My Ideal Expansion

New Job: Mimic (MIM)

~*~ The Concept:
This job is the culmination of the Simulacrum's knowledge of battle. Mastering mimicry requires the mastery of many other disciplines of combat first. The full extent of mimicry's potential is only realized in combat at the side of those who have mastered their own disciplines of combat. Since their native job abilities are mainly for mimicing their party, of all the jobs, this job is impacted the most by its selection of support job and party composition. They have complete use of their support job's non-merit spells, abilities and traits, however they suffer from lower overall stats including HP and MP.


~*~ Game Mechanics:
* Low basic stats compared to other jobs. (Str/Dex/Vit/Int/Mnd/Chr/HP and MP)
* Able to use all of the abilities and traits of their support job, all the way up to 99. (with the exception of their 2hour)
* Able to set Job Traits. (starting with 1 Trait at level 1, 2 at 10, 3 at 30, 4 at 50, 5 at 70, up to 10 with merits)
Selectable Job Traits are collected from all previously leveled jobs (up to Mimic's current level). ("set" like Blue Magic, only limited by number, not by "set points" - the highest tier of any Job Trait that is set also sets all lower tiers of that Job Trait for no additional set slots.)
* Able to set abilities from any other previously leveled jobs. (starting with 3 at level 1, up to 8 with merits)
Can only set Job Abilities and Spells up to the Mimic's current level. They can add Provoke when they reach level 5, but must wait until level 35 for High Jump. Spells share slots with job abilities for a Mimic, so they can only have 3(8) individual spells and abilities available through this method.
* Traits, spells and abilities that are set will never include those unlocked only through merits.
* Traits and abilities can be set in the field, but all timers (except 2hour) are triggered when set. (If you set Chakra, you'll have to wait 3 minutes before you can use it. If at the same time you set Warcry, you'd have to wait 5 minutes before you could use it, independently of Chakra's cooldown.)
* Setting Traits and Abilities are handled separately. Setting Traits will not trigger ability/spell cooldown timers, however, those traits will not be in effect until 1 minute passes.
* There could be a provision for Mimics to be able to have a higher "Crystal Limit" than other jobs, to set more shards in the "Crystal Shards Character Advancement System", offsetting their innately lower abilities.

There are 2 forms of mimicry: Perfect and Imperfect

Imperfect: You do not have access to either the Job Ability/Spell, or have not unlocked the target's job.
* Imperfect Mimicry will have a delay in the mimed ability's activation. (5 seconds)
* Increases recast time on the mimed ability by at least 50% if not more.
* Less powerful effect than original Job Ability/Spell where applicable. (like Meditate, Sneak Attack and Utsusemi)
* See "Imperfect Mimicry" entry for other drawbacks for specific mime abilities.

Perfect: You must have access to the Job Ability or Spell on a previously leveled job.
* No delay between the action and the mimicry.
* No increased recast timers.
* Acts as if you are the Main Job when you perform the action.
* Alternative access to perfect mimicry: Merited trait that removes "imperfect" drawbacks.

In Battle:
* Mimic another player's "combat style" to set skill caps and draw on your own skill from previous jobs.
(When solo, Mimic yourself to use your support job's skill caps at its main job level)
* Copycat someone's Job Ability or Echo someone's magic, as needed.
* Borrow a spell or ability from anyone in your party for one-time use.
* Shadow box to increase both evasion and rate of attack.
* Trap enemies in an invisible box so their attacks backfire and can't reach you.
* Occasionally freely use a weaponskill if others in the party perform a weaponskill who are using the same weapon type and are under your "Mimic Combat Style" status.


As a Support Job:
Cannot set Job Abilities, Traits or Spells.
All mimicry is "Imperfect."


Combat Skills and Gear:
C+ skill cap in all skills: Weapons, defensive skills, and magic skills. (see abilities)
(This means, they can gain skill in any of these categories, and merit them at 75)
Their gear is a complete mix of all types, although, Robes, Doublets and Tunics are "for looks".
(see Job Trait: Attire Simulacry)

Their Artifact, Relic, and Emyprean gear is mismatched robes with gaudy colors, patterns and textures. They wear hoods and veils that cover their faces. They can "be anything", so they prefer to appear "like nothing and everything" as the case may be.

NPC Mimics would also wear big jewelry both to distract and to advertise their prominence in the Simulacrum.

Mimic JOB ABILITIES

Job Ability: Copycat
Level 10
Recast: 1min
Duration: 1 min or until the target activates a Job Ability.
Target: Party member.
The most basic ability of a Mimic: Copy the next "Job Ability" of a selected party member at no cost of TP or ammo, and perform this action on the same target as the original action (including self).
* Does not reset the Mimic's own job ability recast timers, meaning they can immediately use their own JA before or after "Copycat"ing a party member when they use it.
* Will not activate on a target whose Main & Support Jobs you have not unlocked. An invalid target will not consume recast.
(If you never unlocked Samurai, you can't use Copycat on someone with Main Job OR Support Job set to Samurai)
* Imperfect Mimicry: 5 second delay between the original action and the mimicry.


Job Ability: Echo
Level 15
Recast: 1min
Duration: 1 min or until the target casts a spell.
Target: Party member.
Another of the most basic abilities of a Mimic: Copy the next spell of a selected party member at no cost of MP or tools, and perform this action on the same target as the original action (including self).
* Does not reset the Mimic's own spell casting recast timers, meaning they can immediately use their own spell before or after "Echo"ing a party member when they use it.
* Will not activate on a target whose Main & Support jobs you have not unlocked. An invalid target will not consume recast.
(If you never unlocked Scholar, you can't use Echo on someone with Main Job OR Support Job set to Scholar)
* Imperfect Mimicry: 5 second delay between the original action and the mimicry.


Job Ability: Invisible Box
Level 30
Duration: 2-10sec (Resistable on enemies, lasts full duration on self, unless canceled)
Recast: 2min
Target: enemy or self
Enclose your target in an invisible box of reflexive energy.
* Target cannot move.
* Attacks on the target are canceled and the effect sends recoil damage back against the attacker.
* Instead of missing, sometimes, the target's own attacks may backfire, damaging self.
* Single target spells will be reflected back at the caster.
* AoE spells will be nullified on the boxed target only.
* Prevents target's actions from taking effect on others. (same effect as no line of sight)
* When used on self: Useful for avoiding damaging AoE attacks or when the Mimic takes the monster's attention.


Job Ability: Mimic Combat Style
Level 40
Duration: 2hrs
Recast: 5min
Target: Party member with a job you have unlocked.
Raises the Mimic's combat and magic skill caps by mimicing a party member's combat and magic skills.
* Increases skill caps from C+ to target's Main Job's combat & magic skill caps, excluding merits unless the Mimic has those merits too (It would be best to simply consider merits outside of this ability's effect).
* New "current" skill level depends on the Mimic's skill from previously leveled jobs.
* Adds a non-dispellable status to the target and mimic that links them for the job trait Combat Mimicry.
* Enables "Combat Mimicry" Job Trait's effect, only with matching weapons.
* When solo, using this ability on yourself will use your support job's combat skill caps at your current level. You cannot benefit from the "Combat Mimicry" job trait's effect.


Job Ability: Borrow
Level 50
Recast: 5min
Duration: 1min or until the borrowed Job Ability or Spell is used.
Target: Party member.
Allows the Mimic to use one job ability or spell from any other party member's current ability/spell lists (not 2hrs).
* Requires spending MP/TP for mage spells and Dnc abilities. Requires tools and ammo.
* After use of the borrowed ability, the ability is temporarily added the Mimic's ability/spell list, with its normal "cooldown" triggered. When the cooldown is finished, it is removed from the list. This will prevent a Mimic from using someone else's ability every 5 minutes that has a longer cooldown than 5 minutes.
* Does not change the target player's recast timers.
* Does not require the Mimic to have unlocked the target's Main or Support job to activate.
* Imperfect Mimicry: Requires double the MP for spells & TP for Dnc abilities. Increases recasts.


Job Ability: Shadow Boxing
Level 60
Recast: 5min
Duration: 2min
Target: Self
The Mimic's shadow mimics their movements.
* Grants the double attack trait. (Mimic's shadow's hits may connect occasionally)
* Grants a strong "zanshin" effect. (Mimic's shadow has a chance to hit enemy's shadow)
* Grants "blink" status. (enemy attacks the Mimic's shadow occasionally)


2 Hour Ability: Mirror Image
Duration: 45 seconds
Copy all job abilities (except 2hrs), spell castings, and weaponskills of all party members for the duration.
* All mimic'd abilities/spells count as under "Perfect Mimicry" level 5.
* Does not cost MP/TP for any mimicry.
(may have to restrict this to copying only 1 party member)

Mimic JOB TRAITS (their only unique traits that they don't have to set)

Job Trait: Attire Simulacry
Level 1
Allows the Mimic to equip most weapons and equipment of its support job.
* Excludes gear that is Rare/Ex.
* Excludes gear that only allows 1 job to equip it, even if it's the current support job.

Job Trait: Attire Simulacry II
Level 75
Allows equipping Rare/Ex gear that has 2 or more allowable jobs on it, including current support job.
* Includes gear that is Rare/Ex.
* Includes gear that 2 or more jobs can equip, if Mimic or its support job can equip it.
* Since it requires 2 allowable jobs, this tier still excludes Artifact/Relic/Empyrean gear.

Job Trait: Attire Sumulacry III
Level 99
* Includes gear that is Rare/Ex.
* Includes any gear that 2 or more jobs can equip. (Does NOT have to be Mimic or their support job.)
* Since it requires 2 allowable jobs, this tier still excludes Artifact/Relic/Empyrean gear.


Job Trait: Combat Mimicry
After using "Mimic Combat Style", when a party member equipped with the same weapon type as yourself uses a weaponskill, you have a chance to gain a status effect that allows you to use your next weaponskill for no TP cost.
* This status effect will be displayed as a temporary buff icon and that lasts 1 minute and is consumed on use of a weaponskill.
Tiers: level (percent chance of effect)
__Combat Mimicry I: 15 (2%)
_Combat Mimicry II: 30 (4%)
Combat Mimicry III: 45 (6%)
_Combat Mimicry IV: 60 (8%)
__Combat Mimicry V: 75 (10%)
_Combat Mimicry VI: 90 (12%)

Mimic MERITS (assuming current Merits system, pre-revision)

Group 1
Set Trait Limit (5 merits)
Allows setting 1 more job trait per merit.
(5 Merit Max, 10 total job traits)

Copycat Recast (5 merits)
Reduces Copycat recast by -2 seconds per merit. (-10sec: 50sec)

Echo Recast (5 merits)
Reduces Echo recast by -2 seconds per merit. (-10sec: 50sec)

Perfect Mimicry (5 merits)
Removes drawbacks of "Imperfect Mimicry" and limitations such as:
* "Need to already know abilities/spells"
* "Need to have unlocked target's main job."
* Reduces the delay when using Copycat, Echo and Borrow: -20% delay per merit. (no delay at 5 merits)


Group 2
Set Job Ability and Spell Limit (5 merits)
Allows setting 1 more ability or spell per merit.
(5 Merit Max, total of 8 set abilities or spells.)

Adept Combat Mimicry (5 merits)
* Each merit increases the chance to receive the buff by 2% (max 10% bonus, 22% total)

Reinforced Invisible Box (5 merits)
Increases the duration of "Invisible Box."
* Each merit increases duration by 2 seconds (10sec bonus. Total: 20sec max)

Emulate (1 merit)
Increase the stat bonus granted by setting a support job, based on the support job's stats.
* This would potentially help make up for their low base stats.
* I'm not sure how powerful doubling the bonus would be, but that's my initial idea.
* Tweaking is required in conjunction with setting up the base stats of a Mimic in the first place.

~*~ Gear

Job Specific "Special stats":
* Enhance Borrow - Remove MP/TP cost of using a borrowed ability or spell.
* Enhance Invisible Box - Increase minimum duration of effect.
* Enhance Invisible Box - Increase recoil damage.
* Enhance Combat Mimicry - Raise the % chance of gaining the Free WS buff.
* Augment Copycat - Allows Copycat to ignore the Main Job/Support "Job target leveled" restriction.
* Augment Copycat - Job Abilities of the target's support job are treated as main job strength.
* Augment Echo - Allows Echo to ignore the Main Job/Support "Job target leveled" restriction.
* Augment Shadow Boxing - All attacks bypass enemy Blink and Utsusemi shadows, hitting the main target.
* Augment Combat Mimicry - Allows the trait to trigger even when you have targeted yourself with the Job Ability.

New Job: Jikuu Sage (JKS) (Time and Space Dimension Mage)

~*~ The Concept:
Jikuu Sages are masters of magic that manipulate the dimensions of time and space. They are sometimes called "Time Mages" by those who wish to over-simplify what they do when they explain this to the commonfolk and footsoldiers.

Selectively speeding up time is a great advantage, allowing faster combat & travel, and can be crippling to enemies, aging them beyond their years in a matter of seconds. Slowing down time can allow for faster response times, longer durations to status buffs and slower movement speed for enemies you'd rather not deal with right now.

Not to be forgotten, is their control over space, allowing them to attack from a distance through folds in space-time, increasing the effects of gravity, opening a portal to other locations on Vana'diel, and even into deep space to draw in a swarm of flaming meteorites or causing an icy comet to crash into an enemy.


~*~ Game Mechanics:
They use their powers to make time flow in ways that benefit themselves and hinder their foes. Most of their power comes from their spells, but they also have Job Abilities that alter time & space. Due to the abundance of Job Abilities, they are most like Scholar of all the mages in terms of how they play. Many of their spells and abilities are complimentary to other mages, freeing those other mages to focus on other tasks that they are more suited to perform.


In Battle:
* Perhaps begin by remembering the perfect condition of your party as a Pivotal Moment in the battle. Then use Temporal Reversion on party members to restore them to their earlier condition when they are seriously injured, die, or just need their Ability or Spell timers back (at great cost to you).
* Speed up your allies with spells like Haste, Flurry, Quicken and Accelerate.
* Slow down your enemies with spells like Slow, Bind, Gravity, Slow Motion, Singularity and Stop.
* Then bring the heavens crashing down on them with Stardust and Comet spells.
* If you saved Pivotal Moment, use it when the enemy is near death or before it has a chance to use a powerful self-buff, just in case it has a chance to restore itself for some reason. Send the enemy back to its near-death or pre-buffed condition.


As a Support Job:
This job has many spells and abilities that will be useful as a support job.
Many mages could make use of its special spells for enhancing and enfeebling.
Some melee jobs might be able to use the Job Abilities, rather than spells in useful ways (still very limited since most of their job abilities cost MP to use).


Combat Skills and Gear:
B- Staff
B- Club
C+ Dagger
Enhancing Magic A-
Enfeebling Magic A+
Elemental Magic B+
Dark Magic C
Divine Magic C
Evasion C

They wear Robes and Tunics for armor, as they're "Back line" mages.

Their Artifact, Relic, and Emyprean gear is a mix of blue, purple, white and orange robes with tall orange hats often decorated with a single giant star (The star symbolizes Atomos' cavernous maw, so they may stylize their hats to be similar to maws).

JIKUU SPELLS
Most of these spells deal directly with time and space manipulation, with healing & damage "Over Time" spells thrown in to round out their abilities, and these are generally drawn from other jobs. Unique spells may fit better, but this is easier.

Dia, Diaga, Dia II
Levels 1, 15, 30
(They need a basic damage over time spell. They could get a new "Time Slip" type spell that causes a weak aging effect, similar to that given in my Atomos suggestion, but Dia is an easy fit.)


Bind, Bindga, Bind II
Levels 5, 35, 55
Immobilizes target.
* Bind II will not wear off when the target receives damage.
(Basic defensive ability dealing with space.)


Slow, Slowga, Slow II
Level 13, 48, 63
* Slowga (same amount of slow as "Slow", not Slow II)
* Slow II (Base value of Slow II, without additional merits)
(Here's where they strongly get into time manipulation.)


Gravity
Level 18
(More time & space manipulation.)


Stardust, Stardust II, Stardust III
Levels 20, 40, 60
Target: Area of Effect
A shower of tiny burning meteors blast the region and set things ablaze.
* Causes "Burn" damage over time effect.
* Elemental Magic (Non-elemental, or Fire?)
(Here's where their damage comes from.)


Regen, Regen II, Regen III, Regen IV
Levels 20, 40, 60, 80
("over time" spells are directly in line with their theme, but not necessary.)


Regenra, Regenra II, Regenra III
Levels 25, 45, 65
("over time" spells for the group. Again, not necessary, but useful.)


Vanish
Level 25
Grants 100% evasion to physical attacks for 15sec, but completely removes all magical resistance.
* Grants two effects: "Perfect Dodge" and the "Invisible" spell, even during battle, but the invisible status wears off as soon as they engage in combat actions, like normal.

Alternate Effect of Vanish:
Removes all hate from target, but removes all magical resistance for 15sec.
* Nothing the target does while "Vanished" will create enmity.
* Grants the "Invisible" spell effect separate from the above effect's duration, even during battle, but the invisible status wears off as soon as they engage in combat actions, like normal. No need for the "Invisible wears off" message please (spam).

(In both instances, Vanish acts as a method to avoid physical damage while also granting invisibility for travel, giving this spell a dual, linked purpose.)


All Teleports and Recalls, Warp, Warp II, Retrace, Tractor, Escape
(If Jikuu Sage existed at the start of the game, they'd have gotten these spells much sooner than the other jobs, if the other jobs even got them at all.)


Haste
Level 30
(Basic time magic.)


Extend
Level 30
Duration: skill related, from 3min to 5min?
Increase the duration of all existing and future buffs on the target.
* From 25%-200% bonus duration, individually figured, probably skill related.
* The buffs last as long as this status remains on them, plus the original & bonus duration of the effects.
(Starting to use time magic for special features.)


Quick Mind
Level 33
Target: Party member.
This effect allows one to think at a much faster pace than reality is passing around them, causing everything to seem like it is moving in slow motion. This allows for nearly perfect response time to incoming attacks.
* Greatly increases Guard, Parry, Evasion, Shield and Counterattack rates.
* Greatly increases ability to bypass enemy Guard, Parry, Evasion, Shield and Counterattacks with their own attacks.
(Here's a unique one that enhances areas that most other jobs don't touch, in a support context.)


Accelerate
Level 35
Target: Party member.
Decrease recast timers for all of your target's spells and abilities.
* Increases TP gain from all actions. (Store-TP, Accelerating Weaponskill frequency)
* Adds some haste, but less than the haste spell.
* Increases movement speed. 12%
* Causes enemies to use TP moves as soon as they have 100TP (if enemy Jikuu Sages use it on themselves or other monsters).

Decelerate
Level 35
Target: Enemy
Increase recast timers for all of your target's spells and abilities.
* This stops enemies from using TP moves until they have 300TP.
* When enemy Jikuu Sages use this against players, they cannot use weaponskills until they have 300% TP.
* Reduces TP gain from all actions. (Decelerating Weaponskill frequency)
* Adds the "Slow" status, but less potent than the Slow spell.
* Reduces movement speed. 12%

(Accelerate and Decelerate overwrite each other. I'm still on the "fence" over whether or not the haste and slow effects should stack with other magical forms, or be overwritten by them. The TP use features of the spells have the potential to change party tactics when monsters get near the end of their lives, or whenever trying to get Abyssea Triggers.)


Active Metabolism
Level 45
Increase the speed at which foods are digested, making their effects wear off almost immediately.
* Increases the strength of poisons, but reduces their duration.

Sluggish Metabolism
Level 45
Increase the duration of foods as they are digested much more slowly.
* Decreases the strength of poisons, but increases their duration.

(These metabolism spells have strategic uses depending on the strengths of poisons and availability of cures.)


Refresh
Level 50
(Ok, probably not going to get this, but it does fit the "over time" theme going on here.)


Comet, Comet II, Comet III
Levels 50, 75, 99
Target: Single enemy
A distant comet is pulled directly out of space, past the atmosphere, to crash into the caster's target with an icy blast.
* Causes "Frost" damage over time effect.
* Elemental Magic (Non-elemental, or Ice?)
(While stardust was area of effect fire, Comet is single target ice damage.)

JIKUU SPELLS (part 2)

Switch (or Relocate, Relocation)
Level 51
Change the target of a spell that is presently being cast.
* Works against party and enemies.
* Can be directed at party or enemies, regardless of who the caster is.
* Cast this on the caster, then select new target.
* Impossible to change the target of a "Self-Target-Only" spell. (Switch will "miss" without triggering recast)
(I'm not exactly sure where this would be useful, but it felt like a unique use of manipulating space, or location)


Age
Level 55
Cause time to pass rapidly for the enemy's body, aging it years in a matter of seconds.
* Each use reduces the enemy's level by one, max of 5 from any level-changing effect aside from level-synch.
* The enemy's stats, MaxHP, MaxMP, and skill caps will reduce as if they had de-leveled, based on "Main Job" and "Support Job" level progression (all monsters do have these levels, right?).
* Adds the "Old Age" status to count the levels. This is a cumulative status effect, similar to dance steps.
* The resulting experience for this enemy will be given at it's now lower level.
(One of the defining spells of the Jikuu Sage, manipulating time around a target. The implementation of the "Old Age" status will be of importance with several effects based on it, including this spell, the Atomos avatar, and at least one ability of Judgemaster. I've considered 5 levels the maximum, but there could be stages beyond 5 levels that do less drastic changes to the target, to allow more "stages" of the effect to be inflicted.)


Slow Motion
Level 57
Reduces enemy attack speed.
* Not a form of slow. Does not impact TP returns.
* Also reduces enemy's chance for "extra" attacks such as double attack, triple attack and kick attack.
(I consider this type of spell essential for Jikuu Sage, so they can surpass the normal "caps" on Haste and Slow, using other effects in the game to have similar changes to combat.)


Singularity
Level 60
Duration: 10-30sec
Creates a tiny black hole on the field of battle that draws in monsters around it and does continual strong non-elemental damage to them.
* Acts like a damaging version of the Silencing Tubes in Campaign.
* Draws in almost* all normally moving enemies. (* not Alexander, Fortifications, Dark Ixion, Cactrot Rapido, etc)
* Damage amounts are based on Elemental magic skill. (Stronger than "Dia" weaker than a Helix)
(The main purpose is for the draw-in effect, to keep an enemy in place when hate is hard to manage.)


Stop
Level 65
MP Cost: (prohibitive)
Casting Time: stun-speed
Recast: 1:30 (or more?)
The effects on an enemy are frozen in time.
* Duration up to 1min, enfeebling skill based.
* Stops all regen, refresh and regain effects on target.
* Target cannot guard, parry, evade, shield block or countertatack for the duration.
(This is a unique implementation of the "Stop" status, seeing as we already have Stun, Terror, Paralyze, etc.)


Levitate
Level 75
Duration: No less than 30seconds
Target: AoE Party
While forbidden by Windurst's hierarchy, the Simulacrum have no qualms about using this spell. Allows the party to completely avoid most earth-based spells and abilities. (as long as they involve the ground or movement, not just the "earth element.")
* Prevents the damage and effects of:
~ Stone I-V, Stonega I-III, Stoneja, Quake, Quake II, Geohelix
~ Gravity, Slow, Break
~ Some earth-based monster attacks.
~ Titan's special attacks and spells.
~ All weight effects that slow movement speed, even the latents like on Dusk gear.
(This is a powerful protection based on space manipulation.)


Haste-ra
Level 75
AoE-party version of Haste, same amount of haste.
(Jikuu Sage now surpasses all other providers of Haste in speed of providing the effect.)


Quicken
Level 77
Self-target only (mainly for the other jobs that get this spell in the series)
Increases double attack rate.
* 10% Double Attack
* Spell casting-speed penalty of 5%
(Math people have noted that anything less than 10% is a waste of casting time, depending on duration.)


Exile (Would be Banish, but that spell name is already taken)
Level 80
Try to exile a single enemy to the "Walk of Echoes."
* Does not work on any "Impossible to gauge" enemies.
* Becomes more and more accurate the greater the level distance between the caster over the target.
* "Too weak" enemies are almost 100% banishable. Even Matches are 50/50, anything higher gets drastically unreliable.
* No experience or items gained from defeating an enemy in this way.


Warpga
Level 80
Warp your entire party to homepoints.
* Can be denied by recipients of effect, but will automatically activate at the end of a 5min timer.


Flurry
Level 85
Increases attack speed.
* Not a form of haste, does not impact TP returns.
(This spell allows Jikuu Sages to solidify their hold on "haste.")


Adloquium
Level 86
(This is another "over time" spell that fits their theme, but it should be stronger than 1tick on all jobs that have it.)


Quickenra
Level 88
Target: Entire party
Increases double attack, triple attack, and kick attack rates.
* Not as individually powerful as Quicken 1 (5%?), but adds to all 3 rates, so it should work out better?
* Spell casting speed penalty of 5%
(8% may be too weak, but it would take someone who is paid to spend the time to figure it all out.)


Chronolock
Level 90
Target: AoE Party or enemy.
Prevent changes in speed for the duration.
* Duration of all haste/slow/gravity/quickening effects are paused for the duration of the Chronolock effect.
* No new speed spells will take effect.
* Can be manually removed.
* Can be used against enemies.


Quickenra II
Level 99
Target: Entire party
Increases double attack, triple attack, kick attack, and quadruple attack rates.
* 10% Double attack, 5% triple attack, 5% kick attack, 5% quadruple attack.
* Spell casting speed penalty of 5%
(Another spell that would take excessive math to figure the actual power of. These numbers may be too low.)


Jikuu Sage should get Meteor, but we know Black Mage is getting it, so it probably won't be shared.

Jikuu Sage JOB ABILITIES
Most of their Job Abilities cost MP to use or maintain, unlike most other jobs. They are different from spells in that they cannot be interrupted, nor do they have casting times; they are Job Abilities.

Job Ability: Time Dilation Field
Level 20
Duration: 10min
Recast: 10min
Target: Self (Sphere)
Radius: "Wind Instrument"
MP Cost: 3mp per tick for Sphere Perpetuation
Maintain the effects of "static buffs" active on party members within the sphere effect radius, unless manually removed or dispelled.
* Drains 3mp per tick.
* The effect is active on the Jikuu Sage as well. (unlike gear spheres)
* If the Jikuu Sage runs out of MP while this is in effect, the sphere stays as an effect, but fails to halt buff timers until they have MP to spend.
* Works with things like Reraise, Refresh, Shell and Protect, but not Stances, Stoneskin, Shadows or Dedication.
* Blocks the extended buff from being overwritten by any buffs that share the same status or nullified by opposite effects.
(A very interesting sphere effect that may have strategic uses in blocking certain statuses from being nullified and extends the mana and time efficiency of other buffing jobs in the party who won't have to re-apply certain buffs for a longer period of time, letting them do other things.)


Job Ability: Expedite
Level 25
Duration: 30sec
Recast: 1min
Any "recurring effects" on your target rapidly accelerate.
* Costs 5mp per effect that gets accelerated.
* Forces 10 "ticks" of any Sap or Regen effects to activate at one time.
* This includes "Regen", Elemental Damage over Time (Choke, shock, etc), Helices, Poison, Dia, Bio.
* This does not include "resting" or "persistent effects" like Shell, Protect, Stoneskin, Shadows.
* It has a chance to force ALL remaining ticks of either Sap or Regen effects to trigger at one time for full effect.


Job Ability: Dimensional Weapon
Level 30
Duration: 5min
Recast: 5min
This "stance" allows you to use melee attacks from a distance by attacking through a fold in space-time. (This is a nod to the past FF games where characters took a step forward, shook their weapons a couple times, then took a step back, while their strikes hit enemies across the screen, never getting close to touching each other.)
* Drains 3 MP from the JKS for each attack. (If you have less than 3 MP, you get the "Enemy is too far away" message.)
* Auto-attacks strike the enemy "from a safe distance".
* Probably won't be able to put weaponskills into this ability, but would be nice.
* I think all FFXI monsters have this ability while they're chasing us... (haha?)


Job Ability: Instantaneous Elocution
Level 35
Duration: 1min or until next spell is successfully cast (not interrupted)
Recast: 5min
Target: Self-only
After using this ability, the next spell can be cast instantly.
* Same effect as the new Job Ability "Spontaneity" of Red Mage... I had it here first... another reason I rushed to get these ideas up on the board... SE keeps "stealing" them :)


Job Ability: Power Nap
Level 40
Target: Party member
Trigger Duration: 30sec (must rest within 30 seconds to get the actual effect)
Effect Duration: As long as you remain resting. Standing breaks the effect at any time after it is triggered.
Recast: 2min (or much less, to allow any resting to be more productive with a Jikuu Sage in the party)
Greatly increases HP and MP healed by resting.
* The first amount of HP and MP gained from resting is equivalent to having rested for a full minute and increases in leaps of three upgrade "ticks" for each completed resting moment. As soon as you leave the resting position, the effect wears off.


Job Ability: Timekeeper
Level 45
Target: AoE Party
Duration: 3min
Recast: 10min
This protects the party from status decreasing effects.
* Protects against negative Time-altering spells. (Slow, Stop, etc)
* Protects against: Stat lowering, Stat absorbing, the "Age" spell and "effective level" reducing effects.
* Does not prevent the Pathos of Salvage (that's a bit too strong)
* This is Jikuu Sage's "Circle" ability.


Job Ability: Pivotal Moment
Level 50
Recast: 30min
Target: All party members
MP Cost: 100mp
Upon using this ability, you remember the exact condition of the party and current enemies, their job ability and spell cooldown timers, their status effects, their HP/MP/TP and enmity levels. This becomes a pivotal moment in the battle.
* If the composition of the party changes after this is used, only those party members who were present at the time of the "snap shot" will be impacted in any way by the associated ability "Temporal Reversion."
* If you are currently engaged in battle, this ability also takes a "snap shot" of the enemy's condition.

Job Ability: Temporal Reversion
Level 50
Recast: 15min
Target: Single Party member or enemy.
Send a party member back in time to the last pivotal moment you made note of.
(See job ability: Pivotal Moment)
* Sets their condition to the exact same amounts and durations they had at the recorded moment. (Excludes 2hr abilities)
* Drains all MP from user.
* Can target "KO"d party members, restores the player with no xp loss (the death "never happened"). (no raise sickness)
* Massively long recast.
* Will "Miss" anyone who was not present when "Pivotal Moment" was used. (recast will not be triggered by a miss)


Job Ability: Prolonged Moment
Level 55
Recast: 5min
Duration: 2min
Target: Enemy
MP Cost: 50mp
When used on an enemy, the time "windows" that allow Weaponskills and Magicbursts to be performed are prolonged until this effect wears off.
* Somebody could use a weaponskill as soon as this ability is used and it will still skillchain with the next weaponskill used (if they CAN normally chain), even if it's a whole minute later. This allows lengthy multi-level skillchains with full opportunity to use magicbursts between the early chains and after the last skillchain has been created.


Job Ability: Gravity Well
Level 60
Duration: 1min
Recast: 2min
MP Cost: 50mp
The enemy who has been trapped in a gravity well ("Black Hole" status) cannot escape taking damage from these special additional dimensional magic bursts in the form of: Quarter, Demi and Lifeshaver
* Quarter adds 1/4th the damage of every level 1 skillchain's full Magic burst damage.
* Demi adds 1/2 the damage of every level 2 skillchain's full Magic burst damage.
* Lifeshaver adds the full damage of every level 3+ skillchain's full Magic burst damage, and heals the party by that amount split between members.
* The damage of these magic bursts is figured on the potential unresisted damage of the resulting magic bursts, even if the magic bursts are resisted. (The damage caused by Quarter, Demi, and Lifeshaver may do more damage than the original magic bursts that cause them)

(The combination of Prolonged Moment and Gravity Well should provide for more skillchains and longer skillchains made up of more individual weaponskills, increasing the skillchain damage multipliers and more magicbursts, and more added damage from all of them. This will elevate the cooperative play of all involved, making it easier to coordinate. If my suggestion for certain new endgame events is taken favorably, these abilities will be even more useful.)


2 Hour Ability: Galaxy Stop
Duration: 30 seconds
All enemies in range stop moving and acting for the duration. They cannot guard, parry, evade, shield block or counterattack. All party members gain the maximum haste possible through gear, spells and abilities. Players also gain flee movement speed that is not removed by combat actions.

Jikuu Sage JOB TRAITS

Job Trait: Time Shift
When Jikuu Sages are about to be the target of an enemy attack, they can reflexively shift their location in time and space.
__Time Shift I: 10 +5 evasion and magic evasion
_Time Shift II: 30 +10 evasion and magic evasion
Time Shift III: 50 +15 evasion and magic evasion
_Time Shift IV: 70 +20 evasion and magic evasion
__Time Shift V: 90 +25 evasion and magic evasion


Job Trait: Fast Cast
__Fast Cast I: Level 25
_Fast Cast II: Level 50
Fast Cast III: Level 75
_Fast Cast IV: Level 99


Job Trait: Resist Slow & Weight/Gravity (same tiers)
__Resist Slow I: 20
_Resist Slow II: 40
Resist Slow III: 60
_Resist Slow IV: 80
__Resist Slow V: 99


Job Trait: Clear Mind
(follows Black Mage progression for future additions)
__Clear Mind I: 15
_Clear Mind II: 30
Clear Mind III: 45
_Clear Mind IV: 60
__Clear Mind V: 75

Jikuu Sage MERITS (assuming current Merits system, pre-revision)

Group 1
Haste Potency (5 merits)
+1% effect for each merit, (Max Bonus +5%)
* Effects Haste, Haste-ra, Accelerate

Slow Potency (5 merits)
+1% effect for each merit, (Max Bonus +5%)
* Effects Slow, Slowga, Slow II, Decelerate

Duration of Extend's Effect (5 merits)
Increase duration by 20 seconds per merit. (Max Bonus +100sec)

Power Nap Potency (5 merits)
Increase the initial boost to resting recovery.
(+30sec worth of resting "ticks" per merit, +2:30min of resting counted on initial rest, Total: 3:30min)


Group 2
Prolonged Moment Duration (5 merits)
(+10 seconds per merit, +50sec max: 2:50)

Singularity Duration (5 merits)
(Each merit increases the duration by 2sec, (10sec bonus to base and max durations, Total: 20-40sec)

Job Trait: Youth (1 merit)
Prevents stat drain effects from Spells or Job Abilities.

Job Trait: Quick (1 merit)
Increase the Double, Triple, Quadruple and Kick Attack rates granted by "Quicken", "Quickenra" and "Quickenra II" by 1%.

~*~ Gear

Job Specific "Special stats":
* Enhance Power Nap - Never lose TP when resting, even without Signet/Sanction/Sigil
* Enhance Expedite - Increases the chance for all remaining "ticks" of Sap/Regen to trigger at this moment.
* Enhance Gravity Well - Increase duration of Gravity Well.
* Enhance Vanish - Increase duration of Vanish.
* Enhance Slow Motion - Removes any chance for Double, Triple, Quadruple, or Kick Attacks.
* Augment Singularity - Each pulse can trigger a short duration (30sec) "Gravity Well" status.
* Augment Bind - Damage does not remove Bind, Bindga or Bind II.
* Augment Gravity - Adds "Prolonged Moment" effect to Gravity.
* Augment Slow - Adds Weight effect to Slow, Slowga, Slow II.
* Augment Haste - Adds +"Movement speed" to Haste.

~*~ Time for a Jikuu Sage joke!

Alternate Artifact/Relic/Empyrean Gear:
(Yes, I had to do this, muahaha)

Weapon: Sonic Screwdriver (Grants Job Trait: Cyborg Killer (intimidation rate nearly 100%))
Off-hand: Psychic Paper (Free access to Airships, Chocobos, Ferries, Barges, Manaclipper, Runic Portal, Remnants Permit)
Body: Victorian Coat (Auto-Reraise III + mandatory character model change. (12 charges?) + temporary amnesia)
Neck: Excessively Long Scarf (Auto-regen, Parry Skill +10)
Ammo: Jelly Babies (Grants Job Ability: Negotiate, effect similar to tame)
Belt: Tardis Key Chain
* Calls your Tardis to travel through time and space. (Tele-Holla, Recall-Pashhow, etc)
* Subject to frequent technical difficulties. (May aim for Recall-Jugner and end up at the Crag of Mea)
* Grants Job Trait: "Suspicious" You will be thrown into Bostaunieux Oubliette or Mordion Gaol in nearly every time period you visit.
* You will have to run -- a lot.
Ring: Perception Filter (Permanent Sneak/Invisible)
Pet: K-9
Adventuring Fellow: Changes frequently...
Of course, they'd be best off using the Engineer Support Job for all those tools :)

~*~ The Simulacrum Soul Plate Shops ~*~
One of the more eccentric techniques of the Simulacrum is the manipulation of soul plates. These can be used to create many different things, even combining plates together to customize the results. The Simulacrum allows storage of soul plates as long as they get to study them. The main creations of "Soul Plate Simulacry" offered to adventurers are:
* Soul Plate Storage (lots of plates - we're looking at a lot more usage of soul plates)
* Customized Maze Runes (Rune Fusing)
* Tabula Overlays (Tabula Overlaying)
* Triple Triad Cards
* Corsair Cards
* Automaton AI Cards
* Judgemaster's Law Cards (function like spell scrolls) and Judge Cards (consumables for Judgemaster abilities)

Take pictures of creatures from around the world and then use them for a myriad of purposes.


* Soul Plate Storage
The Simulacrum will give adventurers a Soul Plate Album that they can drop plates into for safe keeping, which will allow them to study the contents from afar. Due to the unique nature of each soul plate, this storage feature may take one of several forms (new inventory section, a key item list, something like an automaton attachments menu ... they all may work), best decided by SE's programmers, but ideally, it will hold one of each unique plate, and many more than just 80.


* Rune Fusing
Fuse runes with soul plates to specify the exact enemies you want to face in your mazes.

Examples of Fusing:

Combine "Plantoid rune007 and a soul plate of a mandragora to create a "Mandragora Rune" that will always produce Mandragoras as the monsters you face in your mazes. The resulting monsters' special abilities would be based on the type of Mandragora on the soul plate. The "ingredient" runes and soul plate are all consumed in the creation of the new rune. (This is done by the Simulacrum NPC)
OR
Combine rune007 and "Tiny Warrior" rune014 along with a soul plate of a white mandragora, and create a customized monster maze rune: "Tiny White Mandragora Rune" that will always produce small Mandragoras as the encountered enemy.
OR
Take rune007, and use "Great Warrior" rune013 with the Mandragora soul plate, and create the "Giant White Mandragora Rune" that will always produce giant Mandragoras as the encountered enemy.
OR
Take rune007, and use "Supreme Might" rune017 with the Mandragora soul plate and create the "Boss White Mandragora Rune" that only produces a single enemy in the maze, the "boss Mandragora." (and possibly minions)

* Tabula Overlaying
The Simulacrum saw great potential in the moblin tabulae and set about perfecting them, creating new field effects.

Overlay Process:

* Take any Tabula with an "Empty" black space.
* Add the required item into a blank grid square to change its property.
* Runes cannot be placed on the now filled "Empty" grid squares.

To Add Weather to a Tabula:
* Select a Soul Plate of a monster that drops crystals of a certain element. (Fire Crystal = Fire weather)
* Drop the Soul Plate into a blank grid square. (Adds a "Double weather" icon instead of the single elemental mark)
* The resulting maze will have the matching double weather active the entire time.

To Add a Permanent Law to a Tabula:
* Select a Law Card. (The "scrolls" that teach Judgemasters individual Penalties/Prohibitions/Favors)
* Drop the Law Card into the blank grid square. (Adds a Yellow, Red or White card icon on the grid square)
* The resulting maze will have the law in effect the entire time.

* Introduce at least one new tabula with more holes to fill, please.

* Triple Triad Cards
One of the more simple transformations is making Soul Plates into Triple Triad cards. Each monster has its own stats in card form, not changing based on anything on the Soul Plate. Boss cards are some of the most powerful in the game.

* New Corsair Cards
Soul Plates can be turned into special cards used in <Job Ability Not Yet Created>.
(Corsairs may also gain this as a normal Job Ability to create these cards directly from monsters in battle without first making a soul plate)

* Automaton AI Cards
Soul Plates can be turned into Artificial Intelligence program cards for Automatons. These are equipped like attachments in 2 new slots (not attachment slots) one in the head, one in the body, and they change the AI of the Automaton, giving players control over the abilities used by the automaton and access to new abilities and traits.

These AI Cards are separated into two groups: Weapon and Ether Control Cards. While they only drop from Archaic Machinery (Gears, Chariots, Ramparts), many Soul Plate cards can be used in the creation of AI cards to enable other special properties. Ether Control Cards can only be created from soul plates taken of enemies with mage jobs. (AI cards are added to the Automaton's attachment list, or something exactly like it, only for cards.)


Judgemaster's "Judge Cards" and "Law Cards"

* Judge Cards
While all four can be purchased from a Simulacrum city merchant, they can also be crafted.

Synthesis recipes for the consumable Judge Cards:
(1 Synthesis creates NQ 33, HQ1 66, HQ2 99, HQ3 99x2) Quiver into Cases.
Penalty (Yellow) Polyflan Paper x1, Paralysis Powder x1, Yellow Textile Dye x1, Earth Crystal
Prohibition (Red) Polyflan Paper x1, Terroanima x1, Red Textile Dye x1, Earth Crystal
Approval (White) Polyflan Paper x1, (any Mandragora Bud x1), White Textile Dye x1, Earth Crystal
Permission (Blue) Polyflan Paper x1, Photoanima x1, Blue Textile Dye x1, Earth Crystal

* Law Cards
Law Cards are the means by which Judgemasters learn their Penalties, Prohibitions and Approvals.
These are created by bringing in a soul plate related to one of the laws. Each soul plate could create a range of laws depending on the monster in the picture. Thus, this method of card creation must ask for which law you wish to learn from those available. The NPC will create the selected Law Card from the soul plate. The NPC will keep the soul plate as payment to research, while you get the Law Card for free.

Details about Automaton AI Control Cards
Based on Empress Jubleel's research into programming Automatons so they could act on their own without direct control of every action by their Puppeteer, the Simulacrum scientists have created new programming AI cards to modify the actions of Automatons using the traits and tendencies of creatures whose data has been recorded on soul plates.

I'd only expect an On/Off sort of system, or choosing triggers from the elemental list, but if a rudimentary "Gambit" system could be put in place for more precise control, it would be even better, though not a realistic expectation. For those who think Pup already has enough control of their automaton through maneuvers, I think it's far too limiting, and new attachments keep eating active maneuvers, ruining control setups, both for weaponskills and magic priorities.)

AI cards can be switched out on the fly, and flipping abilities and spells on and off can be done without deactivating the automaton, unlike attachments. (Switching any option on or off will reset all hidden ability timers for abilities like Shock Absorber, ranged attack and spellcasting cooldown as if they had just been used.)

All Weapon Control Cards (WCC):
* Enable/Disable weaponskills and abilities from a menu.
* Last used Control checklist should be saved for each Head/Frame combination. (I won't suggest this for each AI card)
* This removes maneuvers from the weaponskill priority system.

Weapon Control Cards created from most enemies simply grant the generic job traits of the source monster's job to the Automaton. Bosses sometimes grant unique traits and the occasional abilities to the automaton.

Examples:

Sapling WCC: Adds Warrior job traits to the automaton. (perhaps add Beast Killer and weakness to Plantoid killer)
Archaic Gear WCC: Adds Warrior job traits and adds Restoral to the weaponskill list.
Archaic Rampart WCC: Adds Beastmaster job traits to the automaton.
LBC WCC: (Long-Bowed Chariot) Adds a version of Homing Missile to the weaponskill list.
Gurfurlur WCC: Adds versions of Haymaker and Sledgehammer to the weaponskill list.
Cerberus WCC: Adds a potent triple attack trait. Greatly reduces Fire maneuver overload rate.

Menu: (Valoredge head/body with Archaic Gear WCC)
Abilities Control
Shield Bash . . . Use
Chimera Ripper. . off
String Clipper. . off
Cannibal Blade. . Use
Bone Crusher. . . off
String Shredder . Use
Restoral. . . . . Use

All Ether Control Cards (ECC):
* Enable/Disable spells from a menu.
* Ether Control Cards often add all the spells of their source monster's job.
* Cards can also add an AI tendency to prefer certain spells over others.
* Maneuvers now only control attachments, not AI.
* Last used Control checklist should be saved for each Head/Frame combination. (I won't suggest this for each AI card)
* The menu for spells cannot be as detailed as Weaponskills since there are so many more options. They should be grouped together, such as:

Spells . . . . . . . . Control
"Enfeebles". . . . . . . off
Elemental Magic Tier I . off
Elemental Magic Tier II. off
Elemental Magic Tier III off
Elemental Magic Tier IV. Use
Elemental Magic Tier V . Use
Status Removal(self) . . off
Status Removal(master) . off
Cure (self). . . . . . . off
Cure (master). . . . . . Use
Cure I . . . . . . . . . off
Cure II. . . . . . . . . off
Cure III . . . . . . . . Use
Cure IV. . . . . . . . . Use
Cure V . . . . . . . . . Use
Cure VI. . . . . . . . . off
Drain (under 50% HP) . . Use (possibly options for Drain, like "Under 25%/Under 50%/Under 75%HP)
Aspir (under 25% MP) . . Use (possibly options for Aspir, like "Under 25%/Under 50%/Under 75%MP)
Haste(self). . . . . . . Use
Haste(master). . . . . . Use

The list would auto-trim down to only those spells available with the Head/Frame combination in use.

Example Ether Control Cards:

Hilltroll PLD ECC: Adds all Paladin spells to the magic list. Prioritizes Flash, Self-Cures.
Wind Elemental ECC: Adds Tornado, Blink and Haste to the magic list. Prioritizes Blink on Soulsoother/Harlequin, Tornado on Spiritreaver/Stormwaker.

Fat Chocobo Storage
A new field-accessible storage inventory of 80 slots.
(Requires key item "Gysahl Whistle" earned from Chocobo Derby)


New Weapon Varieties (These are only varieties of existing weapons using new models, but sharing their family's combat skill, weaponskills, animations, etc - not a suggestion for brand new weapons)

* Polearm:
~ Glaive (Scimitar, Spear or other large blade on each end of a staff for Drg, Sam, Jdg - Slashing and Piercing versions) This is the signature weapon for Judgemasters.
~ Swallow (Dagger, Katana or other thin blade on each end of a staff for Drg, Sam, Thf - Slashing and Piercing versions) This requires that Thief be given Polearm skill, but only allowed to wield the Swallow versions. It gives Thf a 2-handed alternative that may be advantageous compared to daggers, in some situations.
* Scythe:
~ Reaper (A Scythe blade at each end of a staff. Can't leave Drk out of all the fun of dual-ended weapons!)
* Ranged:
~ Whip (Ranged/returning weapon for Smn, Bst, Dnc, - Slashing Damage) (allows auto-ranged-attack from a distance?)
~ Book (Grimoire for Sch and Law Book for Jdg - Magic and Blunt versions + Slashing paper cuts? + Piercing words?)
~ Dice (Deal random damage depending on roll, plus used in a new Corsair ability to use the results of the last 3 rolls to determine a new effect like slots - Probably Blunt damage, maybe magical, for the basic roll/toss attack) These may be a new type of ammo rather than a new ranged weapon.
* Dagger:
~ Fan (Dancer defensive weapon, Folding fans, most have bladed edges - Slashing and Blunt versions, technically more of a female weapon, so to make their appearance less feminine, I suggest each fan-fold be a blade. An additional thought is that Dancer has some Hand-to-hand skill and some fans could be wielded like Hand-to-Hand weapons, similar to Sainti so they all don't have to be in the Dagger family, although, I'd raise their skill to at least C+ in H2H if Fans are made H2H. And I'd give them very good guard skill (B?), the whole point of fans in the first place.)
* Sword:
~ Gunblade (half-joke, but really, we've already got weapons that use special ammo for additional effects (wind fans, hydro pumps and batteries -- not to mention Virtue Stones and Magnus stones) mainly for Cor, Rng, Eng - Slashing Damage + additional effect)

The only additional touches I'd add to these weapon varieties are:
* New animations for variety in main attacks and always for double attacks while wielding the dual-bladed weapons:
~ A double attack should make use of the "other" end of the weapon in a fluid jumping, 360 degree-rotation animation. This isn't necessary, but would be a really impressive touch emphasizing the agility required to wield them.
* Gunblades could always produce the additional damage effect as long as they have ammo, even on weaponskills. Probably too complex to add this, but I'll leave that up to the programmers.

Throwing Combat Specialties
Each job with throwing skill gains access to a command menu that makes use of their unique combat style.
Ninja: Throwing Arts
Thief: Concealed Weapon
Puppetmaster: Transmit
Beastmaster: Whiplash
Corsair: Trick Dice
Dancer: Flamenco
Ranger: Trick Shots
Monk: Blitz
Summoner: Subdue
Samurai: Toss
Warrior: Hurling
Dragoon: Javelin
Judgemaster: Law Book
Chemist: Item Tossing
Engineer: Sabotage
Bard: Cacophony
Black Mage: Channeling
White Mage: Restoring
Red Mage: Channeling and Restoring
Scholar: Grimoire Toss
Jikuu Sage: Dimensional Weapon
Geomancer: Toll
(See related "Ranged Weapon Abilities" and new job posts)

For a game with such a broad history of summoned monsters, FFXI could have a much richer selection. Of all the possibilities, I've worked out the details for relatively few (only 6), but I have brainstormed a potential list of 53 (including the 13 current summons - counting Cait Sith and Atomos, but not including the "Nature Pact" summons.)

New Summons:
Atomos (follower) Enfeebler
Siren (follower) Manipulator
Asura (follower) AoE Healing
Maduin (follower) (the winged moogle-lion avatar, also called "Madeen") Holy attack
Phoenix (new 2hr: Rebirth Flame plus conditional 'random' activation, see summons for more details) Resurrection
Bahamut (new 2hr: Megaflare) Epic Fire attack
See Chocobo Derby rewards for additional "Nature Pact" summons - similar to the dangerous original Animastery of Karaha-Baruha.

I could see the potential to add Bahamut as a new 2hr summon, if, in the story, he can be convinced to lend a fraction of his powers to the adventurers. Restoring light to the Mothercrystals as part of the new endgame event "Warriors of the Light" may earn his trust, since he seems to be a protector of the crystals (or at least protector of keeping the crystals separate).

Tenzen said: "Bahamut is known as the conqueror of the skies for a reason. The power he and his minions possess is beyond anything we could imagine--the power to control time and space." So, they have a link to Atomos/Cait Sith...

Cait Sith and Atomos were recently announced Officially as new summons, Cait Sith being a carbuncle-type follower and Atomos is just a 2hr... disappointing. I'll still present my concept of a follower-Atomos, since it takes into consideration the addition of the Jikuu Sage and its selection of spells the same way elemental avatars use the magic of Black Mages (and they can still change Atomos, using the 2hr ability as its Astral Flow).


A review of Summons and a look into the potential future.

Terrestrial Avatars (guarding the Mothercrystals):
Rabbit/Squirrel/Rat: Carbuncle, Bringer of Rainbows (Light of Holla: Courage) (Taru)
Wyrm: Bahamut, Conqueror of the Skies/Guardian of the Gates of Paradise (Light of Dem: Compassion) (Mithra)
Bird: Phoenix, Bird of Resurrection (Light of Al'Taieu: Justice) (Galka)
Wolf: Fenrir, Guardian of the Moon/Tomorrow (Light of Mea: Trust) (Elvaan)
Bat: Diabolos, Ruler of Dreams (Light of Vahzl: Hope) (Hume)

Celestial Avatars (Elemental Protocrystals):
Fire: Ifrit
Earth: Titan
Water: Leviathan
Wind: Garuda
Ice: Shiva
Lightning: Ramuh
Light: Alexander
Dark: Odin

Current/Potential Animal Avatars (no known crystal relationships):
Cat: Cait Sith (Tears of Altana)
Sandworm: Atomos (Devourer of Time)
Unicorn: Ixion (Guide of the Slain?) (Valkyrie-like)
Orobon: Siren (Lure of the Seas?)
Chocobo: Tritoch/Valigarmanda (Harbinger of Catastrophe?)

"Sky 'gods'" (They seem to be similar to Terrestrial Avatars, made gods from animals when the crystal was split, without the glowing and they're clearly linked to seasons/directions, but that's from earth mythology, not Vana'diel - They also seem constellation based in mythology, so I've added one...) I doubt they'd ever become "summoned monsters" that players can control.
Adamantoise: Genbu
Tiger: Byakko
Great Bird: Suzaku
Dragon: Seiryu
Manticore: Kirin

Snake: Elidibus? (if they carry over the constellation mythology)

Most of the next Summons fall into a Special Summons category, activating one effect, then disappearing. A few may be followers like the current Avatars, while others are new 2hrs. (In other words: Brainstorming possibilities, not directly suggesting all of these appearing as new summons)

5 Playable Races' Avatars: (perhaps gained in the west as Totema?) They may exist in the crystal world where the Celestial avatars are dreaming, without physical avatars until now.
Hume: Valefor (Multi-winged bird) Sonic and energy attacks. Highly evasive.
Elvaan: Gilgamesh (Multi-armed weapons master) Has copies of famous weapons & a naginata; pet "dog": Enkidu. (The pirate named Gilgamesh in Norg was named after this mythological figure, to explain them having the same name.) The avatar may travel through the dimensions through Atomos.
Galka: Doomtrain (Multi-car Train) Inflicts multiple potent status ailments.
Tarutaru: Hecatoncheir (Multi-armed giant) Earth-based monk giant, very high quadruple attack rate. DoT summon.
Mithra: Asura (Multi-faced queen) Random effect from: Strong AoE heal, AoE all negative status removal, Low AoE heal
(You'll notice a theme there... the other summon that shares this theme is Kujata who should have thousands of eyes / ears / mouths / horns, etc, and may be in opposition to the playable races, or an ally - He's linked to the mythology of Bahamut.)

The "Old" races:
Zilart: Ultima/Altima/Dawnmaiden?
Kuluu/Tonberry: Uggalipeh (Eidolon of Altana twisted in the Tonberry's minds)
Olduum: Ragnarok (sentient weapon, summoned when Alexander and Odin battle - through that rip left behind by Alexander - might interact with the Gordion Knot, Raiden may become involved to end Ragnarok, or Raiden may be the fusion of Odin and Alexander for a brief time, wielding the Light Bringer sword, also known as Ragnarok? If this is the Light Bringer... there's plenty of lore regarding its usage with Tavnazia... it would make sense that Olduum was sunk by its power...)

Beastman Avatars:
Pixie: Sylph
Moogle: Maduin
Orc: Typhon
Yagudo: Quetzalli/Quezacotl/Quetzalcoatl A feathered serpent.
Quadav: Golem
Gigas: Bismarck (They have a navy)
Sahagin: Remora
Antica: Hashmal (Bringer of Order, they're military)
Mamool Ja: Zahak (Multi-headed dragon, and there are Blue Mage Mamool Ja)
Moblins: Zoneseeker (not Death Gaze, although they seem related by appearances)
Goblins: Anima
Poroggos: Cuchulain
Qiqirn: Yojimbo (They both like their shinies)
Troll: Shoat (Petrify)

New Beastmen:
Mermen/Mermaids: Eden Found underwater.
Sasquatch: Crusader Blind rage.
Vargs: Wolf Beastmen: Lakshmi
Dwarves: Mole Beastmen: Hades (Blacksmith from FF9 - Forge Crystal Armor?)
Minotaurs: Kujata (Tetra-disaster)
Arachne: Spider Beastmen: Pandemona
Cyclops (Branch of Gigas?): Raiden (or Death Gaze, vision related) (Raiden may be related to Odin/Alexander/Ragnarok)

While Atomos has been announced as a 2hr-only Avatar, this was my concept for Atomos when I expected a him to be a follower. (It wouldn't be a stretch to grant Atomos follower status in addition to whatever 2hr they have already planned if they like this concept!)

NEW SUMMON: ATOMOS

(Terrestrial Avatar version of a giant sandworm - "wormholes" and such)
The summoned Avatar of Atomos (Atomos' Maw) shares many of Jikuu Sage's spells, just like many of the elemental avatars share their spells with Black Mage. Atomos allows its Maws to be summoned in their active, floating form.

These maws attack by spinning around, letting their multiple blades slash through the enemy.

Physical Attack Additional Effect: Time Slip - Sends an enemy through time, aging it prematurely. Enemy loses stats on each hit up to 5 times. Adds increasing slow effect with each hit. (5 levels of "Old Age" status (slower attack speed, lower stats as if leveling down -1 level for each level of old age, built like dancer steps) This effect would wear off one step at a time, when Atomos does not attack to keep the effect up. (This effect may be as low as 1% each time, but hopefully more.)

Level 1 Astral Flow: Rage: Ravenous Maw
Drains all the enemies' stats (Str/Dex/Vit/etc) and a large amount of HP, MP, all TP, and adds them to the summoner or a selected recipient.
* Stats drained by this method remain "reduced" for 10min.
* Drained stats remain added to Summoner. (possibly select target to receive the stats instead?)

Level 15 Rage: Stardust
A shower of tiny burning meteors blast the region and set things ablaze.
* Causes "Burn" damage over time effect.
* Elemental Magic (Non-elemental, or Fire?)

Level 40 Rage: Gravity Well
Duration: 1min
Causes "Black Hole" status. The enemy who has been trapped in a gravity well ("Black Hole" status) cannot escape taking damage from these special additional dimensional magic bursts in the form of: Quarter, Demi and Lifeshaver
* Quarter adds 1/4th the damage of every level 1 skillchain's full Magic burst damage.
* Demi adds 1/2 the damage of every level 2 skillchain's full Magic burst damage.
* Lifeshaver adds the full damage of every level 3+ skillchain's full Magic burst damage, and heals the party by that amount split between members.
* The damage of these magic bursts is figured on the potential unresisted damage of the resulting magic bursts, even if the magic bursts are resisted. (The damage caused by Quarter, Demi, and Lifeshaver may do more damage than the original magic bursts that cause them)

Level 55 Rage: Atomize
When an enemy is low on life, Atomos may draw them into oblivion.
* Enemies killed this way will not drop items, gil or grant experience.
* Atomos will produce a crystal or crystal cluster from the consumed enemy, and it will be placed in the Treasure Pool.
* Crystal element is based on the crystal the enemy would have dropped normally.

Level 70 Rage: Ravages of War
Atomos disgorges a series of weapons from the Crystal War at the target. Swords, spears, arrows in flight, and bombs cause multiple rapid physical attacks. Critical hits are accompanied by "ornate" weapons replacing the ordinary ones that fly out of Atomos' maw.

Level 75 Rage: Comet II
A distant comet is pulled directly out of space, past the atmosphere, to crash into the caster's target with an icy blast.
* Causes "Frost" damage over time effect.
* Elemental Magic (Non-elemental, or Ice?)

Level 99 Rage: Ravages of Time
Greatly reduces enemy's Accuracy, Evasion, Magic Accuracy, Magic Evasion, Attack Power, Movement Speed
In addition, it can inflict Blind, Slow, Bind, Gravity as separate effects.


Level 1 Ward: Memory Drain
Enemy is unable to use special attacks.
* Duration increases with levels? Level 1 version can be used to "stun" a single spell or ability.

Level 32 Ward: Decelerate
Increase recast timers for all of your target's spells and abilities.
* This stops enemies from using TP moves until they have 300TP.
* Reduces TP gain from all actions. (Decelerating Weaponskill frequency)
* Adds the "Slow" status, but less potent than the Slow spell.
* Reduces movement speed. 12%

Level 68 Ward: Slow Motion
Reduces enemy attack speed.
* Not a form of slow. Does not impact TP returns.
* Also reduces enemy's chance for "extra" attacks such as double attack, triple attack and kick attack.

Level 99 Ward: Chronolock
AoE-Party
Prevent changes in speed for the duration.
* Duration of all haste/slow/gravity/quickening effects are paused for the duration of the Chronolock effect.
* No new speed spells will take effect.
* Can be manually removed.
* Can be used against enemies.

The quest required for Phoenix should start with

Selh'teus at the end of Chains of Promathia (looks like he partially merged with part of Phoenix's power), and involve the Cradle of Rebirth in Attohwa Chasm (where you get the Phoenix Ember key item.) Will require a trip to the past, maybe a trip to the Far East, and may not require a battle (maybe fight Selh'teus at the start and Phoenix Prime at the end, but this avatar is all about healing, not so much about fighting.)

NEW SUMMON: PHOENIX
2-hour Summon (Like Odin/Alexander)
Rebirth Flame: Deals heavy fire and light damage in a large Area of Effect and simultaneously casts Raise III on all fallen alliance members and Curaga III on all living alliance members. The attack does not require anyone in the alliance to be dead. All effects are in a large AoE around the Summoner.

When a Summoner obtains Phoenix, they also gain a new Job Trait:
Phoenix Pinions
When a member of the Summoner's party dies (including the Summoner), and they have the Phoenix Ember key item, Phoenix may randomly bring them back to life (better than a 50% chance).
* Raise III effect. (no fire/light based attack accompanies this auto-raise feature.)

NEW SUMMON: SIREN
Perhaps part of the Echidna or Uggalepih storylines, or the heavily sea based northern stories involving the vikings and such; Siren draws people to their dooms. Siren conceals its hideous true form with the appearance of a young, barely clothed entity who sings a beautiful song. This cloak of deception draws upon each hearer's own desires, so its appearance is actually different to each race and gender. The true form of Siren is like an orobon with massive jaws and very low mobility (thus needing to "lure").
(Terrestrial Avatar version of an Orobon)

Basic abilities (but not all):

2 Hour Rage: Siren Song
Draws enemies in, they stop attacking while "Charmed", and it deals a strong damage over time effect, ending with Siren's "Jaws of the Maelstrom" attack.

Siren's Revelation
When foes see the true source of the siren's song, madness causes them to attack each other and themselves. (Confusion)
(physical damage on a confused target has a chance to cancel confusion.)
(alternatively, but more dangerous: terroanima's panic effect?)

Hypnotic Lure
Puts enemies to sleep, high enmity. (Water based sleep?)

Cloak of Deception
Share in the deceptive power of the Siren to sneak past enemies.
Grants Sneak/Invisible/Deodorize to the party.

Kiss of Death
Chance to inflict countdown-doom or a strong poison (when doom fails).

Lover's Quarrel
Strong physical attack that always strikes 3 times (orobon rules) Stronger if the target is charmed or confused.

Induced Vision
Transfer all enmity of Siren to target.

Distracting Alure
Draws the attention of the enemy so that directional limitations on abilities and traits no longer apply.
(Sneak Attack, Overwhelm, Closed Position, etc, can be used from any direction, as if they're in the proper position)

100% innate triple attack (similar to Orobons' always-triple special attacks, but making all pacts always fire off three times in a row isn't a good idea)

Simulacrum Arena
This arena was created for challenging the masters of all known combat and magic in fights against monsters and against each other; one against one, and team against team in locations mundane and extraordinaire. When two equally knowledgable competitors battled with the full range of their strengths, these battles often resulted in stalemates which were unsatisfactory to the Simulacrum. To make things interesting, they began to impose limits on themselves and their opponents so certain strategies could not be employed in the same manner repeatedly. This forced them to be creative and devise new and exciting methods of fighting, greatly pleasing the hedonistic audiences.

To prevent "cheating" and encourage new tactics by the competitors, the Simulacrum appointed Judges to enforce laws on some (not all) of the battlefields. These powerful officials can create debilitating forces (Laws) that block certain actions from being performed and penalize those who break other laws with afflictions that make them weaker, while at the same time lending their approval to sanctioned abilities to encourage their use by making those who use those actions even stronger.


Basics of the Simulacrum Arena:

There are several types of arena battles -- All may have an optional Judge with selectable battlefield Laws.
Not all "Arena games" take place in the arena. They are held all over Vana'diel, such as new Ballista matches in existing Ballista areas, or Pankration games in the Coliseum, and new PvP tournaments in the Pit. They all fall under the Simulacrum Arena event due to the Judges and reward system.

Categories of Games:

* Ballista/Brenner/Diorama - The classic PvP team games. As few as 1vs1 allowed. Not restricted by a pre-set schedule for matches.
* Elimination Tournament - PvP, One on One battles, without the petras and rooks associated with the games. Exhibition matches and official brackets for championships.
* Endurance - PvE, One on One battles, progresses from weak monsters, stronger each round. A new status effect (randomly good or bad) is imposed on the player each round, cumulative with previous rounds. No breaks between battles. Better rewards for the more rounds you can survive.
* Pankration - The original games, plus team battles. PvP, PvE, PvP teams, PvE teams plus players themselves battling directly against pankration monsters.
* Epic Battles - Story Boss Rematches (ie: Shadow Lord, must have completed the battles during the normal storyline to gain access to "rematch"), Character Challenge (ie: Lion, Prishe, Trion, even some minor NPCs that people want the chance to fight), and Historic Wars (ie: Campaign style: Fall of Tavnazia)
* Cross-Dimension Battles - Bosses from past FF games
* Special Battlefields - Similar to Assault missions
* Chocobo Derby - Elimination Challenge, Digger's Delight, Knock Out Tally, A-Maze-ing, Slippery Slope, Pursuit, Subdue and Official Tournaments. (Detailed in its own thread)

Unlockable Features for Simulacrum Arena Games:

* Support job cap removed (Level 99/99 possible)
* Separate recast on 2hrs of Main and Support jobs.
* Merit Badge allows usage of all gear, regardless of job or level, including mixing AF/Relic/Empyrean of different jobs.
* Hero Medal allows ignoring Red Card Prohibitions, actions will instead only grant the Judge a Judgment Point.
* Pathos/Sanction effects can be added for additional challenges and rewards.
* Use of Atmas.

These "Laws" are enforced on all Simulacrum Arena games by a Judge:
* All participants are revived without loss of experience, at the Arena, when battles are concluded.
* Consumables and Ammunition are not consumed in Official Matches. (if a Ranger has a Rare/Ex ammo, it will never be used up in these games, even on multiple attack Job Abilities like barrage, Beastmaster Jugs will not be used up, Ninjutsu tools will not be used to cast, automaton oils will not be consumed when repairing automatons, etc) I'd have called this 100% recycle, but not all consumable-using jobs have a recycle trait for all of their ammo.

Special Challenge Feature of Judge-Supervised Simulacrum Arena Games:
* Official Judges obtain judgment points when any participants perform actions that are declared as "penalized" and can then declare "Judgments" against those participants. They can also perform helpful actions for any participant at their discretion. (Normally helping the side with non-penalized members, when the other side IS penalized) These penalties and Judgments are the same as those available to the Judgemaster job, including the meritable ones. These Penalties are in addition to the "Limiting Laws" and "Unlimiting Laws" below. Treat the following lists as "in addition to the Judgemaster job's existing Penalties, Prohibitions and Approvals". Some laws are grouped, so only one from that group can be active. (they should be easy to spot without marking)

Limiting Laws: (These are treated like Judgemaster Red Card prohibitions, except nearly all can be active simultaneously, whereas only 1 Red Card per Judgemaster is available for a player)

* Swapping gear is penalized with stun.
* Spells cost double MP.
* Weaponskills cost 300TP always.
* No Weaponskills.
* No <magic school> castable. (like Nyzul, no ninjutsu, no white magic, etc)
* No Raising/Reraising. (until the match is over)
* No Skillchains.
* No Magic Bursts.
* All Spell recast timers doubled.
* All Job Ability recast timers doubled.
* Permanent Mute.
* Permanent Amnesia.
* Movement speed decreased.
* Everyone afflicted with a strong slow effect.
* Reduced TP gain.
* All players have HP/MP/TP poison. (unremovable except by ending the match)
* Decrease Weaponskill damage.
* Decrease Skillchain damage.
* Decrease Magic Burst damage.

Unlimiting Laws:

* Spells are free to cast.
* Spells cost half MP to cast.
* Weaponskills only cost 100TP. (+ permanent Sekkanoki)
* Weaponskills only cost 50TP. (+ permanent Sekkanoki)
* Weaponskills only cost 10TP. (+ permanent Sekkanoki)
* Weaponskills do not cost TP. (once you have TP, you don't lose it)
* Reraise always active.
* Physical Damage is doubled.
* Magical Damage is doubled.
* Ranged Damage is doubled.
* Take no damage from physical attacks.
* Take no damage from magical attacks.
* Take no damage from ranged attacks.
* Increase "areas of effect" for all abilities and spells.
* Spell recast timers halved.
* Job Ability recast timers halved.
* Enhanced fast cast for everyone.
* Movement speed increased.
* Everyone given a strong haste effect.
* Player Accuracy increased. (never miss)
* Player Magical Accuracy increased. (never resisted)
* Player Ranged Accuracy increased. (never miss)
* All players have double HP.
* All players have double MP.
* All players have HP/MP/TP regen/refresh/regain
* Pet damage increased.
* Pet defense increased.
* Pets have HP/MP/TP regen/refresh/regain.
* Pet calling recast timers shortened. (or periodically restored)
* No avatar perpetuation costs.
* Increase Weaponskill damage.
* Increase Skillchain damage.
* Increase Magic Burst damage.

During "team games", players are given "Uniforms" for their teams based on the Aptant Sets ("Ebon/Ebur/Furia" Breastplate: Cuirass, Haubert, Mail / Frock: Bliaut, Talar, Coat / Harness: Togi, Jerkin, Vest) perhaps with Nation-specific flag color schemes/features - red/blue/green. With this feature in place, no matter what gear a player is wearing, the "Uniform" is all anyone else will ever see. When a person switches gear, their uniform does not change, so they will not blink. Armor swapping is no longer penalized since it cannot be used to avoid targeting. Weapon swapping, on the other hand, would still cause blinking and be penalized as all swapping is currently.

During PVP events, each person can customize their "Uniform" with unique models gained through Ballista points. Extending this functionality to normal gear would be a step in the right direction for the rest of the game too. If it is not too difficult, this system could be put into place for all players to create their "Signature Appearance" by "equipping" any gear in the appropriate slots, so regardless of whatever actual gear they're wearing, this appearance is seen by everyone else. There would be 2 ways to see through the Uniform of a player. The first would be a filter type setting that either shows or does not show any Uniforms; so those who chose to turn Uniforms off will still be subject to seeing people blink (this would be disabled during PVP). The other is the "Check" command to see their actual gear as well as gain access to their bazaar, read their bazaar comment, and see their title.

Ballista, Brenner & Diorama style PVP
An overall change to Ballista/Brenner: Keep the revolving level capped Official Matches that impact regional influence, but add the ability for anyone to initiate unofficial Ballista/Brenner at any time when no events are going on.
* Ballista/Brenner: PVP teams

~ As few as 1vs1, up to current maximums. Teams must be even.
~ Ballista/Brenner style battle.
~ Can initiate in existing Ballista/Brenner areas that are not holding official matches, no reservations.
~ Selectable level cap. (including uncapped)
~ Uncapped battles do not have gear swapping penalties (unless that law is chosen)
~ Optional Judge imposing laws and rendering Judgments. (Laws are selectable by participants before a match begins - all participants can vote yes/no for each proposed law - tie loses, participants can also pass the ability to vote and accept the laws chosen by the leaders - the Leaders on both sides must vote.)
~ You can choose a selection of possible laws, or exclude some laws, adding the rest.
~ More than one Red Card Prohibition can be in play during these matches. (cannot be removed by a Judgemaster)
~ (Save favorite lists of laws and use them to vote)

* Players versus players, Exhibition Matches. (without the associated "games" of Ballista or Brenner)

~ Everything about the PVP system is the same, except there are no petras/rooks/etc.

Elimination Tournaments: (without the associated "games" of Ballista or Brenner)

* Player versus player, Tournament elimination

~ One on one tournament style elimination brackets.
~ These are held in areas much smaller than full zones.

* Player team versus player team, Tournament elimination

~ Player team tournament style elimination brackets.
~ You register a team by being in the same party. (or use the LS Liga system?)
~ You cannot join two teams in the same tournament.

* Endurance Battles
And an old friend from FF7, Endurance Battles, joins the arena system. How many rounds can you last?

One on One battles progressing from weak monsters to stronger, each round growing in strength. A new status effect (randomly good or bad) is imposed on the player each round, cumulative with previous rounds. No breaks between battles. Better rewards for the more rounds you can survive.

I'm not sure if the battles should be randomized or if a clear ladder of enemies to expect to battle should exist. Clearly a list would help people prepare, and will provide a clear increase in challenge, while random could give someone an easy victory or a punishing gauntlet. With these considerations in mind, I'd be happier with a clear ladder of enemies.

~ PVE, more rounds = better rewards. (Battle Arena Points, items)
~ Random statuses cumulatively added each round. (Some good, some bad)
~ (could reward WoE coins)

Pankration Battles
First, a few updates to Pankration:

* Pankration monsters can achieve level 99.
* New Feral Skills, Addition of "Special Techniques", and more points to use. (most of these are already "in place")
* New monster families become available. (forgive me if some of these are currently available, many guides are not up to date) Adamantoise*, Behemoth*, Warmechs*, Cardians, Caturae*, Cerberus*, Gnole, Hippogryph, Hydra*, Khimaira*, Ladybug, Monoceros, Poroggo, Rafflesia, Sandworm, Slug, Urganite, Wyrm*, Zdei -- and new monsters types added with this expansion: Kamui, Harpies, Golems, Ankylo, Tyro, Pterodactyl, Needle Monkey/Sword Rat, Cenchos, Ologhai, Tangie, Kelpie, Mandrake, Eye Fang, Roper, Balor, Gaap, Death Claw, Giant Zuu*, Centipede, Cold Beast, Fiery Hound, Anguiform, Rhinotaur.
Those marked with a * are only available in the Boss League:
* New boss-style creatures are possible, if Soul Plate khimairas can be made in the new endgame area proposed with the re-opening of the Hazhalm Testing Grounds (secret Soul Plate lab.) These creatures may be in a league of their own (literally), so you can't put these in the normal cage matches against normal un-modified soul plate monsters (some of the new monster families fall directly in this boss category) They'd fight in Cage H (Horrors, or Hazhalm).
* The player vs monster versions may take place in the "Monster Arena" event instead, but I'm including it here because it relates directly to reflector monsters.

Pankration Battle Modes

* Pankration PVE
~ The original Player Monster vs NPC Monster matches
~ 1vs1

* Pankration PVP
~ Original Player's Monster vs Player's Monster matches
~ 1vs1

* Pankration PVE Teams
~ Multiple monsters owned by one player Vs NPC Monster Team
~ 2vs2, 3vs3

* Pankration PVE team Battles
~ Multiple Players with one Pankration monster each vs equal NPC Pankration monster team.
~ 2vs2, 3vs3

* Pankration PVP team Battles
~ Multiple Players with one Pankration monster each vs Multiple Players with one Pankration monster each.
~ 2vs2, 3vs3

The above pankration matches were all variations on the original system, always with Pankration monsters fighting each other, the next matches are fights using the normal FFXI combat engine, with actual players fighting Pankration-raised monsters. One version has players fighting against a Pankration monster that is controlled by a player Pankration style (from the command box, issuing vague commands to influence the monster's combat style), and the other lets the Pankration monster go wild, without any controlling player, which will likely be the only way to do battle against the boss-league enemies in the "Monster Arena" event.

* Player/Team vs Player Pankration monster (PVP)
~ Player/team fight against Pankration monsters controlled by player/s
~ 1 player Vs 1 monster, Team vs 1 player controlled Pankration monster

* Player/team versus NPC Pankration monsters (PVE and P(team)VE)
~ Players themselves fight against Pankration monsters, instead of sending their Pankration monsters to do battle.
~ 1 player Vs 1 monster, Team Vs 1 Pankration monster

* Epic Battles
These would be the main draw to the arena for many, and much of the work is already done! Some of the most interesting battles in FFXI were those encountered during the stories. Normally, the only way to revisit previous story battles is to assist new players as they experience them for the first time. A desire has been expressed by many, to be able to revisit these battles whenever we like.

Another opportunity people look forward to, is the ability to do battle with several of the heroes we encounter during the storylines. In a limited manner, this is already possible as we have seen at the fan festivals and through the invites obtainable through the Mog Bonanza. There are many other notable figures who would be interesting to challenge in battle that could appear in this expanded event.

The final main part of the Epic Battles category includes historic wars. These are battles that we've only heard stories of, or watched in cutscenes, such as the fall of Tavnazia. Battles of this sort could take place Campaign style, or multi-stage series-bcnm similar to the airship battles involving the mammets, ultima and omega.

An afterthought that would mainly be fan service, would be the dimensional crossover battles listed at the end.

* Story Boss Rematch

~ PVE: Fight boss battles from the storyline again!
~ Includes Assistance from Hero helpers or NPCs that you had to Protect.
~ From 1 (yes, solo), up to 18 members unless the original battle limited it to less, then the lower limit is enforced.

* Character Challenge

~ PVE: Fight the heros of the storylines.
This includes most "good guy" characters we encounter in the stories. (not all of them have to have been fighters)
(Different battles than those initiated by the "Invitation" items won through Mog Bonanza or played at Fanfest. Since they're part of this new event, they can be fought without level caps, in different groups and combinations, even single battles 1 on 1.)

Here are some suggested storyline-related combatants (and annoying NPCs some people want to fight): (not a full list)

- Prishe, Ulmia, Lion, Lilisette, Aphmau-Ovjang-Mnejing, Curilla, Ayame, Jakoh Wahcondalo, Nana Mihgo, Grav'iton Berisacci, Esha'ntarl, Yve'noile, The Star Sybil, Semih Lafihna, Eideialc, Portia, Cornelia and Cornelia, Shantotto, Lady Karababa and the King of Hearts, Naja Salaheem, Prince Trion, Pieuje (perhaps a version where you're helping one or the other fight each other), Luzaf, Ajido-Marujido, the Serpent Generals: Rughadjeen-Gadalar-Najelith-Mihli-Zazarg, Kaduru-Haiduru, Selh'teus, Erpalacion B Chanoix, King Ranperre, Volker, Rahal, Gilgamesh (pirate version), Aldo, Zeid, Rochefogne, Cid (Engineer with joke teeth attack), Raibaht, President Karst, Ragelise, Naji, Zaldon, Brygid, Abquhbah, Rongelouts (Judgemaster using rock/blunt-paper/slashing-scissors/piercing element to combat), Olavia, Cannau, Wanzo-Unzozo, The Chebukki Triplets, Degenhard, Excenmille, Alphonimile, Halver, Altennia, Atarefaunet/Louverance, Rochefogne, Wolfgang, Pale Eagle, Raogrimm, Ulrich, Francmage

- Figures from the Crystal War (with their unique special attacks, maybe a way to gain their weaponskills?) -

Valaineral R Davilles, Haja Zhwan, Karaha-Baruha, Azima (Chemist with permanent Eureka), Dalzakk, Oggbi, Nyumomo, Choh Moui, Febrenard C Brunnaut, Achtelle, Areuhat/Odzmanouk, Babban Ny Mheillea, Duskraven, Kagetora, Lewenhart, Rainemard, Rongo-Nango, Titania, Ulla, Gariri, Zolku-Azolku, Lhu Mhakaracca, Zonpa-Zippa, Mikhe Aryohcha, Vhino Delkahngo, Lutete, Bartholomaus, Maximilian, Ludwig, Kurt, Invincible Shield, Adelheid, Sonia, Striking Bull, Else, Leonoyne, Ashmea B Greinner, Feldrautte I Rouhent, Yrvaulair S Cousseraux, Laisavie X Berlends, Perih Vashai, Romaa Mihgo, Striking Bull, Ghyo Molkot, Naho Gwanboh

- The Crystal Warriors from Divine Might each had special weaponskills that may be available through this arena battle.

- Various wielders of the Relic Weapons -

Elivira Gogol, Putori-Tutori, Kilhwch, Mieuseloir B Enchelles, Lhu Mhakaracca, Xonia, Fonove, Dzhau Yaam, Kupalu-Harupalu, Noillurie, Ferreous Coffin, Kayeel-Payeel, Ghebben, Terounalivet, Cerane I Virgaut

* Historic Battles

~ PVE: Sometimes Campaign style battles, sometimes BCNM style, depends on the historic battle.
~ Travel to the past in an alternate timeline/dimension already marked for consumption by Atomos and participate in the most important battles in Vana'diel history.

Here are a few examples:
Campaign Style:
-

The fall of Tavnazia (FINALLY) where the goal may be to hold off the enemy forces long enough for everybody to escape, including Rochefogne, Gilgamesh, Prishe, Ulmia, Aldo and his sister (slide an envelope into Aldo's pocket that says "Open in 20 years" explaining who his sister is). (and as long as you're building part of Tavnazia for this... might as well introduce a present-day version of Tavnazia in some form too, not part of this event... or maybe part of this event... like the Simulacrum could transplant the city of Tavnazia from the alternate time line into ours, if we manage to save it in the past... or simply a storyline of re-taking Tavnazia from the beastmen and wyverns that have taken over, like the opening movie showed the arrival of a large army coming to retake the city.) I may be getting repetitive on this topic, since I wrote the information for this expansion concept in several text files, and separated the posts into different (applicable) posts, so I apologize, but I'm happy to emphasize this point of finally doing something with Tavnazia other than looking at it.

- The Second Battle of Konschtat (plenty happened in this fight, but maybe there's a storyline plot twist that links it to the outbreak of the Bastokan Blight and possibly Doomtrain.)
- The Hydra Corps' attack on Beaucedine Glacier that ended with their being drawn into Dynamis.
- The real assault on Castle Zvahl that included the freakish multi-limbed Cardians on the allies' side.
- The Kuluu's attack on Fei'yin (While the area was still forested, not an icy wasteland)
- Bahamut's attack on Al'Taieu (battle in the skies and on the ground... fight for the Zilart or Bahamut)
When fighting against Bahamut, get the assistance of Warmechs (Ultima/Omega) Zilart engineers with those energy nets, perhaps Luminions (Zilart security forces before they were warped into the forms we see in Al'Taieu) and the five towers that used to be used for healing, but were adapted into weapons to fight the wyrms. The goal is to hold them off until the city can establish the Empyreal Paradox, taking it out of the reach of their attackers.
When fighting against the Zilart, you get the assistance of wyrms (Ouryu, Vrtra, Tiamat, etc) and the Kuluu. Possibly the Dawnmaidens and the entire cast of terrestrial avatars "in person" like Bahamut, plus Kuluu summoners with the terrestrial avatars. The goal is to destroy the devices that make it possible to move the Celestial Capital into the Empyreal Paradox.

BCNM Style:
- The Sahagin attacks on Bastok's ships (battle on boats)
- I'm sure there are a few more out there mentioned in the histories that would be interesting.

* Dimensional Cross-over Battles

~ PVE: Fight Boss battles from other FF games!

~*~*~*~ (minor) SPOILERS (bosses from previous FF games) ~*~*~*~

FFI: Garland/Chaos, Elemental Fiends: Lich-Marilith-Kraken-Tiamat, Chronodia
FFII: Emperor Mateus, Astaroth (harpy), Beelzebub (crazy fly), Arena Behemoth, Borgen/Zombie-Borgen
FFIII: Cloud of Darkness, Hecatoncheir, Garuda(Bird-man boss), Goldor, Hein/Hyne, Doga & Unei, Xande
FFIV: Giant of Babil, Zeromus, Elemental Archfiends: Scarmiglione-Rubicante-Cagnazzo-Barbariccia/Valvalis, Dr. Lugae, Demon Wall
FFV: Exdeath, Abductor (Imp), Archeoavis, Azulmagia (Corse), Byblos (Demon), Catastrophe (eye), Galura (Marid), Halycanos (demon), Mellusion, MoogleEater (Kraken), Necrophobia (Vampyr), Liquid Flame, Gilgamesh (2-arm & 6-arm), Gogo, Omnicient (Soulflayer?), Sol Cannon, Twintania (FFV had a lot of bosses of note...)
FFVI: Kefka, Warring Triad, Ultros (Kraken), Whelk (Urganite), Hidon (mutant taurus?), Air Force, Atma Weapon (bio-engineered behemoth), Chupon, Vargas, Ziegfried, Siegfried, Chadarnook (similar to Mellusion), Dullahan (chariot), Inferno (Iron Giant), Magi Master, Phunbaba
FFVII: Sephiroth, Ruby/Emerald/Diamond/Ultimate WEAPON, Proud Clod (maybe Minerva), Midgar Zolom (worm or amphiptere), Gi Tribe (demons/taurus), Materia Keeper (scorpion)
FFVIII: Ultimecia, Adel, Edea, Griever (Khimaira), Norg, X-ATM092
FFIX: Kuja, Ark, Garland, Necron, Ozma, Black Waltz (group), Gizamaluke, Thorn/Zorn (Automatons?) combine to form Meltigemini (Mumbo Jumbo) Hades
FFX: Yu Yevon, Yunalesca, Braska's Final Aeon, Seymour Omnis, Chocobo Eater
FFT: Elidibus, The Lucavi: Wiegraf/Velius-Adrammelech-Belias-Hashmal-Cuchulainn-Zalera-Altima, Delita, Celia & Lede
FFXII: The Undying, The Judges: Drace-Gabranth-Zargabaath-Bergan-Ghis, Vinuskar, Yiazmat (maybe a boss that the entire server can try to take down over a period of weeks - HP never regens.)

I'm sure there are other bosses that would make interesting enemies in FFXI (although, these, and some like them could appear in FFXI as actual story-related characters, or NMs and BCNM enemies, also Summons and other recurring characters, rather than appearing in this arena, although, having a retro version in the arena would still be fun.)

* Special Battlefields
These include "The Swarm" and "The Gathering Storm" which may have "versions" in this event, but not exactly the same, and would not yield the same titles (maybe no titles). (They seem like fun events to "waste" only on special events once a year, to be experienced by only a small group) Similar game mechanics were used in Assaults where waves of weak enemies attacked, so I know it's more than possible.

These could also include Assault-style activities (perhaps using the "un-used" assault maps)
* Matching NPCs
* Leading NPCs
* Using NPCs to destroy obstacles
* Flipping switches to open doors
* Hunting NMs
* Disarming bombs.
To list only a few...

I spent very little time on this section because I wanted to get the whole "expansion" idea out there sooner rather than later, but I could see it becoming one of the largest sections of the Arena, depending on the creativity in these additions. Assault missions were some very interesting alterations on normal FFXI gameplay.


* Chocobo Derby (Detailed system, needed its own thread which I posted earlier. (link))
A fully player-controlled group of mounted activities. Some games resemble mounted Ballista, for example. Activities range from PvP to PvE, and some transition from mounted activities into normal combat.

This event isn't entirely related to the whole Simulacrum expansion suggestion, directly, anyway. However, it fits in with the concept of the games and judges, so I link it here. (They could implement the Chocobo Derby before any of this!)

A tiny note at the end here about Besieged:
The Chocobo Derby system could be used during the time the beastmen are advancing on Al Zahbi. There are even mounted enemy units in the Mamool Ja forces already. Wiping out an enemy unit's endurance could force it to retreat before reaching the city.

It's also possible to add Chocobo Derby elements to quests/missions.
In Wings of the Goddess, San d'Oria quest 9: "Bonds that Never Die" could start with a Chocobo Derby style battle where you pick off the Orcs guiding the young behemoth, and then wear down its endurance. When the young behemoth's endurance is wiped out it runs and hides in a cave, the normal battlefield battle begins in the cave that you climb down into.

Walk of Echoes
Walk of Echoes is in need of a major overhaul of its reward structure and monster behavior if SE wants it to remain a casual method to obtain the lesser-empyrean weapons without large groups to take on the challenges of Abyssea bosses and the time involved in collecting the key items to pop said bosses.

The WoE enemies must not have the special hate systems and linking potential that makes soloing nearly impossible in most battlefields of the event. Most of the rewards should be obtained from killing the non-boss enemies. Killing the bosses would still be required to progress with opening new battlefields (but a party of 6 random people on jobs that can normally solo the non-boss monsters in the battlefield should be able to defeat the bosses. For example, this means no spamming of highly damaging AoE attacks.)

It may be best to include a currency similar to Einherjar's Ampoules of Therion Ichor (Battle Arena Points) to reward participants from each kill based on their performance, similar to Bastion, to spend on items purchased from an NPC, which would remove much of the controversy surrounding the "drops" issue. People would attend on the jobs they currently bring to Campaign, fully expecting to be solo. Battle Arena Points can be spent to purchase "Coins" so progress in the event does not rely on clearing all enemies and bosses from the zone and receiving a chest at the end.

Currently, because you need to fully clear the zone to get anything, the event rewards only organized groups. Instead of being treated as a casual event to go to like Campaign to grab one of the "lesser-Empyreans", you have to treat it like a linkshell event, gathering enough people to actually "win" a zone to get anything worthwhile.

Campaign
Some Simulacrum Arena games will make use of the Campaign battle system with enhanced objectives beyond just killing beastmen and defending/destroying fortifications. I also suggest these changes/additions to Campaign:

* Add "Scout Report" that acts like a complete-zone-wide-ranged Widescan that only shows Campaign-related NPCs, locations & monsters - all participants in Campaign Battles will have access to this.

* Defending Fortifications should spawn defenders when they're attacked. In fact, there should be a garrison within the towers that can shoot arrows and cannons. Some non-tower fortifications may call for help to draw defenders to them.

* Let lower level players use the war machines on the battlefield, like the massive catapults and ballistae that are currently only props/decorations, to assist, rather than engaging enemies directly.

* Add new Battlefield Missions that low level players can accomplish, such as replenishing ammunition supplies, (and then have the above-mentioned prop weapons actually do something in the battles) - these are not to be confused with Campaign Operations which are initiated in home towns. These are new missions generated on the battlefield by NPCs in the field.

* When tower-type fortifications are on the battlefield, allow the player defenders enter the towers to rest, protected from all Area of Effect attacks. (They may also gain access to the tower's weaponry) Access to the towers should be possible from a distance that allows players to enter without being interrupted by the very area of effect attacks that they are trying to avoid. ("Exits from" and "entrances of" the towers may be a distance away, like a secret escape tunnel, instead of increasing the range of interaction.)

* Planned Waves
This goes with story scripting for certain battlefield events using the Campaign system. Instead of having a random army invade at certain time intervals, these events would have a set group of enemies advancing in waves that are initiated either by the passage of time, or triggers during the battles (such as the death of the last enemy in the previous wave.) Some waves may be destroyed during cut scenes (like when the TaruTarus blast the enemy army with Comet/Meteor in the opening movie.)

New Objectives:
Currently, the only player objectives are "Destroy Fortifications" and "Defeat Enemy Forces."

I am not counting the limited number of Campaign operations possible to carry out each week, which effectively makes them a non-issue in battles once you have 0 ops left to carry out. This system suffers from the same issue plaguing Bastion: people who WANT to carry out the special objectives can only do them a limited number of times... and the majority of players who do NOT want to do them squander their ability to impact the battles. I guess some programmer said, "Hey, what if every player on the server decided to do these operations non-stop and totally ruined the game balance?" ... that's clearly not an issue. Ease up on the per-player restrictions and these objectives might become part of the game!

Delay Enemy Advance
This objective would be part of special battles where time is an issue. In order to keep enemies away from a certain location or NPC, there may be barricades that the enemies have to break through. Player actions may repair the barricades or keep the enemies from attacking those barricades. Traps on the battlefield could be used as well, such as tipping over vats of boiling tar onto the unsuspecting enemies below that inflicts a great amount of damage and then creates a terrain that adds "Gravity", "Burn" and "Slow" (plus a weakness to fire magic and fire elemental attacks) to the enemies when they pass through it. The entire goal of this objective is to simply stay alive for the duration of the event. No specific NPC has to be protected on the battlefield.

Protect VIP
Certain NPCs on the battlefield may be considered Very Important People (VIPs) that need to be protected until they can reach a certain location and escape, or simply stay alive until at certain time limit is reached. The enemy AI should not be 100% focused on killing ONLY that one NPC. The NPC we're protecting is not necessarily the target the enemies are after. It's just the player's goal to keep them alive. (Some may be crazy generals who rush headlong into battle, but most of these will be people trying to escape, or special fortifications or battlefield props relating to a story.)

Eliminate Target
There may be a single enemy in the defending or attacking forces that needs to be eliminated to win. This could be an enemy general or unit like a Behemoth or a specific fortification or enemy Siege Engine.

~*~*~*~ Arena Rewards ~*~*~*~

* Various "Points"
Battle Arena Points (new), Experience, Gil, Conquest Points, Imperial Sanction Points, Allied Notes, Jettons, Chocobucks, Ballista Points, Walk of Echoes Coins

* Titles
Some people love their titles.

* Achievements
I don't personally play on the Xbox, but I'm sure this is the sort of thing competitive players would want.

* Mog House Furnishings
Trophies, Plaques, Thrones?, Weapon Displays, Armor Displays

* PvP Latent Effect Evoliths and Gear Sets
The appearance of the Aptant gear sets just scream "fantasy team sports" to me. (as well as their customizability)

* Appearance Gear
Gear without combat stats, possibly with fun special features like swimsuits/yukatas/formalwear with teleports/mini-game enhancements. This would include items similar to FanFest Gear - Moogle gear, Chocobo Wand... but different in name/appearance to keep the FanFest gear unique.

* Costume Gear
Chocobo Beret & Goblin Belt types of items (not necessarily those currently available)


~*~ Battle Arena Shop ~*~
All versions of "points", including "Battle Arena Points" can be spent on things in this special shop, so people can pick and chose which games they want to participate in, if any, to buy things from this shop. It will be similar to the shop in FF7's Golden Saucer. Gear in this shop can be used outside of the Arena games. (Conquest Points, Imperial Sanction Points, and other forms of currency can also be used in place of, or perhaps be exchanged for, Battle Arena Points.)

Conqueror Gear - New Ballista/Brenner Aptant sets (Some sets will have choosable "Augments", like the 3 add-on rewards with stats only during PvP games, some will have many Neo-evolith slots and some sets will just be for looks and have no evolith slots, to be used in creating unique "Uniforms".)

Neo-evoliths - Evoliths without the massive restrictions of "tiny bonus only against monster family X" or "During a full eclipse on Firesday, while under the effect of terror." There are other threads (I may add links) on how to make Evoliths useful, so I won't go into that here. Just don't think I mean the current evolith system as it stands, because that's just crazy. (Some Evoliths may have the restriction of "Must be participating in a PvP contest" as mentioned above)

Chocobo Knight Gear - Stats aimed at modifying chocobos in Chocobo Derby games - and maybe remove (not just extend) the chocobo ride time duration limits outside the games.

Wild Rider Gear - Stats aimed at enhancing non-Chocobo mounts in Chocobo Derby games - and maybe call new mounts outside of Chocobo Derby.

Teleportation items - Nation Stables Collar/Medal/Scarf, Crag Rings, Teleport Earrings, Gate Glyphs

"New Merits" - This could be one method to obtain new weaponskills (possibly gain a special currency by fighting the Crystal War generals who use special weaponskills to buy only the weaponskill they use), new job traits and new job abilities. Not only gear can be sold in the shop... this would be associated with the new merit system to break through the level 99 limits, since the Simulacrum is in a very similar situation to that which players who have reached level 99 in multiple jobs are in, having mastered all there is to master. The hatred some people have toward mini-games, and the fact that not everyone will own this expansion, would require this to simply be an alternate way to accomplish the same goals as those without the expansion or who don't want to participate in mini-games. (for instance, I'd never participate in Ballista/Brenner/Diorama, even if it produced the ultimate weapons in the game, but I'd participate in other parts of the arena every single day, all day, if given the chance.)

And that about does it for now!

I'm sure I'll find something to add here and there... and I have to go back through and add a few hyperlinks.

Holy shit, how many do you expect to read through all that?

What?! I thought all of these posts where from different people!

I...but...if...how...than...when...why...can...but...

You had me at "expansion."

Me, being a story person, does not like the story behind it, just because it's another alternate dimension. Love the wealth of ideas presented here though. Unsure of what could be implemented into the game given current limitations.

Many people probably skipped down to the end, unable to keep things together due to how many different posts each topic had to be split into, and I couldn't fit this in the first post (10,000 character limit GAH!)

Anyway, here's an index to help find things easier.
Index:
Story pt1 / Story pt2 / Characters, Plotpoints & Themes / Quest notes & Boss notes
New Zones / New Enemies, New Beastmen, New Status effects
New Endgame Event: Light Warriors (monsters/bosses/rewards)
Crystal Shards system & examples of shards 1, 2, 3, 4
New Endgame Event: Monster Arena
New Endgame Event: Tavnazia
Personal Airships
Triple Triad
6 New Jobs (5 full job concept documents, but I didn't make a full post for Geomancer yet, and a seventh one is an old job given a new twist)
Chemist (Concept / JA pt1 / JA pt2, Traits, Merits & gear / Ingredients / Mix List pt1, pt2)
Engineer (Concept / JA pt1 / JA pt2 / JA pt3 / JA pt4 / Traits, Merits & gear)
Judgemaster (Concept / Job Abilities / Judgments / Penalties / Approvals / Prohibitions / Traits, Merits & gear)
Mimic (Concept / Job Abilities / Traits, Merits & gear)
Jikuu Sage (Concept / Spells pt1 / Spells pt2 / Job Abilities / Traits, Merits, gear, joke)
Soul Plate Shop / Automaton AI Cards
Fat Chocobo Storage, New Weapon Varieties, "Ranged Combat Specialties"
New Summons / Atomos / Phoenix / Siren
Simulacrum Arena
Ballista, Brenner, Diorama, Tournaments and adjustments & PVE Endurance Rounds
Pankration / Epic Battles / Dimensional Cross-over battles, Special battlefields, Chocobo Derby
Walk of Echoes / Campaign
Arena Rewards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teraniku

Me, being a story person, does not like the story behind it, just because it's another alternate dimension. Love the wealth of ideas presented here though. Unsure of what could be implemented into the game given current limitations.

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Actually, it's not yet another dimension... it's making use of the dimension we already have access to, but has very little actual story behind it (The Threshold)

Edit: I updated the two main story posts with "Summaries" at the end to spell things out very clearly.

I'm impressed! I really would like a personal airship exactly as you say. Being able to build a fighting force for atop the airship using Pankration would definitely give me reason to do it. Having a Colosseum for amazingly powerful monsters was one of my hopes before they gave us Pankration instead. I've only read about halfway through the whole thing, but I agree, SE needs to give us the other continents in the lore.

Just wow... you put in a hell of lot of thought into this... more then I would seriously have ever cared to...

I'm hella impressed. I'm moreso scared at the fact that you've mirrored almost 90% of all the things that I would personally like added to this game. We should work together.

I've also got a job suggestion called Machinist, which is close to your idea of Engineer (which is what I originally called Machinist. I'm sure we're both thinking of Edgar here...) which uses tools much like a DNC uses TP to use it's abilities. Awesome work.

I feel really sad for you, because you invested MANY hours typing many ideas the dev team will NEVER read, regardless of however good they may be.

You realize that first, before the dev team will ever see it, someone would have to spend several hours translating all of this stuff into Japanese? For that reason alone, it won't be seen by the devs.

And even if it was in Japanese, and posted on the Japanese forums, the devs would tl;dr it. They hate new ideas for things players would enjoy. They much prefer their own ideas, full of grueling and unrewarding content.

i am more amazed he/she got soo many post posted before someone interupted it with a post. post at 4 am or something?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Puck

I feel really sad for you, because you invested MANY hours typing many ideas the dev team will NEVER read, regardless of however good they may be.

You realize that first, before the dev team will ever see it, someone would have to spend several hours translating all of this stuff into Japanese? For that reason alone, it won't be seen by the devs.

And even if it was in Japanese, and posted on the Japanese forums, the devs would tl;dr it. They hate new ideas for things players would enjoy. They much prefer their own ideas, full of grueling and unrewarding content.

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I agree with that assessment of what will likely happen, as I posted in my general discussion post introducing this megapost:
"I'm fully aware that this is a ton of text and most of it likely won't get translated and presented to the developers unless there is enough positive feedback for the ideas presented. I can only hope the people who do translate this sort of thing like the ideas enough to translate it all because they want to see it happen as much as me!"

I just had to get it all off my chest, since it had been swirling around in my head for months.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trumpy

i am more amazed he/she got soo many post posted before someone interupted it with a post. post at 4 am or something?

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Well, it was posted in the "Missions and Quests" forum section that doesn't get many visitors, and I had it all pre-typed and ready to copy-paste into my posts. (I had it all planned out so it was all together :)

Not to be a killjoy or anything... but chances are, even if the reps were to translate the posts and give it to the devs, we might not see it... SE claims copyrights to all 'new' material before even thinking of using it... It's how people knew that 'Abyssea' was coming and 'Walk of Echos' was in the pipes...

The biggest problem I can forsee, not that you'll do it if any of this were to be implemented, You thought of the ideas, and you use a bit of SE's copyrights which makes them part owner, but you wouldn't get any sort of payment for your ideas thus giving you the ability to sue the company for 'stealing my ideas!' which is dumb, but due to writing it all down for everyone to see first means that you technically have 'copyright' to your ideas. Which you probably wouldn't win the lawsuit anyways, but regardless, it's something that a company usually does not want to dip their hand in especially now since everyone budgets are stretched so very thin...

Don't get me wrong. I love the thought and the idea behind what you've done. I loved FF4/5/6. It's just probably near impossible due to what they would fear as 'legal issues' and such...

The biggest thing i can suggest, is trying to get a job with SE as a content writer(or any sort of job in SE land for that matter... you really only need to be an employee) and then giving them this same info... It'll give them a reason to use it with out any sort of legal repercussions to fear, due to most jobs having an 'Open door' policy, and accepting new and inventive ideas to help boost their sells...

To OP:

Its nice but... I don't know if these are like your final posts before you quit the game type of thing?? Or what? I just hate to hurt your feelings but, you really did waste your time posting all of that here. lol. Its just going to get bashed down by trolls or ignored by SE. I just hope you enjoyed wasting so much of your time. At least then I won't /facepalm as much. To each his own though. >.>

o_o.........

Holly shit. Props to you AyinDygra. I've yet to read through it all but from skimming it it is impressive. Way to show the dev team how its done. Bookmarking the thread to read more later. :D

Camate, my friend! Bring this thread to the team to get them going! If not to get them going at least to show them how serious we are about wanting GOOD new content.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AyinDygra

New Jobs:

* Geomancer
I didn't have time to fully flesh this concept out (no post of its own or skill/spell lists), but it would be based mostly on FFT's Axe-wielding Geomancer with a mix of FF3, FF5 (bell wielding guys), and Mog from FF6, using themes from the western continent of Ulbuka with "Native American" and "Aztec/Mayan" visuals.[/INDENT]
Mini-Geomancer-post:

I see Geomancer as a melee mage with damage+enfeebling "Job Ability Spells" using one-handed axes for melee and bells for ranged; TP-driven geomancy spells learned from different environments, but usable anywhere, given bonuses when used in their respective environments (perhaps with Job Abilities that "create" suitable temporary environments). They'd get counter-geomancy as a job trait.

Geomancy spells in FFT were fairly weak, but had a long range and inflicted enfeebles, so when wielding bells to deal damage and build TP, they could still make use of their Geomancy from the safety of the back lines (although front lines will give them TP a lot faster.) Since they use bells, they could have a symbiotic relationship with Bards and other Geomancers. The weather of Scholars and Dances of Dancers may also be beneficial for them, even though Geomancers are mainly terrain based, not weather based; Native Americans who used rain dances fit the theme, combining all three (weather, dances, axes).

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Love the overall jobs you've explained and planned out thus far but I'm looking forward to seeing what you were thinking in more detail with Geomacer. ^^

(Sorry for double post)