Expansion Ideas: Systems, Features, and Content Types - What would you add?

[Shurrikhan]

This is essentially what THM originally was designed as in the beginning of FFXIV 1.0 (it was more about casting debuffs and healing using drain spells) - it was CNJ who was the elemental spellcaster. This changed after Yoshi took over and the classes were redesigned to accommodate the Job upgrades (thus some of CNJ's elemental spells were given to THM to ensure it was a better fit for BLM, losing it's drain healing and debuffs in the process). ACN in ARR essentially gained these debuffs anyway so I don't see SE bringing the old THM idea back sadly. The sole surviving legacy of 1.0 THM left is the astral/umbral shift mechanic - 1.0 THM's spells were entirely astral or umbral aligned.

To be fair, though, Yoshida also purged all traces of the budding Musketeer/Gunner class only to add Machinist an expansion later.