Job thought....Chemist (Working name)

[Osteichthyes]

An idea that I've been juggling with for a while is the idea of a healer that mixes "ingredients" together to produce a result. Essentially it would function like Rikku's FFX "Mix" Overdrive combined with NIN mudra. This ability could then be further augmented via abilities to make the concoction AoE or have additional affects.

As AST is kinda RNG, and the other two can get stale, this may be a decent way to have some depth in the role. Let me know what you think, always interested in hearing opinions, whether positive or critical.

Also on the off chance anyone at SE reads this and wants to use any of it, feel free. I claim no ownership to any of the ideas posted here.

[Jaywalker]

I've been toying with something like this too! I do think one obstacle is what the ingredients are/where they come from/if they have a price and what happens if you're broke or unable to obtain more.

If you have a nebulous "kit" of some sort as your weapon/gear, you could have a "restock" action when you run out similar to a mana or stamina meter. If the item you use is say, a giant syringe, you could have a "refill" action. Basically just suspend disbelief with hammerspace.

Frankly it might also be fun because then you get an option to do either medications or poisons. Heal party members, give buffs, etc. or inflict damage and status ailments on enemies. Possibly initial damage inflicted could be low, but then when you stack loads of potentially crippling status ailments on top you could potentially go full-morbol on your enemies.

Might also be interesting depending on whether it is close-range requirement, and if it added a healer that wasn't using magic.

I've said before on the site, but I also still think there's room for a caster who manipulates aether in the body either in beneficial or harmful ways and could inflict crippling status ailments in similar ways. I basically think that healer/status ailment combo is something that would fit in great whether it's a mundane or arcane approach. I know dancer and geomancer are things people are clamoring for, but I would LOVE something a bit darker or otherwise more unusual personally.

[StarsiderSajun]

I've always liked the idea of an Alchemist being a combat class. Only MMO I've ever seen do it is EQOA and it was implemented in a really unique way. The class had a few spells, but its primary form of dps was throwing explosive potions that it brewed. But each explosive potion thrown took 1/8th of its total mana, and it had a couple spells that would trade health for mana restored, and then said health could be restored using a their own type of health potion. These potions of course were more like a summon or generation spell, as opposed to actually crafting them.

As you can imagine due to this design the class was focused on having as little maximum mana as possible, because the thrown potions took 1/8th no matter what the max mana was, and then the restorative potions would restore a lot more mana.

I think a design like this could fit really well into FF XIV being that we already have BLM and DRK who have to carefully manage their mana reserves during the fight, albeit in different ways.

[Risvertasashi]

An idea that I've been juggling with for a while is the idea of a healer that mixes "ingredients" together to produce a result. Essentially it would function like Rikku's FFX "Mix" Overdrive combined with NIN mudra. This ability could then be further augmented via abilities to make the concoction AoE or have additional affects.

As AST is kinda RNG, and the other two can get stale, this may be a decent way to have some depth in the role. Let me know what you think, always interested in hearing opinions, whether positive or critical.

Also on the off chance anyone at SE reads this and wants to use any of it, feel free. I claim no ownership to any of the ideas posted here.

You're not the only one to suggest it - pre-heavensward, a number of people suggested chemist (some even giving detailed writeups of each ability it might have), and SE later mentioned in an interview they considered it. I still hope we'll see it some day - I'm one of the strange ones that gets more excited about that concept than Dancer. Though... with ShB bringing us this Dancer, 4 more years to maybe see another healer - that may or may not be chemist - it's a long wait.

I've been toying with something like this too! I do think one obstacle is what the ingredients are/where they come from/if they have a price and what happens if you're broke or unable to obtain more.

I can't imagine SE would be obtuse enough to add a class that has to buy ammo. It'd probably work closer to BRD/MCH or StarsiderSajun's description.

-snip-

That sounds like a really cool way to do it.

[Jaywalker]

I can't imagine SE would be obtuse enough to add a class that has to buy ammo. It'd probably work closer to BRD/MCH or StarsiderSajun's description.

Naw I agree with you. When I was initially considering I was thinking about how if it has a mixing setup it would balance various components and all. Having some kind of cost to using abilities is important to making sure players don't godmod imo, you have to manage resources that way. Running out of a specific number of materials/having to buy more would not be a workable solution though like you said. So handwaving with hammerspace is probably the way to go haha.

[Lyth]

I've always wanted to see something like FFT's Chemist as a healer, where you get to lob potions at people with an "Item" command. Bravely Default's Salve-Maker was similarly interesting. Given that Thavnaria seems to be a hub for alchemy, you could attach such a job to their lore.

You don't necessarily need ammo to do it (especially since "ammo" jobs don't really have a max ammo capacity or require purchasable ammo). You could have all the heals be built around cooldowns (i.e. you can throw a certain number of potions before having to refill/"reload" your flask) or around some base material/ether that you construct your potions from that generates over time.

As far as mixing potions go, there are two ways that you could do it. The first is that Mudra concept where you pick a combination of ingredients to get a particular result. The other, more organic option would be to use ground effects. Lob an X-potion at the tank. While they're sitting in a pile of healing goo, watching their health tick back up, you can toss a second potion at that puddle which combines with the first to create a new effect. You could just as easily do poisonous effects that harm opponents in similar ways. You could even introduce in something like FFXII's Nihopalaoa to produce a reversal effect on enemies.

[Scribbinge]

As far as mixing potions go, there are two ways that you could do it. The first is that Mudra concept where you pick a combination of ingredients to get a particular result. The other, more organic option would be to use ground effects. Lob an X-potion at the tank. While they're sitting in a pile of healing goo, watching their health tick back up, you can toss a second potion at that puddle which combines with the first to create a new effect. You could just as easily do poisonous effects that harm opponents in similar ways. You could even introduce in something like FFXII's Nihopalaoa to produce a reversal effect on enemies.

This job fantasy is much more appealing and logical to me than the dancer idea other people seem to be loving.

I especially love the idea of combining effects. The way I'd like to see it is similar to how you describe and kinda how things work in mass effect and more recently Anthem (with more depth than those). Some actions should 'prime' allies and foes with a DoT, HoT, buff or debuff, and then other abilities could 'detonate' them for a more instantaneous effect.

E.g: you throw an oily mixture which coats enemies slowing their movement by 20%, oiled enemies become flammable and can be ignited with alchemists fire.

or a healing variant: you release restorative vapours in the targeted area healing allies for X over Y seconds for all allies that inhale the vapours. Another ability could consume the HoTs from nearby allies to heal a single target for a larger amount.

etc etc. I'm sure the team could come up with a more robust and interesting set of interactions than my 5 minute brainstorming lol.

I find it amusing that for all of the new job speculation where people are discussing potential mechanics the perfect example is always "like ninja mudra!"
Gunbreaker? give it ninja mudra!
Dancer? GIVE IT NINJA MUDRAAAAAA

[Risvertasashi]

I find it amusing that for all of the new job speculation where people are discussing potential mechanics the perfect example is always "like ninja mudra!"
Gunbreaker? give it ninja mudra!
Dancer? GIVE IT NINJA MUDRAAAAAA

Although the ninja-specific version has its issues, overall it's a good concept. It's like how classes have procs, and combos, and so on. It's something with enough versatility to be used in a few different ways.

Gunbreaker with its different ammo types may already be fairly mudra-alike - since the different ammos may well imply comboing them for certain effects.

But however a combination mechanic might show up in future jobs, hopefully it won't have the latency issues of mudra.

[miraidensetsu]

I'd prefer this idea over dancer. It even can have a sort of a Throw action where the chemist can throw a potion at some party member, with the potency of the "equiped" potion.

[Vasquez]

http://ffxivhomebrew.weebly.com/apothecary.html

i made this thing back in Heavensward. Apothecary class that leads to a healer called Chemist or a tank called Parfumier.

it's all kinda rough at this point, but i still like thinking about it.