Quote Originally Posted by Elexander View Post
Thank you! That's mostly welcome help. But... Why do they do that, after all? ;-;
It's a holdover from the early days of the re-launch. Why they never re-evaluated its purpose, I'll never know.

But I might as well toss in my two cents on the OP, right?

When it comes to vague theoreticals like this, I have to keep myself in check, though. I'll end up going on a six-page diatribe that basically amounts of the meeting minutes of a battle team brainstorming session that never came to fruition.

That said, time magic already exists via both Allag and Sharlayan (at least), so a mage that utilizes such magicks as the cornerstone of its traditions is of course theoretically possible. When I try to imagine what it might be like, I, too, skew towards healer.

Thematically, if you slow an enemy, it attacks allies less often. If you haste allies, the enemy dies with fewer chances to attack. Both of these result in fewer enemy actions per encounter, and thus less damage taken. Even solo, the former allows you more opportunity for defense, the latter more opportunity for offense. A simple theme to build on, but a stable one.

Manipulation of over-time effects, stop (bind or stun), gravity (slow or weight), reflect barriers, entropy damage, "black hole" temporal effects. I could see it all theoretically working.

But at the end of the day I try not to think of classes and jobs beyond them being balanced button mashing within a given role, hoping that they'll combine aesthetics and lore to make something I find enjoyable. The little nuances of rhythm, flow, timing, positioning I don't do well contemplating in advance; I tend to learn-by-doing in that respect, lol.