Suggestions for improvements to Geomancer

[Louispv]

I have had SCH since it came out, using it everywhere, and the skill still isn't capped. I don't think you realize just how long it has been taking because of light/dark arts (and even without it, it takes a long time).

You mean the exact same thing every other mage jobs has to do? Except to a lesser degree because of a lower skill cap to reach in the first place?

Thanks for the advice Mom, but maybe you forgot that stuff about appropriate level mobs. To get skill ups I have to fight stuff that will eat me alive without real crowd control. /SCH works well enough while I wait a few more years for the occasional 0.1s to show themselves.

You have to cast on things appropriate to your skill level, i.e. things you will have absolutely no trouble dealing with, because you have enough skill to deal with them+ level correction and higher stats on your side.

Or learn to play the game. Go to abyssea ulegeurand range and ignore everything I just said. Turn off arts, eat pitarus, cast spell on worms that can't hit you. Problem solved, you can stop complaining how terrible you are.

I'd just like to see GEO get healing magic skill natively. You have to stand next to the enemies anyway and you sure as hell aren't contributing anything useful with nukes or melee while you stand around. I'd like to say give them the cura spells and let them keep the melees alive while they keep debuffs up, heck maybe even let curas hit the Luopans as well. But considering how Cura spells were wasted and given to WHM, and only having them work when under afflatus misery, there'd need to be work-arounds there. I guess normal cures would work too.

[Alhanelem]

You have to cast on things appropriate to your skill level, i.e. things you will have absolutely no trouble dealing with, because you have enough skill to deal with them+ level correction and higher stats on your side.

Or learn to play the game. Go to abyssea ulegeurand range and ignore everything I just said. Turn off arts, eat pitarus, cast spell on worms that can't hit you. Problem solved, you can stop complaining how terrible you are.

I'd just like to see GEO get healing magic skill natively. You have to stand next to the enemies anyway and you sure as hell aren't contributing anything useful with nukes or melee while you stand around. I'd like to say give them the cura spells and let them keep the melees alive while they keep debuffs up, heck maybe even let curas hit the Luopans as well. But considering how Cura spells were wasted and given to WHM, and only having them work when under afflatus misery, there'd need to be work-arounds there. I guess normal cures would work too.

Your bashing of me is irrelevant to this thread, so please take it elsewhere. The rest of the thread had long since moved on from that debate.

GEO doesn't need native healing abilities. The job isn't designed with healing in mind and isn't in any way shape or form the role they envisioned, intended or even pretended it could fufill, and there are plenty of other healing-capable jobs available. The useful function you're supposed to be contributing is buffing / debuffing, which in certain situations it does very well. The primary difficulty the job faces is adapting to situations where you can't stay in one place very long. I agree that it's a joke the job gets only IV magic and self-centered AoEs with relatively limited skill even when capped. They could give it tier V and ga IV / ja and it wouldn't hold a candle to BLM, so I don't know what they were thinking in not including those.

A radical transformation in role is extremely unlikely, the only thing that's realistically possible is adjusting the job to reliably carry out the role it was made for and to be able to do so in more situations.

[Lithera]

Yes the job is new, but that doesn't mean it can't have any problems doing what SE intended it to do. I only have it at 40 via duoing with my husband's Run in areas or near one that has my next geocolour spell in it. It's easy to keep him or a mob within the bubbles when it's just us but toss in other people and you start having problems. I already know the problems I'm going to face at a higher lv with Geo because I deal with them on whm n cor when I do rolls or boost spells. Geo right now is like Blu before you get a refresh spell with how badly some of the spells cost. Also you wouldn't think four seconds would take so long but holy crap is it hard to solo on this job even vs dc mobs when you are in need of putting up a spell. So yes the job needs some help.

[Elexia]

All they really need based on from watching my brother in some events:

1. Luopan management. While the HP is based on your skill level, it's still fairly low that it can get wiped out by pretty much any severely damaging AoE. Seems that it needs a tad bit higher HP and it can't be considered broken, given how beastly BST pets are (obviously, but in terms of mechanics all pets could handle having higher bit of HP natively.)

2. Luopan Effects. They can't be resisted unless they're naturally resistant to it (i.e Shiva and Paralyze will never mingle) but it also seems like they wear off fairly quickly after the monster/player leaves the sphere effect so probably make the "leaving ticks" last a bit longer or a way to increase the radius. They're perfect for stationary fights, but fights where the mob needs to be respositioned occasionally or happen to run after mages and everyone else reposition, it can be annoying.

3. Closure effects in general. While potent, many seem to still be a tad bit on the light side. 31 hp/tic regen (with capped merits) is very nice and 6 mp/tic refresh (I believe) is also very nice, but the issue is again the sphere radius and ticks upon leaving them. This makes Geo pretty much useless on kite based fights (unless you happen to set up a team of geomancers to lay down luopans in the kite path so it always has ticks of w/e debuff on it but that isn't likely) just honestly, if you can cast a luopan on a mob, maybe add something where you can cause it to "stick" to them or take the aura with them (which gets rid of the luopan?)

4. Native skills. Elemental Magic, good. Dark Magic, great. But as stated, Enfeebling crowd control. This is the only fundamental issue Geo has as a mage. Every mage including Corsair (non mage but buffer) has a proper ability to CC. Soa s suggested, most likely a Sleepra or hell even a Geo-Closure sleep would do given how people still generally pull mobs to x spot.

5. Spellcost. Unless AF/Relic/Empyrean armor is going to heavily reduce it or manage it, everything is too expensive. I can lop off a chunk of mobs HP with AM II for less MP than someone can on Geo just getting a buff/debuff up at higher levels.

[Quetzacoatl]

You cant make suggestions on a job that nobody knows how to play the job is too new, and it has no real gear. Your prob burnt your job either via ground of valor alliance or aby alliance SE really never makes a bad job in fact when people learn how to play it SE ends up lowering its stats. Why? because it was too strong. They have done this time and time again with almost every single job.

Lol wut

Yes I burned GEO, yet I capped my skills and still know how to play the job. Apparently this is a foreign concept to you. Right now RUN is a struggling job, and not because of people knowing how to play it. If you want to question how I level, that's fine and dandy, but please don't assume that everyone is sluggish in catching on with how new jobs are played.

In fact, I think GEO is pretty easy to play as it is right now, we'll have to see how merit abilities can add some depth to it

[Okipuit]

Implementation of Clear Mind as a Job Trait should also be added to GEO.

We will be implementing this!

Honestly my main issue right now is just the long cast time and high MP cost of geocolure spells (luopans). I would not be bothered that much having to dispel them and summon them again if the party moves, but the fact that it takes so long and takes a huge amount of MP for the debuffs makes usage of the job very difficult in events where parties move around a lot.

Geo-spell casting times are currently being looked into. While it won't be through a fast cast job trait, spell casting time will be reduced further through abilities, gear, or other methods.

Since Geo-spells consume a lot of MP, we will be easing up on the HP loss for luopons, and making it possible for the user to give it HP. We'll also be making it possible to reduce the cool downs on Life Cycle and Lasting Emanation via merit points. Also, we're enhancing the conserve MP trait to increase the frequency it activates.

[Merton9999]

We will be implementing this!



Geo-spell casting times are currently being looked into. While it won't be through a fast cast job trait, spell casting time will be reduced further through abilities, gear, or other methods.

Since Geo-spells consume a lot of MP, we will be be easing up on the HP loss for luopons, and making it possible for the user to give it HP. We'll also be making it possible to reduce the cool downs on Life Cycle and Lasting Emanation via merit points. Also, we're enhancing the conserve MP trait to increase the frequency it activates.

Thanks, Okipuit! This all sounds good. Playing with GEO is keeping me active for now (we'll see if Reive changes make them fun), so any improvements you can make to the job are welcome.

In addition to these I'm also hoping for adjustments that make the job useful for more than just alliances. I realize not every job can be appropriate for duo or low-man situations, but it's still my hope for GEO. Any hints on a sleepra or a similar dark magic based sleep spell???

[Lithera]

Yay! Thank you, Geos everywhere will rejoice about this good news.

[Hayward]

This likely won't make it into the final cutdown, but it would be nice if GEO got Indi-/Geo-spells that inflicted Amnesia or Plague and provided Regain status (before anyone freaks out and has SCH flashbacks, remember luopans can't move and Indi-spells' radii aren't very wide).

[Quetzacoatl]

I'm excited to see these additions and changes. However, I'm still left wanting to see how Geomancer will be able to be on par with BRD and COR, as far as party buffing goes. Currently, the only reason to bring a Geomancer in the first place, is mainly for Defense Down with Geo-Frailty on high-end NMs. While I have no complaints about having my Geomancer be brought into endgame content for any reason, a support job usually has more to its design than just one niche purpose, and I think everyone can agree on that.

Forgive me if I come off as impatient. I just want to be able to provide all the support I can offer, to help make the job very powerful for party play and endgame events. We've seen a couple of new jobs often pushed away for their lack of unique contributions in an 18-person group. I won't say which, but to say the least, I'm putting my hopes into Geomancer breaking that trend.

This likely won't make it into the final cutdown, but it would be nice if GEO got Indi-/Geo-spells that inflicted Amnesia or Plague and provided Regain status (before anyone freaks out and has SCH flashbacks, remember luopans can't move and Indi-spells' radii aren't very wide).

They've already confirmed Regain at VanaFest 2012, that much is certain.