Why does everyone want Chemist as a new job?

[Valic]

I can see it being a fun and unique idea in FFXIV. Considering our job gauges and all, I would love a concept revolving around combining different effects of skills into one super heal ability. Taking heals over time + burst healing and combining them into a new ability, a dot + damage or a dot + aoe, just something where maybe you can weave and stockpile good abilities. Maybe the gauge is a stock of your kept mixtures or changes color based on your current concoction. Honestly, I'll be glad to see a healer that isn't just more sparkly lights...

[Cidel]

I suspect Chemist comes up in new potential job speculation because it has an established identity as a healer within the series, and many people rightfully feel like we are due for another healer in the next announcement for an additional job (or jobs) in XIV. Granted, I think they'll have to take some liberties with the job concept to fit into the mechanics/ identity/ "balance" of the healing role in XIV, but it's already strongly associated with healing in the series so it has a leg-up on other predictions.

I'm pretty sure we have most of Final Fantasy's signature/ commonly represented jobs in XIV, a few others (namely pet ones) seem unlikely given the dev's adversity to balancing them and BLU's fate. So now a lot second and third-string jobs get nominated for potential XIV picks.

Oh, and I always considered "we already have Alchemist as a DoH" to be a weak argument to hand-wave the possibility for a Chemist. First of all, most people in-game would distinguish the two by their different acronyms (ALC and CHM, the likeliest one, are not even similar). Secondly, I don't foresee anyone mistaking someone for talking about Alchemist (I assume in voice-chat?) when the discussion is on raids/PvE content, combat-jobs, etc. and in-context would clearly be referring to Chemist. And finally, they can always use a different name for the Chemist job in XIV- there's a handful of synonyms. Chemist is just the most universally identifiable version.

[GucciSan]

So any apothecary/chemist lore...would be entirely separate from this kid we talked to. I think the point of the kid wasn't to foreshadow a job so much as to just show someone else inspired to be a hero in their own way, tying into things thematically with the patch.

Spoiler for 5.3 msq.

Basically, Elidibus draws his strength from people inspired to be heroes in order to become the 'Warrior of Light' and this is providing an example of someone like that at the start of the 5.3 msq. That makes more sense to me for why it's there as opposed to them setting up a job that will probably have its roots back on the Source rather than Norvrandt if added.

She also specifically says that she wants to be a Warrior of Light that fights with potions. She could have easily said that she wants to be an Apothecary like the woman she met and just heal the sick, but she was very specific in saying both Warrior of Light AND Apothecary, connecting the two together.

She also says the Apothecary would help people even if it was dangerous, implying that she had some combat experience at least so she was no regular doctor.

[Sylve]

The mixing mechanics would be tough for a healer.
Imagine all your powerful insta heals are locked bhind it and a tank buster is about to rekt your tank.
Class would almost never been a main healer that's for sure.
Having to do a mudra mechanic as a healer would be too much pressure when you're the person that needs to keep the party alive.

It'd be fine if you were able to mix and store what you mixed for later with charges. You'd then just take advantage of lulls in damage to 'restock' your big heals.

[GrizzlyTank]

Probably because chemist was teased...

[Darus]

I just want to bash someone in the head with glassware and scream "YOU ARE HEALED!" as they have to pick broken shards out of their skin.

[Bright-Flower]

She also specifically says that she wants to be a Warrior of Light that fights with potions. She could have easily said that she wants to be an Apothecary like the woman she met and just heal the sick, but she was very specific in saying both Warrior of Light AND Apothecary, connecting the two together.

She also says the Apothecary would help people even if it was dangerous, implying that she had some combat experience at least so she was no regular doctor.

Possibly, but again any new job is likely to have its lore in the Source and not the First, so it would be weird to ease a new job in Norvrandt instead of on the Source where those characters could be used going forward. New expansion jobs tend to be tied to the locations we visit in that expansion. (Even Ninja, while we weren't going to Doma yet, had ties to the doman refugees in the msq at the time.) The exception to this was with SHB because they probably didn't want to deal with the complications of tying the job stories to the First, so instead we just got new jobs tied to places we're likely to go to in the future.

And unlike Alisae and Red Mage, it's unlikely that an actual story connection could be drawn between these characters and whoever the job npcs would be, because it seems like the WOL is still going to be the only one who can traverse worlds at will.

I'm not saying chemist won't happen, but to assume that this line is specifically teasing it just feels like a bit of a stretch for me. And if it 'is' teasing a new job, a weird way to go about it because of the divide between the source and the first.

[BasicBlake]

Possibly, but again any new job is likely to have its lore in the Source and not the First, so it would be weird to ease a new job in Norvrandt instead of on the Source where those characters could be used going forward. New expansion jobs tend to be tied to the locations we visit in that expansion. (Even Ninja, while we weren't going to Doma yet, had ties to the doman refugees in the msq at the time.) The exception to this was with SHB because they probably didn't want to deal with the complications of tying the job stories to the First, so instead we just got new jobs tied to places we're likely to go to in the future.

And unlike Alisae and Red Mage, it's unlikely that an actual story connection could be drawn between these characters and whoever the job npcs would be, because it seems like the WOL is still going to be the only one who can traverse worlds at will.

I'm not saying chemist won't happen, but to assume that this line is specifically teasing it just feels like a bit of a stretch for me. And if it 'is' teasing a new job, a weird way to go about it because of the divide between the source and the first.

It’s also not the only tie this game has to chemists though. Potions and potion makers do exist on the source. There is an island south of Thavnair rum by a family that doesn’t allow outsiders on it, as well as Garlean healer NPCs they use abilities with chemist like names. We also have Bajsaljen in a Bozja who is a defected Garlean medic.

While we don’t see Apothecary running around we have plenty of things with the chemist flair.

[GucciSan]

Possibly, but again any new job is likely to have its lore in the Source and not the First, so it would be weird to ease a new job in Norvrandt instead of on the Source where those characters could be used going forward. New expansion jobs tend to be tied to the locations we visit in that expansion. (Even Ninja, while we weren't going to Doma yet, had ties to the doman refugees in the msq at the time.) The exception to this was with SHB because they probably didn't want to deal with the complications of tying the job stories to the First, so instead we just got new jobs tied to places we're likely to go to in the future.

And unlike Alisae and Red Mage, it's unlikely that an actual story connection could be drawn between these characters and whoever the job npcs would be, because it seems like the WOL is still going to be the only one who can traverse worlds at will.

I'm not saying chemist won't happen, but to assume that this line is specifically teasing it just feels like a bit of a stretch for me. And if it 'is' teasing a new job, a weird way to go about it because of the divide between the source and the first.

At the same time Shadowbringers has also shown that Jobs don't have to be tied to the expansion location. And it's very unlikely that Riqi-Tio herself will have anything to do with a Chemist questline as a whole; there's nothing to really say that NPCs with "hints" need to be involved with them in the future. It feels like she only exists to tease us with a potential Job.

And it's not even one line; there are several that raise red flags at least for me:

Chessamile: If we all work hard, the day will come when our chirurgeons may set forth to aid folk in every corner of the realm...As we strive towards that day, I hope that we can rely upon you as well. Though I must warn you, ours is not an easy path. No, you must work very, very hard.

Riqi-Tio: She was so brave - the apothecary, I mean. She went around taking care of people, even when it was dangerous. And i decided I wanted to help people, just like her.

Alphinaud: But it will not be done in a day. Such lofty goals are reached through hard work and persistence, through countless little acts of heroism - like delivering the graps to Chessamile.

This is my own interpretation, but the entire questline feels easy to read as the team speaking directly to the playerbase. They know that we're desperate for a new healer, and this seems like one elaborate way to reassure us that one is coming, and giving us not so subtle hints what it might be. It also feels like they're telling use to be patient until 6.0, which falls in line with the hard work both NPCs described. I can't think of any other time a job hint felt this on the nose, along with potentially naming what it is.

[GrimGale]

With the black rose and weapon plots tied to Garlemald, we've had our fair share of Garlean tech being showcased in game.
If the next expansion takes us to Garlemald to deal with the pesky edgy boi and his fan, it would make sense for us to get Chemist as a Job.