Blow to ranged attacks that are unleashed from a suitable distance.
  • Adding an effect to ranged attacks from an enemy's side or back that reduces enmity.
  • Adding an ability that increases enmity towards party members positioned between the ranger and his/her target.

Samurai

• Vision
  Assiduous martial artists who become one with their weapons, enabling them to display flair and persistence when eviscerating those who dare challenge them.
  
  We aim to give samurai the opportunity to hone their weapon skill proficiency down to a science, thus allowing them to walk further down the path of constant damage dealers.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding an ability that increases accuracy and damage of weapon skills.
  • Adding an ability that augments the next weapon skill used with a TP bonus.

Ninja

• Vision
  Masters of ninjutsu who can handle both offense and defense, adjusting to the tides of battle at a moment's notice.
  
  We'd like to see ninjas succeed at taking the heat off other party members by drawing enemies' attention and adroitly evading their attacks or slinking around in the shadows to strike with physical attacks and elemental ninjutsu while the target is otherwise occupied.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • New abilities that make it possible to turn aside enemy attacks and abilities.
  • Adding a new ninjutsu that increases the effectiveness of one's own Store TP trait.

Dragoon

• Vision
  Experts with the lance who can take command of any battle with their wyverns, which can either deal heaping helpings of pain or relieve their party with a reinvigorating breath.
  
  We aim to make jumping a more dynamic aspect of dragoons' fighting style and to have wyverns evolve into more versatile allies with the ability to enfeeble enemies.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding the effect of reducing magic resistance to certain wyvern breath attacks.
  • Adding an ability that makes wyverns more difficult to KO.
  • Adding an effect to Jump, High Jump, and Super Jump that reduces enmity of the player behind the dragoon.

Summoner

• Vision
  Mystics who conjure avatars to fight by their sides, then sit back and enjoy the show while paying close attention to their MP as their minions deliver devastating blows to adversaries and provide aid to allies
  
  We intend to make it easier for avatars to wreak havoc upon enemies, but also emphasize how vital the act of managing the source of their magical powers is to summoners.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • A new ability that expends an additional amount of MP to shorten the recast time for blood pacts.
  • Introducing the avatars Cait Sith and Atomos.

Blue Mage

• Vision
  Veritable shape shifters on the battlefield who adjust their tactics to fit the constantly changing nature of a conflict, thanks to their combat-hardened veteran's experience, knowledge, and quick thinking.
  
  We'd like to see blue mages live up to their Imperial roots and become even more versatile by adding new blue magic spells to their repertoire as well as high-level notorious monster abilities.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding new blue magic spells
  • Additional HNM moves for the blue mage to learn.

Corsair

• Vision
  Gamblers at heart who share the benefits of their dice-rolling antics with a wider audience than bards' melodies, yet place themselves in debt when they bust.
  
  Being a corsair is a risky profession, and we aim to keep it that way by upping the ante-extracting every conceivable onz of power from its support skills while preserving the risk that accompanies busting.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Allowing three phantom rolls to be in effect at the same time.
  • Adding an ability that increases the effectiveness of phantom rolls.
  • Revising the potency of certain rolls.

Puppetmaster

• Vision
  Puppetmasters feel comfortable in almost any type of role thanks to their automatons, but countless hours of research is needed to create the perfect puppet to deal with various and sundry situations.
  
  We want to bring out the unique characteristics inherent in each automaton via creative new attachments as well as abilities that extract the potential latent in each frame.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Introducing an assortment of new attachments.
  • Adding an ability that restores an automaton's HP.

Dancer

• Vision
  Versatile entertainers who can both easily stand up for themselves in a brawl by trotting out sambas and steps to enfeeble their unlucky opponents, as well as stand on the front lines and invigorating their fellow party members with a dance.
  
  We not only want dancers to continue to star as spectacular solo artists, but to enhance their teamwork skills and perform even better in ensemble casts as well.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Introducing an ability that consumes TP to imbue party members with the Regain effect.
  • Adding an ability that allows for a triple attack.

Scholar

• Vision
  Students in the art of war who employ stratagems to alter the tide of battle along with elemental magic to support their allies and annihilate their foes.
  
  We wish for scholars to further their education in order to become absolute masters of their art, and the latter stages of their research will produce skills comparable to those of a white or black mage whose spells may take time to cast, but compensate with both the bliss and destruction they beget.
  
  
• Example Adjustments
  
  • Adding spells which gradually reduce an enemy's TP or status enhancements.
  • Adding a spell that can be cast while under the effect of Tabula Rasa.

And these job adjustments barely scratch the surface of our ambitious plans! Expect to see the following alterations and improvements as well.


Extras

Additional Planned Adjustments

• Weapon skill refinements
• Adjustments to enfeebling magic
• Revisions to job-specific merit point enhancement attributes.