New Healer Idea - Maestro!

[TheFanMark]

I like the idea. It seems fun to play with. But I am skeptical. I always love healing/support, but the game doesn't have a place. So as your idea is lovely, do you yourself have any ideas/viewpoints on how the Maestro would fit in the mix. I wanna hear those, scenarios and all if you can. Current healers fit how the content is approached. I wanna know what changes you would set for future fights, always expand, never stop dreaming. Ideas are beautiful. Lets discuss this more as a group. I feel every1 has a note that would simulate necessity/priority.

[Ceallach]

It's not a bad design. It reminds me of how the arcanist was going to work in 1.0. However, I do have a few gripes.

• Downbeat: Please specify how long you have to cast a Prism before the 50%+ chance for the 0 Entropy to work. For example, red mage's Dualcast is 15 seconds.
• Prisms: Instead of 1.2 seconds, consider 1 second to match the arcanist's Sustain. The summoner's Demi-Bahamut's Wyrmwave has a 1.5 second recast if you'd prefer something longer.
• Prism of Resurrection: I feel the MP cost isn't high enough. It would be literally the best Raise variant in the game if this job were implemented, so no other healer would ever be wanted. That's bad for balance.
• Prism of Retribution: I think you mean "reflect," not "recoil."
• Prism of Pestilence: Please specify what Weakness does like you did for Crystal Lung.
• Opus: Crystal Lung is unaspected, yes? Please specify.
• Sforzando: This means to "get louder gradually." The effect is not gradual.
• Solos: Please specify type of damage. Unaspected? Physical?
• Grand Encore: If you shatter a neutrally-aligned Prism, it grants a damage nullification barrier. 6% of what, though? Do players take 6% less damage, or is damage nullified up to 6% of the recipient's maximum HP? Specify.
• Accelerando: Speeds it up by how much? Does Entropy become 2 per second, for example? Does the healing/damage over time happen every half-tick?
• Prism of Torment: Please specify type of damage. Energy is not available as a type of damage.
• Cadenza: Again, Entropy accumulates how much faster?
• Prism of the Divine: You say it shatters, and as far as we can tell from any other Prism, that removes the Prism. This Prism therefore seems to be a one-shot. Does its area of effect remain, or is it a single burst?

Overall, I'm not sure this job does enough healing and too much buffing. Also, could you elaborate more on how Entropy affects the Alignment Gauge?

[Sylvain]

Although, the job itself, (not talking about skills} is rather interesting and really fits the FF fantasy. I'd definitely see that as a new job in bravely third for instance. Gj on the concept ^^

[Sylvain]

The main heal of the Maestro is Prism of Hope which is a HoT effect. but the "bread and butter" of the job will be healing over time.

I actually would prefer your maestro from the dancer on a purely esthetic pov. (Since I don't know how the dancer will play, yes I'm one of those who believe the next healer will, unfotunately, be the Dancer)
But as I said, considering how damage works right now, this healer would probably be very ineffective. You do not need hots, you need to top people quick before the next explosion will bring everyone down to 20%.

But the idea is definitely great, especially the theme around it. ( I really don't like the dancer)

However, I wonder if the mechanic you thought about aren't a bit too... Focus consumming.
Healing requires a lot of focus and you can't expect most healer to take care of party, boss mechanics and their own set of complexe mechanic. (which is why, strictly speaking, healer have very simplistic tools)
AST is borderline too much for most people. I've had my fair share of AST barely shooting any cards because they were too busy healing and doing mechanics.

[DynamoAce]

10/10 would main this.

[AncientCrystal]

Man, the amount of time you put into all that is really impressive. I want this in the game now just because of how much you put into it!

[arctanx]

Thanks for the good compliments and feedback everyone, I do appreciate it. FYI, i made a a few balance tweaks, notably reducing Prism of Hope from 350 potency to 250 to keep it more inline with its intended Heal over Time use. (It'd still be best-in-game for HoT.)

@Sylvain, you make a lot of wise and astute points that are spot-on. I do fully understand that the current game isn't very friendly to HoT and is more focused on burst healing, but I wanted to create a new Healer job that filled a gap. I do think there'd be instances where Maestro would be viable in the current meta, but it'd be very difficult and probably less overall healing than other Healers. I was careful to make sure Maestro was a "master of variety" when it comes to the job, though, giving it several unique niche abilities that aren't elsewhere in the game, as well as making it a healer with barriers, HoT, and burst heals, but perhaps be a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation. It'd be interesting to see how useful or useless Maestro would be as currently.

Edit: To encourage more variation among the different Prisms (I'm afraid that 3 or 4 will become dominant), I introduced a second Lv 50 action that adds a bit more strategy to the mix:

Lv 50 Grand Encore
Ability, 120s cooldown

Target a Light-Aligned Prism to shatter it and turn action into Grand Encore (Light), or vice-versa for Grand Encore (Dark). Target a second Prism to shatter it and gain the following effects, based on the second Prism's Alignment:
Dark: Spell and Weaponskill Potency is increased by 10 for 15 seconds.
Light: Regen with Cure Potency of 240 for 15 seconds.
Neutral: Barrier nullifying 6% damage for 15 seconds.
Grand Encore (Light) doubles the duration listed. Grand Encore (Dark) doubles the intensity listed.

[Sylvain]

I m not sure if being a jack of all trade Master of none would actually be a great idea.
Hear me out, within the current game design, on a strictly healing POV, AST fills this role. They can go diurnal for more hps and hots to mimic WHM or nocturnal to mimic Sch shields. Ignoring very specific scenario, a WHM healing output is higher than AST in diurnal and a Sch mitigation capability is higher than AST in nocturnal.
This is mostly due to a lack of ogcd healing skills which are replaced by the cards mechanic. To compensate this weakness, AST have access to powerful buff. The AST compensate its master of none weakness by being the ultimate buffer
This is very key, because it means that you cannot realistically make maestro Jack of all trade, because he doesn't and should bring buff. Making him this way means there is no other mean (I can think of) to compensate their poor healing.

[Sylvain]

The only solution is to tap into that HoT design and instead of making him an AST without cards, making him a clear choice if sustained heal is wanted. Because in the end, you can have the best game play, if it sucks no one will play it.
However, not giving it mitigation would make WHM maestro a dangerous duo if the game keep these insane burst. Therefore a skill akin to AST bubble would fit perfectly, giving enough mitigation for those transition while tapping into a strong recovery mechanic instead of a prevention (shield) for the frequent burst windows

[arctanx]

Good points, so let's try this. Let me know what you think:

Lv 22 Overture
Ability, 5s cooldown

Stays in effect until it is used again. While in effect, the effects of multiple Prism of Hope within range will partially stack, with the second giving 50% of its healing, the third giving 20% of its healing, and the fourth giving 10% of its healing. Also, all healing Abilities (not Spells) used will grant Regen of equal potency to the Cure Potency for 30s. Cannot be used with Opus.
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Lv 22 Opus
Ability, 5s cooldown

Stays in effect until it is used again. While in effect, Prism of Hate potency is increased to 80, also Prism of Hate , Prism of Retribution, Prism of Pestilence, and Prism of Torment additionally inflict opponents with Crystal Lung, which can be stacked on itself every time the Prisms damage the opponent (or, in the case of Prism of Pestilence, every 10 seconds) and remains as long as target stays in the Prism's range. Cannot be used with Overture.
- Crystal Lung: Causes damage over time with a potency of 12 for each stack.


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This gives it two stance moves, one to focus on HoT and the other to focus on DoT. Also notice this is easy to exploit with Aether Waltz and Sforzando for maximum effect.