Next Gen AOE

I thought it would be really cool to see a class capable of casting different types of AOE buffs (and attacks) on the battlefield.

A little different from the AOE we currently have.

an orb you can place on the battlefield that (like what is seen in the opening video) that protect those inside from either magical or physical attacks. (can be one for each, or one that does all)

this can be used to protect allies form say breath damage. maybe make these wear quick.

side effect of using a spell like this is that it could generate massive amounts of short term hate which dissipates when attacked. Can stand in the bubble to protect yourself.
Also, you could have it so that mp is drained during the duration of the attack.

Another would be a physical barrier.
This could be cast around enemies or around players.
What this does is prevents movement through the barrier.
This can be used strategically in larger battles to isolate players with a select few enemies, and can also be used to trap enemies for short durations.

Barriers would have a health pool and drain MP. barriers could wear after taking a certain amount of damage or if the caster is killed. (maybe even attacks that select enemies use make these collapse)

Attack type AOE

Something like burn, but maybe more powerful.
Cast AOE on a spot that causes damage every second for a few seconds till it dissipates. Enemies (or players) in the center would receive increased damage and keep receiving damage until they fled the AOE.

I thought these would be super cool, make battle extremely dynamic on both sides.
I can see there would be some balancing issued, along with great costs to enemy AI as well as the cost of design, but hey, why not put it out there.

Barrier idea would be a cool one. If you played the opening story for Limsa the miqote casts a protective barrier to shield everyone. Hopefully they'll consider something like this as it'd be a neat spell!

sounds retarded as the curent iffrit loot system

Both seem like good ideas. I'm especially all for the bubble one. I'm thinking it would be kind of like spell casting in some RPGs, where you select the spell and then there's this glowing circle that tells you the range of the AoE.

I think that for the protective bubble, it should drain your MP based on two things: 1) How long the bubble is up for (and you can just cancel the ability at any given time by clicking the spell again) and 2) How much damage the bubble is protecting against.

Like if you were to use the bubble against, like the elbow drop or some bosses' major skill the bubble would break and the target of that attack would receive damage (maybe some of it would be negated though).

I think such spells should always be centered around caster - but all for it.

Other things I can think of to make casting cool is...
Combination Effects:
1. A few other games have spell interactions like D&D's Grease + Fire Spell = Burning field
2. Wind Spell + Poison Cloud for a mobile AOE or to dispel one.

To make battle more dynamic, some mobs can cast dispel on your barrier or something.

seems like something arcanist may have

have to be careful on ideas like the bubble one. Depending on how good the damage reduction is and how much of an MP drain it is....people could be turned into "bubble whores"....and all they do is cast the bubble....and nothing else the entire fight...

remember RDM's in ffxi? Refresh whores...

So if done correctly, these are some interesting ideas.