Geomancer

[Reksanden]

We're in a dire need of improvements to the current healers, not a fourth healer. There are games that are fine with only 2 healing classes since those classes (or jobs here) are well designed - they have a certain challenge and complexity to them. I would rather not have 4 healing jobs that are bland and boring and essentially almost carbon copies of each other, I would rather have 3 jobs that have their own individual well thought out designs- if that means waiting several expansions for a 4th healer- I have no problem at all with it.

I absolutely see your point, but they thought the same in SB - where they had much stronger individual gameplay - and yet here we are today. As Seraphor said, gaining that new job *might just be* what we need to really shake up the mould they've made. Yes, there IS the potential that "they're just another WHM or SCH", but I'd rather see them try than have folks' hopes crushed yet again for another expansion - because as good as ShB was, I still feel sore about that.

To go back onto the topic of Geomancer proper, however - I replayed through the AST questlines just last night for lore tidbits and info, as well as trying to quell the nagging "they're the same as AST" thought that I've seen folks talk about. And... As it turns out, they kinda are? In the sense that the metaphysics they pull from (elements and the effects of their usage) are the same, but NOT their means or ends.

As we've seen with Swallow's Compass, which was built on three intersecting ley-lines (a tidbit that I just can't recall where I learned it from, to my chagrin >:/), geomancy focuses pretty exclusively on earth, wind, and water. But unlike the druidic warlocks that we call Conjurors (whose healing magic seems unaspected anyway), geomancers seem to just straight up skip asking elementals for permission and focus on a mix of feng-shui style-magic and ley-line attunement. However, they also do not seem to make use of soul crystals, as a large portion of their teachings are learned (and lost) from masters of the art.

But how would this affect them potentially as a healer? Well, Kyokuho has a few abilities he'll spam, aptly titled "Qi of (element)", and the water one happens to be a heal... Which isn't enough on it's own to state "They're obviously healers!". The impression I got was that they're basically the duality of BLM to Astrology's WHM; while they're similar in that they draw aether from celestial sources (stars and the planet) and overall divination theming, they don't seem to focus *twisting* that fate to heal or damage - moreso sealing, warding, and creation ala binding spirits into shikigami.

TLDR Edit: I'm incredibly unsure. The lore behind geomancy as a whole still feels incomplete, as well as Leveva genuinely trying to blend astromancy and geomancy into one. She seems to vaguely have an idea of how to do that (as of the AST 80 quest), despite the metaphysics of geomancy being almost a dichotomy to astromancy in practical use.