Quote Originally Posted by SeverianLyonesse View Post
And maybe if I actually thought the design was good I would see it as a thoroughly original
This is the crux of your argument. You don't like the design, therefore it isn't original. But how is it not? Sage hasn't really appeared in many FF games and between FF3/4 having one direction and the Tactics Advanced/A2 going a different direction, there is no reason FF14 cannot have their own spin on it. One of the main features of Sages are people that are wise, which is exactly what FF14 healers are. Wise in the healing arts and they have designed the Nouliths to focus their magic to help them achieve that goal, as stated by the Sage info from the Endwalkers promo website [https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/endwa..._6_0/job_sage].

I also think it is unfair to judge a job based on, what is essentially, nothing. So far IIRC we have seen, single target heal, 2 shields, AoE heal, single target damage and AoE damage. We don't know what else they have in their kit, what resource do they have and how does it affect how the job plays etc. With the media tour mid September, we should know more.

You also assume they have no other ideas. They might have had several ideas, they just wanted to do Sage first (though I suspect they come up with a concept, then name the job after) and, when the next healer comes along, they can go back to old ideas or by then, they might have had new ones. Saying you don't like the idea, therefore they have nothing is not a valid argument.

And to comment on the addendum. I highly doubt they used the nouliths to reference the 4 elemental crystals, probably more just 4 felt right to use. I guarantee they went through the process of, 'how many should they have' and they settled on 4.