User:Deckiller/Gameplay of Final Fantasy XI

The gameplay of Final Fantasy XI is unlike previous titles in the series in many ways. It can be played from a first-person as well as a third-person perspective, with players directly navigating their character around the world to interact with objects and people. The player is also only able to control one character and select their character's traits, including race, gender, face, hair color, body size, job, and nationality. When an enemy is encountered the game stays in the same environment and does not shift to a "battle area" where characters and enemies must await their turn to attack, as in previous titles.

There are 32 servers available for play, and one server used by Square-Enix for testing. Server names follow in the Final Fantasy tradition of borrowing from different mythologies, using names of summons from previous Final Fantasy titles such as Ifrit and Diabolos. PC, PS2, and Xbox 360 players from across all geographic locations play together on the same servers. Originally, a player was allocated to a random server when they created their first character, with subsequent characters automatically assigned to the same server as the first. World Passes could be purchased in-game to allow players to create characters on the server where the World Pass was bought. An update on March 7, 2007, now allows players to pick the server of their choice, making World Passes void and no longer available. Gold World Passes are still available to players that wish to invite their friends and take advantage of the items given through that program. A recent update also allows a player to change servers.

Interface

Players have the option of using any combination of a keyboard, mouse, and controller to play Final Fantasy XI. PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 players are able to play using only a controller with no other peripherals. In these situations, an on-screen keyboard is used to chat with other players, but reliance on communication of the game's party system leads many to use a USB keyboard and/or mouse which can be used to control the game just as the PC version does.

The heads-up display in "Final Fantasy XI" consists of a log window, menus, and several game information elements. The log window at the bottom of the screen displays system messages, battle messages, and text input by other players. Players may choose to filter what appears in the log window. Also at the bottom of the screen, a compass, the current in-game time, and the player's current hit points and magic points are displayed. Icons representing status effects appear at the top of the screen, as well as a "communication meter" with information about the player's current network connection status. "Menus" allow the player to access different commands, status windows, and configuration options. As well as the main menu, which contains the majority of the options for the game, the "action command menu" appears just above the log window and gives the player several options to interact with the game world. Several menu options are available through the use of keyboard shortcuts as well.

Locations

The world is broken up into different regions, and then zones. Regions are a composite of zones; for example, the region Sarutabaruta is comprised of the zones of Eastern and Western Sarutabaruta, as well as the Inner and Outer Horutoto Ruins. Zones are where the action actually takes place. Moving from one zone to the next requires loading of data, and monsters cannot pursue player characters from one zone to the next (the act of moving from one zone to another is referred to as "zoning"). On the other hand, this lets the game present different sets of graphics, music, monsters, and so on in different zones without taxing a player's computer or game console.

The symbols of the four main nations of Vana'diel

At the start of the game, players may choose whether to side with The Republic of Bastok, The Kingdom of San d'Oria, or The Federation of Windurst. Players who select the "Home Nation" for their specific race get a nation specific ring, but aside from this, there is no particular advantage to siding with one nation or another. The objective of implementing national allegiances is to fight for one's country and help it claim as much of Vana'diel as possible, while preventing outright warfare between the nations by substituting this competition for battles. A special status effect known as Signet facilitates conquest. While under the effect of Signet, engaging in successful battles with an enemy in a region will earn Regional Influence points for the Nation the player character belongs to, and Conquest Points for the player. At the end of every week (at midnight Japan time on Sunday night), a Conquest Tally is conducted. The Nation with the highest influence will control the region for the week, and the Nations are ranked by the number of regions they control. If the ratio of player deaths to beastmen deaths gets too high, the region falls under Beastmen control.

Missions and quests

Gameplay in Final Fantasy XI consists of two major components: quests, which do not advance the main storyline but fill out the game's fantasy world, and missions, through which the main storyline of the game is told.

Quests may be undertaken for various rewards, including money, items which cannot be acquired any other way, or simply prestige. Final Fantasy XI's quest system includes a mechanic whereby fame is accrued through the completion of quests. Each city and major area has its own fame rating, and more quests open to players as they grow in fame in each area. While quests do not directly advance the main stories of the game, they may fill in some additional details that would otherwise be missed. Another tangible benefit of fame is lower prices on all goods sold by town merchants.

Missions are undertaken to advance in rank, to access new areas and gain new privileges, and to advance the various plotlines in the game. Each country has its own set of missions, which a player must complete to advance in rank; a player may only complete missions for his home country, resulting in some players completing all of a country's range of missions, only to switch allegiances to see another country's storyline. The newest storylines are often not available in their entirety at first, and are unlocked gradually over time. For example, both the Zilart and Dynamis storylines are unlocked when the player progresses to a certain rank in any of the three starting cities.

The Chains of Promathia and Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansions have their own missions as well; while these do not advance a player in "rank" in the manner of the city missions, players may gain access to new areas and one-of-a-kind items through progressing in these missions.

Crafting and Hobbies

In addition to completing quests and missions, players can participate in several side activities or minigames.

Harvesting, excavating, logging, and mining collectively referred to as HELM, allow the player to retrieve items from the world. Harvesting produces items from plants; excavating produces bone items; logging produces wood; and mining produces metal ores and stones that can be refined into gems. HELM activities are performed by equipping and using related tools on designated "points" scattered throughout certain zones. A player may only retrieve a few items from any one point before it is exhausted, and they must locate other points until the spent ones regenerate or "respawn". This section of the game concerning the quality or quantity of items you may receive is largely random and is not affected by or does not gain in level with participation although players can gain an edge by possessing certain items.

Players may also try their hand at fishing, gardening, clamming, or chocobo digging. Fishing in Final Fantasy XI is a sort of minigame where a player must measure their strength against the strength of fish that bite at their line. Fishing is also known as a reliable source of gil for players of all levels and experience. Unlike some of the other minigames, a player's skill at fishing improves as they do it. Gardening in Final Fantasy XI is when a player raises plants in their residence (also referred to as a mog house). Like synthesis, gardening can result in different items being produced by following recipes but results are still partially based on luck and gardening skill levels do not increase with experience. Clamming is a minigame where players collect as many fish or sea creatures as possible without going over a limit predetermined by the size bucket they're carrying. Chocobo digging is when a player commands a bird called a chocobo to dig up items from random spots on the ground. It is believed there may be a hidden level assosiated with chocobo digging that affects a players ability to dig up more valuable items.

Final Fantasy XI has a fairly complex item synthesis system, in which players use elemental crystals obtained by fighting the various monsters to turn specific combinations of items into other items. Different recipes, using different classes of ingredients and different Craft skills, will produce different types of items. Items produced by the Alchemy craft skill under the guidance of the Alchemist's Guild tend to be medicines and ammunition, whereas items produced by Smithing and Leathercrafting tend to be armor or weapons, and Goldsmithing crafts rings and other accessories. In addition, the craft skill of cooking produces consumable food items that temporarily affect a character's statistics. Crafts incorporate many recipes for intermediate products which themselves may be used to produce useful items. For example, various ores may be refined into metal ingots, wooden logs cut into lumber, or animal hides tanned into leather.

A player may raise in rank within a Guild as their skill for that craft increases, allowing them a higher success rate on recipes considered to be of a higher skill level - typically recipes whose products grant higher benefits or net the player more profit. The main flow of profit for crafters in game is the creation of "HQ" or "High Quality" synthesizing. These items usually provide better statistics than their "NQ" or "Normal Quality" counterparts. High quality synthesis will result in a higher quantity of the items or a "+1" brand on the item. "+1" items are typically almost the same as the standard item but have slightly preferable or additional stats. High quality game items with "+1" can only be synthesized or purchased from another player and cannot be purchased from stores within the game.

Player vs. player (PvP)

Although there was no system allowing players to compete in battle with each other, it was eventually added to the game. In Final Fantasy XI's Player vs. Player (PvP) system, known as Conflict, players may only compete directly against one another under very specific circumstances. Conflict happens only in "matches" that players enter by their own consent; players cannot attack one another outside of these circumstances. Players who are defeated in a Conflict match do not lose experience points, and they cannot lose items or equipment from being defeated. There are two types of Conflict matches. In Ballista, the objective is to score points by throwing a rock, or "Petra," into a "castle-like construction" called a "Rook." Brenner resembles capture the flag.

For the inaugural "Conflict event," the game of Ballista was used with the rules released before the competition began; it had been thought that the first game would be similar to basketball.

Leveling system

The nature of the leveling system and concurrent scaling of monster difficulty in Final Fantasy XI has the effect of nearly forcing players to play as groups, more so than other MMORPGs. After around the first ten or so levels, monsters that a player is able to defeat alone give progressively less experience points; eventually, at higher levels, if a player is able to defeat a monster alone, the monster is likely to give no experience points. The assistance of other players is necessary to gain experience points efficiently. However, "soloing" is possible but remains a less efficient option. At higher levels where "partying" becomes necessary for leveling up, players get abilities that will be more useful in a party situation, and some classes, such as Bards, are designed only to support parties. Parties can accommodate up to six players each, and for more difficult missions and quests, up to three parties can form an alliance to work together to take down difficult foes.

The current maximum level in Final Fantasy XI is 75. Level limits are placed at 50, 55, 60, 65, and 70. They are typically referred to as Genkai (level limit) one, two, three, four, and five respectively. For instance, a character that has not finished Genkai 1 will not be able to level to 51 until he or she completes the quest for Genkai one. Square-Enix has also announced that there are no plans to increase the level cap beyond 75.

On reaching level 75, a character may continue to earn experience points for two reasons: to get a buffer for experience points ("XP") so that XP losses due to deaths do not cause the character to delevel, and to earn merit points which may be traded in to permanently raise specific statistics and gain other enhancements in the merit system. In the merit system, the player is given the option to convert any future experience points into limit points, gained at the same rate as experience points. Limit points are used to accumulate merit points, at a rate of 10,000 limit points to 1 merit point. Merit points can then be used to modify a character, ranging from a bonus to the chance of a melee critical hit to a bonus to any of the seven base statistics; in an update after the Treasures of Aht Uhrgan expansion's release, job-specific abilities that can only be learned through the merit system were added for all jobs. There are caps to how much any one statistic can be raised through the merit system, but it allows for a level of character customization that is not available before the ultimate level cap. A player can choose to return to accumulating experience points instead of limit points at any time. In addition, attributes raised by merit points can be lowered through the mog house, although the limit point/merit point cost will not be refunded.

Battle system

Battles in Final Fantasy XI take place in the same world in which players move around, unlike previous Final Fantasy games in which a battle would take place in a new screen. Players may be attacked by aggressive creatures, or they may attack creatures themselves.

Monsters within the game operate under a complicated system of "claim" and "hate". A monster is "claimed" the moment a player performs any action upon it, whether attacking it or casting a spell. Once it is claimed, it can only be attacked by players in the party or alliance of the player that claimed it. A monster will focus its attention on whoever has built up the most enmity, or "hate." Players have a number of means at their disposal, from spells to abilities to items, to both build up enmity and shed it when it is unwanted. Thus tank characters, with high defense capabilities, can hold a monster's attention and keep it off those who should avoid damage, such as mages. It is possible to have a monster's attention through enmity without actually claiming the monster, so a monster could conceivably attack someone who is outside of the party or alliance that is currently attacking it.

An important part of battling in Final Fantasy XI is the technique of skillchains (a.k.a. renkei) and magic bursts. Through melee attacks and taking damage, players gain "tactical points" (abbreviated TP) that fill up a special gauge. When the gauge is filled, the player may use a "weapon skill." Which weapon skills are available to a player depends both upon what weapon he/she are using and his/her proficiency in that weapon; as the player advances in levels and weapon proficiency, more weapon skills become available for his/her use.

Weapon skills used by different party members may be used together in specific orders to form "skillchains." Skillchains do additional damage in battle and allow for mages to "magic burst." Each skillchain has a different elemental affinity; if a mage casts a spell of the same element as the skillchain, it will do more damage than the spell would normally.

In addition to the traditional Final Fantasy classifications of spells, magic is also divided by "magic skills." As a character uses spells from a certain magic skill, his/her skill in that category increases, affecting those spells in some way. While most magic spells cost Magic Points (abbreviated MP) to use, a Bard's songs and a Ninja's ninjutsu do not.

Game Economy

Final Fantasy XI has an almost entirely player-based economy with a heavy reliance on "Auction Houses" in each of the major cities of Vana'diel. The only monsters in the game that drop any in-game currency known as gil when defeated are the Beastmen. However, Beastmen drop very small amounts of gil, meaning that unlike other games in the Final Fantasy series, it is impossible to make much money merely by slaughtering monsters (players within the Thief class of jobs have a gilfinder ability to slightly increase the amount of gil received). Various items used in crafting, as well as sometimes extremely rare equipment items, may drop off the monsters that are defeated. There are also notorious monsters that only spawn under certain conditions, such as number of regular monsters defeated, trading an item to a certain location to make it appear, or who only appear very rarely. These type of monsters drop items that are highly priced. Players who do not require the item may sell it to other players via the Auction House. The Auction House is also the primary method of obtaining equipment, magic scrolls and other materials. There are some items that can't be placed in the auction house, but can be sold through a player run bazaar. Other players can "check" a player who placed items for sale and purchase them directly from the player.

Although the game economy is mostly in the hands of the players, there are certain economic controls in place. Money may go to a non-player character (NPC), as when players purchase items from NPC merchants or rent certain forms of transportation. A fee is charged to place items up for auction at the Auction House, and in certain cities, players making purchases from player-run "bazaars" are taxed a percentage of the item's set price. Since transportation, auction house, and tax fees do not go to players, these gilsinks effectively remove money from the economy.

Job system

See also: Final Fantasy character classes

One of Final Fantasy XI's most dynamic features is the flexibility of its job system, adapted from previous Final Fantasy titles. Players are able to change their jobs any time they wish (as long as they are inside their 'Mog House'), and eventually gain a "support job," allowing the player to learn additional skills and try different combinations. Each job has unique abilities, which must be activated by the player in order to come into effect, last a limited time, and have a "cooldown" period before they can be used again; traits, which are passive abilities that are always in effect; and a special "2-hour" ability that performs some extraordinary function and has an extraordinary 2-hour-long cooldown period to go with it.

As of February 2007, a player may choose from 18 different jobs. In homage to the six job classes available in the original Final Fantasy, the initial jobs available to a player are White Mage, Red Mage, Black Mage, Warrior, Thief, and Monk. Upon achieving level 30 in any of these jobs, a player may opt to complete quests to unlock the jobs of Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, Ranger, Bard, Summoner, Samurai, Ninja, Dragoon , Blue Mage, Corsair, and Puppetmaster. Samurai, Ninja, and Dragoon were released in the Rise of the Zilart expansion, and Blue Mage, Corsair, and Puppetmaster were released in Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Once the player has reached level 18 on any job, he may complete a quest that enables him to use any job he has as a "support job" for his main job. Support Jobs operate at a maximum of half the level of the player's main job, and gives the character abilities, spells and stat bonuses from that job at that level. Some elements of Support Job abilities may also be reduced, such as Sneak Attack and Trick Attack when Thief is used as a support job.

Standard Jobs

Upon beginning the game, a player may choose from one of six job classes.

The Warrior (WAR) is a melee class with high proficiency in many weapon types, especially the Great Axe or one-handed Axe. Warriors are offensively and defensively balanced. Warrior abilities include Provoke, which produces a burst of enmity and may draw an enemy's attention; Berserk, which increases attack at the cost of defense, its opposite Defender, which increases defense at the cost of attack, Warcry, which gives all party members within range a boost in attack, and generates enmity from the enemy, and Aggressor, which increases accuracy at the cost of evasion. Traits include Double Attack, which gives a melee attack a chance to hit twice. The Warrior's 2-hour ability, Mighty Strikes, guarantees that for 30 seconds every melee hit that connects will be a critical strike.

The Thief (THF) is a melee class with crucial enmity control abilities. Thief abilities include Sneak Attack, which guarantees a high-damage critical hit when used behind an enemy, and Trick Attack, which displaces hate from melee damage from the thief to a party member that stands between the thief and the enemy. In combination, Sneak Attack and Trick Attack (also known as SATA) are used to plant large amounts of damage on the enemy and place the enmity incurred onto another player (usually a tank). Job traits include Triple Attack, which gives a melee attack a chance of striking three times, and two levels of Treasure Hunter, which increases the chance that an enemy will drop items once defeated. The Thief also gains the trait of Assassin, which allows Trick attack to do even more damage. The Thief 2-hour ability, Perfect Dodge, allows the Thief to dodge all melee attacks for 30 seconds.

The Monk (MNK) is a melee class with high HP and damage output. Normally found with hand-to-hand weapons, the Monk also has some proficiency with staves. Monk abilities include Boost, a stackable ability which increases the power of the next melee attack, and Chi Blast, a long-range energy attack, Counterstance, which increases the Monk's chance of countering an enemy's attack while reducing the Monk's defense, Dodge, which raise the Monk's evasion, and Focus, which raises the Monk's Accuracy. The Monk's 2-hour ability, Hundred Fists, reduces the delay between melee attacks by a fixed percentage for 1 minute.

The White Mage (WHM) specializes in healing and restorative magic, as well as enhancing and some enfeebling magic. White Mages use clubs and staves almost exclusively and may also equip shields. White Mage abilities include Divine Seal, which increases the potency of the next curative spell and Divine Veil, which transforms a status-removing spell (i.e. Erase, Poisona, etc.) from a single target to Area of Effect (AoE) when combined with Divine Seal; traits include Auto-Regen, which gives constant HP regeneration. The White Mage's 2-hour ability, Benediction, instantly restores full HP to the whole party and removes all status ailments. The downside of using Benediction during battle is an extreme increase in enmity toward the White Mage due to sheer amount of HP healed.

The Black Mage (BLM) is a mage class that specializes in damage-dealing through "nukes", or powerful offensive magic. Black Mages equip staves and clubs almost exclusively; unlike their White Mage brethren, they are unable to equip most shields; at higher levels, however, they are allowed to equip scythes as main weapons. Black Mage abilities include Elemental Seal, which raises the accuracy of the next spell cast; traits include Conserve MP, which has a chance to lower the MP cost of a spell. The Black Mage's 2-hour ability is Manafont, which allows the player to cast spells without consuming MP for 30 seconds nor having the spells casted being interrupted by anything (less the BLM is silenced, moved a great distance, or is killed).

The Red Mage (RDM) is a mage/melee hybrid class with particular aptitude for enhancing and enfeebling magic. Red Mages may equip a variety of weapons from swords and daggers for melee damage to wands and staves for stat bonuses. Spells exclusive to the Red Mage include Refresh, which regenerates an affected character’s MP, and Dispel, which removes a beneficial status effect from an enemy. Red Mage abilities include Convert, which swaps current HP and MP pools; traits include Fast Cast, which reduces the casting time of a spell and its cooldown timer. The Red Mage's 2-hour ability, Chainspell, allows for chain-casting of spells instantly and without the normal cooldown period. Due to their jack-of-all-trades nature and their access to several defense-reducing and -absorbing spells, Red Mages at high levels are one of the few classes in the game capable of soloing monsters in their own range of level and strength.

Extra Jobs

Upon achieving level 30 on any of the starter classes, the player may complete quests to unlock extra jobs. Dragoon, Samurai, and Ninja were introduced with the Rise of the Zilart expansion and cannot be obtained unless the expansion pack is installed. Blue Mage, Puppetmaster, and Corsair were introduced with the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

The Paladin (PLD) is a melee tank class possessing very high defense, low attack and a small library of white magic spells. Paladins are often found with swords, but may use staves or greatswords as well. Paladin abilities include Shield Bash, a blunt attack that has a chance of stunning the target, Sentinel, which raises the Paladin's defense, and Cover, which allows the Paladin to take damage in place of a party member, so as long as the PLD is in between that party member and the monster. The Paladin's 2-hour ability, Invincible, reduces all physical damage taken by the Paladin to zero for 30 seconds and produces a huge burst of enmity. The Paladin's job traits include Undead Killer, which gives the Paladin a chance to intimidate (similar to a stun which renders the target unable to act) Undead creatures, several bonuses to Defense, and in a May 2006 update concurrent with the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion pack, Paladins were given an Auto-Refresh trait that allows them to recover MP over time.

The Dark Knight (DRK) is a melee class possessing very high attack, low defense, and a small library of black magic spells. Dark Knights are proficient in the use of scythes and greatswords. Unique to the job is a line of spells that absorb each of the seven statistics from an enemy, and its particular strength against arcane-type monsters. Dark Knight abilities include Souleater, which sacrifices HP for added attack damage, and Last Resort, which sacrifices defense for added attack damage. The DRK's 2-hour ability, Blood Weapon, produces a large HP drain effect for every melee attack for 30 seconds.

The Beastmaster (BST) is a pet/melee class that can tame monsters to do their bidding. Beastmasters are the only job capable of gaining significant experience points without a group above the lowest levels, and they are commonly found with an axe. Beastmaster abilities include Charm, which places a monster under the beastmaster’s command if successful, and Call Beast, which uses a special "jug" inventory item to summon a pet; traits include a series of "Killer" effects that give the Beastmaster a chance to intimidate different types of monsters. The Beastmaster's 2-hour ability, Familiar, extends the duration of a charm, and slightly increases pet potency. They also possess the Wide Scan ability, which allows them to locate specific creatures on the map.

The Ranger (RNG) is a melee class that specializes in ranged weapons. Rangers use bows, crossbows and guns for ranged damage, as well as daggers or axes for close-range melee damage. Ranger abilities include Barrage, which fires multiple arrows at once, and Sharpshot, which gives a temporary boost to ranged accuracy; traits include Alertness, which reduces the chance of being seen by an aggressive mob. The Ranger's 2-hour ability, Eagle Eye Shot, is an instantaneous ranged attack with tremendous power and accuracy. Rangers also have an ability, called "Widescan", that allows them to track mobs via the in-game map system. This proves especially valuable when they, or a party, is seeking a specific creature.

The Bard (BRD) a party support class that specializes in enhancing and enfeebling songs. Although Bards are sometimes considered to be a mage class, they do not require MP to do their job. Bards equip instruments as ranged weapons and also light melee weaponry including clubs, swords and daggers. Bards are particularly favored for their area of effect (AoE) sleep song, their accuracy enhancement songs, their attack enhancement songs and their group MP regeneration songs. Besides their songs, Bards have only four job abilities: three passive Resist Silence traits, and the 2-hour ability, Soul Voice, which doubles the effect of songs. White Mage is the most common subjob as it further aids Bards in supporting the party.

The Summoner (SMN) is a mage class that is able to summon, at a certain MP/second cost, magical avatars to aid in battle. Summoners primarily use staves and clubs. Currently, the avatars available to summon are Titan, Leviathan, Garuda, Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh, known as the Celestial Avatars, and Carbuncle, Fenrir and Diabolos, the Terrestrial avatars. In addition, the Summoner may also call upon spirits that correspond to the eight-element system of Vana’diel. The ability to summon an avatar is acquired by succeeding in battle against that avatar; spirits require scrolls, like any other type of magic. Summoner abilities include Blood Pact, which enables the avatar to use its own unique abilities; traits include Auto-Refresh, which grants the Summoner constant MP regeneration. The Summoner's 2-hour ability, Astral Flow, permits the Summoner to keep an avatar out without spending MP, and allows access to the avatar's special attack.

The Dragoon (DRG) is a melee/pet class with the ability to summon a Wyvern and perform Jump attacks. The polearm is the Dragoon's most proficient weapon. Dragoon abilities include three types of jumps: one to deal damage, another to shed hate, and a third that does both; and the ability Call Wyvern to bring a "pet" to battle alongside the Dragoon. Job traits include Dragon Killer, which grants the Dragoon a heightened effectiveness against dragon-type mobs. The Dragoon's wyvern has unique "breath" abilities that are triggered by the Dragoon's actions and vary from offensive attacks to curative effects, depending on the Dragoon's subjob at that moment. The Dragoon's 2-hour ability, Spirit Surge, gives the Dragoon the power of its wyvern for a short time, enhancing all stats and giving a large TP boost, while also resetting the jump timers and cutting hate in half of the player closest behind.

The Ninja (NIN) is a melee class that specializes in variety combat, and uses ninjutsu (Ninja skill) magic. Ninjutsu differs from standard magic in that every use of ninjutsu skill permanently consumes a "tool" from the Ninja's inventory, rather than magic points as in traditional mage classes. The class's high evasion rate and agility, in combination with the damage-absorbing ninjutsu "Utsusemi", has led players to turn the class from a melee damage dealer into a "blink tank" that avoids damage rather than taking it well. Passive traits of the Ninja class include Stealth, which reduces the chance of being detected by enemies, Dual Wield, which allows the Ninja to equip two one-handed weapons, generally katanas, at once, and Subtle Blow, which reduces the amount of TP gained by the monster when attacking. The Ninja's 2-hour ability, Mijin Gakure, is a suicide attack that deals fire-based damage, based on the player's current hit points, with no experience penalty for the death.

The Samurai (SAM) is a melee class that specializes in performing weapon skills and skillchains, excelling in gaining TP due to job specific abilities. Samurai wield 2-handed Great Katanas almost exclusively, but also have some skill in polearms and bows. Samurai abilities include Third Eye which evades the next attack; Meditate, which generates 20 TP every 1.5 Seconds for a maximum boost of 100 TP; Hasso which increases damage, accuracy, and speed of two-handed weapons, but increases magic casting times; and Seigan which reduces the casting time of Third Eye and gives it a chance to not be consumed, but requires a two-handed weapon, increases magic casting times, and over writes Hasso. Traits include Store TP, which increases the Samurai’s base TP gain, and Zanshin, which allows the Samurai to perform a follow-up attack should an attack miss. The Samurai's 2-hour ability, Meikyo Shisui, generates 300 TP, and allows the user to execute weapons skills by expending only 100 TP, instead of draining the TP pool completely. This allows it to self-skillchain.

The Blue Mage (BLU) job was introduced in the newest expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Blue Mages are portrayed as an elite corps of fighters using techniques learned from defeated monsters. Blue Mages learn their spells from special moves utilized by many different monsters across Vana'diel. Once learned, a Blue Mage can then setup available spells and cast them back on enemies to defeat them, as well as gain statistical bonuses from these spells. The types of Blue Magic that can be attained range from Physical to Magical, and specific Blue Magic can be cast on either themselves, party members or enemies. The Blue Mage's abilities include Burst Affinity, which allows the Blue Mage to use magical Blue Magic in a Magic Burst, and Chain Affinity, allowing a Blue Mage's physical Blue Magic to participate in a Skillchain. With these abilities, a Blue Mage can potentially self-skillchain, and proceed to create a magic burst to do decent damage to an enemy. The Blue Mage's 2-Hour ability, Azure Lore, enhances the effects of Blue Magic.

The Corsair (COR) is one of the new jobs included in the newest expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urhgan. They are descendants of the dauntless pirates that once scourged the seas of the Near East. Corsairs rely on the “Hexagun,” a multi-barreled revolver, and elaborate luck-based abilities to alter the stakes of battle. Corsairs serve mainly as a support role in parties using their luck based skills (known as Phantom Rolls) to increase the other parties abilities, much like a Bard. However, the Corsair has a different selection of abilities and has greater capabilities to inflict damage on enemies with the use of ranged weapons, much like a Ranger. Mid level Corsairs learn Quick Draw to shoot elemental cards with their guns. This attack requires additional Card items, much like a Ninja uses Tools. Quick Draw can not only provide high magical damage, but also increases the effect of debuffs already on the monster, and can be used to inflict Sleep or Dispel. Corsair's two hour is called Wild Card and produces a different effect depending on the number (1-6) rolled. It is interesting to note that, should a 6 be rolled, all job ability cool downs are reset, allowing for other jobs abilities (including non-Corsair 2 hours) to be immediately used.

The Puppetmaster (PUP) was revealed at the 2006 Final Fantasy Fan Festival to be the final new job that will be included in the latest expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urhgan.. Players are able to control a puppet, known as an automaton, to undertake actions in battle. The puppet is semi-autonomous, though players can exert a great deal of influence over the actions the puppet performs. The type and fighting style of the puppet can be adjusted through mixing model pieces. At the present time, 4 different models are available with a separate head and body piece for each of them. Improvements and abilities can be added by equipping attachments that add abilities, or increase the frequency that the automaton performs certain actions. The job also has some limited skills in hand-to-hand combat which can aid their puppet in battle. The Puppetmaster's two hour ability is called "Overdrive" and increases the fighting ability of the automaton to its maximum level.