Yay for brainstorming and speculating. I like doing this stuff. I have thought about this more than a little myself. These are some of my own thoughts. I shall list mine similar to how you have listed yours, naming the class and possible branches.
Marauder -
Given existing class abilities, this is the strongest candidate to have DRK branch from it. Scythes or Great Swords could simply be weapons only usable when the DRK job is equipped (similar to how there are books post 30 that are only usable by SCH and SMN). Scythes don't really require a lot of animation change from Axes, though GSes would require some tweaks. Likely the job abilities would revolve around sacrificing HP to do increased or special damage (Soul Eater).
BST is also a decent candidate, given the traditional affinity with Axes. Though this could admittedly be considered a bit of a stretch.Â
I tend to agree that Berserker seems to have been largely absorbed into WAR concept-wise, and I am pretty much stumped as to what else would wield and big ole Axe.
Lancer -
Another candidate for BST. Given where the class guild is located there is a pretty strong case for this. DRG seems to be the plant itself firmly as and Ishgardian creation, so it would make since for there to be a more Gridanian based job branch for this class. Obviously this is a pet job similar to SMN. A possibility is that only one job ability is given to summoning your pet, which is then built similar to how you build your chocobo companion. The rest of the abilities then being dedicated to buffing said pet. This would be very similar to DRG, as there really is nothing that DRG gets that is really enhances the base LNC skills at all. DRG gets jumps and an ability that enhances two of those jumps. So it does not seem improbable that the second job branch would have the same level of self contained abilities.Â
I am also really at sort of a loss as to what else would use spear, or what other weapon would use same spear animations as LNC.Â
Pugilist -Â
DNC, all the way. Some of the Pugilist specific animations already look really dance like already (Feather Foot, Fists of Wind, Internal Release). DNC also does tend to traditionally use fists and such. I predict that there will be more dancer like weapons only usable while the job is equipped. Likely this would be a melee form of BRD. Replace songs with dances, and give them different effects. I see there being a mirror here, with DNC being more focused on debuffing the enemy, rather than buffing the party. Think more Foe Requiem style effects, rather than Ballad or Paeon. Given the state of the game as it stands my prediction would be two mob debuffs and one party buff, to make it almost an exact mirror of BRD.
NIN is possible, but it is a stretch. My vote goes to NIN branching from the scout class they are working on (assuming that said scout class does not end up being Musketeer).Â
Archer -Â
Totally gets RNG. A ranged pure DPS job is something the game is lacking a bit right now. There are two at present. BRD and BLM. Yes, SMN doesn't really count as it IS more of a pet and DOT class than it is a purely ranged smack the enemy hard and fast. This one is sorta a gimme, though there are a couple of monkey wrenches that could be tossed at us. I will get to that later.
Gladiator -Â
This is tricky. It could be a dark horse candidate for DRK with some ability overlay. I think it is more likely we will get a DD aspect in the second job though. Something more traditional and possibly less scene. I am thinking Fencer or Mystic Swordsman/Rune Fencer off the top of my head. A stance that reduces hate gain and several new sword WSes and self buffs to pump the damage up and on to par with the other melee DDs. I think it is unlikely that they will strip away shield use from this class, since there are several Gladiator abilities that require a shield. Anything is possible with something similar to SMN and SCH ability overlay though. This is the class that is the hardest to pin down. The second job could be anything. It is easier to think about what would not fit. That said, I know a lot of people are predicting RDM to branch out of this. In my opinion that does RDM a bit of a disservice. RDMs are jack of all trades, and the current set of 5 extra abilities from job does not really fill out this role well. I suppose it depends a bit on what cross class stuff they can pull from though. BLU is also a distinct possibility, with the five job ability slots being used to slot in learned enemy skills. Like XI they can learn a big giant pool of them, but only get to use a few of them at a time actively.
Thaumaturge -
Also hard to pin down. Time Mage is a possible. This would shift the job to a more DD and Support role similar to BRD. BLU is also possible with similar mechanics to those described in the Gladiator section. I would honestly be more comfortable with RDM branching from this class, with the job abilities being more focused on fleshing out the jack of all trades bits. The base class ability pool makes more sense to me, and it would not be hard to simply have RDM be able to equip a sword instead of a wand and use the existing base sword animations. Yay flavor!
Conjurer -
A more support based mage such as Time Mage could easily come from this as well. Heck, a strong case can be made for BLU, given city-state of origin. If any peoples are going to have a profound enough connection to the world's fauna to use their abilities it is going to be the Gridanians (crazy, zealous, tree huggers). Geomancer is also a very strong case. I tend to place BLU firmly in the THM camp, given the tradition in FF for Blue Magic to be a forbidden or dangerous art. I think Geomancer or Time Mage are much more likely to branch from here. In truth, all of the magic classes are hard to pin down at all. I think it is going to be a while before we see any sort of new magic user anytime soon. There are just other things they have a higher priority of adding to the game before they give us new spell flingers.Â
Arcanist -
Already has two jobs. Probably won't get anymore until they catch the other stuff up to having two per class.Â
I have reserved some space here at the bottom to give a mention to a couple of things we know are coming or being tested. This is mostly pure speculation with some if/then statements.
Unknown Scout Class -Â
Will likely get THF and NIN.Â
Musketeer -Â
Will probably get Corsair which would again fill the place of Gambler like it did in XI. It is possible it will much more simple than that mechanics wise, though. I would be sad if they just made COR a bard clone though. We also have to take into account that they might feel really frisky and have THF branch from here, IF Musketeer ends up being the Unknown Scout Class they have spoken of. The lore bits sorta fit for this being a thing, but time will tell.
Other possibilities here include Gun Mage (whacky flavor of BLU), Engineer (yay tech based stuff), and a myriad of other gun wielding jobs. Too early to tell. A lot will depend on what this class looks like when we get it, and we are going to get it. Guild symbol is there and everything. My personal hope for the job branches would be COR and THF (because ranged hate control would be exceedingly interesting).
Unknown Great Sword Class -
This has been teased a couple of times. It has been mentioned that this class is also being tested. We already know that we will get something like SAM. It just won't be called SAM. More than likely the Not-SAM will be one of the job branches from here. DRK is also a distinct possibility. Too early to really tell, but I am calling it that Not-SAM will branch from here.
My closing thoughts here are this. What is really going to bake our noodles are the possibilities of Advanced Jobs. Jobs that require other Jobs as requirements. Wheeee!
Anyway, my two gil. Yar.
Marauder -
Given existing class abilities, this is the strongest candidate to have DRK branch from it. Scythes or Great Swords could simply be weapons only usable when the DRK job is equipped (similar to how there are books post 30 that are only usable by SCH and SMN). Scythes don't really require a lot of animation change from Axes, though GSes would require some tweaks. Likely the job abilities would revolve around sacrificing HP to do increased or special damage (Soul Eater).
BST is also a decent candidate, given the traditional affinity with Axes. Though this could admittedly be considered a bit of a stretch.Â
I tend to agree that Berserker seems to have been largely absorbed into WAR concept-wise, and I am pretty much stumped as to what else would wield and big ole Axe.
Lancer -
Another candidate for BST. Given where the class guild is located there is a pretty strong case for this. DRG seems to be the plant itself firmly as and Ishgardian creation, so it would make since for there to be a more Gridanian based job branch for this class. Obviously this is a pet job similar to SMN. A possibility is that only one job ability is given to summoning your pet, which is then built similar to how you build your chocobo companion. The rest of the abilities then being dedicated to buffing said pet. This would be very similar to DRG, as there really is nothing that DRG gets that is really enhances the base LNC skills at all. DRG gets jumps and an ability that enhances two of those jumps. So it does not seem improbable that the second job branch would have the same level of self contained abilities.Â
I am also really at sort of a loss as to what else would use spear, or what other weapon would use same spear animations as LNC.Â
Pugilist -Â
DNC, all the way. Some of the Pugilist specific animations already look really dance like already (Feather Foot, Fists of Wind, Internal Release). DNC also does tend to traditionally use fists and such. I predict that there will be more dancer like weapons only usable while the job is equipped. Likely this would be a melee form of BRD. Replace songs with dances, and give them different effects. I see there being a mirror here, with DNC being more focused on debuffing the enemy, rather than buffing the party. Think more Foe Requiem style effects, rather than Ballad or Paeon. Given the state of the game as it stands my prediction would be two mob debuffs and one party buff, to make it almost an exact mirror of BRD.
NIN is possible, but it is a stretch. My vote goes to NIN branching from the scout class they are working on (assuming that said scout class does not end up being Musketeer).Â
Archer -Â
Totally gets RNG. A ranged pure DPS job is something the game is lacking a bit right now. There are two at present. BRD and BLM. Yes, SMN doesn't really count as it IS more of a pet and DOT class than it is a purely ranged smack the enemy hard and fast. This one is sorta a gimme, though there are a couple of monkey wrenches that could be tossed at us. I will get to that later.
Gladiator -Â
This is tricky. It could be a dark horse candidate for DRK with some ability overlay. I think it is more likely we will get a DD aspect in the second job though. Something more traditional and possibly less scene. I am thinking Fencer or Mystic Swordsman/Rune Fencer off the top of my head. A stance that reduces hate gain and several new sword WSes and self buffs to pump the damage up and on to par with the other melee DDs. I think it is unlikely that they will strip away shield use from this class, since there are several Gladiator abilities that require a shield. Anything is possible with something similar to SMN and SCH ability overlay though. This is the class that is the hardest to pin down. The second job could be anything. It is easier to think about what would not fit. That said, I know a lot of people are predicting RDM to branch out of this. In my opinion that does RDM a bit of a disservice. RDMs are jack of all trades, and the current set of 5 extra abilities from job does not really fill out this role well. I suppose it depends a bit on what cross class stuff they can pull from though. BLU is also a distinct possibility, with the five job ability slots being used to slot in learned enemy skills. Like XI they can learn a big giant pool of them, but only get to use a few of them at a time actively.
Thaumaturge -
Also hard to pin down. Time Mage is a possible. This would shift the job to a more DD and Support role similar to BRD. BLU is also possible with similar mechanics to those described in the Gladiator section. I would honestly be more comfortable with RDM branching from this class, with the job abilities being more focused on fleshing out the jack of all trades bits. The base class ability pool makes more sense to me, and it would not be hard to simply have RDM be able to equip a sword instead of a wand and use the existing base sword animations. Yay flavor!
Conjurer -
A more support based mage such as Time Mage could easily come from this as well. Heck, a strong case can be made for BLU, given city-state of origin. If any peoples are going to have a profound enough connection to the world's fauna to use their abilities it is going to be the Gridanians (crazy, zealous, tree huggers). Geomancer is also a very strong case. I tend to place BLU firmly in the THM camp, given the tradition in FF for Blue Magic to be a forbidden or dangerous art. I think Geomancer or Time Mage are much more likely to branch from here. In truth, all of the magic classes are hard to pin down at all. I think it is going to be a while before we see any sort of new magic user anytime soon. There are just other things they have a higher priority of adding to the game before they give us new spell flingers.Â
Arcanist -
Already has two jobs. Probably won't get anymore until they catch the other stuff up to having two per class.Â
I have reserved some space here at the bottom to give a mention to a couple of things we know are coming or being tested. This is mostly pure speculation with some if/then statements.
Unknown Scout Class -Â
Will likely get THF and NIN.Â
Musketeer -Â
Will probably get Corsair which would again fill the place of Gambler like it did in XI. It is possible it will much more simple than that mechanics wise, though. I would be sad if they just made COR a bard clone though. We also have to take into account that they might feel really frisky and have THF branch from here, IF Musketeer ends up being the Unknown Scout Class they have spoken of. The lore bits sorta fit for this being a thing, but time will tell.
Other possibilities here include Gun Mage (whacky flavor of BLU), Engineer (yay tech based stuff), and a myriad of other gun wielding jobs. Too early to tell. A lot will depend on what this class looks like when we get it, and we are going to get it. Guild symbol is there and everything. My personal hope for the job branches would be COR and THF (because ranged hate control would be exceedingly interesting).
Unknown Great Sword Class -
This has been teased a couple of times. It has been mentioned that this class is also being tested. We already know that we will get something like SAM. It just won't be called SAM. More than likely the Not-SAM will be one of the job branches from here. DRK is also a distinct possibility. Too early to really tell, but I am calling it that Not-SAM will branch from here.
My closing thoughts here are this. What is really going to bake our noodles are the possibilities of Advanced Jobs. Jobs that require other Jobs as requirements. Wheeee!
Anyway, my two gil. Yar.
