Nautical Nonsense - Job Idea: Viking!

[Kreyd]

If I remember correctly, even with the two job teachers beeing Sea Wolf Roes, the lore states that Warriors origin came from the mountains at Gyr Abania.

I think there is enough space in the lore for hammer wielding warriors from northern islands.

There is also a hint on the worldmap to this.

I kinda expected Viking to be a new tank/melee job in 5.0, using water/ice/lightning magic to enhance it's attacks.

[Shougun]

Don't want to argue on the name because I think that's not really too important vs concept but I do think it might be better to go farther away from Maurader / Warrior. But names and lore details can be shifted around if needed so we can focus on the concept rather.

Concept here being a thunderous war god, reminds me of that awesome Thor scene except with a bigger hammer haha - which sounds pretty cool. Perhaps mixing in some of that lumbering with supercharged moments (like in Diaoblo 3 Crusader which had that thundering movement ability attack from the sky and a temporary war horse. or Thor with the spiral attack and jump smash move).



Since it seems the damage would be on a deeper slower cadence (when thunder calls) it would be nice for some mechanic to exist to prevent the job from being punished too hard for not getting a burst off before the boss vanishes / does some move (like overcharging the hammer passively/actively for extra burst when it comes back, not to be a DPS gain over playing more interactively but to be a safety net vs boss mechanics). I suppose it could just be punishing, like messing up a dragoon jump or mistiming a black mage cast.. but oof then lol. Just don't mess up :P?

Bet we could see a few rocket hammer weapons added just for fun then, like Nero's.

Anyway, thunder hammer has been cool, is cool, and will stay cool .

[Kalise]

Don't want to argue on the name because I think that's not really too important vs concept but I do think it might be better to go farther away from Maurader / Warrior. But names and lore details can be shifted around if needed so we can focus on the concept rather.

I think it's kind of amusing that I post Viking here and everyone's like "NUuUuuUu that's WARRIOR"

Based on a few small details such as one iteration of Viking having Provoke (OMG Dark Knight = Viking! Paladin = Viking! Gunbreaker will soon = Viking!!) the one iteration being FFIII on the 3DS, one skill having a Norse name (Holmgang) and some Roe having Scandinavian themed names.

Yet, after JP Fan Fest, after merely showing off the character Gaia with a big ol' Hammer (With Norse themed patterns on it no less) all of a sudden tons of people are like "OMG I want Viking as a new Tank/DPS job with a Hammer!!"

Also fun to see the jobs in this game. When you look back and consider that throughout the series there have been several iterations of Warrior had things such as:

* Becoming the Knight job (In FFIII this meant getting an upgraded Defend skill that meant you only took 1 damage. Also the 3DS version gave Knights the Cover skill and access to level 1 White Magic (Cure, Poisona and Sight))

* FFX-2 had Warrior learning the Sentinel skill (Which was a pre-requisite to learn Assault and SOS-Protect)

* FFXI had Warrior getting job traits Shield Def. Bonus (Reduced damage taken when blocking with a Shield) and Shield Mastery (Gain bonus TP when blocking with a shield and preventing spell interruption)

* FF Tactics and Tactics A2 both had Warrior gaining the Shieldbearer support skills (Allowing the use of shields irregardless of job)

With also many iterations of Warrior focusing around using a 1 handed sword and a shield.

So... Essentially, Warrior = Paladin (Well, more accurately Warrior > Knight = Paladin)

Yet no-one has issues with that and the fact that Warrior in XIV is basically Berserker with a few Warrior and Pirate themes sprinkled on.

Anyway, back onto the topic of the concept rather than arguing over people being pedantic about what a job is based around, since XIV has already shown that it doesn't mind creating new precedents for things (Such as SMN functioning as a Scholar and using their books for spells as opposed to the traditional Staff/Rod weapons)

Anyway, thunder hammer has been cool, is cool, and will stay cool .

Yeah, lightning and big hammers are cool.

Also, would be interesting to shake up the mDPS role a bit with a different cadence of play (As opposed to literally everyone and their cat having SkS buffs in their kit... Even the "Melee Mage" Samurai with their Iaijutsu's with cast times has Shinpu for SkS buff...)

As well as seeing the reverse of RDM where instead of being a caster who occasionally jumps in to do exactly 3 melee hits and then jumps back to being a caster, you have an mDPS who smashes people with a big hammer and zaps them with lightning between swings

[Shougun]

I think it's kind of amusing that I post Viking here and everyone's like "NUuUuuUu that's WARRIOR"

Based on a few small details such as one iteration of Viking having Provoke (OMG Dark Knight = Viking! Paladin = Viking! Gunbreaker will soon = Viking!!) the one iteration being FFIII on the 3DS, one skill having a Norse name (Holmgang) and some Roe having Scandinavian themed names.

Yet, after JP Fan Fest, after merely showing off the character Gaia with a big ol' Hammer (With Norse themed patterns on it no less) all of a sudden tons of people are like "OMG I want Viking as a new Tank/DPS job with a Hammer!!"

Also fun to see the jobs in this game. When you look back and consider that throughout the series there have been several iterations of Warrior had things such as:

* Becoming the Knight job (In FFIII this meant getting an upgraded Defend skill that meant you only took 1 damage. Also the 3DS version gave Knights the Cover skill and access to level 1 White Magic (Cure, Poisona and Sight))

* FFX-2 had Warrior learning the Sentinel skill (Which was a pre-requisite to learn Assault and SOS-Protect)

* FFXI had Warrior getting job traits Shield Def. Bonus (Reduced damage taken when blocking with a Shield) and Shield Mastery (Gain bonus TP when blocking with a shield and preventing spell interruption)

* FF Tactics and Tactics A2 both had Warrior gaining the Shieldbearer support skills (Allowing the use of shields irregardless of job)

With also many iterations of Warrior focusing around using a 1 handed sword and a shield.

So... Essentially, Warrior = Paladin (Well, more accurately Warrior > Knight = Paladin)

Yet no-one has issues with that and the fact that Warrior in XIV is basically Berserker with a few Warrior and Pirate themes sprinkled on.

Anyway, back onto the topic of the concept rather than arguing over people being pedantic about what a job is based around, since XIV has already shown that it doesn't mind creating new precedents for things (Such as SMN functioning as a Scholar and using their books for spells as opposed to the traditional Staff/Rod weapons)

NUUUU, all your boats and seas are belong to my marauder . I also understand your argument that it's not that similar/is not an issue.

Just because of the whole navy theme of limsa and because Marauder is there was my only concern, its a very vague similarity and could definitely be written over/around (it's not like only one culture learned how to use boats lol) - but that's why I made sure it was a minority of my post/not bother you with like "B-b-but the name, so kill the whole thread" lol .

Yeah, lightning and big hammers are cool.

Also, would be interesting to shake up the mDPS role a bit with a different cadence of play (As opposed to literally everyone and their cat having SkS buffs in their kit... Even the "Melee Mage" Samurai with their Iaijutsu's with cast times has Shinpu for SkS buff...)

As well as seeing the reverse of RDM where instead of being a caster who occasionally jumps in to do exactly 3 melee hits and then jumps back to being a caster, you have an mDPS who smashes people with a big hammer and zaps them with lightning between swings

Lightning I feel makes some really cool visual effects and is underused vs something like fire or ice. My favorite visual part of Dark Souls was chucking lighnting spears and in D3 playing crusader to drop down from the sky in a thunderous boom (that conduit pylon was pretty cool too, the one that causes you to drip destructive lightning from yourself).

I think reverse Red Mage is a pretty good quick description.

Not sure how you feel about temporary Super Sayian modes for jobs but I bet the visual personal enhancing effect for a lightning based job could be pretty awesome. Maybe slamming their giant hammer into the ground and calling lightning down into it as a lightning rod and absorbing it all on contact :3.

Maybe could build some mechanic around charge, like when you hit them with lightning effects it causes a boost in your melee damage and opens up new spell/ability interactions - each strike (that's without a lightning effect) lowering the charge the target has. Due to the slow cadence can maybe argue for some bigger than normal melee effects/visuals, like being able to pound the ground like Thrall does with his Sundering skill in HotS (can give it a very long linear attack range). Now that a far away target has been hit by your thunderous sundering (thunder clap?) you can use your Thor jump / D3 Crusader fall from the heavens to strike from max range (oGCD), and come in with all your bravado .

Was just sort of tossing ideas out, lots of fun to have with lightning.

I'm curious though, I know you mentioned nautical in part because of Vikings but do you envision the job using any water theme'd moves?

[Kalise]

NUUUU, all your boats and seas are belong to my marauder . I also understand your argument that it's not that similar/is not an issue.

Just because of the whole navy theme of limsa and because Marauder is there was my only concern, its a very vague similarity and could definitely be written over/around (it's not like only one culture learned how to use boats lol) - but that's why I made sure it was a minority of my post/not bother you with like "B-b-but the name, so kill the whole thread" lol .

Yeah... Well, one thing to remember is that SE themselves created the Viking job as a separate entity to Warrior/Marauder/Berserker/Pirate.

With often very different mechanics (I.e. Viking was often more of a spell caster than a "I'mma beat your face with an axe/hammer/sword/shield" type job)

Then there's the whole aspect of Vikings that people often forget. They're mostly farmers. They just happened to use boats a lot because they wanted to find better farm land by sailing across the ocean to places like Britain. Also... Pillaging, because well... They could.

Meanwhile Pirates were about living on the seas and fighting other ships with cannons and guns and stuff.

Lightning I feel makes some really cool visual effects and is underused vs something like fire or ice. My favorite visual part of Dark Souls was chucking lighting spears and in D3 playing crusader to drop down from the sky in a thunderous boom (that conduit pylon was pretty cool too, the one that causes you to drip destructive lightning from yourself).

Yeah, lightning has some pretty funky potential effects. Also, D3 Crusader was a blast. Easily had some of the coolest skills (Even if stuff like the one where you crashed down from the sky was pretty sucky for actual gameplay)

But yeah, between games like Infamous, Dark Souls, D3 and even Path of Exile, there's plenty of cool abilities and lightning effects available:

Examples from PoE - Lightning Tendrils, Shock Nova and Storm Call:

Not sure how you feel about temporary Super Sayian modes for jobs but I bet the visual personal enhancing effect for a lightning based job could be pretty awesome. Maybe slamming their giant hammer into the ground and calling lighting down into it as a lightning rod and absorbing it all on contact :3.

I quite like a lot of character effects. Things like Warrior's Gauge giving that orange aura. Dragoon's and the Blood of the Dragon effect. Quite neat.

Lots of potential for a lightning based job. Like, imagine lightning running up your arms, crackling down your weapon, arcing from your body to the ground. Melee strikes having a bolt of lightning come down from the sky, cleaves that send lightning chaining through all the enemies (Making the odd way that AoE's are handled make sense )

I'm curious though, I know you mentioned nautical in part because of Vikings but do you envision the job using any water theme'd moves?

I mean, initially, not really. Since I was going for a Lightning + Thunder theme (Lightning being the electrical strike we all know and love, Thunder being the noise created by the lightning vibrating the air particles due to electron movement and heat)

However, there is potential for some Water themed moves, though I wouldn't want to go too heavy on them lest the storm theme kind of gets washed out so to speak.

If we look at my sources of inspiration (I.e. Tactics A2 Viking) they actually have a skill called Tsunami, where they send a massive wave crashing into enemies.

It's possible that maybe Viking is the job that gets the ancient magic Flood too.