Time Mage

[jeffanddane]

Recall and warp I think would be obvious Time Mage spells.

[Nacht]

Time mage also takes half as long to level. lol

No, your level 90 time mage self travels back from the future, so you're already level 90 when you unlock the job.

[Chronofantasy]

I know this topic is buried a few days back, but seeing how the mods/devs are replying back to some topics. I was wondering if there may be any planning for a Time Mage job or even anymore jobs in the future?

[TimeMage]

Oh, please. As explained before the idea of this particular job added is pretty much impossible. Would require a complete revamp of basically all the other mages to fit in.

[Coldbrand]

They're actually planning the Time Mage job from the future.

Oh, please. As explained before the idea of this particular job added is pretty much impossible. Would require a complete revamp of basically all the other mages to fit in.

Because there's no overlap between other casters already!

[Miiyo]

And RDM was never heard from again...

lol. where's the "like" button for this comment.

[Venrymel]

Okay, here; this is what I came up with. I haven't messed with it much since the Lv75 genkai break.

—Attributes
-Hit Points
Suggested as average for any Race/Job.

-Magic Points
Very low. A Galka at Lv1 to be able to cast only one spell. MP cost of spells a little high, especially given low MP. I.E.: If a Lv1 Galka has MP6, the spell available at that level cost 5.

-Strength
Lowest of all Job/Race combinations. Lv75 individual hits not 0, but insignificant.

-Dexterity
Lowest of all Job/Race combinations.

-Agility
High for a mage (similar to Evasion).

-Mind / Intelligence
Slightly higher than Scholar (without Arts), but not near any other job.

---
All Time Mage specific Spells and Abilities suggested to generate unusually high enmity, especially among Beastmen.
---

—Suggested Combat Skill:
-Club: The only natural damage-related skill. Among the lowest ratings.

-Evasion
High for any job (i.e. comparable to Thief).

—Proposed Equipment:
-Weapons
A specific kind of club; only ones with very low Damage and which offer MP only or only a small boost to other attributes to be considered useless to a Time Mage (an extra point or two in Mind or Intelligence at higher than Lv15). Perhaps permit increases to Charisma and/or decreases to Enmity.

-Various Armor
Only light cloth types of robes and other equipment to offer very little Defense. Gear such as Lv29 ‘Seer’s Tunic’ which gives MP8 and healing MP+1; instead of DEF:18, here, something closer to 10 or lower.

Or, perhaps Time Mage can wear heavy armor for Lv1-5, leather type for Lv7-10, then cloth only (if only to make solo Lv1-10 possible).

Various clothing which offers large boosts to Agility.

Artifact gear that gives MP more than anything else, but also offers a reduction in Enmity; if not, then a marked increase. Gear such as to make Galka and Elvaan Race Specific Equipment better by debatable preference.

—Suggested Magic Skill:
While various spells exist that a Time Mage might have; I suggest that they be the only reason for Time Mage to have Enhancing and Enfeebling Magic skill ratings. These skills are suggested to be capped rather low. Any new spells be part of ‘Time Magic’; having a very high skill rating. (Thus, Scholar abilities for AoE will not have the opportunity to affect any Time Magic specific spells.)

Perhaps only pre-existing spells performable by Time Mage be identified as 'white' or 'black'. Perhaps the new spells’ color in menus is distinctively gray; not based on any element in the game.

—Proposed Traits:
-Existing Types
Clear Mind I; Lv33
Clear Mind II; Lv60

Evasion Bonus I; Lv25
Evasion Bonus II; Lv65

Fast Cast I; Lv15
Fast Cast II; Lv35
Fast Cast III; Lv55

Resist Gravity I; Lv20
Resist Gravity II; Lv50
Resist Gravity III; Lv75

Resist Slow I; Lv5
Resist Slow II; Lv30
Resist Slow III; Lv70
Resist Slow IV; Merit?

-Job Specific
Impel; Lv38
Could double Compel’s effects; both time removed and recast.

Drive Boost; Lv45
Doubles ALL attributes of a Drive spell; requirements, affects, possible duration.

Displace; Lv70
Permits Compel to be cast on party members; doubles recast if used. Similarly affects generated enmity.

—Proposed Job Abilities:
-Double Cast; 2-hour
Permits the Time Mage to be casting two spells simultaneously for the duration of the effect. The casting of each spell is to remain independent—in other words: the mage need not identify a pair of spells before initiating. As each spell ends (presumably while another is still casting) a new one can be initiated. Re/cast (perhaps as an added effect by Merit) during the effect of the ability to be reduced by some percentage. Cannot be the target of Time Magic spells for the duration of the effect; removes any of these upon activation.

-Compels
Abilities with shared recast timers. Self target only. Perhaps introduce Merits to reduce recast. - Removes an amount of time from all current recasts being suffered. AND/OR The activation of this ability produces an effect valid for only the proceeding spell or ability. If two versions of each iteration, differentiate by an added suffix.

-Compel I; Lv15
Time removed: 5 seconds; Recast: 1 minute

-Compel II; Lv60
Time removed: 15 seconds; Recast: 2 minutes 30 seconds (time given without ‘Impel’)

Given the duality of all Time Magic-specific spells, perhaps enforce an affect where opposing spells modify one another’s re/cast time and include that Double Cast negates this.

—Proposed Spells --- Absolutely No Area of Effect
All spells for a Time Mage to pertain, specifically, to time with the possibility of a 'Comet' Merit. Existing time-type spells to be described as uncharacteristic manipulations, by comparison; that only Time Magic spells are true forms of this capability.

-Existing Spells
All of these suggested to have noticeably reduced benefit when cast by Time Mage.

Slow; Lv11

Regen; Lv19

Gravity; Lv31

Haste; Lv38

Regen II; Lv45

Regen III; Lv71

Refresh; Lv74

-New Spells
Suggest the possibility that duration be similar in variance to spells as with Sneak and Invisible. Low-level MP costs at a 4/5 or 9/10 ratio to average Lv1 max MP. (Galka might require a specific subjob to have enough MP to cast the Lv1 spell.)

Suggested that Time Magic spells’ affects be connected to Time Magic skill in such a way that the benefit of using Time Mage as a subjob be quite small. Perhaps spells’ duration is also connected.

Only one Time Magic effect can be active on a target. Any Time Magic spell will over-write another. Time Magic (offensive or defensive) overwrites any existing time-altering affect, but only if the Time Magic spell will have a greater affect. I.E.: Urge (10%) will overwrite Urge (14%), but not Slow (12%).

Targets are ‘any party member’ or ‘ally NPC’ (described below as ‘Party’) or ‘enemy’, only (if not designated as self-target).

Offensive spells generate enmity, twice: at initiation of and upon casting.

Times in seconds are given without the effect bestowed by Fast Cast or similar.

Drives --- Self-Target Only
Increase all aspects' speed (attack, movement, cast, recast). If variable duration, Drive V’s duration of affect be little more dependable than Drive I.

-Drive I; Lv1 --- MP = x ("x" for relative purposes revealed further down)
Casting Time: 0.5 seconds; Recast Time: 60 seconds
Attack speed +5%, casting time -2%, recast -1%, movement +1%
(Given variable duration, effect could wear off before recast is up.)

-Vex; Lv6
Casting Time: 2 seconds; Recast Time: 90 seconds
Enemy: Movement speed is reduced. (Gravity, when first obtained, should have greater affect; but be out-done somewhen before Lv75 or Lv99.)

-Urge; Lv8
Casting Time: 4 seconds; Recast Time: 25 seconds
Party: Attack speed increased by 2%. By Lv75, increase is 20%.

-Drive II; Lv17 --- MP = 2x
Casting Time: 1 second; Recast Time: 90 seconds
Attack speed +7%, casting time -4%, recast -2%, movement +5%

-Rivet; Lv24
Casting Time: 4.25 seconds; Recast Time: 30 seconds
Party: Casting time of spells reduced by 3%. By Lv75, reduction is 18%.

-Confuse; Lv35
Casting Time: 3.5 seconds; Recast Time: 30 seconds
Enemy: Attack speed reduced by an amount slightly more than Slow. By Lv75, reduction is 25-30%. Target’s attacks become stronger for a variable, limited time; regardless of Confuse’s success.

-Drive III; Lv39 --- MP = 4x
Casting Time: 3 seconds; Recast Time: 2.5 minutes
Attack speed +9%, casting time -6%, recast -3%, movement +10%

-Alleviate; Lv41
Casting Time: 6 seocnds; Recast Time: 1.5 minutes
Party: Decrease rate of Damage over Time effects. Causes ‘miss’ chance for –na spells.

-Mitigate; Lv50
Casting Time: 8 seconds; Recast Time: 5 minutes
Party: Recast time of any spell or ability reduced.

-Mute; Lv56
Casting Time: 12 seconds; Recast Time: 5 minutes
Enemy: For the duration of this status, target may not cast any spell more than once. Perhaps, instead, this spell could extend (or in the case of some bosses, introduce) recast. As a multiplier, say by a factor of 4.

-Drive IV; Lv60 --- MP = 5x (does not include Drive Boost’s affect)
Casting Time: 5 seconds; Recast Time: 3 minutes
Attack speed +20%, casting time -8%, recast -5%, movement +25%

-Energize; Lv61
Casting Time: 8 seconds; Recast Time: 2.5 minutes
Party: Increase the speed of HP/MP restorative effects.

-Stupor; Lv65
Enemy: Spell casting time increased; chance of enemy’s spells’ success increased.

-Burden; Lv70
Enemy: Increase the speed of Damage over Time effects. Chance of duplicating status to caster.

-Yen; Lv73
Casting Time: 10 seconds; Recast Time: 2 minutes
Party: Movement speed increased by 30%.

-Drive V; Lv75 --- MP = 10x (does not include Drive Boost’s affect)
Casting Time: 10 seconds; Recast: 3.5 minutes
Attack speed +40%, casting time -10%, recast -7%, movement +50%

-Muffle; Lv75-Merit (the opposite of Drive)
Enemy: Decrease all aspects’ speed. 20-30 minute recast.

[Venrymel]

(EDIT: To sum up:)

I didn't work very hard on total balance, just did enough to get an idea of things like lengthy casting times mitigated by the job's own abilities.

I was also thinking there could be some Job Abilities to allow "Throwing" to be deadly accurate, but have it based on planetary movement such that there are two abilities: One learned very early so that standing east of a target is required. The Time mage is "stopping" the object so that it hits its target incredibly hard. The second ability, learned near level cap, allowing the Time Mage to push the "thrown" object forward. This way, a set of abilities is required to give Time Mage any significant damage opportunities. Recasts of these abilities will, of course, need to be quite high.

From this idea, I thought it wouldn't bee too much of a stretch to have "Comet". A high level spell that alters time around an object in space to align its trajectory to that of the enemy target's location.

I wanted to remove the "space" aspect from previous incarnations of Time Mage and make it all be explained by manipulating time somehow.

EDIT: Also, I basically wanted them to be incredibly weak, valuable only by the manipulations they can cast on others. Agility and evasion, however, be high enough that most hits would miss them, but their weaknesses mean those few hits will hurt big time. As I said elsewhere, I thought a full alliance of them would be able to tackle Dynamis at about Lv75; maybe stretch that up to Lv99, instead.

MP very low, with lots of equipment for boosting that. Make their lengthy casting times and recast timers require very careful use of the abilities that relieve those burdens.

[Miiyo]

I see... a deadly move called... "Future Sight" from pokemon! lol

[kingfury]

I wanted to remove the "space" aspect from previous incarnations of Time Mage and make it all be explained by manipulating time somehow.

--------
Say Whah?!! If the Devs did in fact consider this mage, the control of "Physical Space" would be it's most defining feature compared to other mages in FFXI. Just to clarify again:

Posted back on post 113:
"when it says "Time and Space" I don't think it's literally referring to "Outer Space" but rather "Physical Space" as in "the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction" in terms of them casting Meteor. It would mean they would probably distort the physical space on or around a meteor to port it on top of the unfortunate head of whoever they don't like lol For instance:
Their Spell "Float" description: "Time Magic distorts "space", allowing self or an ally to float 1h above the ground." This refers to Physical Space ^^ Cool as heck if you ask me, and they would make pimp mages for FFXI."

In case you missed it, here's my post about the possible Spells they could cast focusing only on the control of physical space: Battle Related Spells These would be everything but weak though in my mind, and I could see most of these spells having double or triple tiers to them that would rival even BLMs dmg potential ^^/