#FFXIV: A Realm Reborn – What’s an Armoury System? Classes and Jobs Overview

FFXIV: ARR Armoury System Illustrated

ar·mor·y  (ärm-r)

n. pl. ar·mor·ies

1. a. A storehouse for arms; an arsenal.
    b. A building for storing arms and military equipment, especially one serving as headquarters for military reserve personnel.

2. An arms factory.

The following article has been written based on Beta Phase 3 Information and is subject to change. 

All MMOs with the exception of the Final Fantasy Online series require you to create ‘alts’ in order to play different classes. Within the individual class some MMOs, like World of Warcraft, have a talent tree and specialization system while others like Guild Wars 2, feature a weapon based skill acquisition system.

In keeping with typical Final Fantasy tradition, A Realm Reborn showcases a job change system called the Armoury. This system is more in depth than your average MMO,  featuring a hybrid of class specialization and weapon matching. The main benefits of the Armoury system can be best described by: “One Character Fits All”.

Key points of the ARR Armoury System:

• Only 1 character is necessary to experience all content
• Free to switch between classes anytime during game play
• Versatility and freedom of choice to use abilities from other classes
• Further specializations in the form of ‘Jobs’
• In depth story and lore for each class and job
• Only need to level Class, not Jobs

Disciplines
Probably the most overlooked portion of the Armoury system, but exists as a way to define Melee, Caster, Crafter or Gatherer, very simple!

• Disciples of War – a combat discipline for melee
• Disciples of Magic – a combat discipline for casters
• Disciples of Hand – a non-combat discipline for crafters
• Disciples of Land – a non-combat discipline for gatherers

Classifying… Classes
At the most basic level, your class defines your primary role. Classes are split into the following disciplines:

• Disciples of War – a combat discipline for melee
  Gladiator
  Pugilist
  Marauder
  Lancer
  Archer
• Disciples of Magic – a combat discipline for casters
  Conjurer
  Thaumaturge
  Arcanist
• Disciples of Hand – a non-combat discipline for crafters
  Carpenter
  Blacksmith
  Armorer
  Goldsmith
  Leatherworker
  Weaver
  Alchemist
  Culinarian
• Disciples of Land – a non-combat discipline for gatherers
  Miner
  Botanist
  Fisher

What’s in a “Job”
Jobs are further specialization within each combat oriented Classes with access to unique skills and abilities not available to other classes/jobs. In real life terms, you went from being a jack of all trades, to an area specialist. Jobs and their abilities are unlocked by completing that job’s story/quest line.

• Disciples of War – a combat discipline for melee
  Gladiator → Paladin
  Pugilist → Monk
  Marauder  → Warrior
  Lancer → Dragoon
  Archer → Bard
• Disciples of Magic – a combat discipline for casters
  Conjurer → White Mage
  Thaumaturge → Black Mage
  Arcanist → Summoner & Scholar

Wait a minute… each class has one job, okie dokie… what the heck is up with Arcanist then!? I think this falls into the FAQ territory but let’s address it here.

Arcanist is a brand new class announced during Phase 3 of ARR Beta. Part of the announcement was a confirmation of what many 1.0 players had already suspected, each class will split up into multiple specializations.

In this case the Arcanist’s primary role is a caster with pet DPS and healing (jack of all trades) so it only makes sense for its jobs (area specialists) to be Summoner (pet DPS) and Scholar (raid/AOE healer).

YoshiP has speculated that within the next 2 years or so, as the game continues to be patched and the first Expansion is released, we will see not only new classes but additional jobs added to existing classes.

Breaking Down the Armoury System
If your mind hasn’t started to swim from all this…so lets make it more tangeable by comparing the ARR Armoury System to the well known WoW talent specialization system!

---

So if you think about it from say a WoW point of view…

I choose to be a casterWithin all the available options for casters, I choose Priest

Now that I am a Priest, I have 3 additional specialization options (or more broadly known as specs) to either be a shield healer (Discipline), curative healer (Holy) or damage over time combatant (Shadow)

In this case, I choose to go as a Shadow priest. Along the way I am given the ability to choose a second specialization which I can then gear up and change to as needed on the fly.

I only level the Priest, regardless of specialization I choose. I do not have to level the Discipline Priest, then go back and level the Shadow Priest etc.

Some time later if I decide I want to be a Monk, I’ll need to roll a new character and pick Monk, and the process begins anew.

---

Now, translate this to FFXIV: ARR Terminology and you get the following:

I choose to be a caster, so therefore I look at Disciples of Magic

Within Disciples of Magic, I choose Arcanist since I love pets

I level up on my Arcanist and at some point decide that I need more powerful damage

I complete the job quest and now have access to Summoner, the damage specialist of the Arcanist class

Some time later I decide I’m bored of Summoner, so go back to Arcanist, or better yet… activate the quest to become any other class I want on the same character

---

What does “Cross Class” Skill Mean?
Another major feature of the Armoury system is the ability to use skills from other classes and jobs. Classes by themselves are able to slot up to 10 different skills from any other class be it disciple of war or magic. Jobs are limited to 5 cross class ability slot and can only slot in abilities from two classes. Cross class skill slots are earned as you gain levels

At this point your mind is probably swimming with disciplines and classes. Throwing the job system into the mix is starting to cause an aneurysm!!! So here is a handy dandy extremely large image I created to explain this whole thing!

Armoury system chart based on Phase 3 Beta Test. Please check back for updated charge once retail hits!

Frequently Asked Questions and Other Minor Details
Oh you know details like… the job quests and junk XD Well I’ve decided that this article is getting wayy too wall o texty >.> so I’ll just post that another time once your brain reconstitutes itself /nods

As a closing, if you come into FFXIV: ARR Thinking that jobs are just some random thing you choose and pick from, sure feel free to do that! But if you also choose to view it from the point of ‘content’ whereby you are completing and learning about the history lore of each class, how it became jobs and all the different portions that is involved in the Armoury system, I hope you begin to view the game in a different light.

We can run in, pick up a sword and hack away, or we can stop for a moment, look around, find a sword and think “Where did it come from?”, “Why am I called a Gladiator?”, “What does it mean to be a Paladin?”. If there are guilds and disciplines and what not… does that not imply organizations and social structure? If you view the game from that vantage then there is a myriad of things to do in the game already just within the Armoury system ^^

More on this in future articles!

Yes I’m a fangirl, shoo

Special thanks to Nain Ward for editing and fact checking (we should always fact check /nods) ❤