Paladin-Inspired White Mage Concept

[ty_taurus]

I've tried bringing this conversation up in another thread, but trying to force someone to engage with this conversation who isn't interested in it is foolish of me, and not very helpful, so I wanted to throw this up as a separate thread in case anyone else wants to share there thoughts on this concept, suggest their own adjustments, or gets any ideas from it that they want to share.

Basically, this idea spun from a request to design a White Mage to feel closer to Paladin in a sense, but not be direct copy, of course, so I took a crack at it and started really liking this idea. I blended in some elements inspired by Aerith as well. I'm a broken record at this point, but I like her gameplay and would like to see more inspiration from her in the same way that Gunbreaker is inspired by Squall. This is just the DPS toolset, by the way, so how we want to approach the rest of the kit is up for discussion.

White Mage Rework Concept:

Spark - GCD Spell
- Single target damage with a potency of 250.
- Grants 1 Glint, an element of a second gauge added to this concept. You can have up to 3 Glints.
- Instant Cast; No MP Cost
Note: The new filler spell, inspired by Aerith's basic attacks.

Tempest - GCD Spell
- AoE damage around your target with a potency of 150.
- Grants 1 Absolution, another aspect of the second gauge.
- When 3 Glints are present, this becomes a twofold attack. Does not require Glints to be cast.
- 2.5 second cast time; No MP Cost
Note: Can be used as your AoE button, or as the "finisher" to your single target combo. Inspired by Aerith's special attack.

Glare III - GCD Spell
- Single target damage with a potency of 300.
- When 1 Absolution is present, this becomes a twofold attack. Does not require Absolution to be cast.
- 1.5 second cast time; 400 MP cost
Note: Upgrades Glare from standard filler to a high-damage single target resource spender.

Dia - GCD Spell
- AoE damage around your target with a potency of 200.
- When 1 Absolution is present, this attack inflicts 3 stacks of Dia to the first enemy hit and 1 stack on all other enemies. Does not require Aboslution to be cast.
- Dia, the stacking debuff, is consumed and deals an additional 200 potency damage to targets struck by your casts of Glare, Dia, or Ablution. There is no duration on these stacks. Enemies can have as many as 5 stacks at a time.
- Instant cast; 400 MP cost
Note: Changes from a DoT to stacks of detonatable damage. Similar in function, but is less strict on timing.

Ablution - GCD Spell
- AoE damage around your target with a potency of 175 for the first enemy and 60% less for all remaining enemies.
- Grants 40 seconds of Flow. Can be extended up to 70 seconds when reapplying Flow.
- Flow is a gauge buff, similar to Dark Knight's Darkside. Flow is required for lilies to generate on the Healing Gauge. It additionally increases damage dealt and healing output by 5% and regenerates MP over time with a potency of 10.
- When 1 Absolution is present, this becomes a threefold attack. Does not require Absolution to be cast.
- 1.5 second cast; no MP cost
Note: Begins as Water and is upgraded to Ablution at a later level. New spell that functions as a third Absolution spender.

Afflatus Misery - GCD Spell
- AoE damage around your target with a potency of 1150 for the first enemy and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
- Grants 1 Absolution.
- Costs one Blood Lily. Up to two Blood Lilies can now be stored at a time.
- Instant cast; no MP cost; now has a 20 second recast timer.
Note: Updated to be a refund for your Spark > Tempest combo.

Holy III - OGCD Ability
- Aoe damage around you with a potency of 300 for the first enemy and 50% less for all remaining enemies.
- Stuns for 4 seconds.
- 60 second cooldown with 2 charges.
Note: Wanted Holy to be more grand rather than an AoE filler. But I'm not 100% sold on this way of using Holy, so definitely open to other ideas.

Germinate - GCD Spell
- Nourishes the Blood Lily.
- While out of combat, grants 60 seconds of Flow. While in combat, grants 20 seconds of Flow.
- Instant cast; no MP cost; increases the GCD recast timer to 4 seconds (like with Monk's Six-Sided Star).
Note: Used to get you set up out of combat and is useful during phase changes, but it otherwise not used during battle.

"Combos"
Single Target Combo: Spark x3 > Tempest > Glare/Dia/Ablution
AoE Combo: Tempest > Dia/Ablution

Here is a mockup of the single target rotation with the new gauge UI:

While it's a bit different than Paladin, I originally began thinking about if there were more options for either Holy Spirit/Circle or Atonement. It's still more simple than Paladin overall, but it's more about making a choice after your combo which I think is interesting. Again, it's only the DPS tools, so there's more that could be fleshed out here, but if anyone is interested in talking more about this concept or ideas they get from it, then I'd love to hear your thoughts.