Unexplored Class Concepts I'd Love to See in FF14's Future

[GrimGale]

THIS. ^^

In particular the Calculator/Arithmetician from Final Fantasy Tactics.

Weapon: Abacus
Leveling / Skill Unlock: As the player progresses up the levels, unlock a full array of DPS, Support, and Healing spells
- Note: I don't mean minor/meager spells like how RDM has meager healing spells but is primarily a DPS, or healers have some DPS with a primary focus on Healing, but FULL ON SPELLS FOR BOTH
The Plot Twist: In addition to picking which spells to cast, before the spells actually trigger the player then needs to input CALCULATIONS, which depending on how well the player does them, could affect the players team, the enemies, or a mix of both
- The Job would likely still need to be listed as a DPS primarily, but with having powerful healing spells, could assist in assisting / redirecting problematic shifts in battle more than most current Jobs do (I mean, how many comments have we seen in the Roulettes thread about people seeing fights going pear-shaped but being able to do nothing about it?


Apologies in advance, while I thoroughly appreciate your own interest in supporting the Arithmetician, if it was solely focused on doing just support spells/abilities then I would die a little inside, lol. To me the real majesty of the Arithmetician job was that it was able to cast ALL types of spells, it had open access to everything but depending on how the current calculations worked out, had to decide whether to attempt dps, healing, or just proffering support to the team / debuffs to the enemies.

Sometimes it was worth killing a teammate if it meant you 1-shot 2/3 of the opposing forces, especially since you could usually rez them a moment later if you were thoughtful and planned accordingly XD

You do understand how that is never going to work in FFXIV right. Were this a single player game, an Arithmetitian with the potential to sabotage your own team wouldn't be a problem, but in a multiplayer game, we don't want classes that have the potential to mess things up. Just look at Rescue and how much problems it can cause, and it has like a long CD.

I figured I'd have the calculation flavour in built into the job's mechanics rather than trying to make it super loyal to its FFT version. It has to fit into the DPS caster role, so it can't heal as much as a healer. It can provide buffs and apply debuffs tho, so as to be the caster version of Dancer, in a sense, where most of its contribution is in the form of augmented damage for party members.

[Alxyzntlct]

You do understand how that is never going to work in FFXIV right. Were this a single player game, an Arithmetitian with the potential to sabotage your own team wouldn't be a problem, but in a multiplayer game, we don't want classes that have the potential to mess things up. Just look at Rescue and how much problems it can cause, and it has like a long CD.

I figured I'd have the calculation flavour in built into the job's mechanics rather than trying to make it super loyal to its FFT version. It has to fit into the DPS caster role, so it can't heal as much as a healer. It can provide buffs and apply debuffs tho, so as to be the caster version of Dancer, in a sense, where most of its contribution is in the form of augmented damage for party members.

Eh, anything can be made to work with enough creativity. I'd rather them be creative about it and explore options rather than dumb it down into something that wouldn't actually be fun. And again, being brutally honest, having the powerhouse job that Arithmetician was but distilled down into a buff/debuffer would make it both pointless and disappointing. I'd rather just not have it at all at that point.

(And to be even more brutally honest, plenty of jobs already have the ability to "mess things up" and they are what they are, I refer you to the roulettes thread again)

I get it, you're trying to be thoughtful about pre-existing standards. I can respect that to a degree. However, I also see a LOT of folks asking SE more and more to step out of their pre-defined boundaries a little more to explore options in the game, and the Arithmetician is an amazing job to do that with.

Edit: In fact, if it meant it had to be a Limited Job, I'd be 100% fine with that as well. I know some folks don't like Blue Mage for that limitation, but I don't mind at all. I'd rather have an option to play the game in fun and amazing ways than not at all.

[ItMe]

I just popped in here
to plug Cannoneer~

[Shurrikhan]

Edit: In fact, if it meant it had to be a Limited Job, I'd be 100% fine with that as well. I know some folks don't like Blue Mage for that limitation, but I don't mind at all. I'd rather have an option to play the game in fun and amazing ways than not at all.

Limited jobs have thus far meant to be able to play only part of the game, under a less cohesive/engaging kit than average--as gate-kept by long grinds in exchange, perhaps, for side-content--and all other parts of the game not at all.

What are "slow attacks" in FFXIV? Melee attacks with a cast bar? Or a 4-second GCD? Why do we want to be slow? There's room for it, sure. We have BLM after all, with all their build-up investment, and Ley Lines discouraging movement. There could be a melee/tank that operates on the same concept. I don't think it would appeal to me personally, but perhaps some would like the flavour.

Honestly, probably a 1.2-1.4x (3 to 3.5s) GCD on certain skills and, more importantly, longer animation locks (not movement locks, as present on Jumps, Dives, and Primal Rush, but simply the period during which no other skill may be cast, GCD or oGCD, and thereby clip the preceding skill's animation, allowing more of that animation to resolve).

Think of the latter as, if balanced around being able to weave fewer attacks into raid buffs (or having fewer attacks it would need to weave into raid buffs), being particularly ping-friendly and having less of the flailing, half-animated "do-all-the-things-now!" feeling of, say, DRK's optimal opener (a giant two-handed sword attacking as if weightless despite most animations individually still being reasonably weighty). Likely duller to many, but smoother and more visually satisfying to others.

[elioaiko]

Realistically, I'd assume scouting dps since maiming has RPR now. I guess perhaps a more "selfish dps" if they intend on NIN being more utility-based.

I could see Spellblade/Mystic Knight with En- enchantments on their blade with varying effects similar to rotating BRD song.

I'm really hoping for caster dps and I think we will get another caster. As someone else mentioned, Time Mage could fill that dot-based role with emphasis on properly extending their dots to build up/access a big burst (eg. Demi/Quarter). They could be a utility-based DPS with their own version of Expedient. Quicken to either increase the rate of the dot ticks (finicky with server ticks) or doubles the potency. Basically a dot class with maybe three to four dots. I know SE doesn't like dots but honestly they can remove dots from jobs that doesn't really need them or just there for busy work and give those other jobs something in place (better creative design tbh).

Personally dps is the only way for Time Mage to work as healer would be a literal slap to AST's face and just bring back things that they lost (lazy).

Though I feel that Geomancer is the next caster dps candidate as they're a popular choice and would be cool as well. Probably with rotating elements.