A summary of CNJ/THM and solution for fixing the community controversy over WHM/BLM

[Neptune]

As we have seen on the boards, there have been some negative reaction to the announced class changes, particularly with regards to Conjurer and Thaumaturge. There was so much ambiguity that in the recent live producer's letter, someone asked and got the response:

#XIVLive Q: We are dying to know which class gets which job... White mage and black mage, which is conjurer and which is thaumaturge?
A: Conjurer is the white mage and thaumaturge is the black mage.

The reason people were dying to know is because it was so hard to reconcile Conjurer and Thaumaturge classes with white and black schools to begin with. Let me break it down for the community before I offer up my suggestion for discussion.

Conjurer and Thaumaturge, the two magic casters of FFXIV, were designed differently from mages in past Final Fantasy games. It's as if the developers thought of White Magic and Black Magic and instead of keeping the schools separate, they decided to mix them together like so in an interlaced effect:

white magic
black magic
white magic
black magic

Almost like how your TV displays lines.



Conjurer was given the white magic spell cure, the white magic status lifting spells, the white magic buffs, a black magic buff, and the black magic offensive spells.

Thaumaturge was given the white magic hp regen spells with a twist, the traditional white magic debuff, the "holy" offensive white magic spell, the black magic debuffs, the dark knight debuffs, the new, umbral magic offensive spell and some all-new TP attacks.

All totaled, the Conjurer was given:

6 all-new weapon attacks
12 all-new buffs/debuffs

3 white magic cure spells
6 white magic buffs
2 black magic buffs
1 black magic debuff
1 white magic debuff
3 white magic status healing spells
12 black magic debuffs/DOTs
12 black magic attack spells
6 advanced black magic "ancient magic" attack spells
1 white magic raise spell
and recently, 2 unique white magic raise spells
for a total of :
------------------------------------------------------------
16 white magic spells
33 black magic spells
18 all-new abilities

Thaumaturge was given:

6 all-new weapon attacks
12 all-new buffs/debuffs

3 white magic curative spells
2 white magic debuffs
3 black magic debuffs
2 white magic DOT/debuffs
4 black magic DOT/debuffs
5 dark knight debuffs
2 dark knight drain abilities
2 black magic "osmose" abilities
2 all-new buffs
3 all-new dark element attacks
2 white magic attack spells (holy 1 and 2)
1 white magic raise spell
for a total of :
------------------------------------------------------------
10 white magic spells
8 black magic spells
7 dark knight spells
21 all-new abilities

As we can see, Conjurer got more black magic spells than white magic spells.

More importantly, both classes are a unique mix of magic from different schools. That's why no one can really say either class "makes sense" to be a job, because these classes are so mixed up. I suggest the following scenario to make up for it:

Both Thaumaturges and Conjurers are given the one-time choice during the introductory job quest at their guild to select a path to study Black Magic or White Magic. After the choice is made, it cannot be reversed, just like joining a grand company. So it would go something like this:

Conjurer ---> choice ---> White Magic
or
Conjurer ---> choice ---> Black Magic

Thaumaturge ---> choice ---> White Magic
or
Thaumaturge ---> choice ---> Black Magic

What happens if you do the job quest on one of the magic classes and then you switch to the other magic class and accept that guild's job quest? You are presented with only the remaining school of magic quest. So:

Black Mage job stone as Conjurer & lvl 30 Thaumaturge ---> acceptance of "White Mage" job stone
White Mage job stone as Conjurer & lvl 30 Thaumaturge ---> acceptance of "Black Mage job stone
Black Mage job stone as Thaumaturge & lvl 30 Conjurer ---> acceptance of "White Mage" job stone
White Mage job stone as Thaumaturge & lvl 30 Conjurer ---> acceptance of "Black Mage job stone

What do you think?

Kindergarten reading level summary:
Choose a job stone as either class, and have the opportunity to select the other job stone if you level the other class.