Challenge: Recreate your job in equal or greater complexity using 12 or fewer actions

This is an experiment in minimalism (and the action synergy that can make up for it).

You have 12 or fewer action keys by which to recreate your job in 'equal or greater complexity' to its current version. This complexity must be in the sense of in-combat rotational or macrorotational decisions, not simply what Sect to start in, etc; multiple keys that are all necessarily part of the same decision do not add decisions, nor thereby complexity.

Include any mechanics, class- or job-specific or general, as are necessary.

EDIT: By action keys I mean separate buttons, but where a different modifier (Shift + E or LB + X, etc.) + said button is considered a separate entity. You don't get to have 36-48 just by using Shift, Ctrl, and Alt or LT, LB, RT, and RB respectively.

If you want to use a swap-pane (e.g. an item key at X then swaps out the right face keys to your 4 primary items, or in this case more likely used for, say, Summons)... sure, that'll still be one action key, as it's basically a toggle ability that modifies any number of others, which while producing many more effects would still technically be one ability.

Example (in progress)

BACKGROUND CHANGES

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• All jobs now make use of both MP and TP. The maximum values of each have decreased immensely for most jobs while regeneration has greatly increased, making them shorter-term resources. Many skills and spells now have nearly or effectively no cost, while more costly choices are now much more immediately impactful on one's reserves, which has ultimately reshaped the function of combos and lower-tier spells. Pure resource CDs such as Invigorate have been removed or reworked.
• Sprint has been reworked to a toggled drain with a small minimum duration and entry cost with no CD, but again costs TP.
• Hide/Cover now replaces Walk within combat areas, allowing players more levels of movement speed and thereby reducing their sound produced or to snap into places that intercept attack lines (or, in a pinch, behind a fellow player). It is now counter-part to Sprint, but does not cost TP except if accelerating movement in order to snap to cover or draining TP to hold breath when an enemy would otherwise detect you.
• Enmity systems have been rehauled completely in combination with AI revisions via Focus and Schema. Schema determines the Threat (who the mob ought to kill) and Enmity (who it wants to kill) contribution of different outputs. Focus determines how well a player's actions are being accounted for by the mob. When out of Focus, it is less able to actively defend itself against your strikes and is less able to determine who has caused the damage. Staying out of sight or in the shadow of larger Enmity contributors reduces how well an enemy can Focus you. Rogues are effectively able to re-Stealth in combat if out of the enemy's Focus. Ninja plays on this further by melting ice to form Mist, obscuring its image via water geysers, by blinding via Fire or Flash Bombs, use of Smoke Bombs, and further making use of Elusive via Windform to split away from "Focus-dummies" left as afterimages. Schema can be swapped out conditionally, such as by pack %HP, pack count, mob %HP, Focus target %HP, current target %HP, current highest Enmity, and/or current highest Enmity percentage, with a total of 6 general variants across all mobs.
• Enmity may be misdirected or reapportioned. This makes anyone technically able to "tank-swap", but also makes the process considerably more involved. Naturally tanks are still the best at this (save for Ninja's ability to hand off Enmity).
• Most attacks are now interceptable and most cleaves are now cumulatively affected by mitigation. (The last player struck would take damage reduced by every instance of mitigation met prior in the cleave, or essentially take on the compounding mitigation of every ally struck before him.) Tanking is now more about actively thwarting enemy attempts against you and your team and manipulating mob behavior than merely staying at the top of a metric's table.
• A number of physics systems have been added. AoEs, hitboxes, and movement thereof now occur in three dimensions, allowing evasion of certain attacks via such effects Launch effects or skills like Jump. Three variants of "momentum" are now accounted for, including general movement, circular ability movement, and instantaneous/ability movement. Enemies may now be knocked upward (Launch) or knocked down (Smite).
• Strikes now hit as many enemies as many times, and to as much effect as they would appear to. Multi-strikes hit multiple times, and distinct advantages therein. What looks like a cleave, is a cleave. Skills that look like they should chuck enemies into the air, do (e.g. the Forbidden Chakra, Inner Beast, and Full Thrust).
• Multiple abilities may now be used simultaneously. Many buffing skills' animations have been revised to allow fitting manipulation of a smaller area of the body or overlying visual effects during other primary animations. The effects of some skills will now vary depending on when, before which, or during which other skills they are used.
• Many buffs are now given as potency of resource, which can be consumed in any number of ways. A Ninja, for instance, summons Wind potency via Ten which can be drained over time to supply Haste and augment Spinning Edge into Gust Blade, drained more immediately by clipping Ten into Throwing Daggers to create a Fuma Shuriken, clipping into Shadow Fang to create a Wind Wheel, clipping Vault into Ten to enhance movement distance, or clipping Ten-Chi into Vault in order to change it into Bolt (essentially a combination of Raiton and Assassination as a teleport strike), and many, many more ways.
• The potency of up to the last 10% rounded to the nearest tick, to a minimum of the last tick, of any periodic damage effect is now added to and spread over the duration of any periodic damage effect that replaces it.
• Damage dealt now causes suppression to offensive and defensive potential, ramping but draining at increasing rates known as Stagger. This is based on Force and Penetration. The higher the Force, the greater the suppression; the higher the Penetration, the longer duration the effect is split over. Monks highest Force attacks have the highest instant suppression in game, followed closely by most of the tanks' enmity skills (which happen to have very high Force as well), while Dragoon has the longest lasting effect. Effects dealt over time do not raise the drain rate, but do absorb drain, granting the ramped percentile a margin of safety or maintenance. The current suppression percentile, progress towards a given threshold at which it can have greater effect (e.g. Maiming [removing skill access/disarming], or Dismantling [destroying armor/defenses]), current drain rate, and the longer-term applications and their safety margin are shown beneath the target's HP bar via the Chain Gauge. The Monk's One-Ilm Punch excels at freezing drain rates or consuming current progress for massive burst.
• Damage dealt during the wind-up or animation of strikes affects the strikes themselves. In this way, a tank can resist becoming staggered through countering with a hard strike of his own simultaneously, while DPS can sometimes time hard strikes to an enemy attack to save the tank.
• Damage types have been basically removed, changed instead to varying levels of Penetration based on the particular weapon and the skills it is used with. Skills previously associated with player or enemy damage types such as Dragon Kick, Delirium, Rage of Halone, Storm's Path, Storm's Eye, Dancing Edge, Disembowel, or Yukikaze, now each uniquely affect the target's chain gauge by temporarily moving a threshold closer or immediately altering its stats.
• The implementation of Stagger means that DPS now need be far more involved in matters of survival and focus targeting by coordination relative to the enemy and with each other.
• Most status effects now function via potency rather than flat percentiles. Based on the user's and target's stats and the skill's relative potency, percentile and duration of effect will vary. There are now five status effect types, Movement Speed (Snare > Bind), Action Speed (Slow > Stop), Action Capability (Pacify > Stun), Lateral Potential Movement (Knockback), and Vertical Potential Movement (Launch <-> Smite). Resisted status effects are downgraded to their lower versions or await as potential shown benath the chain gauge, tucked to the right or left by player choice, in a similar fashion. Enemy resistance now vary much more heavily, but diminishing returns are no longer straight 50% reductions per use. There are also three special types, called Bleed, Maim, and Dismantle, which temporarily affect maximum HP, special attack potency, and armor, respectively. These tend to be characteristic of certain jobs' DoTs and basic damage dealt after threshold progress within the chain gauge.
• All elements now have native mechanics on caster. These are Windform, Ignition, Spark, Temper, Keen, and Surge.
• All elements now have ramping potency effects on affected targets via Heat, Charge, Mass, and Rigor. Each of these contributions can be ramped up or countered, and the counter always releases another effect. These may also be affected by other status effects and conditions either more broadly or finely; while building Ice upon a target increases Mass and Rigor while decreasing Heat and sourcing Charge if melted, Astrologian's Gravity can build Mass by itself, and thereby Slow, Heavy, and Smite (increase an enemy's falling speed and thereby its falling damage multiplier).
• Elements Light and Shadow have been added. Most casts and/or their strikes produce Light. Shadows automatically fall accordingly, but can also be cast to remove Light. Both effects blind most players and enemies, reducing Accuracy and/or Focus.
• Accuracy has been revised to a half bell-curve (exponentially tapering) function. Damage no longer varies by +/- 5%. Instead, Accuracy varies from perfect to 85% for players attacking from the Front, and from perfect to 75% for the average mob. Direct Hits are any strike that scores 95% or more of its intended damage. Glancing Strikes are any that deal less than 50%. Most combos and on-hit procedurals require only a Hit, thereby anything resulting in 100 to 50% damage, but many have improved chances under Direct Hits.
• RNG mitigation has been rehauled. Dodge, Block, and Parry have been replaced by Evasion (which offsets enemy accuracy against you, technically by automatically side-stepping away from the physical destination of attack), Deflect (which uses attack power to reduce enemy effective Accuracy against you), and Guard (which absorbs an amount of damage based on Attack Power). It now receives more realistically even (flat) contribution against both bosses and trash, and provide more regular returns. Each is affected by Break, Will, and Speed. (The last increases the regeneration of its procs per minute and against its diminishing returns.) All three may now be stacked in the order of Guard, Deflect, Evasion.
• Secondary Stats have been revised. There is now simply Break (increases Critical Strike chance and multiplier), Will (increases all potencies, including thereby the effects of self-buffs and debuffs), Accuracy (where excess Accuracy functions alike to a combination of Break and proc-chance-increase), and Speed (Attack Speed). Attack Speed now also affects the rate of MP/TP refresh ticks, including those given in bonus by allies (e.g. Bards). Potency-based ticks from abilities like Shroud of Saints can critically strike, and are affected by Will.

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NINJA

POST-NOTE | Likely Further Changes

I may end up reducing Flash Bomb, Smoke Bomb, and Scatter Bomb to a single pad key (swaps to a layered palette), and separating Viper's Coil and Shadow Fang.

SUMMARY

Difficulty: 9/10
Core Skill-gap Contributor: Release timings and hidden, although intuitive effects therein; macrorotation
Mobility: 10/10
Support Potential: 8/10
Pure Damage Potential: 7/10

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TRAITS

ROGUE

• Blindside - Multipliers which affect damage due to being out of enemy Focus allow the Rogue to reach Threshold more quickly by the same proportion. This can greatly improve his ability to act as a saboteur early into the fight.
• Ghost - Hide TP costs are reduced and the Rogue produces even less sound. Hide may be reused in combat
• Elusive - Focus bias takes longer to recover against Rogues based on current Focus bias (scales exponentially). Due to this, the Rogue can much more easily displace or purge all Enmity against itself.
• Collusion - Focus redirection is doubled. This allows Rogues to much more easily trick their Enmity onto other allies instead.
• Finesse - Clipped strikes and/or momentum within skills "roll-over" into any skill of the same direction. Speed buffs can be consumed also to clip short the (accelerated) global cooldown at duration cost. Attack Speed increased by 10%.
• Fleet of Foot - Movement speed and resistance to Movement status effects increased by 15% each. Movement Speed bonuses increase Evasion.
• Aerial - The rogue is still fully capable of evasion, deflect, and guard while in the air. Damage taking from falling may be redirected onto enemies struck between the rogue and the ground while falling or will otherwise be decreased.
• Theatrics - The rogue briefly gains movement speed proportionate to Focus deferred. This allows, say, a Flash Bomb to equate to sudden, near-instantaneous movement.

NINJA

• Form Unto - Many skills take on different forms under the effect of Element.
• Release - Any Element resource acquired during or immediately prior to a skill of like movement can by consumed (in part) to enhance and adjust its effect.

NOTABLE CHANGES

Mudra now work by themselves, and each consume significant amounts of Mana. Moreover, you now have access to 9 elements, Wind, Water, Ice, Fire, Lightning, Earth, Shadow, Void, and Curse. (10 if you count the Light from Flash Bomb.) Elements used while an element it can combine with is still in effect diverts a third of the lesser remaining potency element's potency and an equal amount of the new element into the combined form. In this way, two Mudra casts always provide a total of double the element; an immediate combination of Ten and Chi would provide 2/3 Ten, 2/3 Chi, and 2/3 Lightning.

Ninjutsu has been removed. That said, effects similar to Ninjutsu can be produced via Unions, wherein a consuming skill clips into the Mudra, and Release, wherein a skill will consume a portion of element, if available, for additional effects. This allows Jin to be clipped into Vault in order to shadow-step behind an enemy casting a Shadow, Ten from Vault to increase its leap-off distance, Chi into Vault to increase its Smite, Jin into Throwing Daggers to produce Under-blade, Ten into Throwing Daggers to produce Fuma Shuriken, Chi into Throwing Daggers to produce Chakram, Ten during Spinning Edge to immediately increase momentum and delay its change to Gust Blade until the momentum is spent, Ten into Chi into Vault to teleport alike to a thunderbolt onto an enemy's head, driving in both daggers before leaping off to deal a portion of Vault's DoT instantly based on the target's remaining HP or %HP relative to your AP, Chi into Ten into Crossing Vice to launch enemies skyward, Ten into Chi into Throwing Daggers to cast good old Raiton, Chi into Ten into Throwing Daggers into Ten in order to increase the speed, damage, and range of your Katon, Chi into Ten into Throwing Daggers into Chi in order to cause Katon to leave scorching Earth, Ten into Jin into Throwing Dagger to launch a Void Shard or Chi into Ten into Spinning Edge to carve Cursed Earth (Doton), Ten before Shadow Fang/Tempest into Ten in order to launch a wheel of wind that will roll through the battlefield, dealing Wind damage to enemies and providing Wind buff to allies, Ten while in the air in order to increase Lift (self-affecting Launch), Chi while in the air to increase Crash (self-affecting Smite), Jin while in the air to affect your own shadow, and so, so much more.

While Ninja has a higher portion of Filler use than most melee, its filler probably feels the least filler-like of any. Because it can be clipped and thereby acclerated, Spinning Edge can increase to significant "spin-to-win" damage levels, while also adjusting a number of other skills, such as by augmenting Throwing Daggers into a wider and wider Fan of Knives, a conical AoE, into Death Blossum, a circular AoE, into Fan of Knives atop Death Blossom, into even potentially Death Blossom twice. It also takes on new effects and even names based on current primary element, Wind, Earth, or Shadow.

The other major mechanics of the Rogue/Ninja are its Cross mechanic, stacking from Crossed Once to Crossed Twice, which marks them for future effects while increasing your Blindside multiplier against them, and your Bleeds, which reduce maximum HP and natural regeneration. Vault, yet another movement skill, will deal Bleed damage on impact. Vault will be changed into the Bleed-consuming Shadow Fang whenever a Bleed of at least two remaining ticks are present on the target. When imbued with Shadow, Shadow Fang additionally heals from this portion of consumed potential damage (dealt instantly in its place).

Put simply, you have 4 major skills, 3 Mudras, 3 Tools, and 1 CD by which to make some 80 possible effects with incredible macrorotational depth. The Ninja is likely the most difficult of all the melee, but its incredible versatility, support potential (rivaled only by Chi-style Monk, or a half-tanking Samurai), and mobility make it true joy to play and pivotal addition to any party.

ACTIONS

I. [Filler] Spinning Edge - a hugely variable skill that can be ramped up to devestating effect and sources any skill that can take advantage of circular motion (allowing Throwing Daggers, for instance, to strike an increasingly large cone of enemies or even a full circle thereof). Changes into Dancing Edge under Chi, Cloaked Blade under Jin, and Gust Blade under Ten.


II. [Dash/Mark & Gather/Consume] Crossing Vice / Viper's Coil - A dash-through snaring skill that marks targets with Crossed, and a gathering potential AoE that draws in, snares, and strikes all targets with Crossed, requiring that a total of at least two stacks be available.


III. [DoT/Spring & Consume] Vault / Shadow Fang - A to-and-from-target two-stage movement skill that inflicts Bleed and a Shadow & Smite effect skill available when a bleed is present on target that consumes Bleeds for bonus damage, essentially dealing a portion of their potential damage immediately.


IV. [Ranged] Throwing Daggers - Highly adjustive ranged skill, varying from a weaveable ranged filler to a channeled flurry of daggers, to Fuma Shuriken, to Chakram, to Shadowed Blade, to Cursed Kunai, to Void Shard, to Raiton, to Katon, and so forth.


V. Ten - Generates Wind, augmenting Spinning Edge with a dash component, further increasing Attack Speed and Movement Speed (and thereby Evasion), and sourcing a number of combination attacks. Follows Jin to produce Water and follows Chi to produce Fire.


VI. Chi - Generates Earth, augmenting Spinning Edge with a counterstrike component, increasing Armor, and sourcing a number of combination attacks. Follows Jin to produce Ice and follows Ten to produce Lightning.


VII. Jin - Generates Shadow, augmenting Spinning Edge with a Blinding and Bleeding component, and causing enmity displacements to last longer via a lingering Shade. Follows Ten to create Void. Follows Chi to create Curse.


VIII. Flash Bomb - AoE, blinds. (Innately provides Shadow behind each effected enemy, useful for teleport when imbued with Shadow or rapid movement through Theatrics.)


IX. Smoke Bomb - Provides Opacity/Visual Cover. Can be spread by Huton. (Additional Smoke can be made via Scorched Earth, and mist by melting Ice.)


XI. Splinter Bomb - AoE, causes Bleeds, useful for preparing burst by thereby opening up each affected enemy to additional effects.


XII. Kassatsu - Causes your next Mudra to be free and doubles its effectiveness and that of all already in play split over their remaining durations. If a sequence of Mudras is used, the doubling effect is split over each (+50%/+50% -> +33%/+33%/+33%).

SNAPSHOT OF GAMEPLAY

(In progress)

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Black mage - Maintaining the rotation of spend, recharge, and in betweens.

Astral Fire, Umbral Ice unchanged.

ALL-Cast: Toggle. While this is toggled, all spells deals less damage but hit all enemies within 5y.
Fire: Unchanged. Enters Astral Fire if not in AF/UI.
Blizzard: Unchanged. enters UI if not in AF/UI
Scathe: Neutral spell. No MP cost.
Transpose: Activating transpose deals damage in a 5y radius around you while switching your attunement, restoring MP based on Instability and resetting it to 0.

Thunder: Unchanged.

Astral Fire: Trait. Spellpower increases as Instability rises.
Umbral Ice: Trait. Spellspeed increases as instability rises

Mechanic: Instability. Each spell cast increases the instability bar, rapidly increasing MP costs and Critical Hit chance.. Casting a spell at 100% instability incurs an additional affect based on the spell. Neutral and opposite-stance spells reduce Instability and restore some MP.

Max Instability
Fire: Inflict the target with a DoT effect.
Blizzard: Inflicts the target with vulnerability
Thunder: As Thundercloud, detonating the previous Thunder DoT before re-applying.
Scathe: Increased MP return.

Power Modifier Gauge:
Apply a charge gauge to any job that has tiers for certain skills

But here is a preview for Black Mage

Fire, Ice, and Lightning use a charge system rather than separate buttons. A visual indicator and vibration feature for controllers will let you know when a tier powers up one level.

Tap Fire Action= Fire 1
Hold Fire Action for 1.5 seconds= Fire II
Hold Fire Action for 2.5 seconds= Fire III
Hold Fire Action for 3.5 seconds= Fire IV

Charge system for Blizzard.

Charge system for Lightning as well.

• All elemental spells are all instant cast. The cast time is governed by the power modifier gauge.
• Double Click any Fire Or Ice Spell Action results in transpose effect, no dedicated transpose button.
• Make sleep work more on stuff besides the main boss, no off the bat resists.
• Scathe Is now an extra additional auto attack that can follow up any lightning spell with a chance to proc rate which can be increased through gear.
• Freeze only castable during Umbral Ice and Flare only castable under Astral Fire, the button changes depending on what umbral you are currently in.

If the double click is wonky when transposing, they could add a two button keybind or 2 controller buttons in conjunction to facilitate transpose.


With this system:

• Fire Spells all on one hotbar slot
• Ice Spells all on one hotbar slot
• Lightning Spells all on one hotbar slot
• Flare and Freeze share the same hotbar slot

New Traits:

Aftermath- A dot tick follows the cast of the respective spell, fire would leave aftermath embers, ice would leave aftermath frost. The dot tick last 9 seconds.

Wrath Of The Sorceror- Anytime a party member dies black mage gains +10% cast speed and +10 critical damage for 8 seconds.

Yes, I went there. Some thread was wanting blm utility even mentioning their own raise. Screw raise...
As Black Mage I am no healer, I am no support, I am the public enemy number one, the image of DPS.

If I am black mage. I want the epitome of destruction which gets more destructive when crap hits the fan for the party.

I could be off on my count, but that trim's off about 13 actions in terms of hotbar actions occupying multiple spaces while still retaining the core of what those skills do in my opinion.

Trying the hardest one atm: SMN.
Note, it'll have absolutely no leveling progression plan.

1. Bio - 15s DoT, instant
2. Miasma - 24s DoT, casted
3. Summon - Summons a pet, pet summoned depends on how much Aethertrail you have at this point (none: garuda, 1, ifrit, 2, titan, 3, demi-bahamut), 30s cooldown, off-gcd
4. Aetherflow - Consume all aethertrail to let your pet use it's signature attack, grants 3 stacks of aetherflow and restores 20% MP. 60s cooldown. (if used without a target, your pet will do nothing)
5. Ruin - 1.5s cast
6. Ruin II - 2.5s cast, heavy MP cost outside dreadwyrm trance, higher potency than ruin.
If your pet crits, Ruin will upgrade to ruin III, which is instant cast and has increased potency (same as ruin 2)
7. Dreadwyrm Trance: Requires 3 aethertrail, increases damage by 15% for 15s, applies both DoTs (with damage increase applied) on the target, decreases MP cost of ruin II, turns into Deathflare, 40s cooldown. Deathflare cancels DWT, 400 potency AoE without fall-off.
8. Fester: 140 potency per DoT on the target, now includes pet DoTs, uses aetherflow stack, grants aethertrail, 23s duration. 10s cd
9. Painflare: 200 potency AoE, uses aetherflow stack, grants aethertrail, 23s duration. 10s cd
10. Bane: Spreads DoTs to nearby targets, uses aetherflow stack, grants aethertrail, 23s duration. 10s cd
11. Southern Cross: 2.5s cast, 3 targets (primary + 2 random within 7y range), applies a 50 potency AoE with a radius of 3y around each of them. (zurvan skills are allowed, right?)

Signature attacks (on aetherflow cast):
Garuda: AoE damage + magic vuln
Ifrit: AoE damage + 30s DoT
Titan: AoE damage + 10s DoT
Demi-bahamut: Ahk morn

12. Pet action (just 1 instead of 3 per pet):
Garuda: Contagion, extends dot durations by 15s
Titan: Party-wide 7% damage taken reduction for 10s.
Ifrit: Extends all detrimental effects on the target by 3s (really.. all, also from other players, so including trick attack).
Demi-bahamut: Ruination: increases potency of ruin attacks by 25%.
All 60s cooldown, not shared.

Titan will do AoE damage on auto-attacks.

Not exactly 12 actions, but it's on 12 buttons. It has some line-up stuff to worry about, aethertrail timer back and even more tight to compensate for having to track less cooldowns, and for the AoE spam, selecting the correct target is really important.

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Originally Posted by Vulcwen

Not exactly 12 actions, but it's on 12 buttons. It has some line-up stuff to worry about, aethertrail timer back and even more tight to compensate for having to track less cooldowns, and for the AoE spam, selecting the correct target is really important.

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Let me correct the prompt. I meant buttons in the first-place, but with LT/LB and RT/RB or Shift/Alt/Ctrl as modifiers of the same button each as separate buttons.

Ok, lets try this... White Mage (WHM):

1. Cure - Standard potency heal, low MP cost, 2.0s cast
__1.1 Cura - Mod. Cure, High potancy heal, high MP cost, 1.0s cast
2. Stone - Standard potency damage, moderate TP cost, 1.5s cast
3. Medica - Standard potency AoE heal, moderate MP cost, 2.0s cast
__3.1. Medicara - Mod. Medica, low potency AoE heal + low potency AoE HoT, high MP cost, 1.5s cast
4. Aero - Standard potency DoT, high TP cost, instant cast
__4.1 Aeroga - Mod. Aero, low potency AoE DoT, high TP cost, 2.5s cast
5. Raise - Resurrection spell, very high MP cost, 4.0s cast
6. Regen - Standard potency HoT, moderate MP cost, instant cast
__6.1 Asylum - Mod. Regen, ground target standard potency AoE HoT, oGCD, 60s cooldown
7. Blessing - Party buff with varying effects dependant on Cleric Stance and the amount of Faith / Bravery built (see Class Mechanic: Blessing). oGCD 45 second cooldown.
8. Benison - High potency heal, oGCD, 30s cooldown.
__8.1 Benediction - Mod. Benison, full heal, oGCD, 150s cooldown.
9. Cleric Stance - Stance, 10s cooldown on enter and exit, while active: lowers heal potency by 30% and lowers damage TP cost by 60%
10. Holy - High potency AoE damage + stun, very high TP cost, 1.5s cast
__10.1 Assize - Mod. Holy, high potency AoE damage + high potency AoE heal, oGCD, 60s cooldown
11. Stone Skin - Puts a shield on the target party member that absorbs 10% of the WHMs max HP in damage, moderate TP cost, instant cast
__11.1 Stone Skin - If used outside of combat the effect is applied to all party members (including self).
12. Inner Prayer - Channel, builds Faith, or Bravery if in Cleric Stance, while draining the other. Max 5.0s, interrupted by movement, high damage, or using an ability. 30s cooldown.

Class mechanic: Faith and Bravery
Faith and Bravery are two independent gauges (0 to 100%) that are built as the WHM casts spells, with the amount built based loosely on the cast time and cost of the spell.
By default, Faith is built whenever the WHM casts a useful spell (i.e. does healing, damage, or applies a buff), however if the WHM is in Cleric Stance then Bravery is built instead.

Class mechanic: Blessing
By default, Blessing applies up to +20% healing and +MP regen to the WHM for 20s, and up to +10% damage reduction to the party for 30s. Potency determined by Faith and uses all Faith.
If in Cleric Stance, Blessing applies +MP regen and +TP regen to the WHM for 20s, and up to +10% damage potency to the party for 15s. Potency determined by Bravery and uses all Bravery.

General design goals
The idea of White Mage is to be a simple healer, with basic healing and damage abilities, and a simple mechanic for providing party utility and buffs. The combination of Cleric Stance and Inner Prayer add some complexity to White Mage, allowing advanced players the push the class to its limits and provide maximum benefit to the party in any situation.

Damage abilites (and Stone Skin) have been changed to cost TP instead of MP, this not only makes TP useful, but allows the WHM to do DPS without cutting into their long term healing potential. The TP cost of damage abilities also acts as a natural limitation on a WHMs damage output, with Cleric Stance offering a modifier that greatly reduces this limitation without overpowering the WHMs DPS output.

NB. Keen eyed readers will notice the lack of Esuna; this is on purpose, as although it is an FF (and WHM) staple, I feel that it doesn't add significantly to gameplay in FFXIV and is more of a pain / obligation than anything, and as such could be removed.

Well, let's see how I'd make Black Mage! Sure, I'mma use the full 12 buttons, but I feel it's necessary.

Black Mage will only get 1000 MP and 1000 TP.

1. Blizzard Same as ever. Costs TP though. 200 potency.

2. Fire Same as ever. Costs MP. 200 potency.

3. Thunder Same as ever. 100 potency with 50 potency per tic for 18s.

4. Thunder II Same as ever. 50 potency with 50 potency per tic for 12s.

5. Transpose Same as ever.

6. Fire II Same as ever. Switches to Blizzard II in Umbral Ice... and makes that a target AoE. Both are 100 potency.

7. Scathe Saaaaaaaaaaaaame. 150 potency.

8. Fire III/Blizzard III Same as ever. Both are 250 potency.

9. Enochian Same as ever. Similar to PvP, this ability will be modified by which form you're using. Astral Fire causing Fire IV, and Umbral Ice causing Blizzard IV. Both Fire and Blizzard IV are 300 potency.

10. Flare Same as ever, but like in PvP, switches to Freeze when in Umbral Ice. Both use their respective resource, and Flare has 300 base potency, and Freeze has 100 base potency with Bind effect. Flare increases potency by 100 for every 200 MP is spent. Same for Freeze but with TP.

11. Foul Saaaaaaaame. 700 potency. A free damage booster every 30s.

12. Rites of Rosetta Same as ever... wait. That never existed. That's because Fire IV builds up a new resource, Astral Glyphs. These Astral Glyphs build up to 12, and once they do, they allow the usage of Rites of Rosetta. Upon doing so, you gain higher damage and you gain the following abilities, replacing certain others:

Origins of Flare: Flare, but now with bigger damage and Supperations as a debuff. No more MP cost, but uses 2 Glyphs instead. Base potency 2000.

Origins of Freeze: Freeze, but now with bigger damage and a damage area, kinda like Shadow Flare. No more TP cost, but uses 2 Glyphs instead. Potency 1500.

Astral Foul: A whopping 1200 potency that utterly wrecks everything.

Umbral Foul: A whopping 800 potency that.... increases magic vulnerability. Sweet!

You lose Glyphs every 10s that you don't use them after activating Rites of Rosetta, and you regain a glyph with each cast of Fire IV.

Trait: I cast the spells that makes the peoples fall down! Astral Fire increases damage by 25%, 50% and 100% for all Fire spells upon each stack obtained. Refreshes TP.

Trait: Healed and healthy forever! Umbral Ice causes an increase in MP refresh rate, and a slight regen. This refresh/regen is 10%/5%, 20%/10%, 40%/20% with each stack gained.

The design is essentially an exageration of what BLM is now, with a little Risk/Reward with Rites of Rosetta.

This is a funny thread i'd like to spent some time on.
Some of the concepts are really interesting and i'm very tempted to participate myself.

Stupid question, how do I post something with more than 1000 characters?

You type in a few words.

Then edit the post and write to your hearts content.

Thanks :D

Scholar

Since I have no experience in gameplay design or balancing whatsoever, this might be hilariously OP and unbalanced ;), also not eaxactly 12 buttons, but pet abilities and summon don´t really count :p

1. Physick - Single target heal with 400 potency, 2s cast ,2.5s recast, low MP cost

2. Mend - AoE heal with 200 potency, 2s cast ,2.5 recast, moderate MP cost

3. Adloquium - Single target shield with 600 shield potency and no heal potency, instant, 2.5 recast, high MP cost roughly 5% of max MP

4. Succor - AoE shield with 300 shield potency and no heal potency, instant, 2.5 recast. high MP cost roughly 10% of max MP

5. Aetherflow - grants 2 Aetherflow stacks and restores 15% of max MP, 60s CD

6. Plague - AoE DoT with an overall potency of 1900 over 30s, 3s cast, 2.5 recast, slightly higher MP cost (roughly the potency of Misma and Bio 2, if my math isn´t completly off)

7. Resurrection - Resurrects target to a weakend state, 4s cast, 2.5s recast, high MP cost

8. Broil - Single target spell 230 potency, 2s cast, 2.5 recast, moderate MP cost

9. Sacred Soil - Party members within area will suffer 20% less damage and next succor costs no MP, duration 15s, 60s CD, costs 1 Aetherflow stack

10. Leeches - Removes a single detrimental effect from target, 1s cast, 2.5s recast, low MP cost

11. Indomitability - Restores own HP and the HP of all nearby party members with 400 potency, 30s CD, costs 1 Aetherflow stack

12. Dissipation - Switches active fairy, 30s CD, costs 1 Aetherflow stack
not necessarily acquired in this order

Fairy Abillities

Eos

Whispering Dawn - same, costs now 5 Fairy Gauge points

Selene

Silent Dusk - Reduces incoming damage for the whole party by 5% and multiplies their current shield potency by 1.5, duration 5s, 90s CD, costs 5 Fairy Gauge points

Embrace still works the same way as it does now, but can no longer be set to a hotbar and can´t be used manually
Fairy Gauge now builds up by successfully using shielding spells on yourself or party members, Adlo +1 and Succor +2 with a maximum of 10
Fairy abilities no longer share a cooldown, but will overwrite each other.

The main idea behind this design is to make Scholar a tactical migation healer with good mobility due to lower castimes on his heals. The complexity lies in the high MP costs of his shielding spells, forcing the player to decide which attacks to migate and which to heal through, while considerng the matter of filling the Fairy Gauge through shielding. The increase of MP restored by Aetherflow is to compensate for the loss of Lucid Dreaming and the loss of the third Aetherflow ensures that all three Aetherflow abilities can´t be used on 1 CD, resulting in more tactical gameplay.

General Thoughts:

• Most CDs, if not relevant to mechanics like simple stat+ or substat+, will be purged from most Jobs, because of the 12 button limitation.
• While Leveling most skills will be gained early on (around lvl 20 or below), so players can get a grasp of what a job can do and how it works. Later on the evolution will mostly go by traits adding potencies or additional effects to the skills.

Global Changes:

• Combos will be stacked on one button, advancing in the combo as the skill is used successfully.
• TP and MP will be replaced by job specific resource bars, if necessary.
• Weapon Skills will no longer need a resource.
• The vulnerability for specific types of damage is replaced by a global physical vulnerability.
• “Sprint” gives you the buff “Sprint” for 20 seconds with a cooldown of 30 seconds. Infight the duration is halved and the cooldown is doubled.
• For transition of in fight to out of fight the cooldown will be transferred percentual while the duration will be transferred as the current state.
• Classes will be purged. The jobstone determines the job you are and what weapon(s) you can/have to use. While having a special weapon in mind by creating the job, there may be multiple weapons who are suitable with the jobs skillset.
• New players are just deciding in which city they start, just with a brief explanation what jobs they will find there and what role the jobs have in group play.
• The player starts as “Adventurer” without any weapon, jobstone or any class or job decisive equipment. “Adventurer” is the basic description of a person without job and can’t gain any levels and will stay forever at level 1.
• The unlocking quest will reward the player with the basic weapon or main hand tool for the job. the first jobquest can only be started as “Adventurer” equipped with the basic job weapon. All further job quests can only be accepted as full Job with weapon and jobstone.
• Every job gets skills he has to choose from a list, mostly different types of CC.

SMN

The global changes for SMN including direct control over your summon and a rotation of the summons themself.
The SMN is a DPS job with high sustained damage with a burst phase at the end of the rotation.

Difficulty: 3/10
Core skill-gap Contributor: Selection of the Summons
Mobility: 9/10
Support Potential: 4/10
Pure Damage Potential: 8/10

SMN Actions

1. Summon >> Unsummon
   Summon: Summons a Summon. Generates 5 Aetherflow. Changes to Unsummon if a Summon is active. 2,5 seconds cast time. GCD.
   Unsummon: Releases the active Summon. Restores MP depending on the tier of the summon. Instant. GCD.
2. Semitemper >> Unleash
   Semitemper: Commands your summon to use its signature move and gives you the status “Semitempered”. Only usable while having 5 tempered Aetherflow. 1.5 seconds cast time. GCD.
   Unleash: Commands your Summon to use its signature move. Unsummon your current Summon and sets the active Summon on a Cooldown of 30 seconds, 90 seconds for “High Summon”. Lesser Summons won’t get a cooldown. Only usable while having 5 Aethertrail. 1.5 seconds cast time. GCD.
3. The Book of Summons
   Toggles through your predetermined Summons to select the one to summon next.
4. Summon Skill I
   Spamable basic skill of your current summon. Converts 1 Aetherflow into 1 Aethertrail. Can’t be used if it can’t convert. Instant; GCD.
5. Summon Skill II
   Spamable basic AoE skill of your current summon. Converts 1 Aetherflow into 1 Aethertrail. Can’t be used if it can’t convert. Instant; GCD.
6. Summon Skill III
   Utility skill of your current summon. Converts 1 Aetherflow into 1 Aethertrail. Can’t be used if it can’t convert. Instant; GCD.
7. Summon Skill IV
   High damage skill of your current summon. Only usable while under the effect of “Semitempered”. Can’t be used back to back. Converts 1 tempered Aetherflow into 1 Aethertrail. Can’t be used if it can’t convert. Instant; GCD; 5 seconds cooldown.
8. High Summon >> Unsummon
   High Summon: Summons the summon set on the slot for High Summon in the Summons Skill Menu and gives you the status “Semitempered”. 2,5 seconds cast time; GCD; Changes to Unleash if 5 Aethertrail are gathered with the summon from High Summon. Can only used while having 3 Aethershards and consumes them.
   Unsummon: Releases the active Summon. Restores MP depending on the tier of the summon. Instant. GCD.
9. Disintegrate
   DoT for 15 seconds. Low Potency. Ability. 15 Seconds cooldown.
10. Ruin
    Consumes the Disintegrate DoT on the target. Deals damage equal to the remaining DoT potency on the target. Ability. 5 Seconds cooldown.
11. Corrosion Field
    Places an area of effect on the ground wherein targets are more vulnerable to your summons attacks. Consumes the MP regen ticks basic MP regen. Goes on cooldown when effect gets canceled. Ability. 15 seconds cooldown.
12. Virus
    Spreads the Disintegrate DoT from the current target to enemies nearby. Ability. 30 seconds cooldown.

SMN Traits
Includes only mechanical traits, no potency buff traits.

1. Assemblage I/II
   While having at least 1 Disintegrate DoT running the SMN regenerates additional 5%/10% of his max MP on every regen tick.
2. Destabilisation
   Changes Ruin to the following: Consumes the Disintegrate DoT on the target and enemies nearby. Deals damage equal to the remaining DoT potency on the respective targets.
3. Corrosive Tempering
   While “Semitempered” Corrosive Field makes enemies within its area of effect more vulnerable to all attacks.
4. Plague
   Virus now adds the ability of self spreading to the spreaded Disintegrate DoT. With a Chance of 10% on every DoT tick the Disintegrate DoT can trigger Virus on itself.
5. The slow Tempering I
   “Unleash” now grants the state “Unleashed” with the following effect: The next summoned Summon will apply a party wide buff on summoning. Duration 30 seconds.
6. The slow Tempering II
   As long as a summon is summoned and the SMN is under the effect of “Semitempered” the party buff is strengthened.
7. The divided Focus
   Every summoning and summoning of a Summon drops your enmity by a quarter each.
8. Semitemper
   Summon Skills now converts 1 Aetherflow into 1 tempered Aetherflow, while under the effect of “Semitempered” it converts 1 tempered Aetherflow into 1 Aethertrail.
9. The High Summon
   Unleash now generates 1 Aethershard.
10. Fast Decay
    Lowers the cooldown from Disintegrate to 10 seconds.
11. Faster Decay
    Lowers the cooldown from Disintegrate to 5 seconds.
    Lowers the cooldown from Ruin to 2.5 seconds.
    Ruin now reapplies the Disintegrate DoT.
    Lowers the Cooldown of Corrosion Field to 10 seconds.
12. Instant Decay
    Lowers the cooldown from Disintegrate to 2.5 seconds.
    Lowers the cooldown from Corrosion Field to 5 seconds.
    Disintegrate DoT has a Chance of 10% on every DoT tick to spread to nearby enemies.
13. Summoner Unleashed
    Unleashed now grants the ability to shorten the cast time from Summon to instant.

Summons Skill Menu

In the Skill Menu SMNs have the job specific pick list on which they pick their available summons.

1. Summon
   In this lists you can pick 3/4/5 of the Lesser or Normal Summons to be included in your Book of Summons.
   Lesser Summon is only Carbuncle, maybe Anima too.
   Normal Summons: Ifrit, Garuda, Titan, Leviathan, Ramuh, Shiva, Ravana, Bismarck, Susano-o, Lakshmi.
2. High Summon
   This list includes a variety of more powerful summons: Bahamut, Sephiroth, Sophia, Zurvan.
3. Lesser VS Normal Summon
   Lesser Summons are a little less powerful than Summons, not by potency but in mechanics. Lesser Summons are not affected by the “Semitemper” an “The High Summon” traits.

SMN specific stats

1. Semitemper
   The SMN enters a semitempered state. While in this state the attack power of the Summon is raised by 30%. Will be consumed by “Unleash”
2. Unleashed
   After using “Unleash” the next summoned Summon will apply a party wide buff on summoning, also the next Summon is instant. Duration 30 seconds.
3. Influenced by
   Party wide buff while a Summon is summoned after “Unleash”. The buff effect is dependent on the Summon. Holds as long as the Summon is summoned.
4. Affected by
   Party wide buff after using “Semitemper”, it replaces “Influenced by “. The buff effect is dependent on the Summon. Holds as long as the Summon is summoned.

Unlocking of Summons and High Summons

From the begin you only have Carbuncle, no other Summon is obtained via the story straight forward job story. All additional Summons can be obtained via a job sidequest, offered after you have beaten the story version of the primal via the main story or the warring triad side story, also Anima may be available after completing the SMNs Anima Relic Weapon. At some point in the job quest you have to have at least 3 normal summons.

The SMN at 50 and 60

Level 50:

Most of SMNs skill set is available.
“Semitemper” and “High Summon” and all associated traits, abilities and skills are not available at this level cap. Lesser Summons and Normal Summons are comparable in effectiveness.

Level 60:

“Semitemper” and all associated traits, abilities and skills are now available.
“High Summon” is not available at this level cap. Normal Summons now excel Lesser Summons in effectiveness.

SMN Level 3 Limit Break

The SMN summons all of his collected Summons and invokes a combined attack.
The more Summons the SMN has collected the more epic the LB will look, no changes in power.

idk i tried

Astrologian

Design Thoughts
Astrologian should have a greater focus on the card system, to differentiate it more from WHM/SCH. There should also be a greater focus on time-based mechanics, emphasizing the class's design around fate. Some healing mechanics will be rather RNG-based, but astrologian should still be able to handle healing while providing robust utility, making it a solid support class but less of a traditional healer. Astrologian will also only have a basic gauge to display their cards, as they do now.

Spells

1.) Benefic: Unchanged. (Basic single target heal.)

2.) Helios: Unchanged. (Basic AoE heal.)

3.) Draw: Draw an arcanum from your divining deck. X second cooldown.
While under the effect of Nocturnal Shift, each arcanum played will have an additional effect.
While under the effect of Diurnal Shift, Draw's cooldown is reduced.

• The Bole: Reduces damage taken.
• The Balance: Increases damage done.
• The Arrow: Decreases cast times, recast times, auto-attack delay, etc.
• The Spear: Increases crit chance.
• The Ewer: Restores MP.
• The Spire: Restores TP.

4.) Shuffle: Unchanged. (Draw a new card.)

5.) Spread: Unchanged. (Though you can now have two cards in your Spread -
regular Draw card, and exalted Arcana).

6.) Exalt Arcana: Your currently drawn arcanum is changed to a healing spell for X potency, with an additional effect based on the original card. This card is automatically added to your Spread. Execute again to use your exalted card. X second cooldown.

• The Bole: Adds a shield.
• The Balance: Increased potency.
• The Arrow: Adds a heal over time effect.
• The Spear: Adds a buff increasing healing receiving by X% for X seconds.
• The Ewer: Becomes an AoE heal centered around the target.
• The Spire: Heals both the caster and the target.

7.) Wheel of Fortune: Applies a buff on all nearby party members, increasing their healing received by X% for X seconds and removing 1 detrimental effect. X second cooldown, X range.

8.) Hand of Fate: Shields the target for X seconds. X potency, X second cooldown. Effect can be stacked with Galvanize.

9.) Retrogradation: Applies Slow and Heavy to the target, and removes up to 2 beneficial effects. (Slow/Heavy effect can be applied to boss monsters.)

10.) Nocturnal Shift: Tips aspect nocturnally, increasing the potency of healing and damaging spells cast, and adding an additional effect to played arcanum. Cannot be used with Diurnal Shift. X second cooldown.

• The Bole and The Balance: Increases buff potency.
• The Arrow and The Spear: Increases buff duration.
• The Ewer and The Spire: Becomes an AoE.

11.) Diurnal Shift: Tips aspect diurnally, reducing cast and recast times, as well as increasing Spell Speed, by X percent for X seconds. Also reduces the recast time of Draw by X seconds. Cannot be used with Nocturnal Shift. X second cooldown.

12.) Malefic: Unchanged. (Basic damage nuke.)


Traits

Expanded Malefic: Malefic will damage up to 3 targets near the original.

Changed Fate: If Hand of Fate's shield is not consumed, it will heal the target for X amount upon expiration.

Celestial Illumination: Targets healed with Benefic have an X% chance to gain a buff reducing their damage taken by X% (small amount) for X seconds. (HP must be restored to have a chance to gain the buff.)

Lucky Star: When you restore HP with either Benefic or Helios, you have an X% chance to restore X% of your MP.


Play Thoughts
With these changes, Astrologian is not an especially good emergency healer. However, their ability to do sustained healing is stronger. Like current Astrologian, they must plan for the future when using their cards and healing. Ideally, you would draw one card for a buff and one card for a heal, alternating between using them. Nocturnal Shift would be better for meeting times with high healing checks, while Diurnal Shift could be used more to help the party's damage. However, both still buff healing and party damage in a way. This is in all honesty probably a design direction that would need more spells to work perfectly but I am not sure.

BLACK MAGE

BACKGROUND CHANGES:

Crowd control has been completely reworked.

Crowd control now works via several granularly manipulable spectrums, such as Snare (affecting movement speed and potential for Knockback, Launch, or Topple), Mass (affecting movement speed and attack rate, but without change to throughput), Maim (Stun, downgrading to Pacify/Silence), and Temporal Speed (affecting all things related to rate). Certain types of application of Snare or Mass may be destroyed by later damage dealt to the affected target. Many of these spectrums overlap somewhat in their effects and some in their manipulables. All debuffs simply supply potency in either direction to any of these spectrums. A Full Thrust may launch a target into the air, and that potential will scale with enemy Weight. Weight may be decreased in combination with Snare and Mass, or may be affected directly with spells like Freedom or Gravity.

Periodic damage has been revised.

Periodic damage now ticks very frequently if no further condition is appended -- such as ticking upon target's action or attempt to act, seemingly as if at a continuous rate. All current mechanics triggered from periodic damage ticks or critical strike ticks have been in some way reworked.

Casting has been wholly revised.

Casts now occur by channeling or charging a particular type of mana and through the targeting system associated, where further spell identity can be determined by release time or modifiers prior to the cast or specials after the cast. In most cases these distinctions are subtle, simply changing over a spectrum between two priorities, such as speed and burst or maintenance of some effect and capitalization thereupon. Most spells can charge without a target. Mana is drained continuously over the charge, though not necessarily at a linear rate. Most, but not all, spent mana is refunded if the cast is cancelled or interrupted. Casts can linger beyond their maximum cast time, preparing for a target to appear, but will continue to consume mana over the charging process. This excess amount may or may not be mitigated in its cost over continuous drain and may refund a smaller portion of the mana spent. Unless a cast is held, rather than queued, it will release at the next determining stage. It need not be precisely timed except within the half-second at finest by which spell stages are determined. (Again, in most cases, these "stages" will still follow an identical spell curve, but simply suit different priorities better at certain % progress rates than others; the break points for these stages are simply the breakpoints in lurch -- where rate of rate of change is highest.)

Elements have been completely reworked around three larger factors: Mass, Heat, Saturation, and Charge.

Each element now has inherently distinct effects and embedded mechanics, while their casters are able to further interact with them through Affinity mechanics. Fire, for instance, has the Ignite mechanic, which affects spell targets, while the Black Mage itself interacts with the element via Ignition, generated for the Black Mage upon cast regardless of target. The combination of the two includes, roughly, the effects of the Firestarter trait. The only factor in Fire is Heat, though Heat may cause varying effects over varying enemies, from melting armor to terrifying, to simply continuous damage. Heat disperses more quickly as the difference between the target's Heat and that of his surroundings increases (essentially, as target Heat increases). In this way, quick supportive casts become more and more necessary as the burn rate peaks into its soft cap. When in burn phase, Black Mages may therefore care more about Attack Speed than raw damage, as Fire's potential is already devastating, but usually underutilized due to its dispersion. Ice magic adds Mass and decreases Heat while active, heavying and slowing the target while making it more vulnerable to physical attacks, up to an amount based on added mass at a percentile based on negative Heat. When added to a target of greater equal or greater heat as its negative impact, it instead generates steam, obscuring target vision and adding Saturating to the target and enemies nearby. Lightning deals increased damage based on Saturation, and polarizes targets by applying Charge. Charge is capable of jolting the target, interrupting or suppressing certain actions over its very brief occurrences, and allows for effects which would attract or repel other enemies affected with Charge. The Black Mage Affinity mechanic for Lightning is simply know as Charged.

Astral Fire and Umbral Ice have become granular mechanics known as Astral Flow and Umbral Flow, and are still generated from their previous respective elements and still have respective effect caps, though their stacking system has been replaced. Instead, Flow is maintained between forms, decaying over time at exponentially increasing rates. When in Enochian, your casts beyond the base stage then draw from your Astral or Umbral Flow generated in order to add potency to the cast; as such only your quicker casts provide Astral or Umbral Flow, as per the current cast system.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CLASS CHANGES:

Black Mage now has only 4 spells: Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Void. Void here refers to first to spells void of elemental aspect such as Scathe and its new specials, but later to within-element alternate magics such as Flare, Freeze, and Clash, all of which are now locked behind an earlier granted and heavily modified Enochian.

In addition, it has 6 abilities: Transpose, Sharp, Mantle, Manipulation, Enochian, and Ley Lines. These now consume resource and have "rushable" cooldowns (see above). Resource to be determined. Transpose works mostly as before, but is more costly and more powerful, and is primarily a tool meant for craftier rotations rather than a safety measure. Sharp works alike to a combination of Swiftcast and Sharpcast, and carries multiple charges. Mantle covers the effect of Manaward and also carries certain additional uses. Manipulation likewise covers Aetherial Manipulation and a couple more uses. Enochian has been highly revised and is now your culminating offensive CD, toggleable, and combinable via Transpose (allowing it to swap between enhanced elements) and Mantle (allowing it to reach secondary states, Niffin, Revenant, and Belker for Fire, Ice, and Lightning respectively). Ley Lines is your other primary offensive CD, and simply doubles as Between the Lines while active.

Finally, the Black Mage has access to 2 modifiers: Chain (allowing for Phoenix Fire, Neffer Bolt, Prismatic Shock, and similar new skills), and Dispersion (creating Fire II, Blizzard II, and Thunder II, along with new Shatter effects).

NOTABLE CHANGES:

Little has changed as to the basics of the Black Mage's rotations. As Astral and Umbral still effectively exist, though retuned, one still primarily moves between Fire and Ice burn and restoration phases while supporting via Lightning. Or at least, that's one such option. However, one can now also center their rotations instead around Ice or Lightning, using the Shatter and/or Thundercloud mechanics for their culminating damage. And perhaps more noticeably still, Black Mage is now rife with utility, capable of displacing, slowing, sapping, repelling, attracting, and generally disorganizing and shattering enemies. Enochian has also been noticeably reworked, and by level 70 allows the Black Mage to effectively turn even into a life-stealing Ice Revenant, an ever-burning Niffin, or a phase-swapping Belkar, creating whole new gameplay styles for macrorotations centered about Ice, Fire, and Lightning, respectively, though each technically a hybrid of all three. Optimal play for the Black Mage generally falls Fire-heavy, as before, but now frees up the Black Mage through the Ignition, Shatter, and Charged mechanics to use all elements, even those previously primary, supportively and with immense synergy. Swiftcasting now comes at cost, but is more flexible, and the increased viability of clipped burn/restoration phases atop the revised Thundercloud mechanic has left Black Mage significantly more mobile that previously, and far, far more capable of creative play.