New DPS Job Idea - Time Mage!

[Eloah]

Geomancer on the other hand is much trickier...the Astrologian quests paint them as a unique separate job altogether, but it's not known how much they and Astrologian overlap.

My interpritation based upon the way they present Geomancer in relation to AST is that they focus more on protection and prevention over healing, ie they try to stop the event before it happens as opposed to taking care of it afterwards. Basically, the way they described them sounded more tanky, which would be great, and personally I'm rooting for a Geomancer tank.

[Ceallach]

The problem is white mages are evolved conjurers, and therefore already established as the druidic Disciples of Magic. In order for a geomancer to work, it would have to be close to conjury without being a healer. The geomancer in FINAL FANTASY XI and the arcanist that would have been implemented in FINAL FANTASY XIV 1.0 worked similarly as well.

For those who don't know, the geomancer in FINAL FANTASY XI would have elemental and enfeebling magic in addition to geomancy, which was typically cast with a handbell (the series' traditional weapon for geomancers) but didn't require it like a ninja required tools (ninjutsu was cast by consuming ninja tools from your inventory instead of MP). Geomancy would create aura bubbles around the caster, the caster's pet luopan or even another party member in order to buff allies and debuff enemies that the geomancer had enmity on. The geomancer also had a job trait called Cardinal Chant that gave bonuses to his/her magic spells according to his position relative to the enemy. The arcanist that would have been implemented in FINAL FANTASY XIV 1.0 would have used a mechanical cane to animate distaves, creating basically the same play style.

Anyway, as far as FINAL FANTASY XIV is now concerned, the geomancer would basically have to be another DPS job. It couldn't work as a tank. Think of it as bringing to bear all nature's wrath against your foe.

[Eloah]

Anyway, as far as FINAL FANTASY XIV is now concerned, the geomancer would basically have to be another DPS job. It couldn't work as a tank. Think of it as bringing to bear all nature's wrath against your foe.

Why couldn't it be a tank? Any job could be any role with the right implimentation. And Geomancer is one of the sturdier mages to become a tank if they turn one into a tank.

[Ceallach]

Why couldn't it be a tank? Any job could be any role with the right implimentation. And Geomancer is one of the sturdier mages to become a tank if they turn one into a tank.

If there was going to be a Disciple of Magic tank, I would expect the green mage from FINAL FANTASY Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Between buffing spells and a large hammer, they would make more sense than a geomancer in terms of being able to take hits, which is the primary job of a tank. Furthermore, geomancer has been implemented well exactly one time in the entire FINAL FANTASY series, and that was in FINAL FANTASY XI as a support/offensive mage. The rest of the time it was terrain-based randomness that got you into trouble more often than it actually helped. Finally, we haven't seen anything drastic in terms of role changes at all. We've seen dark knights tank before. We've seen scholars heal before. We've seen bards do damage before. This is like asking why machinists can't be tanks or why warriors can't be healers. The lore of the series absolutely must be respected.

[Valdegarde]

Finally, we haven't seen anything drastic in terms of role changes at all...The lore of the series absolutely must be respected.

[Ceallach]

1. Handbell
2. Unreliable geomancy
3. Mage robes

Yeah, that totally looks tank-worthy to me.

[DRKoftheAzure]

Too bad AST exists with some abilities that sound like they belong on a time mage... so time mage is never going to happen...

[Valdegarde]

1. Handbell
2. Unreliable geomancy
3. Mage robes

Yeah, that totally looks tank-worthy to me.

The picture I linked was from Final Fantasy Explorers, where Geomancer is a support/tank, arguably one of the tankiest melee classes in the game with their mighty glacier tendencies, HP and clubs/bells.
Also worth noting that Geomancers in Final Fantasy Tactics, one of their more popular incarnations, couldn't wear heavy armor but they could wear some of the other kinds of best armor, shields, their HP growth was 3rd highest in the game (tied with Knight and Dragoon!) and their HP multiplier was 4th highest, drastically higher than any other mage class and only 10 behind Knight/Dragoon.

All this isn't implying that I think it has to be a tank or anything, but you speak as if there's NO precedent, when there's clearly some.

[Eloah]

All this isn't implying that I think it has to be a tank or anything, but you speak as if there's NO precedent, when there's clearly some.

I... I want to hug you so much right now. Thank... Thank you, T.T

We've seen dark knights tank before. We've seen scholars heal before. We've seen bards do damage before. This is like asking why machinists can't be tanks or why warriors can't be healers. The lore of the series absolutely must be respected.

Say remember that one time in FFXI, where SE implemented Ninja as a DPS and Samurai as a Tank, and Blue Mage a bit more melee oriented than usual... Good Times, Good Times indeed... Hint Hint.

[Mhaeric]

Geomancer on the other hand is much trickier...the Astrologian quests paint them as a unique separate job altogether, but it's not known how much they and Astrologian overlap.

It paints them as the same job with different coat of paint, to be honest. They even outright state a few times that the 6 constellations are the same as the elemental representations Geomancers use. E.g. geomancer's Tree of the earth is equivalent to astrologian's bole, etc. The only thing different about them aside from the heavenly energy vs earthly energy (which was also explicitly stated by the npcs in the quest as feeling similar) is that Geomancers don't currently have the same spell effects, which itself is not really special at all since neither did the Ishgardian astrologers until the Sharlayans showed them the power that they were missing out on. It's pretty darn clear cut to me that Ishgardian Astrologers = Sharlayan Astrologians = Kugane Geomancers.