For those who main/semi-main a DPS (e.g. DNC, RDM) but like Healers...

[ASkellington]

It is and isn't like AST.

AST channels the aether of other stars, GEO the aether of this one (the planet). The issue is that it uses CNJ spells in gameplay, leading to the confusion, as CNJs also channel the aether of this planet, they just do it through an intermediary of the Elementals.

They wouldn't really have to rewrite AST lore at all. They'd just need to point out that CNJs are actually GEOs through a filter/intermediary. Which would mean that AST and CNJ are related disciplines as well...though that isn't really too outrageous and doesn't change either's existing lore, it's just a twist on how to think about it.

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I COULD see Time Mage as a healer (reversing wounds, etc), but I can't imagine they'd make it one, given Time Mage has always been a damage/buffer in past games where it has existed. Though I think it also has had the Regen spell in some games, too...but in FFXIV, WHM already does, so unless they plan on WHM changes to Medica 2 and Regen, I can't really see it happening, and FFXIV is allergic to hybrids, hence the RDM situation.

Mmmm no.

Geomancer as stated in the AST quests use the fault lines like constellations in the ground to mirror the stars in the heavens that AST use.

The LITERAL REASON AST has Earthly Star is based on that.

I don't think this invalidates having GEO. What does to me personally is CNJ exists, WHM up until SHB had GEO like spells, just return them back to WHM we don't need a whole 'nother class.

Same with Time Mage. AST HAD time magic can still GET time magic. There's no need for it.

I'm not against either being introduced into the game other than you pretty much ripped away what people like of the original classes (pre-Shb WHM and AST) to make way for new ones.

[Renathras]

Mmmm no.

I'm going to have to check the cutscenes again, but I'd like the exact quotes, if you can provide them.

GEO "mirroring the constellations" is still channeling the power of the earth/this planet/Star. Unless the quote says they are not?

CNJs do as well, they just do so by a proxy.

WHM is a bit odd, as it...does and doesn't. It works partly like BLM where it uses ambient aether (not from the planet, per se, but from everything around and just general floating/free aether), and partly by using aether granted by the Elementals. CNJs, unlike THMs, do not do their spellwork with their personal aether (which is why Sylphie was doing it wrong), they do more like BLM/WHMs do, but only via the Elementals.

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The issue with "don't need a whole 'nother class" is that GEO would be a DPS, not a Healer. At least, that's how everyone imagines it. It's not simply some people want Stone spells. They want Stone spells...as a DPS Job.

AST was never a Time Mage. It was a FFXIV original (sorta, you can debatably argue it was a guest character in FFTactics, but it was really nothing like him, either) with a few spells that modified durations of other spells and it had Gravity (debatably Demi, but not Comet or Meteor). Also didn't have a Haste, Slow, or Stop spell, the staples of a Time Mage (and no, Time Mages don't do it through Arcanum), Reflect, or Regen (also sometimes associated with Time Magic).

The fight against Gaia (the first one) in Eden is more a Time Mage than AST ever was.

EDIT:

The mobility is nice too. Healers are kinda like old style BLM. Modern BLM hoofs it much less than modern healers do, and then pretty much every other DPS job is much better than that.

Then, lastly, I often play a DPS job that can res. So I'm still impactful at letting the party recover from mistakes, which was a big part of what I liked about playing healers anyways. Spreadsheet-planning healchecks is kinda meh to me.

I'd still return to heal-maining in a heartbeat, though, if healers were primarily about healing.

Yeah, it's weird how MOBILE that BLM is, despite people insisting otherwise. It's more mobile than any of the Healers aside from maybe SGE, and also than RDM, the caster/melee hybrid, is.

I also am with you on the Raising. I cannot stand playing DPS if I can't Raise. SMN/RDM only for me. Obviously no Tanks can raise, so there I go PLD since I feel I can do more to protect and keep the party alive than any of the others (WAR is pretty up there, too, though).

Also with ya that I wish there was more focus on healing.

[ASkellington]

snip

AST had Time Dilation. Something that has been repeatedly asked to come back since Shb's destruction of the class. A "SLOW" if you will on buffs (buff extender). A lot of its current skills (See A. Helios and Benefic along with Macrocosmos) also have time like effects. The point I'm making here is Gravity could have a slow applied to it. Haste is technically Light Speed. (And crappy Astrodyne applies a haste to AST). And old cards had a Sksp and SpS Haste upon allies (current PvP Arrow IS a movement speed buff) I see no reason to have Time Mage the dps when we have Time Mage the healer - AST minus cards (or even with cards).

And again we have GEO the Healer I see no reason to have it as a DPS. That's my personal take on it. Nothing new to me is being introduced, and it literally reads as: Oh WHM no longer has Earth/Water/Air-Wind associated? Lets give it to a new DPS and say that it now reflects BLM despite CNJ and BLM having a tied history and there is 0 reason to not give earth/wind/water damaging spells or even non-damaging buffs/debuffs to WHM (like Quake, Flood).

As for the quotes, I'm not going to repeat the lv60-70 questline to find them because effectively we're saying the same thing: lore isn't a reason why GEO can't exist. This quote from the wiki I think suffices enough:

Geomancy is a Far Eastern art of reading the future, with many similarities to the arts of the Astrologian. Instead of reading the stars, Geomancers read the movements of the earth and water.

Frankly GEO would be an off shoot of AST (not CNJ) but since SE doesn't want to make dual classes like SCH/SMN your reasoning of linking it to CNJ is fine.

Once again, I agree lore isn't a good reason (lore didn't save AST after all) but what would GEO be bringing different that WHM cannot other than be a full DPS class? I'd rather have something else or a Druid like class where one can shapeshift or a whole nother class who doesn't have a similar feel to it.

Edit: I should add that adding in things like GEO and TIM further limit what they can do with WHM and AST respectively hence why I'm against their existence. Especially Time Mage. It has 0 reason to exist. We have a buffing class that can and previous DID apply some of the effects Time Mage can and would use.

We REALLY need to fix some of the current classes in the game before we add more classes that can limit what fixes can be done simply because they share a similar theme.

Edit2: Also yes please add Vermedica to RDM and maybe one other heal. I will play that over any of the current healers, because at the very least, MP management is back and I have no excess healing that's not being used instead of giving me buffs, debuffs, simple class thematic extra dps buttons (1-2-3 unbroken by heals rotation or not) or a combination of all three.