Sage Job

[Seraphor]

Why call it Ley Lines if it's not Ley Lines?AF is a charge up mechanic, I highly doubt they'd ever want to implement a system with more than three tiers ever again.

[Shurrikhan]

Why call it Ley Lines if it's not Ley Lines?AF is a charge up mechanic, I highly doubt they'd ever want to implement a system with more than three tiers ever again.

Sure, they could go by a different name. Imo, that just happens to be the name that, broadly speaking, makes the most sense, as (unlike the BLM skill) each actually makes use of Ley Lines. LL:Font, LL:Stream, and LLelta all make use of... Ley Lines. But whatever the case, why assume the less likely possibility (intentional redundancy) over the more likely (placeholder name, left because it happens to fit the suggested skill's effects at least as well as the current in-game skill fits its own effects. Seeing "Ley Lines", I thought immediately of something like the spell effect described thereafter. But even if BLM were your first time seeing the name, I mean, the very next two words (the latter half of the skill's name) show that it's absolutely different. If we're critiquing name sense, so be it, but that's not toolkit redundancy...

AF is a charge up mechanic that cannot be spent, only wasted. You may as well say that such a Sage would be too mechanically alike to a Monk-Machinist hybrid. (They're all essentially max-of-three charge up mechanics, same as AF/UI...) Would it be fine if we just stuck in on a granular job gauge a la Kenki instead of it being on a status bar or the side of a unique job gauge? At what point is something different enough for you?

I mean, I consider your Magitek Knight distinct and fairly unique, but I could point these same things out about it, especially any earlier iteration... Are you sure you're not denying others the same benefit of the doubt or concept-before-iteration when viewing a work in progress that you presumably give yourself?

If it's too similar just because it's a charge up mechanic, then what of other charge-up mechanics other than BLM's? What's the actual breakpoint for distinction? Any... constructive feedback?


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@Kabooa

Speaking of, I'll need a bit more time to picture it fully, so for now all I can offer may come off a bit nit-picky

Spell Level starts at 1 and progresses to Level 9.
Each spell level above 1 increases spell potency by 3%

The maximum of 9 seems fine to me, though I suspect fewer may work a bit better, especially if 9 ever feels at all obligatory, because it would feel that much worse to give up your stacks for an instant nuke. Since mana costs don't seem to increase with spell level, maxing out SL will almost certainly be more MP-efficient as well. Nukes will have to be finely tuned to ensure that make optimal something ultimately dull. In Arcane, the sustain phase wove enough spender skills in to stay interesting while the burn itself relied on the costs and massive hits (a la LL-Conv Fire IV spam). This seems to work the opposite?

As for that stack maximum, again... My favorite part about playing Arcane in Legion as compared to earlier on was the availability of Charged Up, which would reset one's charges to maximum, allowing me that extra burst for free once per 40 seconds. I would have been even happier, however, if that talent didn't seem as necessary to enjoy Arcane (especially as it was mildly sub-optimal, but w/e). I worry about the feeling of ramp-up. I love the idea that you can gain power with cast time, however, as that feels like a perfect solution for getting back up to where you want to be more quickly, allowing for more rapid cycling and further feeling of control, but it doesn't seem as utilized as it could be just yet.

As for the spell level bonuses, I kinda wish it'd just stick either to on-spell adjustments according to a generally universal curve, or to just the mechanical modifier. For instance,
Ability Adjustments: Magic Missiles fires 5 missiles for 30 potency each initially, and then adds 1 per spell level thereafter. (If you want to stick with sustain via long casts, then each SL increases potency by 16.6/14.3/12.5/11.1/9.1/8.3/etc. % while increasing cast time by 10/9.1/8.3%... etc.)
Mechanical Modifier: Increases cast time by x% and potency by y%. Magic Missiles just always fires z # of missiles, or is the only exception to this rule.

That said, I understand that you want the rotation to bounce between optimal skill choices based on the actual number. I need to run it in my head when less sick/tired to make sure it still feels more stimulating than restrictive, though, before I can give proper feedback on that aspect. Same with the damage curves over SL cost, such as on Conflagrate.

Some spells like Heighten Magic feel like they include a wet noodle slap (10% mana cost increase) that would feel better either utterly invisible (that clause removed, skipping to the SL reduction immunity only), or far larger (double friggin mana cost).

...I'd really love to see this build make use of Continuous Casting (e.g. potency is naturally based on cast time, because the cast continuously pumps potential potency into the cast over a given growth curve; can be released early/weakened, normally/optimally, or late/empowered).

[Kabooa]

The maximum of 9 seems fine to me, though I suspect fewer may work a bit better, especially if 9 ever feels at all obligatory, because it would feel that much worse to give up your stacks for an instant nuke. Since mana costs don't seem to increase with spell level, maxing out SL will almost certainly be more MP-efficient as well.

...I'd really love to see this build make use of Continuous Casting (e.g. potency is naturally based on cast time, because the cast continuously pumps potential potency into the cast over a given growth curve; can be released early/weakened, normally/optimally, or late/empowered).

Much of it is placeholder. "Cost: MP" doesn't quite give a proper feel for how much MP a spell will cost. It's worth noting that every Cast Time spell description has "Increased MP cost" in its description, but for a less-quick-but-still-dirty write up, exact numbers were avoided.

Edit: Not every Cast time. Fixing that..
Edit2: Overdrive didn't have its cost on it. Fixed that!

This is not true for Instant Cast spells, which have no MP cost. They instead cost the Spell Level. This is intentional. Working in the context of Sage, who would have access to: Lucid Dreaming, Refresh, Natural Font (At a RDPS loss), Meditation (A huge personal loss) and Delta Attack (Reduced MP), MP costs are going to be higher than Red Mage, but lower than Black Mage. Ideally, Refresh would be an optional pick up (But honestly it's 'mandatory' even now when Sage isn't a thing). A Sage's basic set up would then be building of Stacks to a median point, then utilizing Instant Casts for a burst and reset to maintain MP while cooldowns are cycling through.

The change to Mana Shift also allows the possibility for Casters to play a larger role in the party, by being able to gift Diversion, Lucid Dreaming, Surecast, and Swiftcast to allies. The Sage can make use of extras of most of those to be allowed more liberal use of their Overdrives and staying at maximum Spell Level.

As for Metamagic costs, perhaps a Flat-additional MP cost, then modified by unique Spell modifiers, would work better.

And I felt Leylines as a name is a more than appropriate category of abilities, because that's what they are. The Sage is a wide practitioner of magic, across many disciplines. Where the Black mage sees leylines for selfish use to fuel their magics, the Sage sees them as what they are. Simple sources of raw magic that can be a gift as well.

To be quite frank, the only two actions I'm kind of "Meh I don't really like these" are Phantom Blade and Spiral Flux, both for name and effect. Phantom Blade felt like a needed tool for heavier AoE sections (As Shockwave, being an AoE spell, would have much higher base MP costs, and thus higher modified MP costs), and with the leisurely pace the Trait affords Sage, they could have used a movement tool of sorts, but I really don't like either of them. X)

[Remedi]

I mean this is an idea that SE can use ofc some terminology can be revised to better suit the game, though nothing stops different classes to draw from similar concepts but taking different spins about it, I mean RDM uses much of WHM and BLM arsenal just adding vermillion before the spellname

[Kabooa]

I mean this is an idea that SE can use ofc some terminology can be revised to better suit the game, though nothing stops different classes to draw from similar concepts but taking different spins about it, I mean RDM uses much of WHM and BLM arsenal just adding vermillion before the spellname

God damnit, is that why the prefix is 'ver', for vermilion?

God. Damn. It.

[NewAgeDoom]

God damnit, is that why the prefix is 'ver', for vermilion?

God. Damn. It.

You forgot to start it with Ver! Jeez!

[Remedi]

God damnit, is that why the prefix is 'ver', for vermilion?

God. Damn. It.

Yes they revealed it shortly after SB launch or before 4.1 in an interwiew