Job Actions and Traits Speculation thread

[Irenia]

Note: I'm just throwing ideas at the wall. The specific implementations probably suck, but I really like the ideas behind them.

White Mage : Big Heals, Big Deeps. The White Mage's solution to any problem is more potency.
Keeping White Mage straightforward when it comes to healing is best - the only shield they need is Stoneskin. I think they should be better when it comes to DPS; probably something like a trait for MP-cost reduction while in cleric stance would work. If they want to change up how WHM DPS is done, perhaps they can add some sort of stack mechanic that increases damage done; it'd go up when casting damaging spells, and go down when casting healing spells. Don't make it too easy for WHM's to do damage, and don't bring them up to DPS levels, but make it so that they are clearly the best for personal healer DPS - let the other jobs focus on letting the party deal more damage.

Scholar : The right skill for the job. If only they could hold more Aetherflow stacks.
Keeping the raw utility of Scholar might be fine, if they also weren't the first choice for DPS-ing due to fairy heals. Assuming that WHM's DPS sustainability is increased, I'd think giving them an Aetherflow skill that allows them to burst well would work - perhaps relegating Energy drain as an MP-restoring tool first and foremost. I'd say to add even more, but perhaps they should just slightly buff the Aetherflow skills they already have. Decoupling SMN and SCH from ACN a bit so that the two jobs can have more varied skillsets that don't affect the other would be nice as well.

Astrologian Plays with cards. Rigs the game.
Card balancing is the big one, but Balance will probably still be top; everyone like more DPS. Give AST a spell on the GCD that allows them to see and manipulate the next card drawn - kind of like shuffle. If they want to manipulate their next draw further, they'd need to cast more - though make it cycle through cards after the first cast. With how mobile AST tends to be, Collective Unconscious requiring them to stop moving is lame; they should be allowed to move, even if they still cannot cast any new spells. Most of their DPS potential should be from buffing the party, unlike WHM and more than the SCH. As such, they provide shields or regens, depending on what's needed, and focuses their downtime putting up dots and looking through their deck.

[Ahrniel]

If they want to change up how WHM DPS is done, perhaps they can add some sort of stack mechanic that increases damage done; it'd go up when casting damaging spells, and go down when casting healing spells.

I posted this in another thread, but people quite ignored me, so since I saw someone thinking something similar here it goes...

White Mage's mana consumption always bothered me, lore-wise it doesn't make sense since they seem to use the element's help to heal, and not use their own energy to do so, it is in the Conjurer's quest-line. There is also the concept of not abusing the help of the elements as a Conjurer, because that would destroy the balance in nature.
I think that despite throwing those ideas in the lore, they didn't explore them mechanic-wise.

First thing, if the White Mage uses the power of the elements to heal, and it cannot abuse them, we can assume that there should be a mechanic of either free heals for a certain ammount of time, or for a certain ammount of uses instead of the Cure I proc we have. After that the grace of the elements would wear off and unbalance would happen. In the unbalance nature becomes corrupted, and when corrupted it becomes violent.

I can imagine something of the likes of you having a "Purity" stack that descreases every time you heal. The Purity stacks would decrease your mana consumption by... 10% each? We could have 10 of them. By the time you reach zero Purity stacks, if you heal up you could start stacking "Corruption" stacks. Those could increase your mana consuption by 5%, and the damage of your spells by 10% each, up to 10 stacks. Since in the quest-line you remove corruption by "balancing the elements" with pretty much stoning and aeoring the elements I would then make it so damage spells remove corruption stacks and build up Purity stacks.

We could also have each tick of Aero removing 1 corruption stack, each cast of Stone removing 3 corruption stacks, and perhaps Water removing 5. Holy could reduce Purity by 5 when casted, working as a heal to build up Corruption, so people don't abuse the thing, because the first cast in 10 Purity stacks will be free, later on 10 Corruption stacks Holy would cause double damage, but would cost 50% more, for example.

So you would juggle between damage and healing like this. How about that? Now you got your identity.

About Stoneskin, it could perhaps stop being a one time barrier, but something that stores overheals. The barrier would always renovate if you overheal the target, up to a certain ammount.

[Shurrikhan]

White Mage's mana consumption always bothered me, lore-wise it doesn't make sense since they seem to use the element's help to heal, and not use their own energy to do so, it is in the Conjurer's quest-line. There is also the concept of not abusing the help of the elements as a Conjurer, because that would destroy the balance in nature.
I think that despite throwing those ideas in the lore, they didn't explore them mechanic-wise.

First thing, if the White Mage uses the power of the elements to heal, and it cannot abuse them, we can assume that there should be a mechanic of either free heals for a certain ammount of time, or for a certain ammount of uses instead of the Cure I proc we have. After that the grace of the elements would wear off and unbalance would happen. In the unbalance nature becomes corrupted, and when corrupted it becomes violent.

I can imagine something of the likes of you having a "Purity" stack that descreases every time you heal. The Purity stacks would decrease your mana consumption by... 10% each? We could have 10 of them. By the time you reach zero Purity stacks, if you heal up you could start stacking "Corruption" stacks. Those could increase your mana consuption by 5%, and the damage of your spells by 10% each, up to 10 stacks. Since in the quest-line you remove corruption by "balancing the elements" with pretty much stoning and aeoring the elements I would then make it so damage spells remove corruption stacks and build up Purity stacks.

We could also have each tick of Aero removing 1 corruption stack, each cast of Stone removing 3 corruption stacks, and perhaps Water removing 5. Holy could reduce Purity by 5 when casted, working as a heal to build up Corruption, so people don't abuse the thing, because the first cast in 10 Purity stacks will be free, later on 10 Corruption stacks Holy would cause double damage, but would cost 50% more, for example.

So you would juggle between damage and healing like this. How about that? Now you got your identity.

Although the particular iteration of purity vs. corruption stacks doesn't quite click for me, I would indeed like to see a bit more done with the WHM elements, so long as it keeps its up-front and at-the-ready style of being the healer powerhouse.

I similarly tossed these ideas out before, but these were some ideas I had for trying to improve on WHM traits.

• Whispers of Wind - Your wind spells now grant a mote of air, reducing the casts time of your following non-wind spells by 40%. Up to 3 motes of air can be present at a time, each non-wind cast consuming one, and individually fading after 20 seconds.

  Admittedly, this is not one of the more useful Traits, but it does allow for cast cycles by which a WHM can more easily stutter-step for increased uptime during mechanics, a part in which it can be slightly lacking when Regen is of no use.
  
  By default, this stacking system is not shown on the buff bars, relying instead of a subtle visual presence, but can be configured to do so via the context menu given from selecting the Trait itself within the Actions & Trait menu.

• Rumbles of Earth - Your earth spells now in equal parts reduce the mana cost and increase the maximum %HP shielded by your Stoneskin by 20% of their damage dealt within the last 20 seconds.

  Rumbles of Earth can stack up to an amount able to apply two free Stoneskins to the party member with the highest HP. By default, progress is shown via Stoneskin itself, the mana cost of which can appear to fall into the negative, up to its normal cost. It does not actually grant MP from use, but uses the negative amount to show how much mana cost reduction will remain after the first Stoneskin cast. Alternatively, it be shown via a differently colored section of your mana bar, a second MP counter, and/or a buff displaying the total bonus HP and reduced MP of your next Stoneskin, measured in the hundreds.
  
  This allows WHMs a means to build up shielding, at no additional mana cost, through their offense, improving the attractiveness of their DPS.

• Fluid Aura has been overhauled. Fluid Aura - projects your aura outward through a watery form, damaging and/or knocking back enemies and intercept effects incoming from the direction of the charge. On critical strike, the Fluid Aura will additionally draw one debuff from you and attempt (at critical strike chance) to transfer it to the enemy. Transferable debuffs are limited. It now has a mana cost.

  Yes, this may look a bit like a WHM's personal Living Liquid's Human form and associated charge. Except, it's more versatile.

• Water's Wake - All water spells now additionally have a chance on critical strike to trigger Water's Wake, temporarily turning Esuna into an ability with the same mana cost but additionally capable of transferring a debuff to your Fluid Aura. This debuff will cause no further negative effects, but can transfer the debuff to an enemy. Esuna both as a spell and ability are capable of critically striking, negating their mana cost in addition to triggering Water's Wake. (Asylum critical strikes have a one-in-eight chance to trigger Water's Wake, essentially a normal chance per affected ally over its full duration.)
  All water spells additionally empower your Fluid Aura, increasing its size during its charge, the number of targets damageable and the total damage that can be split among them, and decreasing its remaining cooldown.

  These effects occur in split proportion; if Fluid Aura is already off cooldown, its size and damage increases faster, rather than spending any of the resource on cooling it faster.

• Healer's Flow (replaces Freecure) - Your Cure casts and initial single-target healing critical strikes now grant Healer's Flow, reducing the mana cost of your next Cure II by 20% per stack, up to 100%. Stacks fade individually over 20 seconds.

  For clarity: single-target healing critical strikes also include those done by Tetragrammaton and even Esuna, but not by Regen, as it is purely a periodic heal.

• Healer's Will (replaces Overcure) - Your Cure II casts and, stacking, your Cure II, Medica, and Medica II initial critical strikes now grant Healer's Will, reducing the mana cost of your next Cure III by 10% per stack, up to 100%. Stacks fade individually over 20 seconds.

  Although there is potentially more ramp-up for Healer's Flow and Healer's Will than Freecure and Overcure, the RNG component still remains to a degree, but the surrounding mechanics give more synergy and reliability while keeping WHM the brawnier powerhouse of the three healers.