Future jobs speculation: Mystic/Rune Knight thread

[SpiralMask]

@OP: my personal take on mystic knight/rune knight/parivir/spell fencer after a bit of thinking on it would be something like:

what would you like from it? - a warrior that uses magic via a more physical medium, such as spell-inscribed runes on a weapon, accessory, tattoo, etc. advancing in the class's quests could include learning and inscribing different runes from different magical disciplines onto your blade while picking up lore about their various regional/historical origins (so that your character can better encapsulate that magic through their deeper understanding of it's original conception and applications).
i personally wouldnt tie this to a specific region as an opportunity to touch on some otherwise abandoned regional lore from across eorzea and other countries, such as learning about the arts of geomancy while learning the principles of "runic aero/stone", or the nymians when learning "runic protect", the mhachi with "runic fire/flare" and the amdapori with "runic cure/holy" and so on (or the ascians with 'runic ultima' for your limit break animation, but that spell will never actually be allowed into the game for players).
...of course this is irrelevant since it would only have class quests and relevant lore for the initial 10 levels and then BaCk tO RoLe qUeStS WiTh yOu.

what weapon do you think it would use? - a hand-and-a-half (rune/knight)sword and an offhand similarly engraved gauntlet/bracer/bangle/hand-and/or-wrist-accessory (both for varied glam options and to actually bring that back--they already have the "pair the shield when the sword drops" code in for PLD, so why not run with it and make more use of the off-hand tab in the armoury chest at the same time)

which armor set would it wear? - maiming gear -- or alternatively go for the eastern 'parivir' route and have it use scouting gear (so something else finally uses that)

what would it's gameplay be like? - a class that uses a singular resource (we'll call it "runic charge" for example) in flexible ways--your bread-and-butter melee combo skills and some OGCDs charging it up, and all of it's "spells" are used with this resource, with each granting various unique benefits to disincentivise simply spamming the strongest option.
sort of a reverse of RDM for the most part: a primarily melee approach with physical attacks and imbued attacks for point-blank spells (and traits to cast without interruption), before dashing out for a big finisher--something powerful that they couldn't safely fire off point blank (could be referential for lesser-used "big spells" across the series, or sword arts like Stock Break and Shock from steiner/beatrice's repertoires)--and then back in to begin again.
my take would have GCD combos giving a bonus to the next offensive OGCD used, and OGCDs giving a charge-based bonuses to the next few GCDs (an existing example of this type of mechanic would be similar to PLD's sword oath stacks, or SAM's meikyo shisui affecting only the next 3 GCDs used)
the benefits granted and number of charges would vary between skills; things like GCD combo A increasing the next OGCD's potency, combo B decreasing it's cooldown time, or the aoe combo making the next OGCD instant-cast, as a few possible examples. OGCDs might increase the next ~3 or so GCD's potency, make the next GCD heal you (runic cure?), or other effects. the meditation/riddle of earth/manawall-equivalent could be "runic protect" to touch back on our old friend-spell or somesuch.

which npc would represent it - thancred, having the runes and attached spells engraved with the aid of y'shtola and urianger, as with the way it "charges" letting him act more flexibly in a protracted encounter or while on solo missions, unlike the GNB's aether shells' (narratively) limited amount if he doesn't have someone on hand to charge more for him, as well as (for a unique Trust-NPC-only-thing that he can do, like y'shtola's whirlwind spells as a BLM, or urianger's aetherial manip) executing dual-techs with any casters who might be teaming up with him akin to steiner and vivi from FF9 or for action cutscenes during the MSQ or something.

[Katie_Kitty]

Samurai's playstyle of building sen and then using them on cast-bar skills would've made a nice concept for a mystic knight. Hinganbana could've been thunder, midare could've been fire, maybe the AoE one would be like ice or something.

[ItMe]

Samurai's playstyle of building sen and then using them on cast-bar skills would've made a nice concept for a mystic knight. Hinganbana could've been thunder, midare could've been fire, maybe the AoE one would be like ice or something.

Oh snap that's a neat thought.

[jon041065]

Samurai's playstyle of building sen and then using them on cast-bar skills would've made a nice concept for a mystic knight. Hinganbana could've been thunder, midare could've been fire, maybe the AoE one would be like ice or something.

Yeah there's plenty of ways to add a "battlemage" type job to the game that would be different in feel compared to what we already have.

One idea I had (originally for melee blu RIP) was for there to be a melee ability representing fire/ice/wind/earth/lightning/water and a system similar to the mudra one but as the job's primary mechanic. Different combos would trigger a certain attack and you could only use an element once per combo. Even limited to just 3 elements per combo would result in something like 120 combinations. Trim that down because this wouldn't be blu and I think it would still be a fun mechanic. If you ever played Legend of Legaia II then think of Maya.

[Atmaweapon510]

What would you like from it ? What makes you want this job ?

A classic melee job that fills the "elemental caster melee" niche that RDM currently doesn't.


What weapon do you think it would use?

Whipsword like Seven from Type-0. Would make for an interesting visuals and give us a "graceful melee" as opposed to the others. Able to use ability names like Flame tongue and Liquid Steel.


Which armor set would it wear ?

Scouting. This Rune Fencer outfit would be more like the original turbaned look, meaning a lot of cloth and masks. This would lend itself well to a sort of desert skirmisher style look that could work for NIN in terms of glamour.


What would its gameplay be like?

I'd like a "stance shift" job, where your actual gameplay is affected by which stance you're in, and you generally want to switch stances as often as possible. For example, say Rune Fencer has 4 elemental stances, Wind, Earth, Fire, Water (two astral, two umbral, all can easily be associated with the desert.) During Wind, your GCD is very fast and all of your attacks are positionals. During Earth (sand), your gcd is slow, but you will constantly need to double weave. During Fire, you have fast GCDs and need to weave oGCDs. During Water, your gcd is normal and you need both positionals and oGCDs. You can only swap from Astral to Umbral elements (Wind/Fire <->Earth/Water) and due to weaving, the over all pace of the job should be maintained through each stance. After swapping through all the elements, you get to unleash your ultimate attack and then start over form the beginning.

[PangTong]

Cut

This is exactly what I would like to see from an implementation of Mystic Knight / the second Scouting DPS. I had the exact same thoughts for just about every aspect. Everything just fits so well and it represents a weapon, fighting style, theme and aesthetic that is not already in the game, it doesn't step on the toes of any other jobs, and it gives us a second Scouting job that makes sense. The idea is so great I'm gonna end up being salty that they never implement it lol.

[Kalaam]

With the way new summoner works, I feel like different "elemental blade" phases could work decently well.
Did you see stuff with new job mechanics or bosses that you think could work well in that job ?

[Awarewolf]

What would you like from it ? What makes you want this job ?

A classic melee job that fills the "elemental caster melee" niche that RDM currently doesn't.


What weapon do you think it would use?

Whipsword like Seven from Type-0. Would make for an interesting visuals and give us a "graceful melee" as opposed to the others. Able to use ability names like Flame tongue and Liquid Steel.


Which armor set would it wear ?

Scouting. This Rune Fencer outfit would be more like the original turbaned look, meaning a lot of cloth and masks. This would lend itself well to a sort of desert skirmisher style look that could work for NIN in terms of glamour.


What would its gameplay be like?

I'd like a "stance shift" job, where your actual gameplay is affected by which stance you're in, and you generally want to switch stances as often as possible. For example, say Rune Fencer has 4 elemental stances, Wind, Earth, Fire, Water (two astral, two umbral, all can easily be associated with the desert.) During Wind, your GCD is very fast and all of your attacks are positionals. During Earth (sand), your gcd is slow, but you will constantly need to double weave. During Fire, you have fast GCDs and need to weave oGCDs. During Water, your gcd is normal and you need both positionals and oGCDs. You can only swap from Astral to Umbral elements (Wind/Fire <->Earth/Water) and due to weaving, the over all pace of the job should be maintained through each stance. After swapping through all the elements, you get to unleash your ultimate attack and then start over form the beginning.

Love this. Make it so, YoshiP.

[Kalaam]

Those were pretty neat ideas.
Whipsword ala castlevania aria of sorrow would be funny. If the weapon modelers and the animators manage to pull it of it'd be pretty darn impressive.

[Tulzscha]

I've been working on a job like this but it's on hiatus 'till I'm caught up on Endwalker. Posted it in another thread, may as well post here too.

Spellblade/Dervish

Weapon: Curved sword(s)

Theme: Buff your weapon with an element, attacking with it generates a resource which you use to summon and attack with a magical weapon of that element in your offhand.

Resources: 3 bars, 1 for each of the 3 elements you can buff your weapon with. Attacking with buffed weapon generates resource, attacking with a summoned offhand spends resource.

Elements: Wind, Water, and Lightning. Why? These 3 elements make a storm. Also it's different from the other jobs.

Flow & Feel: Playing this job would be like you're in control of a hurricane barreling down on your foes; a brutal, unrelenting, and unstoppable force of nature ripping to shreds anything and everything in your path.

Gameplay: I was trying to go for something like Genshin Impact where you swap between elements pretty frequently to create combos but that proved too messy so it's more about managing resources and cooldowns with just a little bit of element interaction. The main hand weapon has 9 base attacks that all combo into each other, each ability combos to and from two other abilities and they change based on which element you're using - 3 are totally different while the other 6 just have different animations (3 for extra resource gen, 3 for extra damage).

The offhand weapon would be controlled primarily with a single ogcd that mirrors most (not all) of your main hand attacks + some extra ogcds.

Signature attack: A whirlwind of all 3 elements where you keep hitting 3 abilities in succession to keep spinning.

Complexity: Similar to RDM but requires some memorization of a few different abilities that change based on element & their combos. Overall it's a pretty straightforward builder/spender.

Armor Type: Scouting. Flailing about with two swords sounds like a Dex job to me.