Geomancer

[MirronTulaxia]

Snip.

Regen originally appears as a command ability in FFIV for Fusoya, who is arguably a more White Mage Sage. Either way the status of "heal over time" is not originally from FFV's Time Magic, and really is pretty consistently looped into White Magic as is, only really existing as a unique spell for Time Mages here and there. And my point was that Geomancers have more than just Regen, they have multiple healing options. Single target, multi target, and even placed terrain effects.

As far as how XIV uses it, I wouldn't call the Hildebrand story a good example of what one can expect given we know Goldsmith's aren't going to be pulling off Limit Breaks anytime soon. As far as Benefic goes I'm not really sure what you're referencing. In broad terms Time Magic is mostly unexplored. Note that none of what I'm saying is that they can't be healers, just that it's hardly more sensible than Geomancers.

And at the end of the day I don't really want or not want any job as a particular role. Barring pointing out that Chemist would simply be another mage I don't really have any particular points to make, simply that they can make a number of jobs healers and it would fit. Just as they could make all the jobs we are discussing Caster DPS and it would fit. I also don't agree with the idea that White Mage is just Geomancer though either. Those are really the three points I'm making.

1. Most jobs could go into a number of roles. You could have Chemist be a Ranged Physical DPS, a Ranged Magical DPS, a Healer, it would fit pretty well. Straight mages have a harder time getting out into the other three DoW roles, but that's kind of to be expected. Even still almost all mages (if not all barring the obvious Black/White exception) could fit into Healer or Ranged Magical DPS with almost no issue. Most jobs are not strictly a healer in FF terms, which means some degree of fudging is going to have to be allowed to make an existing job fit. Geomancer, Time Mage, and Chemist all could do it, and it wouldn't be weird. Summoner or Red Mage could have done it too.

2. Chemist, if it's a Healer, is still going to be a mage. It isn't going to be something drastically different from the existing jobs. You can just look at Alchemist to get an idea of what we'd likely see. It would fit how it was portrayed in FFV, FFT, FFTA, FFTA2, and FFE. The only real exception to Chemists being tied to magical things is FFX-2 honestly. At least in terms of the overly broad way people use magic currently.

3. Geomancer, even if another healer, would not be the same as White Mage. Even if White Mage had kept the elements it wouldn't have been, but losing the elements (and they certainly could go further back and wipe them out if they so desire, but really having it pre 72 is kind of a weak argument to me) only makes it more obvious if they go that road. But whether or not White Mage has those elements Geomancer is more than able to stand on its own two feet.

Edit: I'll add, if you keep calling Geomancer White Mage 2.0 then you're just making the case for why it should be a healer all the stronger. While I don't have any particular stance on the matter White Mages are the straight forward Healer archetype. If Geomancer can reasonably be called the same thing as White Mage then it should be a Healer. So then you're left with two options. Either White Mages and Geomancers are different, in which case the Healer homogenization isn't an issue, or White Mages and Geomancers are the same, in which case any proper Geomancer should be a Healer because that's the only role White Mages fit. You'll likely try and put some twist on it with "but they're only the same if they're in the same role", but if it can be different as a Ranged Magical DPS then it can be different as a Healer as well, the two are not quite as different as you're making them out to be.

Edit 2: Looking into it, Geomancers also have an Esuna analog of sorts. So they really do have quite a bit more going for them being Healers than Time Mages, as everything a Time Mage can do they can do just about (they really only have Regen to their name after all).

Edit 3: Normally I wouldn't edit so much, but post limit makes me not want to wait for the reply and just keep adding it here. Even in games with Time Magic Regen very frequently goes to White Mages. From what I can tell outside of FFV you have Revenant Wings and... that's it for games with Time Magic where they get Regen. But the entire Tactics line and XII White Mages get it still.