New DPS Job Idea - Time Mage!

[arctanx]

We already have that "form" of Time Mage, and it's called Astrologian.

Glad I could help.

Bye.

This is extremely different than Astrologian. I don't think you read what my job does. Secondly, Astrologian is a healer. Yes, Astrologian in a few places deals with time manipulation and touches on time-mage like ideas, Astrologian was made purposely to not be the traditional FF time mage. Consider it like this -- Astrologian is a master of astrology and the cards and a dabbler in time magic. The Time Mage knows nothing about all that cards nonsense, but is a full-on master of Time Magic.

[MicahZerrshia]

How many posts about Time Mage are we going to get? With all the jobs in Final Fantasy history everyone is so fixated on Time Mage, yet it is one of the lesser interesting jobs, imo anyway.

I would much rather see a true pet class like puppetmaster and beastmaster or adapt ranger into a pet class since that could easily be done, since they failed hard with smn. Or a true cut throat rogue class without all the honor babble of ninja. I understand honor is big in jp culture but its really getting boring how its incorporated into everything in this game.

On topic however, I think you make the job too complicated. Sadly, they want all jobs to be as easy as possible and even the slightest hint or having to think tactically, is generally taken out. So you may want to simplify the job a bit since it would never make it in this state. If sam and rdm are any indication they are trying to make all upcoming jobs reduced to just a couple button combinations and nothing more.

[arctanx]

How many posts about Time Mage are we going to get?
...

On topic however, I think you make the job too complicated. Sadly, they want all jobs to be as easy as possible and even the slightest hint or having to think tactically, is generally taken out. So you may want to simplify the job a bit since it would never make it in this state. If sam and rdm are any indication they are trying to make all upcoming jobs reduced to just a couple button combinations and nothing more.

The actual workings of the job is actually pretty darn simple, very similar to Black Mage or Red Mage in complexity. The main logistical hurdle the Time Mage would have is making sure as many team members and enemies are inside the Timewarp/Spacetime Warp as possible to get the buffs/debuffs.

Also, this is my first postings in the forums and I do have other suggestions for jobs I'll be posting soon (one for a tank, one for a healer) that are way unique compared to normal FF jobs. But for my first posting, I wanted it to be more of a "traditional" FF job.

[Ceallach]

I assume it's also a 15-yalm radius for Hastega? You didn't list that.

There are no squares to warp to in FINAL FANTASY XIV. You should probably rework Spacetime Parry.

Time Reversal is too strong. I'd replace it with something completely new.

You didn't put a range down for Slowja or Hasteja.

Consequence of Aging needs a radius. I'll assume it's 5 yalms for now, making it in line with most other area attacks we have.

With the trait, that would be 1.5 minutes on Timewarp, Slowga and Hastega, 22.5 seconds on Timed Slice and Spacetime Parry, 1 minute on Concern of Aging, Haste and Slow and 45 seconds on Time Shield and Future Sight. It's unclear if this trait affects Spacetime Warp. I'd recommend making the original recast for Timed Slice and Spacetime Parry an even number of seconds.

With how you have things currently set up, you only have Prophetic Blow, Prophetic Blow II and Prophetic Blow III in your rotation most of the time, with everything else being used as needed or on recast, depending on whether it does damage or there's a need for it. Because Prophetic Blow III is worded as if it guarantees the Armageddon Gauge going off, your rotation's going to be PB2, PB, oGCDs, PB2, PB, Swiftcast PB3 and basically nothing else unless the Armageddon Gauge goes off prematurely, which you stated there is a chance of.

Definitely consider a Back to the Future II trait for the rest of the recasts the job has. As it stands, some of the higher-level ones are nearly unusable.

[arctanx]

I assume it's also a 15-yalm radius for Hastega? You didn't list that.

There are no squares to warp to in FINAL FANTASY XIV. You should probably rework Spacetime Parry.

Time Reversal is too strong. I'd replace it with something completely new.

You didn't put a range down for Slowja or Hasteja.

Consequence of Aging needs a radius. I'll assume it's 5 yalms for now, making it in line with most other area attacks we have.

With the trait, that would be 1.5 minutes on Timewarp, Slowga and Hastega, 22.5 seconds on Timed Slice and Spacetime Parry, 1 minute on Concern of Aging, Haste and Slow and 45 seconds on Time Shield and Future Sight. It's unclear if this trait affects Spacetime Warp. I'd recommend making the original recast for Timed Slice and Spacetime Parry an even number of seconds.

With how you have things currently set up, you only have Prophetic Blow, Prophetic Blow II and Prophetic Blow III in your rotation most of the time, with everything else being used as needed or on recast, depending on whether it does damage or there's a need for it. Because Prophetic Blow III is worded as if it guarantees the Armageddon Gauge going off, your rotation's going to be PB2, PB, oGCDs, PB2, PB, Swiftcast PB3 and basically nothing else unless the Armageddon Gauge goes off prematurely, which you stated there is a chance of.

Definitely consider a Back to the Future II trait for the rest of the recasts the job has. As it stands, some of the higher-level ones are nearly unusable.

First of all, thanks for your substantial feedback. I appreciate it very much. I have addressed many of your concerns -- I have added radii to the moves you mentioned. Instead of mentioning squares, I changed the wording of Spacetime Parry to refer to a 1y radius around the target as the teleportation zone. If you have suggestions for Time Reversal, I'd be happy to adjust. The idea is I want to give Time Mage a niche move where they can reverse the clock on a target...is this a useful idea or no? Maybe if it didn't restore from the dead but merely reset the target 15 seconds in the past with its stats, that'd still be really useful. I gave the two melee moves even cooldown times to avoid uneven cooldown times. I lowered the recast times for many of the skills, and I may indeed implement a Back to the Future II trait. I updated the recast times so that the rotation is more than just PB1, 2, and 3, but more variety may still be needed here. I'll think over this. Any other feedback you can give is appreciated.

[Ceallach]

snip

There's a reason only tanks have actions that allow them to outright avoid death. There's also a reason for their high recasts. To give a DPS basically the same action would be too strong. If you want an action that "turns back the clock" on a player, I'd say give the time mage an inverted form of the machinist's Wildfire. Let's say it's a two-minute recast that gives a ten-second status to a target party member (not yourself or a pet). As long as that player doesn't die within that time, it keeps track of all the damage that players takes from all sources, then heals for that amount at the end of the ten seconds.

[Shouko]

How many posts about Time Mage are we going to get? With all the jobs in Final Fantasy history everyone is so fixated on Time Mage, yet it is one of the lesser interesting jobs, imo anyway.

I would much rather see a true pet class like puppetmaster and beastmaster or adapt ranger into a pet class since that could easily be done, since they failed hard with smn. Or a true cut throat rogue class without all the honor babble of ninja. I understand honor is big in jp culture but its really getting boring how its incorporated into everything in this game.

That's what people do, is they brow beat the dev's until they cave in for something.

If anything would like BLU (depending on how they did it), PUP, COR (not MCH), DNC (if they can work out details), BST would be interesting as well. Anything really over another mage, besides BLU of course.

[Shadotterdan]

ugh, too much text, can I get a tl;dr of it's focus and playstyle? Seeing as how such things need a lot of playtesting to get right, I tend to shy away from job suggestions that delve into a full list of actions and traits. I have toyed with the idea of a dps time mage though. Less focused on buffing the party though with a focus on x-zone as a DoT that can enhance the use of comet and demi. With demi changed to modify it's damage based on hp percentage instead of a straight percentage based damage to make it not broken on bosses. Maybe also a gravity skill that drags effected mobs together to make grouping easier. With a focus on changing up your tactics based on enemy hp and keeping up various status downs.

[arctanx]

ugh, too much text, can I get a tl;dr of it's focus and playstyle? Seeing as how such things need a lot of playtesting to get right, I tend to shy away from job suggestions that delve into a full list of actions and traits. I have toyed with the idea of a dps time mage though. Less focused on buffing the party though with a focus on x-zone as a DoT that can enhance the use of comet and demi. With demi changed to modify it's damage based on hp percentage instead of a straight percentage based damage to make it not broken on bosses. Maybe also a gravity skill that drags effected mobs together to make grouping easier. With a focus on changing up your tactics based on enemy hp and keeping up various status downs.

Essentially, this Time Mage primarily uses skills to reduce/nullify damage/costs for the party while speeding up their moves, while at the same time slowing down enemies and giving them statuses by "aging" them prematurely. As far as damage goes, it has a couple of Weaponskill techniques meant to combo together but mostly focuses on building up its Armageddon Counter meter with Prophetic Blow I, II, and III. They all do low damage (100, 150, and 200 potency), but when the Armageddon Counter activates (based on a random percentage), it causes a catastrophic burst of damage all at once. Overall, the Time Mage's damage output would be the lowest DPS'er job, but in short bursts could be the highest.


That work for you?

[Sylvain]

I posted a huge post about that too, mostly the story though as I believe it is irrelevant to list spells potency and whatnot when we can't test anything, especially for a dps class.
Only the core aspect should be explained and what is the rotation / feel of the job. (Yes, I did details all my skills and I realised it wasn't a good idea)

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...er#post3447850


And can people stop saying "There's a time mage, it's called astrologian"
Does the Red Mage look like your usual Red Mage? I mean, sure, he got a heal... but FF14 is more Akin to a BLM spamming quick and instant spells than anything else.



Also, on a side note, in an interview Y.P was asked why they choose RDM and SAM for SB and he started with "WHen it comes to job there is a lot of choice, many things come to my mind like the Time Mage for instance, but ... explain why RDM and SAM for SB... "

The one job he used as an example of "other possible choice" was Time Mage. So clearly, Time Mage isn't out of the Window (in the long run)

I'm clearly not expecting it next xpac as I believe they'll release Heal + Tank (I'd bet on Dancer and Blue Mage since they're the next 2 in high demand).
But I wouldn't hold my breath for 6.0 if they were to add again one physical one magical

Finally, Time Mage is still a job highly requested on En, Fr and Jp forums.

In the tank department, usually Blue Mage / Beast Master and to some extent Puppetmaster
For the healing, Dancer and a sometime Geomancer
For the DPS, while they're many request for melee jobs, the only caster job popping in frequently is ... Time Mage,

So if the only caster request is "time mage", it is not too far fetched to believe they see it and it's on the to do list.
Especially that Time Mage has a strong theme they can expand on. I play an AST and beside Time Dilatation, it doesn't feel all that "Timyy". Sure Gravity is used, big deal.