Next Jobs

[Mugear_bahamut]

The spells were never claimed to be reversing time and the reasoning can also be interpreted as due to the vast distances light of the stars has to travel to reach the planet Astro spells/abilities take time to get the full effect of the healing spell thus a healing over time effect (Even Benefic is an Astrology term, and Helios is the Greek god of the Sun). Also, WHM has Regen (An original Time Mage Spell) as well. Lightspeed (use best to measure great distances in Space) would be a means to close the distance of the stars (thus instant cast), while the Arrow Card was more the effect of the constellation (now removed). While Gravity is indeed a Space based spell, I would say it falls under the Celestial Space category along with Combust meeting the theme Astro currently has.

To differentiate Astro from Time Mage, Time Mage would have to be themed to that of Temporal and Dimensional Space magic. The Temporal theme with the use of DoTs (Having Slow/Stop to extend DoT duration, Haste reworked to a DoT attack or personal DoT buff) and the Dimensional Space theme through casting portal spells (Demi/Quarter) as more of its core damage and casts. This theming of the Time Mage job would work narratively as well since Y'shtola is looking into crossing back to the First as well as other shards (requiring both the means to cross the "Dimensional Rift," and reach the destination at the correct "Period of Time" as well, recall G'raha's experiences of travel and summoning). And it would be a nice change up to the DPS caster pool since now all three casters (BLM, SMN, RDM) are now elemental based (currently covering Fire, Thunder, Ice, Wind, and Earth). But at the end of the day, it's up to the Development Team to choose and design the jobs as they see fit. I just hope one of the new jobs is Caster DPS based (actual casting not like current SMN) as it has been since Stormblood since a new caster was announced and the Melee, Phys Range, Tanks, and Healers all have gotten 2 new jobs since Heavensward (SAM,RPR,MCH,DNC,DRK,GNB,AST,SGE) leaving the Magical DPS with little options of choice.

AST was a mixed concept, YoshiP and co were notorious for mixing 2~3 jobs into 1, for easier execution, like how (even though I'm still rooting for DPS Viking) they mixed Berserker with WAR, Rogue/Thief with Ninja, and so on. AST was supposed to be Chemist, but they unfortunately scrapped it due to balancing, so the card system replaced the mixing system. And then they added more concepts like Time Mage and Gambler, there's no denying that's what it was supposed to be. Hell, your nemesis from the Job questline actually managed to master Stop magic. Also, meteor-spells won't be coming anytime soon since that's Caster LB. Speaking of LBs, Astral Stasis is quite literally the STOPPING of time.