Job mechanic idea for Chemist

[Seraphor]

Just a rough idea to outline the mechanics, potencies are definitely not balanced, so please refrain from any comments like “200 potency is not enough to compete with [healer x]” or “600 is way OP” please. But the potencies I’ve used should be enough to illustrate how each skill works and how it should be used. But any ideas for tweaks are welcome, so long as they’re not just “delete this skill and use my skill instead.”


Chemist / Apothecary

New class of field-medic that utilises aether enhanced potions to heal soldiers in battle. Its Mortar Cannon can be used to fire phials of potion at individuals, spread aetherically enhanced healing aerosols over a battlefield and can also be utilised offensively with grenades.

Uses the same idea as MCH and GNB, in that it was developed for non-aetherically gifted individuals, but the WoL can infuse the machinery with his/her own aether, thus using MP.
It is however still a caster. It has cast times, it makes use of Swiftcast for it's raise and casts Esuna. It's basically a mage that casts spells on the potions it uses, rather than on other players.

It pushes its way into the regen/shield dichotomy system by being adept at both but having to make choices on the fly between the two. It has a gauge spender that can give heals a shield, a spender that can give heals a regen, and skills that can use either of these gauge consumables (Solutions) to generate a shield or a regen, so you have full control at all times over which one you’re using.

E.g. if you’re partnered with a SCH/Nocturnal-AST, you can use Sustaining Solution to give your regular heals a regen, then use Fortifying Solution with Titrate to cast an AoE regen.
Or if you’re with a WHM/Diurnal-AST, you can use Fortifying Solution to give you regular heals a shield, then use Sustaining Solution with Distillate to cast an AoE shield.

It manages to do a lot with few buttons, which makes it both simple to play and difficult to master, which appears to be their mindset for new jobs these days.

Gauges:

Solution gauge: four icons, the first three act like AST seals in that they can be three of any of the healing solutions, the fourth just shows whether Caustic is activated.
e.g. [Conc.] [Fort.] [Sust.] ¦ [Caus.]
(if multiples of the same Solution are activated, only one of them will be used by Aetherdraught or Aethaerosol, but all will be used for Formulation)

Corrupted aether gauge: simple 1 – 100 linear gauge.
Lore-wise, by processing aether in this way you generate some ‘waste’ in the form of ‘corrupted aether’, but instead of just dumping this and destroying the environment, it’s put to use via offensive techniques that utilise the ‘Corrupted aether gauge’.


Core healing Spells + related abilities

Aetherdraught
Single target 350 pot heal. 1.5s cast, 300 MP, GCD Increases corrupted aether gauge by 10 when used with Solution.

Aethaerosol
AoE 250 pot heal. 1.5s cast, 800 MP, GCD Increases corrupted aether gauge by 10 when used with Solution.

Resuscitate
Raise analogue. GCD

Concentrating Solution
Increases potency of next Aetherdraught by 200, or Aethaerosol by 150. 400 MP, 6s cooldown.

Concentrating Solution II (upgrades)
Increases potency of next Aetherdraught by 300, or Aethaerosol by 200. 400 MP, 3s cooldown.

Fortifying Solution
Grants next Aetherdraught a shield equal to 80% HP restored, or Aethaerosol a shield equal to 60% HP restored, for 20s. 400 MP, 10s cooldown.

Fortifying Solution II (upgrades)
Grants next Aetherdraught a shield equal to 100% HP restored, or Aethaerosol a shield equal to 80% HP restored, for 30s. 400 MP, 6s cooldown.

Sustaining Solution
Grants next Aetherdraught an 100 potency regen for 15s, or Aethaerosol a 60 potency regen for 9s. 400 MP, 10s cooldown.

Sustaining Solution II (upgrades)
Grants next Aetherdraught a 120 potency regen for 21s, or Aethaerosol an 80 potency regen for 15s. 400 MP, 6s cooldown.

The idea is Aetherdraught is your base heal, you weave Concentrating Solution in before it to make it an upgraded heal e.g. Benefic II or Cure II, and you double-weave either Fortifying or Sustaining to give it a shield/regen.
There's also the possibility of triple weaving or at least banking all three solutions, in order to have a higher potency GCD heal with a shield AND a regen, which may be useful in some niche situations, saving MP and GCD's etc. However as the regen/shield would not stack with the respective regen/shield of WHM/SCH or the AST sects, then this is very limited.
This is why this would be an advanced healer. You're making on the fly decisions about your basic healing kit based on your party composition. Kinda like how AST juggles it's cards between GCD's, this does it with healing.


Healing/Mitigation abilities

Panacea
Instant single target 600 potency heal. 30s cooldown. Up to 3 charges.
Bestows the effect of ‘Dulled’ for 10s which reduces incoming damage by 5% and reduces the effective potency of the next Panacea received by 20%, which stacks up to twice.
(so 3 charges at once = 600 + 480 + 360 potency = 1440 total with 10% damage reduction)

Aegis Draught
Bestows a shield equal to 10% of targets max HP (stacks with SCH/AST shields) and 2 stacks of 'Dulled' for 10s. 30s cooldown.

Anaesthetic Nebuliser
Places a ground effect that grants party members within it 2 stacks of 'Dulled', Duration 10s. 90s cooldown.

Titrate Solutions
300 potency AoE heal with a regen for 15s determined by how many Solutions loaded. 30s cooldown shared with Distillate. 2 Charges.
1: 60 potency. 2: 80 pot. 3: 120 pot. Increases corrupted aether gauge by 20.

Distillate Solutions
300 potency AoE heal with a shield for 30s determined by how many Solutions loaded. 30s cooldown shared with Titrate. 2 Charges.
1: 50% of HP restored 2: 70% 3: 100%. Increases corrupted aether gauge by 20.

Formulation Field
Generates an AoE ground field based on the combination of Solutions currently loaded for 15s. 90s cooldown.
Concentrating: 15/25/30% increased healing received.
Fortifying: 140/200/250 pot shield. (Stacks with SCH/AST shields)
Sustaining: 60/100/120 pot regen heal to those who remain inside.
Caustic: 200 potency damage plus relevant DoT effect bestowed on any enemy targets who enter.
Increases corrupted aether gauge by 10 for each Solution used.
(This is your focal point, bundles your ground based or channelled heal and your Assize/Earthly Star into one. This is also the closest you get to a true 'Mix' ability, and would cement this job as the one with the best ground-based heals/mitigation)


Personal utility

Preloaded Phials
Reduces your recast to 1.5s for the next three GCDs. 120s cooldown.
(Lightspeed equivalent)

Quicksilver
Reduces MP costs on Solutions to 0, cooldown on all Solutions to 1s, and reduces cast times by 1s for the next 15s. 180s cooldown.
(This is your Sleeve Draw and Neutral Sect all rolled into one. You can rapidly bolster your heals with the additional effects, and can potentially quickly gain corrupted aether gauge for offensives.)

Recycled Phials
Removes any loaded Solutions (excluding Caustic) and recovers 800 MP per Solution. 90s cooldown.

Enplethy (corrupted aether spender)
Healing potency is increased by 30%, every healing spell or ability now costs 10 Corrupted Aether in addition to other costs. Duration: 20s. 90s cooldown.
Effect ends when Corrupted Aether reaches 0.


DPS

Aetherogrenade
Single target 160 potency damage. 1.5s cast, 400 MP, GCD

Aetherogrenade II (upgrades)
Single target 180 potency damage. 1.5s cast, 400 MP, GCD

Aetherogrenade III (upgrades)
Single target 220 potency damage. 1.5s cast, 400 MP, GCD

Aetherogrenade IV (upgrades)
Single target 260 potency damage. 1.5s cast, 400 MP, GCD

Caustic Solution
Grants the next Aetherogrenade or Formulation Field a 40 potency DoT for 21s. 400 MP. 3s cooldown

Caustic Solution II (upgrades)
Grants the next Aetherogrenade or Formulation Field a 50 potency DoT for 24s. 400 MP. 3s cooldown

Caustic Solution III (upgrades)
Grants the next Aetherogrenade or Formulation Field a 60 potency DoT for 30s. 400 MP. 3s cooldown

Napalm Grenade
AoE 120 potency damage and leaves a ground-based field for 6s that deals 20 potency damage to anything that enters. 1.5s cast, 600 MP, GCD

Chaos Grenade (corrupted aether spender)
400 potency damage to first target and 25% less damage for all other targets. Costs 50 gauge.

Hot Spurs (corrupted aether spender
Increases party’s direct hit by 20% for 15s. Costs 50 gauge. Recovers 1000 MP. 120s cooldown.


Limit Break 3: Elixir of Life
You pull out a huge glowing vial and down it, smash the rest of it onto the ground and glowing puddles of the elixir bubble up under everyone, as they glow brighter and brighter.


Skill Progression:

Lv. 1 Aetherogrenade
Lv. 2 Aetherdraught
Lv. 4 Caustic Solution
Lv. 10 Aethaerosol
Lv. 12 Resuscitate
Lv. 18 Panacea
Lv. 24 Preloaded Phials
Lv. 30 Unlocks the Solutions gauge
Lv. 30 Concentrating Solution
Lv. 35 Fortifying Solution
Lv. 40 Sustaining Solution
Lv. 44 Aetherogrenade II (Grenade Mastery I)
Lv. 46 Napalm Grenade
Lv. 48 Caustic Solution II (Corrosion Mastery I)
Lv. 50 Anaesthetic Nebuliser
Lv. 52 Distillate Solutions
Lv. 54 Titrate Solutions
Lv. 56 Concentrating Solution II (Concentration Mastery)
Lv. 60 Formulation Field (Aether Reserves)
Lv. 62 Fortifying Solution II (Fortify Mastery)
Lv. 64 Sustaining Solution II (Sustain Mastery)
Lv. 68 Aetherogrenade III (Grenade Mastery II)
Lv. 70 Aegis Draught
Lv. 72 Caustic Solution III (Corrosion Mastery II)
Lv. 75 Unlocks Corrupted Aether Gauge
Lv. 75 Hot Spurs (Purifying the Aether I)
Lv. 78 Quicksilver
Lv. 80 Chaos Grenade
Lv. 82 Recycled Phials
Lv. 84 Aetherograde IV (Grenade Mastery III)
Lv. 86 (Purifying the Aether II)
Lv. 90 Enplethy

Traits
Grenade Mastery I, II, III: Upgrades Aetherogrenade
Corrosion Mastery I, II: Upgrades Caustic Solution
Concentration Mastery: Upgrades Concentrating Solution
Fortify Mastery: Upgrades Fortifying Solution
Sustain Mastery: Upgrades Sustaining Solution
Aether Reserves: Allows 2 stacks of Titrate and Distillate Solutions.
Purifying the Aether I: Allows Aetherdraught, Aetherosol and Formulation Field to generate Corrupted Aether.
Purifying the Aether II: Allows Distilate Solutions and Titrate Solutions to generate Corrupted Aether.

[Volkaj]

It makes little sense to me to mention potencies in the skills while also saying not to compare using them. I will try not to compare with other healers, but I will analyze based on comparison between skill potencies.

1. Napalm Grenade (AoE) deals more single-target damage than Aetherogrenade.

2. 600 MP for an AoE heal is really cheap. For reference, WHM's Medica is 1000 MP and AST's Helios is 900 MP.

3. Concentrating Solution II and Fortifying Solution II each basically double the healing potency of Aetherdraught/Aethaerosol. I have to assume these do not stack otherwise non-boosted Aetherdraught or Aethaerosol would be too weak.

4. Maxed out Titrate Solutions is 600p, and Distillate Solutions is 300p. The fairly low potency on these (compared to Aethaerosol) and the requirement for all 3 solutions makes for a dangerous OGCD to use. If the low healing potencies cover what you needed, great, but if you miscalculated and need more, all your solutions are out. Formulation Field essentially combines Titrate + Distillate, so is sort of exempt from the potency trap.

This is mainly an issue for newcomers to the role, as Titrate is still a 600p heal with zero DPS cost on a 30s cooldown. Proper coordination with your cohealer means you'll probably end up with the situation under #6 instead.

5. Aside from single-target Panacea and Aegis Draught, this healer has no %-based party mitigation. It has quite a few shields, but for reference a Succor (225p shield) shields for ~8k while your average party member has 100k HP. If a mechanic does need you to mitigate then a 10% mitigation ability will do better.

6. As far as optimization goes I see little reason not to just use every single healing solution on cooldown (for corrupted aether gauge), then Titrate for AoE healing (will always have full effect from solution spam) and Aegis Draught + Panacea for single target. Use Formulation Field on cooldown as a 200p OGCD through Caustic, and keep reapplying your DoT with one Caustic every 30s. If you need to mitigate something swap a Titrate for a Distillate.

7. Hot Spurs is really weak compared to AST/SCH equivalents, since DH buffs scale worse than Crit does and its a 600p DPS loss for you to use it.

[Seraphor]

Thanks for the feedback.

On solutions stacking and the base heals being weak, that's sort of the idea.
Aetherdraught is your Benefic or Cure.
Aetherdraught + Concentrating Solution is your Benefic II or Cure II, hence the low cooldown. (Perhaps it needs to be lower, but then might have to rethink the gauge points)
Then you can add your shield and/or regen for your Aspected Benefic/Adloquium.

I had originally put party mitigation on Formulation via Concentrating Solutions, but changed that to increased healing. Maybe it should be innate in Formulation?
Or just another skill, like an AoE Aegis Draught?

Edit: Gone back and altered MP costs to reflect the 'modular' nature of the heals.
To reiterate, you basically combine the different Solutions with the base heals to produce the wider healing toolkit, kinda carrying over the high-weave nature of an AST but applied to the healing instead of the DPS.
Also edited a few potencies or cooldowns.

[Seraphor]

So I thought I'd come back to this.
Tweaked a few things and moved the corrupted aether generation to spells/abilities that USE the solutions, rather than the solutions themselves.
This means you're not necessarily spamming solutions on cooldown just for the gauge, and you use them when you need them instead (which might be on cooldown but not necessarily) and it incentivises some GCD healing between the cooldowns for Titrate/Distillate/Formulation.

[MirronTulaxia]

Whatever Chemist does it'll be a Caster. Surecast/Swiftcast don't really make sense without that factor.

As far as job mechanics go, one of the things I liked the idea of was casting a spell ahead of time and bottling it for future use. The only issue is I can't exactly tell how best to balance that. It's funnily the same idea I liked for Time Mage, though it was more of a time compression kind of idea.

[Leareaux]

I like where you're going with this and would play something like it myself if it ended up being the direction they took.

[Leareaux]

[QUOTE=MirronTulaxia;5356424]Whatever Chemist does it'll be a Caster. Surecast/Swiftcast don't really make sense without that factor.

They made RDM while swiftcast was a thing so that logic doesn't really track imo.

[Leidiriv]

[QUOTE=Leareaux;5356469]

Whatever Chemist does it'll be a Caster. Surecast/Swiftcast don't really make sense without that factor.

They made RDM while swiftcast was a thing so that logic doesn't really track imo.

Swiftcast is still a major DPS gain on RDM though, so that logic *does* track.

[Jirah]

God I hate the idea of chemist having these firearm weapons, but honestly what else can they get. Just wondering how Swiftcast and Esuna will work

[althenawhm]

God I hate the idea of chemist having these firearm weapons, but honestly what else can they get. Just wondering how Swiftcast and Esuna will work

Yeah, Im not really too sure about firearms for a healer, since it would be the only one out of the four with a usable autoattack.