Time Mage (TIM) Job Concept

Hello here is a job concept I had for Time Mage, Hope you enjoy it!

Final Fantasy XIV Time Mage

The Time Mage (TIM) is a supportive caster DPS that bestows a number of beneficial status effects on their allies and debuffs on their enemies. TIM uses a special type of magic known as Time Magic which is used to alter the battlefield in favor of your party. When you have a TIM in your party you literally have Time on your side.

Job Characteristics

• Weaponry: Hourglass
• Role: Caster DPS
• Gear: INT Gear
• Job Mechanic: Time Gates / Temporal Distortion

Time Gates

Time Gates are the job mechanic for TIM. These Time Gates are small portals (icons) that look like the medal icons from the feast (but with a clock icon and green coloration) that appear up to 15y around the TIM. Running up to these Time Gates increases the TIM job gauge which is identified as 5 grayed out spheres that when filled appear green. When a TIM party member collects one of these time gates the TIM gets one Temporal Distortion sphere, meanwhile if the TIM collects the Time Gate they will gain 2 Temporal Distortion spheres. When your Temporal Distortion gauge is filled the TIM is capable of using enhanced versions of certain utility spells with the usage of the ability Perpetuance.

• Time Gates collected affect all Time Mages (TIM) within the party.
• Time Gates of Time Mages only appear for party members of your party.
• A Time Gate appears every 10s you are in combat with a maximum of 3 Time Gates per TIM in the party appearing in the battlefield at one time. (8 TIM = 24 Time Gates Max)

Skills & Abilities

• LV1: Supernova (Limit Break LV3): Delivers an area of effect attack.
  
  
  
• LV1: Chrono: Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 180. Additional Effect: Chronology – When this effect is stacked up to 3 times it allows usage of Demi.
  
  
  
• LV2: Countdown: Deals damage when time expires 30s or upon casting Quicken, with a potency of 300.
  -Note: Think of it as a DoT that activates all damage upon expiration of the debuff.
  
  
  
• LV4: Slow: Inflicts target with slow +20% for 30s. (Recast 60s Shares Cooldown with Haste)
  -LV4: Extend Slow: Creates a slow field near the target granting all those enemies inside the designated area the effect of slow. Only executable while under the effect of Perpetuance.
  
  
  
• LV6: Immobilize: Binds target. 10s
  -LV6: Hypertime Bind: same effect as Immobilize but makes the spell unresistable. Only executable while under the effect of Perpetuance. (Grants target immunity to the same effect for 300s- 5 minutes)
  -Note: The resistance is a status effect known as time lag preventing the usage of Hypertime Immobilize, and Hypertime Stop until the effect wears off.
  
  
  
• LV12: Stop: Stuns target. 5s (Shares Stun Resistance mechanics)
  -LV12: Hypertime Stop: same effect as stop but ignores stun resistance. Only executable while under the effect of Perpetuance. (Grants target immunity to the same effect for 300s- 5 minutes)
  -Note: The resistance is a status effect known as time lag preventing the usage of Hypertime Immobilize, and Hypertime Stop until the effect wears off.
  
  
  
• LV15: Perpetuance: Consumes all Temporal Distortion spheres allowing you usage of one hypertime or Extended spell. (All hypertime spells light up signifying that they can be used.) (Recast 30s)
  
  
  
• LV18: Comet: Deals ice damage with potency 80 to target and all enemies nearby it. Additional Effect: Grants confusion causing enemies to attack each other 5s. It builds up resistance similar to stun.
  
  
  
• LV26: Old: Saps your target energy dealing damage overtime for 30s with potency of 20 or upon casting Quicken deals remaining damage instantly.
  
  
  
• LV30: Quicken: Allows certain spells to execute instantly, dealing all their damage or remaining damage at once. (Recast 60s)
  
  
  
• LV30: Haste: Grants target haste +10% for 30s (Recast 60s Shares Cooldown with Slow)
  -LV30: Extend Haste: Creates a haste field near the target granting all those inside the designated area the effect of haste. Only executable while under the effect of Perpetuance.
  
  
  
• LV40: Demi: Deals unaspected damage with potency 1500; potency decreases the lower the target’s HP. Can only be executed while under the effect of x3 stacks of chronology and consumes the stacks. (Lowest Potency: 300 @ around 10% HP)
  
  
  
• LV45: Warp: Move yourself and nearby party members quickly to the specified location. (Casting Time: 1s) (Recast: 10s) (Teleports party members that are 5y radius around you)
  
  
  
• LV50: Reverse: Reverse time’s flow, reverting a portion of the target’s damage back unto them. (Buff usable on a target such as a tank think of veil of the whorl.)

I know this isn't fully developed to level 80, but it's just a overlook of how I imagine a Time Mage could work. This is just an example I wanted to share.

Only Martin Sheen can play TIM.

Time Mage as healer please! (or just wrap it back into Astrologian again... Take the hint Square!)

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Originally Posted by Haxaan

Time Mage as healer please! (or just wrap it back into Astrologian again... Take the hint Square!)

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I actually like that they made AST more like an oracle it makes more sense with the tarot card theme and all. I guess TIM can be a healer but I really want chemist for that role.

I can't quite make out what direction you are trying to take this concept in. The temporal gate idea, while not bad doesn't feel fully fleshed out; nothing should really appear on the battle field except for pets or turrets, things you place yourself. The idea of quickening DoTs is good, but it would need to be implimented in a way so that it doesnt become a chore to use. Also, while the idea for a Slow, Stop, or even Haste is good, we know that utility like these have been fazed out of the standard kits, and moved over to role actions, so they sorta are dead space at the moment.

Additionally, while AST has lost some of it's Time Mage identity, it still has the aesthetic, especially with Gravity and Lightspeed still being a thing.

What I personally would suggest is to try and formulate a mechanic that gives the illusion of time management, but still fits within the confines of our current game. I think working around Quicken is a good start.

Timemage works better as a healer

Sounds like a cool idea
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...v-_400x400.jpg

i would change warp though
to lets say you place a gate similar to how you place a pets and you just teleport to that spot
be kinda cool for planning out mechanics and such

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Originally Posted by Raylazer11

Timemage works better as a healer

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^ this.

I'd be really sad if another possible great healer design went to DPS like Dancer did.

Your design is also having a character run around and use a mechanic that is environment focused in a game that loves to mess with the environment. I don't think this is a solid framework.

There are some who call him .... Tim.

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Originally Posted by Brightshadow

I actually like that they made AST more like an oracle it makes more sense with the tarot card theme and all. I guess TIM can be a healer but I really want chemist for that role.

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I liked the direction they were going with Ast being a Time and Space mage, kind of how Scholar is a mix of Summoner and Green Mage. It was refreshing to have a job that was a mixture of other traditional jobs. Time Mage is my favorite "Healing" class and I ABSOLUTELY love the aesthetic of Ast so to have them together was amazing. That being said, if they took away the time spells from Ast because they will someday be giving us Time Mage then I'm cool with it, otherwise give them back XD.

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Originally Posted by Haxaan

I liked the direction they were going with Ast being a Time and Space mage, kind of how Scholar is a mix of Summoner and Green Mage. It was refreshing to have a job that was a mixture of other traditional jobs. Time Mage is my favorite "Healing" class and I ABSOLUTELY love the aesthetic of Ast so to have them together was amazing. That being said, if they took away the time spells from Ast because they will someday be giving us Time Mage then I'm cool with it, otherwise give them back XD.

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Actually, AST being a version of a Time Mage makes sense, since the word astro relates to the the stars and space. Plus the only skill they lost that was "Time Mage-esque" was Time Dilation, and that was taken away more because of the revised card system, not to remove the identity, although...

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Originally Posted by Eloah

Actually, AST being a version of a Time Mage makes sense, since the word astro relates to the the stars and space. Plus the only skill they lost that was "Time Mage-esque" was Time Dilation, and that was taken away more because of the revised card system, not to remove the identity, although...

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Yup, Time Dilation is the only Time Mage-esque skill that was removed, Celestial Opposition, Lightspeed, Aspected Helios and Aspected Benefic and Diurnal Sect are still the Time Aspect of AST.

Diurnal makes it so that A!Benefic and A!Helios become a Regen Heal, lore-wise it says that those two heals turns back time and that's how it restores health to the target. Celestial Opposition effects both old and new also ties in to the lore behind it, where Celestial Opposition stops time for a bit then returns it to it's regular flow. Lightspeed basically just increases AST's time being able to instacast all spells and GCD actions.

AST is still THE Time Mage of the Game.

I know I know, I'm just still salty that CO's time extension was taken away along with TD. But it doesn't make sense for either of those abilities if the cards are all the same. Those abilities just really helped to make AST feel like a time mage and less of a "cleverly worded" whm.

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Originally Posted by Haxaan

I know I know, I'm just still salty that CO's time extension was taken away along with TD. But it doesn't make sense for either of those abilities if the cards are all the same. Those abilities just really helped to make AST feel like a time mage and less of a "cleverly worded" whm.

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I feel you there. Til this day I see no point in taking them out since they gutted card durations as well as regen durations. I thought that they were going to compensate for taking them out in a way that its going to be absorbed by other skills but nothing. They gave nothing else. If anything I'd ask for those effects to come back especially CO's time extension for the whole party

So... couple problems.

First, let's start with the obvious: AST covers the Time Mage theme in many ways. Time Mage is known for manipulating both time and space (including spells like Gravity and Shell), which is an area of magic that AST still delves into. Aside from debuffs like Slow and Stop (crowd control which would largely be worthless in many encounters due to 14's balance), its notable use of Time manipulation was in Regen effects like Diurnal AST provides, and in providing attack buffs like Haste. Lightspeed can still be seen as a personal Haste effect that AST is already balanced around.
So when we get down to it, the viable mechanics of Time Mage are damage buffs, supportive/defensive effects, and using time/space spells to attack... which are already covered by AST, just not purely limited by the "time" theme. "Demi" is even just an alternate name for Gravity, which already exists. All AST's really missing is Meteor, which BLM already has, and more buff duration effects (which, while lost for now, may hopefully return).
People keep saying that AST is losing Time Mage elements, which would be a valid criticism (if it wasn't only applied to duration effects on two skills), but they also ignore that AST is building on its own personal thematic base so it doesn't have to just recycle upgrades on the same 7 "classic" spells.

Now, I will say that as someone in support of having Geomancer available as a caster DPS job in spite of the overlap with CNJ, I would be willing to accept some thematic overlap provided the two jobs could use it in different ways, not unlike GNB and MCH with guns/tech, DNC and BRD with musical support, DRG and SMN with dragon powers, WHM and PLD with holy magic, and so on.

Which brings me to my second point: The concept itself, which is rather... light. Dare I even say weak. Not just because you specifically wrote 20 levels as a DPS with only 3 attacks, one of which is the AoE.
Even ignoring the overlap with AST, as I said above there is a reason a lot of classical Time Mage elements aren't represented. A job focused around inflicting CCs like Slow, Immobilize, Stop, Confusion and Old (which is an actual debuff in 14, turns you into an old woman, see Shisui of Violet Tides) would have little effectiveness against a boss, and having a number of CC effects within the same kit is not only redundant but rather a waste of bar space, since even BLM doesn't get much mileage from Sleep outside of solo encounters. There is a reason AST no longer provides Skill/Spell Speed buffs, which is largely because nobody wanted those anyway due to their impact on weaving abilities between GCDs (and even if it increased cast times without affecting the GCD, it would be an effect only other casters could benefit from, and only a damage increase for BLMs); as for alternatives, Yoshi-P has stated a movement speed buff is something we will probably never see available since it would make the game too easy.
Your version of Warp as a group-wide Aetherial Manipulation could also very easily be used to troll; Rescue already is, and it can only affect one person every 2.5 minutes. I can't count the number of encounters where players are forced to stack, or where positioning is so airtight that moving a couple inches to the left would spell instant death.
All that really leaves is the emphasis on "delayed damage" effects like Countdown, and manipulation effects like Quicken. It's promising, but while I'm sure many SMNs would be happy to be reworked away from being a DoT job in favor of more pet emphasis, there's only so far you can take having several DoTs active at once (even Bio and Miasma have very little difference if you use them optimally, since they're applied and refreshed by the same sources), especially since DoTs in 14 can't have ticks sped up like you might see in WoW. Even the effects presented aren't necessarily original, as you can see similar principles in Earthly Star (for Countdown) or Thundercloud (for Quicken).