Quote Originally Posted by Saefinn View Post
Whilst some inaccuracies on my part, I'll accept. I think in my post, I let myself confuse Light Magic with White Magic and Dark Magic with Black Magic. When light and darkness is umbral & astral.

Even then. The elements are split between White and Black Magic, even if they aren't opposites in terms of light and dark.

White Magic is not the same as Conjury, though in learning it, White Magic derives from the same elements as conjury and acts as an upgrade with light magic included. And it was the same balance for White Magic during the war of the Magi against the Black Mages of Mhach. And Red Magic holds the balance between White and Black Magic because of that war. White Magic in this game just isn't purely light or holy and to move into that direction I just don't think makes sense for this game. Light magic is meant to be an addition to their elemental magic, not an upgrade.

It just seems to be arbitrarily moving it more in line with WHM in other FF titles and touch on their themes, rather than the one they've already established.
The elements were split between them. Now they aren't. White Mages don't typically have a rigid 1:1 opposition with Black Mages in terms of elements. They use Holy/Light, while Black Mages tend to use Fire/Ice/Lightning. Letting another job take up the three elements White Mages were using, especially when they're likely to be more important thematically, isn't a big deal.

As far as how it impacts the lore, it really doesn't. White Mages way back when in the War of the Magi are different from White Mages now, and especially different from White Mage WoL. Nothing wrong with him moving away from those roots. It's not like Black Mages are going around dealing with Voidsent after all.

With regards to how arbitrary it is, if they're adding a job to better focus on those themes then it really isn't. While I personally feel they could have had White Mage and Geomancer both as healers others disagree.