What Is THF's Role In End Game? /Rant On Mode

lol I mean look at summoner, it only took them 11 years to finally offer decent gear and upgrade it to where it has a use besides being a PD *** ;) Thf will come back someday

OP has whined about this over and over and had poor gear to begin with.
They seem to not understand the notion that we can job change.

This is coming from someone who loves THF as well.

Thief knife [✓]
Asn. Armlets +2 [✓]
Raid. Poulaines +2 [✓]

You're good to go!

Thief won't matter again (unless th is made super important, and that's still not really thief mattering) until enmity matters again and they may never care about enmity again. I don't say that in regard to enmity control, I say that because a mob spinning like a top is super duper annoying as a thief, but stacking your dd on one side is also not a good idea.

They'd have to rethink the design of SA and TA if they're not fixing enmity, and as long as enough people play on any job, I don't think SE cares about the jobs that aren't being played. I also think their threshhold for "enough people" is quite low.

I don't think "RDM's are still waiting for their moment too". To be honest, as can be deduced from the population threads, I think a lot of the thieves, red mages, pup, bst, blu mains are quitting in favor of life or other games rather than watching the delve shouts for monks, samurais, bards, scholars, and white mages.

No, they aren't quitting, they're job changing. What a strange thing to pull out of your ***.

Also, if TH is given relevance again, THF will get used.

Edit: I have no idea why BLU is in your silly list, but then the entirety of your post is kinda dumb already anyway.

Some are job changing, I think people that had hope for their favorite jobs stopped caring.

Again, the server population threads speak enough. However, if you really liked mnk or sam or brd or fishbot or whatever, you're probably having a blast.

Edit: Is BLU useful now? Beyond Absolute Terror, it wasn't a few months ago. I know they buffed spells, and RME update, but whatever. But okay, kick blue off and add smn, dnc, nin, and run (or are one of those awesome now?) to the list. Doesn't really matter, too many jobs are pretty ignored by SE. Maybe that will change, maybe it won't.

Of course it had Req too, but the ls I was in was fortunate enough to have a mura sam and he did exceptional.

Yeah, I quit XI a few months ago, and PLD was my main and aside from supertanking/wkr felt pretty useless.

I think making events more TH dependent is an enormously lazy way to make THF useful for events. In my opinion, all you really need to do is lower the recast time on Trick Attack, and change Sneak Attack so that the recast timer is reset every time you land a successful SATA. Stuff like this that increases group damage, but not solo damage.

Despoil debuffs should land every time if used with Sneak Attack and the cooldown time should match the duration of the debuff.

Also, it would be nice to have an ability like Accomplice, but instead of redirecting enmity to yourself, you chose a target to redirect enmity to.

Oh and instead of a 1h cooldown, Larceny should be a 5 min cooldown.

Of course, I'm sure there have been a plethora of good ideas for Thief over the years. The fact is, for current end-game content, there are 18 slots in an alliance, and THF can't claim to be the best job for any one of those 18 slots.

It may be unacceptable to you, OP, but it doesn't make it any less true.

The problem isn't necessarily a default in the design of thief. In my opinion the problem is a direct failure of innovative content.

Content should include more diverse type of play where a Feint rotation is necessary for at least one of the fights. Another fight might include a boss where you have to Mug X amount of gil in order to win the fight while at the same time the fight keeps getting harder and harder until you are overwhelmed if you don't steal enough gil in time.

There could be other fights where pet jobs like PUP, BST, SMN are necessary.... fights where it's more important to avoid damage than deal damage.... I mean I could go on and on. All I see is the same thing over and over:
Group 1 - Flavor of the Patch Damage Dealers
Group 2 - Flavor of the Patch Damage Dealers
Group 3 - Magic DD and Stuns
Sprinkle in support jobs where necessary.

Sure, some jobs could use some changes in their abilities, but what if end-game content was more diverse in order to compliment the abilities that already exist???

That's why I love my LS leaders because even though THF isn't the ish now-a-days they allow us to go to all events for the most part and have fun.. As far as those that say THF will never be on the level of DD if you have ever played WoW you would know that they where actually pretty solid there. I think I the not so simple way to improve the THF damage output would be to increase their SA/TA DMG significantly. If your allowing us to do spike damage ever what (30) seconds depending on merits? Increasing it's potency won't tip the scale as a DD but it could certainly make us affective to some degree. Just a thought...

I don't know why people keep saying BLU is a forgotten job in regards to delve, in my last 4 Delve runs I've seen at least 1 BLU, 2 if it's Shark. But I've yet to see a THF.

Could give it an ability called diversion where it takes 100% enmity on itself that ticks down over 15-20 seconds and everyone behind the mob gets a large increase to crit rate chance/dmg for that time. not sure what much else could be done to out of date jobs except give them abilities that help others more.

People been using BLU for shark and bee zones for ages. Also seen plenty of RUN in shark zone and sometimes DNC in Ceizak. Nobody uses NIN SMN though.

Even though I do respect your rant and you have allot of good points i could not help but notice your lack of effort you have put into your thf via your equipment history... it just appears that you like thf and want to play it more that about it. I dont see where you have really put in the work to be a prime thf though. maybe im wrong and your history isnt update but could this be correct?

Pretty sure Draylo posted a vid showing his BLU's going to work in Delv

BLU gets negative attention because it's not the ideal choice for any setup if you have access to everything, and to further complicate things most BLUs are utterly terrible. A good BLU is better off than a THF/NIN/SMN/etc, but that doesn't really change the former 2 points.

Yup, allot of complaints tend to come from those that really and trully don't put in that work in there jobs or even the effort to really learn the jobs.

There are a LOT of terribad BLU's. Probably relics from the Abyssea and VW era's where it was either a powerhouse spamming spells with unlimited MP or just a proc mule. BLU is far more diverse in it's abilities than THF and brings more tools for crowd control, party support, debuffs, etc, than THF does. Really the only reason to take THF over any other light DD is treasure hunter. Sad, but that's the way it is.

Playing BLU in delve runs is nearly the same as other DD....pretty much just pop JA TP WS TP WS. Occasionally you may want to cast a few spells depending on situation but none of the spells are super game changing to make TP WS only BLU much different from the ones that cast right spells. It's not like you invite BLUs to magic fruit PT or Dream flower mobs.

If avg players can play MNK they can probably play BLU in delve too. I think ppl just don't gear for it because it takes longer to lv BLU from 1 to 99 and have spells rdy.

Ya, you play BLU as a DD with a few niche abilities like Absolute Terror. It's abilities at crowd control make it an asset over other light DD's you might bring (DNC/THF). You might not be expected to do those things, but you CAN when the situation presents itself unexpectedly.

I just poke things, personally.

if you're throwing out time on sleeps/cures that the brd could have handled without losing any dps, you're doing even worse compared to the real dd that you're meant to be competing with

I'm talking about running from target to target or during buff rotations. If you have people coming in and out of party and the adds your trained to the next NM are still on you, being able to hit them all with a sleep while DD's down them quickly, you save time from your buffers swapping and singing before their JA's wear, etc. It might be a small consideration. But it's not what you do when everything is going well that makes a player, it's what you do when the crap hits the fan.

any reasonable delve alliance has 9 people with sleeps and lower damage output than you, if none of them can handle it then you have bigger problems than how to optimize your blu performance

WHMx2
BRDx2
CORx2
SCH/BLMx2
RDM or SCH/RDM

edit: 11, forgot the geos

If you're not in a LS run or one guy pushing all the buttons, it's reasonable to assume that your lost DPS is preferable to a group of errant fodder ripping your mages apart. It's still a feather in BLU's cap that jobs like THF and DNC don't have.

only if you already consciously decided you trust none of the 11 sleepers in the alliance and wasted set points on them..

It's situational awareness. If i'm going with people I know, I'd be more inclined to be a straight DD. If I'm with a PUG or know one or both the BRD's are mules, I'd be more inclined to set a sleep and lose a trait or some DPS. 9 times out of 10, the lost DPS is preferable to wiping.

Personally i dont think ffxi is game where you have the luxúry of playing a single job. Its so easy to level, and with adoulin, easier to gear to meet the minimum requirement of events, that you should treat job as clothes. For each situation a different one should be used. I played majority as thf, but to meet requirement in delve, i started other suport role job, because thats the natural way to progress. But aside delve, i dont play any job aside thf, and that works wonder for every content aside delve. Op said that you cant do arch bosses in dyna, that bull, thf can do fine as sole dd if he has a suport.
If you think about thfs role in end game,first think what se think about thf, and his cape show well what is suppose to be his role. Thf is an eva tank, and with his gear with movement plus, he makes for the lógical puller choice. But the problem is that delve isnt designed to need a puller, but if it was needed, a thf would be a good choice.
If you think about dd, in his category, piercing, he could shine alone, as markmanship and archery isnt that wanted if the situation really requires, and DRG isnt really famous because of dps. Sucks, though, that to have the same weapon lv than others dds, he must fully upgrade a rem.
Comparing thf with DRG, DRG generally is prefered because of his delve weapon, because of piercing dmg and because angon. But to fix that, just need to revamp thfs crossbow to some high lv and enhance acid bolt. Acid bolt dont have the same potency than angon, but it can be used anytime.
About delve, a lot of jobs could be useful but are eclipsed by mnk and formless strike. Nerfing formless strike could bring a little more balance to end game. Really it isnt healthy to all jobs when a single class can bypass situations where other could be useful.

Meanwhile on a planet where unslept trash mobs wipe delve alliances capable of killing the boss ...

I have like 2 jobs since 2009 and still 2 jobs now. If ppl don't let me play my job I just c*b** with them and get a spot :)

This basically. Make yourself known as the THF that can pull it's weight, and worth the invite to higher tiered stuffz. Until then all you can do is make your own parties while playing THF.