Mediator Job - Role:Tank

Mediator Job (Role: Tank)
Weapons - Walking sticks
Heavy armors

Main attribute: (VIT/INT)

Mediators are the men and women trained in the arts of charisma and coercion, trained not to fight with foes using brute force, but by talking. These natural diplomats, can come into terms (Or not) with any creature in the universe, of any kind, due to the mystical power of understanding the soul crystal of the mediator concedes. With their amazing speechcraft they provoke foes attention and discourse with them so that their allies can effectively execute their roles, while the mediator confabulate with the enemy about numerous subjects.

Lv.1 – Grumble
(80TP) (Target, Melee range, 4y radius) [GCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 60. (80TP)
(Additional effect - Increases Enmity in the target and in the enemies nearby)

Lv.2 - Growl
(80TP) (Self, 4y radius AoE) [GCD]
Increases enmity in all nearby enemies using your speechcraft.
(Combo Action: Grumble)
(Combo Bonus: Increases the radius of the effect by 4y and the enmity generated)
(Additional effect - Pacification 3s)

Lv.4 - Insult
(70TP) (Target, Ranged, 8y) [GCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 120.
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 150.

Lv.6 - Affront
(60TP) (Target, Ranged 8y) [GCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 60.
(Combo Action: Insult)
(Combo Potency: 180)
(Combo Potency: 200)
(Combo Bonus: Increased Enmity)


Lv.8 - Deep words
(Self, Buff) (140s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Self, Buff) (80s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Increases the potency of all your speechcraft skills by 40.
(Duration: 15s)

Lv.10 – Whisper
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (90s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Self, 6y radius) (80s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Decreases the damage the target deals to you by 20%
Decreases the damage all targets in a 6y radius deal to you by 25%.
(Duration: 15s)

Lv.12 – Beg
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (90s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Decreases the damage the enemy deals to you and your party members by 5%)
(Duration: 6s)

Lv.15 - Soothing speech
(Self, 20y radius) (140s Cooldown) (Channeled) [OGCD]
(Self, 20y radius) (100s Cooldown) (Channeled) [OGCD]
Increases healing efficiency by 5% to all party members in range, And heal yourself.
(Duration: 20s)
(Heal Potency: 400

Lv.18 – Bribe
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (110s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Ensures that the next 3 auto-attacks the target does will miss.

Lv.22 - Point out
(Friendly target buff, 20y) (240s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Friendly target buff, 20y) (200s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Points out a party member, who will have a portion of the enmity he generates to you.

Lv.26 - Grieve
(60TP) (Target, Ranged, 8y) [GCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 40.
(Combo Action: Affront)
(Combo Potency: 220)
(Combo Potency: 230)
(Combo Bonus: Increased Enmity)
(Combo Bonus: 25% of chance that the next 'Grumble' will cost no TP and generate doubled enmity)

Lv.30 - Tedious speech
(Self, 20y radius) (220s cooldown) (Channeled) [OGCD]
(Self, 20y radius) (180s cooldown) (Channeled) [OGCD]
All enemies in range will fall asleep. After the sleep effect wears off, or if the enemies are immune to sleep, they receive the bored affliction.
-Sleep duration: 18s (PvP 8s)(Unable to act due to induced limberness)
-Bored duration: 14s (PvP 8s)(Auto-attack potency reduced by 25%, and attack speed/Skill speed/Spell speed reduced by 10%)

Lv.30 - Extrovert
(Self, Buff) (15s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Every speechcraft skill now loses the enmity generation additional effect, while increasing their base potency by 40, and also increases the potency and frequency of auto attacks by 20%. Cannot stack with the ‘Introvert’ buff.

Lv.34 - Offensive message
(Target, Ranged, 16y) (30s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Target, Ranged, 16y) (24s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 150.
(Additional Effect: Increased Enmity)

Lv.35 – Ludicrous intervention
(Target, Ranged, 16y) (15s Cooldown) [GCD]
Stuns the enemy, and after the stun duration wears off adds the effect of ‘Laughing’.
-Stun duration: 6s (PvP 3s) (Makes the target unable to act for a short duration)
-Laughing duration: 6s (Makes the target immune to speechcraft skills)


Lv.38 – Serious intervention
(Target, Ranged, 16y) (80s Cooldown) [GCD]
(Target, Ranged, 16y) (60s Cooldown) [GCD]
Stun and Silence the enemy, and after both effects wears off, adds the effect of ‘Scared’.
-Stun duration: 4s (PvP 2s) (Makes the target unable to act for a short duration)
-Silence duration: 6s (PvP 4s) (Makes the target unable to use spells for a short duration)
-Scared duration: 12s (PvP 20s) (The next speechcraft skill used on the target have doubled effect)

Lv.40 - Introvert
(Self, Buff) (15s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Every time you use a speechcraft skill when under the effect of this effect, all of the attacking potencies are nullified and transferred to pure enmity generation. And every ability you use, will also gain the additional effect of 'Handler'. Cannot stack with the ‘Extrovert’ buff.
-Handler duration: 10s (PvP 30s) (Decreases the damage dealt to you by all enemies by 15%)
-Handler duration: 15s (PvP 30s) (Decreases the damage dealt to you by all enemies by 15%)


Lv.42 – Unbeliever
(Self, Buff) (60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Removes one detrimental effect from yourself.

Lv.45 - Perceiving (Self, Buff)
(60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(30s Cooldown) [OGCD]
When used under the effect of ‘Extrovert’, removes the potency increase aspect of the buff Reduces the potency that extrovert condedes to 20, and in exchange regain the additional enmity generation of speechcraft skills.
When used under the effect of ‘Introvert’, Doubles the enmity generation of speechcraft skills, and increases the range of all your speechcraft skills by 8y, but reduces the ‘Handler’ effect duration to 10s. (PvP 28s) but reduces the ‘Handler’ effect duration to 9s. (PvP 20s)
Cannot stack with the effect of ‘Judging’.

Lv.48 – Mockery
(Self, 8y radius AoE) (Cooldown 30s) [OGCD]
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 120.
(Additional effect: Increased Enmity)
(Additional effect: Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 35, Duration 18s)


Lv.50 - Judging
(Self, Buff) (60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
(Self, Buff) (30s Cooldown) [OGCD]
When used under the effect of ‘Extrovert’, further enhances the potency increase to 50, and also adds the 50 potency to all speechcraft skills and abilities that are used in any target, even the ones who don’t deal damage under normal circumstances.
When used under the effect of ‘Introvert’, Halves the enmity generation of your skills but increases the ‘Handler’ effect duration to 20s, Halves the enmity generation of your skills but increases the ‘Handler’ effect duration to 24s while also adding the additional effect of ‘Scared’ to all your speechcraft skills.
-Scared duration: 6s (PvP 12s) (The next speechcraft skill used on the target have doubled effect)
Cannot stack with the effect of ‘Perceiving’.

Lv.50 - Persuasive Maneuver
(Self, Buff) (340s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Persuades all foes in a 12y radius to ignore you, making most attacks deal zero damage to yourself. When the effect ends, you will also receive a bonus in enmity to the foes according to the damage that you avoided during the effect duration, but the enemies that you persuaded will be immune to speechcraft skills for 15s.
(Duration: 6s)

Lv.52 – Torturing speech
(Self, 20y radius) (Channeled) (280s cooldown) [OGCD]
(Self, 20y radius) (Channeled) (200s cooldown) [OGCD]
All the enemies in the range will receive 10% more damage for 15s.

Lv.54 – Charity
(120TP) (Target, Ranged, 16y) (40s Cooldown) [GCD]
(160TP) (Target, Ranged, 16y) (24s Cooldown) [GCD]
Can only be used when under the effect of ‘Perceiving’
Heals a party member or yourself, while also removing a detrimental effect.
Heal potency: 800
Heal potency: 1000

Lv.56 – Death Sentence
(120TP)(Target, Ranged, 8y) (30s Cooldown) [GCD]
Can only be used when under the effect of ‘Judging’
Delivers an speechcraft attack with a potency of 150.
(Additional effect: Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 80, Duration 12s)

Lv.58 – Word of Law
(Target, Ranged, 8y) (100s Cooldown) [GCD]
Make an ally unable to use abilities, while increasing his spells and weaponskills damage by 40%, duration 10s


Lv.60 – Coup d’etat
(Self, Buff) (360s Cooldown) [OGCD]
All the damage the enemies deals to you is stored during 15s. Once the duration is over, you gain the effect of invincible for 10s. After the invincible effect is over, you get a damage over time debuff that deals all the damage stored previously to you, in a course of 25s. The damage stored is divided to be caused evenly during the effect of the debuff.
After you receive all the damage from the debuff, you gain a 30% damage up to all your speechcraft skills, and a 15% damage reduction to all incoming damage to you, but you lose the effects of ‘Extrovert’, ‘Introvert’, ‘Judging’ and ‘Perceiving’, and their respective cooldowns activate.

Traits:

Lv.8 Enhanced Vitality I
Increases your vitality by 2.

Lv.14 Enhanced Intelligence I
Increases your intelligence by 2.

Lv.16 Enhanced Vitality II
Increases your vitality by 4.

Lv.20 Enhanced Intelligence II
Increases your intelligence by 4.

Lv.24 Louder Insult
Increases the range of Insult to 16y.

Lv.28 Gossip
Decreases the cooldown of Whisper to 60s

Lv.32 Point out more
Decreases the cooldown of Point out to 140s.

Lv.36 Enhanced Vitality III
Increases your Vitality by 6.

Lv.40 Enhanced Intelligence III
Increases your Intelligence by 6.

Lv.44 Offender
Reduces the cooldown of Offensive message to 15s.

Lv.48 Atheist
Unbeliever now removes up to three detrimental effects from yourself.

So basically if you hurt the feelings of a Treant or a Boar enough, it will drop dead?

I support this. I used that Job in
Final Fantasy Tactics a lot. However, I'm not sure about it being a tank, but I do recall Mediators having access to Bravery and Faith.

I support and am a huge fan of any staple job concept (jobs/classes that have already appeared within the franchise. (If Word of Law is a shout out to FFT, then that skill is bananas. <3) With that said, I'm big into the idea of keeping such concepts true to their lore and well-balanced with the system SE has already established in FFXIV. Honestly, I'm a bit iffy with the idea of the Mediator (MDT) being a tank job. I find it to be a support DPS at best. However, I'm enthusiastic about looking outside the box for class concepts and this does so completely. I'm unsure if this is supposed to be a DPS tank (like other tanks generally) or if it's supposed to be a support tank (takes damage but does not deliver a lot). It seems to lack many qualities to put it on par with the other tanks, such as attack potencies and certain skills or cooldowns and we've just seen what a tiny difference in potency can do between healers; before the buff, Benefic (380 potency) and Benefic II (620 potency) was just a prolonged death sentence compared to Cure (400 potency) and Cure II (650 potency). The potency difference won't make such a difference on DPS actions I realize, however many tanks choose DPS builds instead of the normal support functions that is the tank build; a playstyle that may render MDT a rarity in content.

As a support tank

I assume this a support tank because it's attacks, for which there are few, are low in potency, and it has many buffs and indirect functions. It also has a speechcraft skill that causes Laughing, which in turn renders the target immune to your attacks. A huge DPS no no me therefore a support ability. It has intelligence traits which brings to mind the idea of casting. (Are speechcrafts casted? While being hit? They'd better be instant casts like weaponskills which I assume they are since only Tedious Speech and Soothing Speech are "channeled"). The biggest issue with this concept as a support tank is that it needs more cooldowns that actually reduce damage taken, a lot of them, and powerful ones. If a tank is to take lots of damage but not deliver a comparable amount of DPS as other tanks, it's usefulness should be in its defenses and enmity generation that allow the healer to make up the difference in DPS and allow the DPS to attack without worry of getting too much hate. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this concept only has 5 cooldowns that reduce damage taken—Whisper, Beg, Bribe, Tedious Speech and Introvert—the first 4 of which have a short duration of 15s or less and a high cooldown of 90s or higher, ,past of which seem underwhelming.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.10 – Whisper
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (90s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Decreases the damage the target deals to you by 20%)
(Duration: 15s)

---

• Whisper would be MDT's answer to Shadowskin and Rampart which are 20% damage reductions cast on self but instead it is cast on a single target at a 90s cooldown. This means only that one target is dealing less damage to you. Don't forget, tanks are intended to take ALL DAMAGE unless the mechanics require otherwise, and thusly they need to reduce all incoming damage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.12 – Beg
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (90s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Decreases the damage the enemy deals to you and your party members by 5%)
(Duration: 6s)

---

• Beg reduces damage received by 5% to all party members in range, making it actually worse than Foresight. It may actually reduce the least amount of damage in the game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.18 – Bribe
(Target, Melee range, debuff) (110s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Ensures that the next 3 auto-attacks the target does will miss.

---

• Bribe ensures the next three auto attacks miss. It's could very well be the MDT version of Awareness; not exactly useless, but not exactly a tank-maker.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.30 - Tedious speech
(Self, 20y radius) (220s cooldown) (Channeled) [OGCD]
All enemies in range will fall asleep. After the sleep effect wears off, enemies will receive the bored affliction.
-Sleep duration: 18s (PvP 8s)(Unable to act due to induced limberness)
-Bored duration: 14s (PvP 8s)(Auto-attack potency reduced by 25%, and attack speed/Skill speed/Spell speed reduced by 10%)

---

• Tedious Speech casts Sleep, which often is useless in real content. When the target wakes, the receive Boredom, which lowers action speed, useful. But is this only effective if the target had slept?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.40 - Introvert
(Self, Buff) (15s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Every time you use a speechcraft skill when under the effect of this effect, all of the attacking potencies are nullified and transferred to pure enmity generation. And every ability you use, will also gain the additional effect of 'Handler'. Cannot stack with the ‘Extrovert’ buff.
-Handler duration: 10s (PvP 30s) (Decreases the damage dealt to you by all enemies by 15%)

---

• The one remaining cooldown, Introvert, does essentially do its job well and potentially better than any other defensive cooldown by giving all skills the ability to lower the target's damage output to you. Cycle through targets, or use an AOE (which I don't believe you have) every so often and incoming damage is decreased greatly. However, it's undercut dramatically by naturally taking away the potency of all skills rendering you unable to attack while under it until you acquire Judging at level 50. That may not be worth a 15% damage reduction for only 10s.

As a DPS tank

However if this is to be considered alike the current tanks, the issues are numerous:
While the lore of your MDT job does conceptually reflect FFXIV tradition, it does not seem balanced with the other tanks if it's meant to be DPS, and balance is something that leans toward finite in this MMO.

The balance system is easiest to understand amongst tanks. Each class/job has these:

• Naturally learned skills at levels 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50
• Quested jobs at levels 15, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60
• Traits at levels 8, 14, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48. All classes/jobs have 3 traits improving their imperative base attribute by 2, 4 and 6. Thus far, all tanks have VIT traits
• Extra skills beyond these which pertain to the class/job's concept or gimmick may vary by level learned, are only able to be used through a job-specific mechanic, and aren't counted as character abilities learned by level: (SUM/SCH's egi skillsets, AST's cards, NIN's mudras.)
• With the sole exception of the Machinist, each class/job has at least one action used to heal itself whether earned naturally, quested or through cross. This skill is always accessible by level 2 (Cure, Benefic; PAL), 4 (Physick, DOM) or level 8 (Bloodbath, Second Wind: all DOW).

And all tanks all have these:

• A DPS stance whose effect ends upon reuse (PAL: Sword Oath; WAR: Defiance; DRK: Darkside)
• A tank stance whose effect ends upon reuse (PAL: Shield Oath; WAR: Deliverance; DRK: Grit)
• A stun (PAL: Shield Bash; WAR: Brutal Swing; DRK: Low Blow)
• At least one long range attack (PAL: Shield Lob; WAR: Tomahawk; DRK: Plunge)
• An ultimate mitigation technique circa level 50 (PAL: Hallowed Ground; WAR: Holmgang; DRK: Living Dead)
• An average of 9 enmity generating actions
• Three combos containing three skills each, the openers of which have 150 potency and the follow-ups have 100 potency when used incorrectly.
• A way to heal a massive amount of HP circa level 60 (PAL: Clemency; WAR: Equilibrium; DRK: Sole Survivor)

You lack:

• A level 50 skill. You should have 2. One naturally learned, the other quested.
• A way to heal yourself by level 2, 4 or 8. Easily fixed through cross class abilities though no cross classes were put. This is necessary for solo content.
• An ultimate mitigation technique. This can be fixed with the level 50 skill you are missing.
• A way to heal a massive amount of HP circa level 60. PAL can restore 1200 potency to anyone on the GCD and receives 50% of that heal; the strongest heal in the game next to Benediction. WAR can heal with 1200 potency to itself on a 60s cooldown. DRK's situational heal can restore 20% HP on a 15s cooldown but requires another party member. MED's Charity on a 40sCD restores HP with a potency of 800 AND removes a status ailment. I understand that removing any status ailment is a big deal for a non-healer, but at that cooldown, Charity needs its potency raised to be comparable to other tanks. Maybe 1000 if not 1200.
• Three combos containing three skills each, the openers of which have 150 potency. You have one full combo whose potency is very low, but high enough when used under Deep Words and Extrovert + Judging (90 additional potency) —

MDT
Insult 120 + Affront 180 + Grieve 220 = 520
Insult 210 + Affront 270 + Grieve 310 = 790 (Deep Words and Extrovert + Judging)
PAL
Fast Blade 150 + Riot Blade 230 + Goring Blade 220 + 40 DOT 24s = 1160
Fast Blade 150 + Savage Blade 200 + Royal Authority 340 = 690
Fast Blade 150 + Savage Blade 200 + Rage of Halone 260 = 610
WAR
Heavy Swing 150 + Skull Sunder 200 + Butcher's Block 280 = 630
Heavy Swing 150 + Maim 190 + Storm's Eye 270 = 610
Heavy Swing 150 + Maim 190 + Storm's Path 250 = 590
DRK
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Soul Eater 400 = 800 (Dark Arts)
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Delirium 280 = 680
Hard Slash 150 + Spinning Slash 220 + Power Slash 300 = 670
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Soul Eater 260 = 660

• —I fear that normally maintaining 520 potency damage on a combo may not maintain enough enmity over DPS or healers until Deep Words, Extrovert and Judging are all acquired at level 50. Even then, Deep Words has a cooldown which will make you lose the potency you need for 125s after the end of its duration.

Other

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by E_Heavenfelt

Lv.40 - Introvert
(Self, Buff) (15s Cooldown) [OGCD]
Every time you use a speechcraft skill when under the effect of this effect, all of the attacking potencies are nullified and transferred to pure enmity generation. And every ability you use, will also gain the additional effect of 'Handler'. Cannot stack with the ‘Extrovert’ buff.
-Handler duration: 10s (PvP 30s) (Decreases the damage dealt to you by all enemies by 15%)

Lv.45 - Perceiving (Self, Buff)
(60s Cooldown) [OGCD]
When used under the effect of ‘Extrovert’, removes the potency increase aspect of the buff, and in exchange regain the additional enmity generation of speechcraft skills.
When used under the effect of ‘Introvert’, Doubles the enmity generation of speechcraft skills, and increases the range of all your speechcraft skills by 8y, but reduces the ‘Handler’ effect duration to 10s. (PvP 28s)
Cannot stack with the effect of ‘Judging’.

---

Also, Perceiving reduces Handler's effect to 10s. Handler's effect is already 10s. Handler may have an extremely long effect for PVP and I'm unaware of any other action that increases its duration during PVP.

I love this concept and actually do like it as a potential DoM Tank idea but it does for sure need to be a support tank and not a DPS tank, both to distinguish it from other options and to better fit the lore. If a support role is ever added, though, Mediator belongs there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

I support and am a huge fan of any staple job concept (jobs/classes that have already appeared within the franchise. (If Word of Law is a shout out to FFT, then that skill is bananas. <3) With that said, I'm big into the idea of keeping such concepts true to their lore and well-balanced with the system SE has already established in FFXIV. Honestly, I'm a bit iffy with the idea of the Mediator (MDT) being a tank job. I find it to be a support DPS at best. However, I'm enthusiastic about looking outside the box for class concepts and this does so completely. I'm unsure if this is supposed to be a DPS tank (like other tanks generally) or if it's supposed to be a support tank (takes damage but does not deliver a lot). It seems to lack many qualities to put it on par with the other tanks, such as attack potencies and certain skills or cooldowns and we've just seen what a tiny difference in potency can do between healers; before the buff, Benefic (380 potency) and Benefic II (620 potency) was just a prolonged death sentence compared to Cure (400 potency) and Cure II (650 potency). The potency difference won't make such a difference on DPS actions I realize, however many tanks choose DPS builds instead of the normal support functions that is the tank build; a playstyle that may render MDT a rarity in content.

---

Thank you very much for the astounding reply you expressed on my propositions, since it's always through construtive criticism that we can improve our ideas.
Using your toughts I've edited the original post with a maybe better balanced version of my class.

About the theme of the job, Mediator was my personal favourite in Final Fantasy Tactics, since it has a really exotic concept in RPGs in general, even more so since it's a battle class. It was really awesome to have along my knights and mages, a person who would not strike enemies with force, but instead would succesfully talk to them, sometimes being more efficient than having a Samurai cutting their heads off.
About giving Mediator a tank role, I used the fact that Mediators mostly never had a defined role. The only specific characteristic that couldn't be taken off from Mediators were their ability to talk with enemies. So even tought they used guns and daggers and could deal a somewhat efficient ammount of damage, they couldn't be considered a damage dealer class in my opinion, since if you compare Mediator to other damage specific classes, they would lack, a lot. therefore I wouldn't like to ever see a Mediator job who would focus on damage, I personally think it's unfitting. Now if you'd compare it to healer classes like White Mages, it was also lacking even thought in FFT they were a advancement for White Mage, they never were close at all to the magic ratings White Mages had, even if you equipped them with magical oriented equipment, so having Mediator as a healer job wouldn't make a lot of sense either, at least not to me. Now if we get the principle of the tank role in FFXIV, that is to draw enemies attention and to some extent deal damage it makes some sort of sense to Mediator stand on this role, since attention drawing afterall is what makes Mediator unique, this is the logic I use to consider Mediator as a tank job in XIV.

When I started put this class on paper, my intention was to create a new unique tank, who could bring a different toolkit to the table.
Instead of having a extensive raw and sustained damage (WAR), higher defensive capabilities and blocking abilities (PLD), or a higher magical proficiency with both defensive and offensive aspects restrained under a MP management mechanic (DRK), Mediator's toolkit would bring a more support oriented tanking, that has a low damage output, sufficient defensive aspects restrained under the various skills, while standing out when compared with the other tanks for having a higher aggro generation rate. more ranged capabilities, and extensive support abilities, to make out for the low damage output and more locked defensive capabilities. About the decision of using INT/VIT as the main attributes, I'd say that I choose INT because it somewhat can relate more to charisma than does STR, so that's the reasoning, the only skills that are channeled like mages though are the 3 speeches it gets, and all other skills are instant casts that would account INT in the same way STR does for the current tanks.

Now, I have to agree with you that the meta for tanks in FFXIV is their capability of bringing a strong and reliable damage output in their builds, so for Mediator I tried to highly enforce this aspect in other ways to make up for it, like having cooldowns that greatly increase the damage output of other party members, cooldowns similar to the healer exclusive ones like Virus/Disable, and even party-wide healing enhancements, while still being capabe of dealing damage, even if below the average for current tanks.

Now to discuss the specific balance mades I've done after your suggestions:

• Quote:

  ---

  Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

  Whisper would be MDT's answer to Shadowskin and Rampart which are 20% damage reductions cast on self but instead it is cast on a single target at a 90s cooldown. This means only that one target is dealing less damage to you. Don't forget, tanks are intended to take ALL DAMAGE unless the mechanics require otherwise, and thusly they need to reduce all incoming damage.

  ---

  I've changed the effect, cooldown and potency of whisper since it has become it's primary damage reduction skill, that may actually the skill that the class will rely on the most, thus it's in fact undeniable that it needed to be reworked to be more actually pratical in more situations other than situations in where you only have one enemy attacking you.

• Quote:

  ---

  Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

  Beg reduces damage received by 5% to all party members in range, making it actually worse than Foresight. It may actually reduce the least amount of damage in the game.

  ---

  Actually this is skill is there to give Mediators a similar skill in function to Arcanist's Virus and Astrologian's Disable and even in a lesser extent Paladin's Divine Veil. If I were to increase this skill potency, it could cause some greater issues, since if you were to stack all of the party wide mitigation tools (Disable+Virus+Sacred Soil+Wheel of Fortune+Divine Veil ) you would have some exremely high mitigation that could render certain signature moves useless, or could render some party compositionsmandatory in order to survive them.

• Quote:

  ---

  Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

  Bribe ensures the next three auto attacks miss. It's could very well be the MDT version of Awareness; not exactly useless, but not exactly a tank-maker.

  ---

  And that's exactly what I had in mind with this skill. A somwhat inferior cooldown, that is not completely useless, and can alleviate some lesser damage if used right.

• Quote:

  ---

  Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

  Tedious Speech casts Sleep, which often is useless in real content. When the target wakes, the receive Boredom, which lowers action speed, useful. But is this only effective if the target had slept?

  ---

  Yep, it would still work even if the target was immune to sleep, and actually more reliabe if they were, since instead of having to wait the sleep to wear off, or maybe to be interrupted it would make them instantly slower, making it actually a really reliable defensive cooldown.

• Quote:

  ---

  Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

  The one remaining cooldown, Introvert, does essentially do its job well and potentially better than any other defensive cooldown by giving all skills the ability to lower the target's damage output to you. Cycle through targets, or use an AOE (which I don't believe you have) every so often and incoming damage is decreased greatly. However, it's undercut dramatically by naturally taking away the potency of all skills rendering you unable to attack while under it until you acquire Judging at level 50. That may not be worth a 15% damage reduction for only 10s.

  ---

  Extrovert and Introvert are actually the Sword and Shield oath "equivalents" when compared to Paladin. Extrovert is pretty similar to Sword Oath, since it's sole function is to increase damage output. But Introvert is a vastly different defensive stance than Shield Oath, since it doesn't lower your damage, but removes it altogether. Introvert's bonus to enmity would be even greater (Two, or even three times bigger) than Shield Oath's to make up for the damage annulment(Skills would have their effects similar to PLD'S Flash, that doesn't deal damage, and yet generates enmity). Now to maintain the damage reduction effect, you'll need to be constantly engaged with your enemy, since Handler's effect is reapplied every time you cast a speech skill. So you have to 'talk' to your enemy at least once every 5 GCDs to mantain your defense reduction. (15% to be compared with Grit's effect, thus still making PLD have a higher defensive power in the defensive stance.)
  
  Now about AoE I'm pretty sure you missed the first combo:
  Grumble + Growl = 60 potency + Flash equivalent with greater radius and AoE pacification (Shield Swipe).
  60 Potency may be a bit low in fact, but I'm not pretty sure if it could be increased without causing balance issues due to the combo having a AoE Pacification and a high enmity generation at a very low TP cost, when compared to other tanks, that don't even have AoE combos, but a single spammable AoE skill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlueMageQuina

You lack:
-A level 50 skill. You should have 2. One naturally learned, the other quested.

-A way to heal yourself by level 2, 4 or 8. Easily fixed through cross class abilities though no cross classes were put. This is necessary for solo content.

-An ultimate mitigation technique. This can be fixed with the level 50 skill you are missing.

-A way to heal a massive amount of HP circa level 60. PAL can restore 1200 potency to anyone on the GCD and receives 50% of that heal; the strongest heal in the game next to Benediction. WAR can heal with 1200 potency to itself on a 60s cooldown. DRK's situational heal can restore 20% HP on a 15s cooldown but requires another party member. MED's Charity on a 40sCD restores HP with a potency of 800 AND removes a status ailment. I understand that removing any status ailment is a big deal for a non-healer, but at that cooldown, Charity needs its potency raised to be comparable to other tanks. Maybe 1000 if not 1200.

-Three combos containing three skills each, the openers of which have 150 potency. You have one full combo whose potency is very low, but high enough when used under Deep Words and Extrovert + Judging (90 additional potency) —

MDT
Insult 120 + Affront 180 + Grieve 220 = 520
Insult 210 + Affront 270 + Grieve 310 = 790 (Deep Words and Extrovert + Judging)

PAL
Fast Blade 150 + Riot Blade 230 + Goring Blade 220 + 40 DOT 24s = 1160
Fast Blade 150 + Savage Blade 200 + Royal Authority 340 = 690
Fast Blade 150 + Savage Blade 200 + Rage of Halone 260 = 610

WAR
Heavy Swing 150 + Skull Sunder 200 + Butcher's Block 280 = 630
Heavy Swing 150 + Maim 190 + Storm's Eye 270 = 610
Heavy Swing 150 + Maim 190 + Storm's Path 250 = 590

DRK
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Soul Eater 400 = 800 (Dark Arts)
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Delirium 280 = 680
Hard Slash 150 + Spinning Slash 220 + Power Slash 300 = 670
Hard Slash 150 + Syphon Strike 250 + Soul Eater 260 = 660


— I fear that normally maintaining 520 potency damage on a combo may not maintain enough enmity over DPS or healers until Deep Words, Extrovert and Judging are all acquired at level 50. Even then, Deep Words has a cooldown which will make you lose the potency you need for 125s after the end of its duration.

---

Alright, so I've made some changes to fit all you mentioned and some more.

-As way to heal yourself at lower levels, I've a added a Second Wind equivalent potency to Soothing speech.
-I can't see how I missed one skill completely... So in response to that I've added Persuasive Maneuver at Lv.50 as the ultimate mitigation technique. It works more similarly to Holmgang than it does to Hallowed Ground, but it's unique and it's effect is the capability to survive most attacks during a short duration, like every other skill.
-As the healing skill, I've decreased the cooldown to Charity and increased it's potency to 1000, to make it a middle ground heal, with the unique aspect to remove a ailment, I presume now with a little higher potency and shorter cooldown it can be a really usefull skill. I've increased the TP required a little, but TP shouldn't be a huge problem due to the periods Mediator is not allowed to use skills, TP shouldn't be a problem.
-As for the three combos, I've increased a little of the potency to reflect the other classes, and you forgot to mention the AoE combo I've put in lower levels that is unique to MDT, since PLD/DRK/WAR only have one GCD skill each that is an AoE spammable, none of them have a 2 step combo like I did for MDT. and now it should look like this:

Insult 150 + Affront 200 + Grieve 230 = 580 Potency
Grumble + Growl = 60 Potency + AoE Pacification.

While MDT doesn't have a 3rd GCD combo like the other 3 tank classes, I believe his secondary stances Judging and Perceiving, plus the others skills with short CD's MDT possesses make up for that. Since we have:

[GCD][30s CD] Death Sentence 150 + 320(80*4) = 470
[OGCD][30s CD] Mockery 120 + 210(35*6) = 330
[OGCD][15s CD] Offensive Message = 150

While PLD, for comparision has outside of his combo:

[OGCD][25s CD] Circle of Scorn 100 + 150(30*5)= 250
[OGCD][30s CD] Spirits Within = 300 (Reduced depending on current HP)

So, while there are no doubts that a MDT's max DPS output is considerably lower than the current tanks, none of them have a skill to increase a party member attack for 40% for 10s, or a 10% vulnerability down like Ninja's Trick Attack, and all the other situational and consistent buffs MDT can bring to a party.

As for aggro management, I intended to have higher modifiers for the main aggro generator combo than the current ones. So that even with less potency, the attack would generate more aggro than another tank's equivalent, making Mediator a huge aggro generator, with a great deal of ranged attacks, at the expense of attack power.