4.3: The Geomancers

[Rinuko]

Where is the shirt?!

Geo could be fun. I really enjoyed it in Tactics and XI.

[zuzu-bq]

Geomancers are basically the eastern version of Conjury which lies closer to Astromancy's theories but drawing power from Hydaelyn. It might just be one of those forever cameo classes.

[Ghastly]

Yeah it's one of those popular jobs on the tier below blm, whm, dragoon, etc and Yoshida likes the classic jobs a lot specially when he has a chance to give it a new perspective like they did with dark knight. I bet that he's going to make Geomancer a tank. No one thought dark knight was going to be a tank and we saw what happened. A tank mage would be something new and unique, in FFXIV they might turn it into a melee mage with low range but keep the casting which is ultimately what defines a mage.

[BillyKaplan]

I bet that he's going to make Geomancer a tank.

Dark Knights weren't established in the canon prior to HW though, meanwhile Geomancers were established to be foils to ASTs and healers in their own right in the AST 60-70 quest line. If they do introduce Geomancer they'll have to find a way to set them apart from AST and CNJ on at least a lore front, because right now there's nothing there. They use the same elements as CNJ and were established to be AST's matches, the biggest difference is that geomancers look at Hydaelyn whereas ASTs look at the stars, but it's ultimately the same aether. The comparison was the core of the AST 60-70 line. In many ways it buried the job's chances of making it into the game as it opened the door for it.

[Mahrze]

Dark Knights weren't established in the canon prior to HW though, meanwhile Geomancers were established to be foils to ASTs and healers in their own right in the AST 60-70 quest line. If they do introduce Geomancer they'll have to find a way to set them apart from AST and CNJ on at least a lore front, because right now there's nothing there. They use the same elements as CNJ and were established to be AST's matches, the biggest difference is that geomancers look at Hydaelyn whereas ASTs look at the starts, but it's ultimately the same aether. The comparison was the core of the AST 60-70 line. In many ways it buried the job's chances of making it into the game as it opened the door for it.

All the more reason why it'd be nice if they added Geomancer's concept to WHM and drop the WHM crap of it being "the pure healer"

[Lilseph]

I'd like them to implement a druid. It would be a mix of Geomancer and Beastmaster. You can use the power of nature but you also have an animal companion (Eagle, Bear, Wolf)

[BillyKaplan]

All the more reason why it'd be nice if they added Geomancer's concept to WHM and drop the WHM crap of it being "the pure healer"

That kind of ties back into what bothered me about WHM's quest line in SB - they didn't have one. E-Sumi-Bro and Sylphie being there as well as talking about the CNJ guild headquarters made it a CNJ story. And given how much of the 1-30 storyline was about cleansing impurities and taints, the 50-60 might as well have been a CNJ story, too. It's like they can't afford to double down on Amdapori lore like they do with Mhach for BLM and Nym for SCH which leaves them with CNJ bare-bones. So either they get over themselves and give us the WHM lore we truly deserve, detached from present-day Gridania, or double down on the CNJ lore and build up more elements of the class/job. SB BRD storyline suffered from this too but not only was it at the heart of the SB story, you ran only with BRD-story NPCs so it wasn't as bad for me.

[Ghastly]

Dark Knights weren't established in the canon prior to HW though, meanwhile Geomancers were established to be foils to ASTs and healers in their own right in the AST 60-70 quest line. If they do introduce Geomancer they'll have to find a way to set them apart from AST and CNJ on at least a lore front, because right now there's nothing there. They use the same elements as CNJ and were established to be AST's matches, the biggest difference is that geomancers look at Hydaelyn whereas ASTs look at the starts, but it's ultimately the same aether. The comparison was the core of the AST 60-70 line. In many ways it buried the job's chances of making it into the game as it opened the door for it.

They were not presented as healers in the sb story, they were presented as wardens, they create seals and shields to bind evil forces.
Which other role creates shields to prevent damage? Tank

Not once were the AST geomancers healing, they were pushing back evil influences with their incantations/seals, AST was the one healing.

[Ariane]

They were not presented as healers in the sb story, they were presented as wardens, they create seals and shields to bind evil forces.
Which other role creates shields to prevent damage? Tank

Not once were the AST geomancers healing, they were pushing back evil influences with their incantations/seals, AST was the one healing.

Looks like the Geomancer used CNJ cures here. Same animation as the CNJ cure and the wrath's HP goes up

[BillyKaplan]

Which other role creates shields to prevent damage? Tank

Tanks are inferior in protecting other party members compared to Scholar and Astrologian in Nocturnal Sect, and are equal to a Diurnal AST thanks to Collective Unconscious having shields backed into it. White Mage is behind those two but with Divine Benison they're actually on par with Dark Knight with how well they can prevent damage to other party members. That's just remembering skills, it's far, far from their role to do so. (EDIT: admitting to slightly misread that and focused on party defense. but the point still holds in that all healers have shielding capabilities, with SCH's shields being its thing and AST having an option at it. Shields are hardly a Tank exclusive thing)
Then we have our AST NPC wanting to study under Leveva. Their arts are said to be roughly identical, the source of the aether they call upon is different, that's all. Geomancers being tanks makes no sense within the lore established for them and their comparisons within the game so far. I agree letting them be tank would be about the only way in which they can have a right to exist within the game, as between CNJ and AST they're redundant, but it's that role switch that's a problem.

Looks like the Geomancer used CNJ cures here. Same animation as the CNJ cure and the wrath's HP goes up

Makes sense, they do call upon the same elements. Cure is a wind spell.