Job thought....Chemist (Working name)

An idea that I've been juggling with for a while is the idea of a healer that mixes "ingredients" together to produce a result. Essentially it would function like Rikku's FFX "Mix" Overdrive combined with NIN mudra. This ability could then be further augmented via abilities to make the concoction AoE or have additional affects.

As AST is kinda RNG, and the other two can get stale, this may be a decent way to have some depth in the role. Let me know what you think, always interested in hearing opinions, whether positive or critical.

Also on the off chance anyone at SE reads this and wants to use any of it, feel free. I claim no ownership to any of the ideas posted here.

I've been toying with something like this too! I do think one obstacle is what the ingredients are/where they come from/if they have a price and what happens if you're broke or unable to obtain more.

If you have a nebulous "kit" of some sort as your weapon/gear, you could have a "restock" action when you run out similar to a mana or stamina meter. If the item you use is say, a giant syringe, you could have a "refill" action. Basically just suspend disbelief with hammerspace.

Frankly it might also be fun because then you get an option to do either medications or poisons. Heal party members, give buffs, etc. or inflict damage and status ailments on enemies. Possibly initial damage inflicted could be low, but then when you stack loads of potentially crippling status ailments on top you could potentially go full-morbol on your enemies.

Might also be interesting depending on whether it is close-range requirement, and if it added a healer that wasn't using magic.

I've said before on the site, but I also still think there's room for a caster who manipulates aether in the body either in beneficial or harmful ways and could inflict crippling status ailments in similar ways. I basically think that healer/status ailment combo is something that would fit in great whether it's a mundane or arcane approach. I know dancer and geomancer are things people are clamoring for, but I would LOVE something a bit darker or otherwise more unusual personally.

I've always liked the idea of an Alchemist being a combat class. Only MMO I've ever seen do it is EQOA and it was implemented in a really unique way. The class had a few spells, but its primary form of dps was throwing explosive potions that it brewed. But each explosive potion thrown took 1/8th of its total mana, and it had a couple spells that would trade health for mana restored, and then said health could be restored using a their own type of health potion. These potions of course were more like a summon or generation spell, as opposed to actually crafting them.

As you can imagine due to this design the class was focused on having as little maximum mana as possible, because the thrown potions took 1/8th no matter what the max mana was, and then the restorative potions would restore a lot more mana.

I think a design like this could fit really well into FF XIV being that we already have BLM and DRK who have to carefully manage their mana reserves during the fight, albeit in different ways.

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Originally Posted by Osteichthyes

An idea that I've been juggling with for a while is the idea of a healer that mixes "ingredients" together to produce a result. Essentially it would function like Rikku's FFX "Mix" Overdrive combined with NIN mudra. This ability could then be further augmented via abilities to make the concoction AoE or have additional affects.

As AST is kinda RNG, and the other two can get stale, this may be a decent way to have some depth in the role. Let me know what you think, always interested in hearing opinions, whether positive or critical.

Also on the off chance anyone at SE reads this and wants to use any of it, feel free. I claim no ownership to any of the ideas posted here.

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You're not the only one to suggest it - pre-heavensward, a number of people suggested chemist (some even giving detailed writeups of each ability it might have), and SE later mentioned in an interview they considered it. I still hope we'll see it some day - I'm one of the strange ones that gets more excited about that concept than Dancer. Though... with ShB bringing us this Dancer, 4 more years to maybe see another healer - that may or may not be chemist - it's a long wait.

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

I've been toying with something like this too! I do think one obstacle is what the ingredients are/where they come from/if they have a price and what happens if you're broke or unable to obtain more.

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I can't imagine SE would be obtuse enough to add a class that has to buy ammo. It'd probably work closer to BRD/MCH or StarsiderSajun's description.

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Originally Posted by StarsiderSajun

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That sounds like a really cool way to do it.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

I can't imagine SE would be obtuse enough to add a class that has to buy ammo. It'd probably work closer to BRD/MCH or StarsiderSajun's description.

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Naw I agree with you. When I was initially considering I was thinking about how if it has a mixing setup it would balance various components and all. Having some kind of cost to using abilities is important to making sure players don't godmod imo, you have to manage resources that way. Running out of a specific number of materials/having to buy more would not be a workable solution though like you said. So handwaving with hammerspace is probably the way to go haha.

I've always wanted to see something like FFT's Chemist as a healer, where you get to lob potions at people with an "Item" command. Bravely Default's Salve-Maker was similarly interesting. Given that Thavnaria seems to be a hub for alchemy, you could attach such a job to their lore.

You don't necessarily need ammo to do it (especially since "ammo" jobs don't really have a max ammo capacity or require purchasable ammo). You could have all the heals be built around cooldowns (i.e. you can throw a certain number of potions before having to refill/"reload" your flask) or around some base material/ether that you construct your potions from that generates over time.

As far as mixing potions go, there are two ways that you could do it. The first is that Mudra concept where you pick a combination of ingredients to get a particular result. The other, more organic option would be to use ground effects. Lob an X-potion at the tank. While they're sitting in a pile of healing goo, watching their health tick back up, you can toss a second potion at that puddle which combines with the first to create a new effect. You could just as easily do poisonous effects that harm opponents in similar ways. You could even introduce in something like FFXII's Nihopalaoa to produce a reversal effect on enemies.

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Originally Posted by Lyth

As far as mixing potions go, there are two ways that you could do it. The first is that Mudra concept where you pick a combination of ingredients to get a particular result. The other, more organic option would be to use ground effects. Lob an X-potion at the tank. While they're sitting in a pile of healing goo, watching their health tick back up, you can toss a second potion at that puddle which combines with the first to create a new effect. You could just as easily do poisonous effects that harm opponents in similar ways. You could even introduce in something like FFXII's Nihopalaoa to produce a reversal effect on enemies.

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This job fantasy is much more appealing and logical to me than the dancer idea other people seem to be loving.

I especially love the idea of combining effects. The way I'd like to see it is similar to how you describe and kinda how things work in mass effect and more recently Anthem (with more depth than those). Some actions should 'prime' allies and foes with a DoT, HoT, buff or debuff, and then other abilities could 'detonate' them for a more instantaneous effect.

E.g: you throw an oily mixture which coats enemies slowing their movement by 20%, oiled enemies become flammable and can be ignited with alchemists fire.

or a healing variant: you release restorative vapours in the targeted area healing allies for X over Y seconds for all allies that inhale the vapours. Another ability could consume the HoTs from nearby allies to heal a single target for a larger amount.

etc etc. I'm sure the team could come up with a more robust and interesting set of interactions than my 5 minute brainstorming lol.

I find it amusing that for all of the new job speculation where people are discussing potential mechanics the perfect example is always "like ninja mudra!"
Gunbreaker? give it ninja mudra!
Dancer? GIVE IT NINJA MUDRAAAAAA

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Originally Posted by Scribbinge

I find it amusing that for all of the new job speculation where people are discussing potential mechanics the perfect example is always "like ninja mudra!"
Gunbreaker? give it ninja mudra!
Dancer? GIVE IT NINJA MUDRAAAAAA

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Although the ninja-specific version has its issues, overall it's a good concept. It's like how classes have procs, and combos, and so on. It's something with enough versatility to be used in a few different ways.

Gunbreaker with its different ammo types may already be fairly mudra-alike - since the different ammos may well imply comboing them for certain effects.

But however a combination mechanic might show up in future jobs, hopefully it won't have the latency issues of mudra.

I'd prefer this idea over dancer. It even can have a sort of a Throw action where the chemist can throw a potion at some party member, with the potency of the "equiped" potion.

http://ffxivhomebrew.weebly.com/apothecary.html

i made this thing back in Heavensward. Apothecary class that leads to a healer called Chemist or a tank called Parfumier.

it's all kinda rough at this point, but i still like thinking about it.

I've always been far more excited for the idea of Chemist as a Healer than Dancer. Give them a sling shot as a primary weapon and I'm in heaven. Can you imagine the animations when they mix ingredients during their cast times. The Victory Pose emote could involve their own hand made fire works and Battle Stance could be them juggling potions. I wanna see a cool Chemist so badly because boring professions made interesting is where my heart is at. Whoever decided that a skilled vocalist/harp player should also be an expert Bowman was on the right track.

I'm fine with the concept as long as they call it literally anything other than Chemist. I'm pretty partial to Salvemaker from the Bravely Default series, if I had to pick something.

I personally would love the class! Been wanting it for a while. I always imagined that since Uldah doesn't have a healer there that something akin to and alchemist/chemist would make sense. Heck, instead of using items they could trap or build ather in vials that they mix to apply cures and/or buffs/debuffs. MP could just be considered a resource in the sense that it's the aether the chemist has captured into his/her ather extraction device. With us likely going to Garlean territory a rogue faction trying to break away from the Empire as refugees could escape to Ul'dah and teach the player how their tech works. This works perfectly with the lore imo because it's just a branch of magitek technology. For weapons I would prefer a pistol but we would likely get a melee weapon to keep us on par with other healers reach.
-Keyo

I would love to see this happen. Ever since the thaumaturge quest line, it seemed a Chemist class was accepted conceptually by Square Enix.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details. How does one develop a full working class/job from a NPC?

The way I'd like to see it implemented would be like a dps version of Astrologin. The class would have a few base attacks but then would draw potions which they could then use on other members or throw at the enemy for even greater attacks. Of course, the effects of the potions should not be copies of Astrologian effects.

The weapon of the class would be a potion flask.

To be honest... I'd love to see a healer like this.

I'm also partial to it being the incarnation of Flintlock from Tactics A2.

For a number of reasons:

1) Magical cannons are cool.

2) In Tactics A2, only Moogles could be Flintlocks. As such, it would be reasonably likely that the job teacher would be a Moogle. Which would likely lead to some very entertaining job quests.

3) Every healer, at some point, has wanted to shoot one of their party members with a cannon... Well, that could become a reality!

I just want to point out what you're proposing sounds an awful lot like completing the final fantasy gun circle. Machinist = DPS gun. Gunbreaker = Tank Gun. Flintlock = Healer Gun.

XD Idk whether or not it's needed for this premise but I still think it sounds like...

...a blast.

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

I just want to point out what you're proposing sounds an awful lot like completing the final fantasy gun circle. Machinist = DPS gun. Gunbreaker = Tank Gun. Flintlock = Healer Gun.

XD Idk whether or not it's needed for this premise but I still think it sounds like...

...a blast.

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or just like scientist simple name but i think it would work

be a good trinity of mechanics

Dancer should be a DPS in a similar vaine to bars, but with a larger focus on debuffs, it would make a horrible healer, chemist is the best healer lined up, instead of using items this time, it should use (crafting) as a cast time and toss the items to members at a large range to effect them, or the enemy with botched potions or other harmful items, heck you could even hive them a flintlock as a weapon or a satchel (simmilar to the F only purses but this time for everyone and being used for the "items".

I’d honestly rather have Chemist than Dancer any day, especially as a healer. Give it Mix as a job mechanic, some cool buffs/debuffs and something to do besides spam DPS and I’m there.

As for Weapon I honestly don’t know, maybe like a Flask or a Bag? I think Chemist is the perfect opportunity for them to give a job a much more ‘out there’ Weapon lol

Necromancer needs to be the new healer to break the flower maiden culture of current healers. Adding Dancer will only add up to the existing theme, while Chemist is more of a crafter kind of job.

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Originally Posted by Jaywalker

I just want to point out what you're proposing sounds an awful lot like completing the final fantasy gun circle. Machinist = DPS gun. Gunbreaker = Tank Gun. Flintlock = Healer Gun.

XD Idk whether or not it's needed for this premise but I still think it sounds like...

...a blast.

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Inb4 "Gunpowder Comp" new meta.

xD

While I'm firmly in the "want Dancer as next healer" camp, I'll admit the thought of a Chemist healer sounds so cool. I hope it'll come someday. I'd rather it didn't use a gun, though. I think a potion satchel or something would be more interesting.

What about a sort of hand cannon thing with a backpack chamber that synthesizes the items you use as weaponskills?

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Originally Posted by DBelmont

Necromancer needs to be the new healer to break the flower maiden culture of current healers. Adding Dancer will only add up to the existing theme, while Chemist is more of a crafter kind of job.

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Sadly this won't be done, cool in concept but there are just too many places that are touchy about the dead. China for example would have to ban the game outright. It's already walking a very fine line. Even some parts of Japanese culture looks down on depictions of the dead. They can probably get away with it because it shows that disturbing the dead is associated with evil or the enemy. There is no way that they would allow us to use it. Pity, but that's the way it is.

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Originally Posted by DBelmont

Necromancer needs to be the new healer to break the flower maiden culture of current healers. Adding Dancer will only add up to the existing theme, while Chemist is more of a crafter kind of job.

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I'd be down for necromancer and agree we need a darker healer to balance the tone out, but I don't personally see any reason Chemist couldn't do that. Just spin it like a plague doctor.

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Originally Posted by Osteichthyes

Sadly this won't be done, cool in concept but there are just too many places that are touchy about the dead. China for example would have to ban the game outright. It's already walking a very fine line. Even some parts of Japanese culture looks down on depictions of the dead. They can probably get away with it because it shows that disturbing the dead is associated with evil or the enemy. There is no way that they would allow us to use it. Pity, but that's the way it is.

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Typically, much of this gets blown out of proportion. Ironically, by Westerners.

Asia doesn't have much of a problem with the dead. It merely has an issue with promoting superstition. I mean, have you read much of the folklore from Asia? About beings such as Da Ji, Hone-Onna, Wanyūdō etc.

Some really messed up crap there.

Often the censorship of games, is done by devs themselves to get the games through the review process faster in Asian countries (Such as China).

I mean, if WoW can get WotLK into Asia (Featuring, a class that is a zombie that summons zombies and skeletons and had raids that were all about going through places made out of bones and beating up more zombies and skeletons before taking on the big bad necromancer at the end of the expansion) I think FFXIV can figure out how to make a class about aiding allies using Necromancy...

Apparently you've never seen the comparisons between WoW International Servers, and WoW China servers... Also how much longer it took to come out with both WotLK and MoP in China.