Scholar... SAY WHUT?

[Xeia]

I'm firmly in the camp of there being a new class to underlay Scholar with the respective guild either in one of the starting cities or one of the other, expanded, settlements around Eorzea.

I did wonder about the 8-slot job crystal window. My take that the Beta will not have the 9th job ready and the 9th slot will be added in when SCH or SMN is attainable. Though that seems a little tenuous. Maybe when the chest was designed, only 8 jobs were confirmed and the whole SCH thing is a relatively recent addition.

I'm also leaning towards there being a new class, but if I'm being totally honest I can't tell how much I'm being biased by the fact that I want a new class. I don't think they'll make two jobs from the same class because I think it'd be messy any way I can imagine they'd implement it. ...But then again I don't want them to make two jobs from the same class because I think it'd be messy any way I can imagine they'd implement it. So I might be having a little trouble keeping the two separate.

I believe it's been confirmed 100% that the beta will also not have the 8th job ready. Both SMN and SCH have been announced "for launch." I'm trying not to read to much into it, though, and I think your second suggestion is probably right. There will be 9 job slots, there just aren't at the moment. It's the developer's build after all, they don't need to get everything implemented at the same time like they'd have to if players were on the server.

Methinks that they've changed the classes, so that

ACN > SCH
EVK > SMN

(EVK = Evoker)

Which isn't really that difficult to edit at this stage in development, and would also explain why the SCH is shown holding a Grimoire (if it's not a Tome) whereas the SMN doesn't appear to be using a weapon at all yet. But that's just my 2 cents.

As you were.

I did notice that the new concept art had every job carrying its weapon with the exception of SMN, which appears unarmed. The actual naming of the mage classes hasn't made much sense to me from the beginning. Ignoring scholar, it seems to me it should've gone (in name only):

CNJ -> SMN [To conjure something and to summon something isn't all that different. EVK works too.]
ACN -> BLM [Arcane arts, black magic, whatever. It works for SMN as well, but I think CNJ works better.]
THM -> WHM [Thaumaturgey being a term which refers specifically to miracle-like magic. Certainly something closer associated with WHMs than BLMs.]

Ignoring the fact that I don't think they name their mage classes well, I'm sort of skeptical that the class they announced for SMN is going to be moved to a different job (instead of SMN). If there's a unique class associated with SCH, my money is still on a Tactician.

[Fantasia]

I did notice that the new concept art had every job carrying its weapon with the exception of SMN, which appears unarmed. The actual naming of the mage classes hasn't made much sense to me from the beginning. Ignoring scholar, it seems to me it should've gone (in name only):

CNJ -> SMN [To conjure something and to summon something isn't all that different. EVK works too.]
ACN -> BLM [Arcane arts, black magic, whatever. It works for SMN as well, but I think CNJ works better.]
THM -> WHM [Thaumaturgey being a term which refers specifically to miracle-like magic. Certainly something closer associated with WHMs than BLMs.]

Ignoring the fact that I don't think they name their mage classes well, I'm sort of skeptical that the class they announced for SMN is going to be moved to a different job (instead of SMN). If there's a unique class associated with SCH, my money is still on a Tactician.

I'm fine with the mage names, to be honest! Conjury makes sense in that "conjurers draw forth and absorb aether from their immediate surroundings" ... "then utilized to focus the aether until it manifests as the desired spell.", whereas the actual definition of Thaumaturgy is "an art that calls upon a supernatural power", but I suppose everyone's up to read it how they like =) I've seen a couple of threads who have stated that CNJ and THM should be switched, but personally this way makes more sense to me!

As for Arcanist, [Arcane; Understood by few; mysterious or secret.] I feel anything "dark" could fall under that category, and since Thaumaturgy is widely used in Ul'dah (whereas ACNs are supposedly a dying, forbidden, art) it makes more sense that it should be associated as such. Otherwise Limsa would be full of Carbuncles =)

But yes, I don't think the classes themselves would change, but I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the ACN/SMN weapon. If they did, my guess would be Arithmetician > Scholar, since it was a job back in Tactics that used magic of any kind (previously learnt). Obviously they'd have to change the mechanics of it for XIV, but I think it's pretty good.

Arithmetician was also one of the examples Yoshi used when they carried out the polls way-back-when.

[Tonkra]

to quote myself

im pretty sure it is going to be Arcanist also. First class having two job options.

why? ACN [Debuffer/petclass] , SMN [pet class specialist], SCH [debuffer specialist]

scholar often is described in Final Fantasy as a mage with debuffing skills and sometimes also a mage that uses whm and blm skills (banish, dia).


and well.. think back about 1-2 years where they removed skills like Bio, Paralyze, Banish, Scourge etc. from THM. they wanted to re-introduce these skills on a brand new class/jobs in ARR

scholar being traditionally a debuffer mage.. this is where SCH comes in and fill this gap

skills that we are missing since 1.0.:

1. Scourge (damage + debuff effect -> debuffer role)
Curse an enemy with darkness and duress, dealing umbral damage and reducing the target's umbral magic defense.

2. Banish (a skill that is mostly associated with the WHM job, but in some FF's scholar uses some of the WHM/BLM skills) Exorcise an enemy's evils with holy light, dealing astral damage and reducing the target's astral magic defense.

3. Paralyze Cause an enemy's muscles to falter, sometimes preventing the target from completing actions.

4. Bio or Dia
Plague an enemy with disease, dealing umbral damage over time and reducing the target's attack power.

5. Absorb-INT
Leech an enemy's intelligence, transferring a portion of the target's evasion to you.

I'm fine with the mage names, to be honest! Conjury makes sense in that "conjurers draw forth and absorb aether from their immediate surroundings" ... .

In the german version of the game conjurers are named "druids" since the very beginning which is even more fitting if you ask me ^
because they live along with the nature.

But yes, I don't think the classes themselves would change, but I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the ACN/SMN weapon. If they did, my guess would be Arithmetician > Scholar, since it was a job back in Tactics that used magic of any kind (previously learnt). Obviously they'd have to change the mechanics of it for XIV, but I think it's pretty good.

.

very very unlikely.

on the original jp boxart you see the job wheel artwork with SCH and SMN on it. both wearing books.scholar wearing glasses like the ACN on the official Arcanist artwork. Arcanist has somewhat of a student look, like Scholar does also. + SCH fits partly the role which the ACN has to offer (damage over time spells/debuffs)

SMN is losing carbuncle, the same for SCH. there is a reason why.

dont deny the obvious


hopefully this will come true... scholar using old 1.0. THM skills. it would become one of my fave jobs^^

[Fantasia]

dont deny the obvious


hopefully this will come true... scholar using old 1.0. THM skills. it would become one of my fave jobs^^

I will deny it, because there's nothing I'd hate more than completing 5 quests and having mastered a new job with next to no hard work.

And I don't know where you got "Debuff specialist" from, when the SCH in XI could freely rotate between being an amazing enhancer, healer, or nuker freely, and the original SCH from FFIII used elemental tomes and healing spells.

SCH needs to be a healer, otherwise we'll be running out of CNJs to level with in dungeons ridiculously quickly. 1 healer for every 8 classes in a 4-man dungeon will not go down well.