Advanced Job - GeomancerFollow

i wanted to post to this because it is a cool idea.

i don't have a lot to add, because Geomancer wasn't my favorite class from Tactics. this isn't to say it wouldn't be really cool though. what would the primary stat be? maybe just whatever elemental + you could get? seems like a lot of gear swapping...

i remember Geomancer having some awfully useless abilities at high level, though. like walk on lava. wtf?

--

since i've at least got you to talk to about it, i want to bring up the idea of Blue Mage again. remember Quistis from FF8? or the big tongued thing in FF9 that ate monsters and then used their abilities? Blue Mage in FF5 (closely related to Tactics/FFXI, in terms of Job/Subjob system) would learn what we now consider a Mob TP abiliy by being hit with it and surviving. want to use screwdriver, or bubble curtain, or bomb toss? hell, you might even save the party by drawing off a link and self destructing like a Bomb. it seems like another oddball class, not directly fitting into the now standard party setup, but i think it would be wicked fun, especially trying to collect all the different abilities, especially at high level. imagine being able to run out into a pile of TW gobbies and using that damnable AoE you just scored of a Wight in Qufim! ...drool..

enough. i'm gonna go get me a taco and a pepsi.

Saw this thread popping out on the main page (I'm from Bahamut) and thought I'd swing on over and take a gander.

It could be possible to add a few more jobs tot he game without unbalancing it. In fact, adding more could make it a bit more level than it already is.

As it stands, we already have WAY too many melees and too few of everything else. I've thought of different ways they could tweak the classes to make them fit a different mold. Such as making the DRG class become a tanking class instead of melee (I know it won't work now, but if they had thought of it before designing the game....).

I'd love to see a few more support/healer classes added to the game. Geomancer and Blue Mage would be good in their own regard.

However the one class I'd love to get into (and unfortunately never will) is the Time Mage class. They took all the abilities a Time Mage would have and split them up amoung the WHM, BLM and RDM classes in which if a Time Mage was ever conceived, it would totally obliterate those three in one blow.

Imagine a blend of all three jobs and yet none of them at once.

You'd have access to all the teleport spells, haste/slow and probably even advanced time spells like hastega/slowga, haste 2/slow 2, or even a Flee type AoE spell for your party. But you'd have no healing or divine magic.

You'd have Warp/Warp2, Escape, Tractor, Drain and Aspir. Hell, I'd even love to see a Time Mage cast Demi at higher lvls (I'd love me some Demi ^^). But no access to any elemental magic.

As far as stealing from a RDM, its quite obvious: Chainspell, Convert and Refresh. Maybe even a Refresh 2 (eh? ^^). But no enfeeb spells at your disposal.

In essence, the Time Mage would simply be a BRD that uses MP instead of songs and considering the fact that the other three mage classes already possess 80% of any spells he would have, it is simply a far-fetched idea in my mind. I just needed a place to explore my possibilities.

Now, as not to completely hijack this thread (btw, sorry ^^), I'd still love to see advanced jobs added later on to the game, whether it be in an expansion or a REALLY big update. The programmers need it to balance out the game a little.

Heh, I meant this



THAT'S Quina. :p

Saw this in omnibishop's post.



I think you have quite an interesting idea there omni =:D. I had completely forgot about the Time Mage class, and I'm glad you mentioned it.

Jobs like Time Mage would actually, in my opinion, be a great addition to the game. There are quite a few jobs that people "prefer" over others, as it is. Adding Time Mage as one possible job would increase competition between the existing Mage classes. There's 15 different job classes in FFXI, three of which actually end in "Mage". Since Bard is more like a mage in terms of support and songs, then there is a 2:1 ratio of Melee:Mages.



Nah don't worry about hijacking. I welcome you and anyone else, to post any ideas that they may have about any jobs, whether they exist in other FF games or not. It's fun and intriguing to see what people can come up with!

By the way, I thank everyone for their feedback so far ^^.

Edited: Woops, Summoner doesn't end in "Mage", sorry about that ^^;... Thanks Nights and TseTsuo for pointing that out XD

Edited, Tue Jan 4 16:59:32 2005 by Metakaiser

Edited, Tue Jan 4 17:02:32 2005 by Metakaiser

In my LS, there is a person that likes to think the same thing about the Blue Mage in the same way I think about the Time Mage. A very viable advanced class, helps balance out the system a little bit, however.... is too similiar to other jobs for them to add it to the game.

Just imagine how upset the WHM would be to find out they have to wait until 36 to get their first tele spells, when Time Mage gets it at 24? Or BLM can't warp until 17, yet Time Mages learn this spell at 12. (Obviously hypothetical numbers, but spells that are focused on Space/Time would appear sooner to them).

A TIM wouldn't be considered a healer, a nuker, or an enfeeber. So technically, it wouldn't be competing directly with any of them. a TIM would be closer in line with a BRD that anything. Buffs for the party, debuffs for the mob. Except you'd use MP instead of instruments.

Wouldn't stop me from tryin to lvl it up though. ^^

I must admit that Geomancer is not one of my favorite jobs either, but I'd find it hard to try and fit a geomancer into a party. If they drew their abilities directly from the land they were currently on, they'd be extremely limited to maybe a handful of different abilities that might not all be available at the same time. This might be remedied by allowing them to store a particular terrain's power and use that in battle, but again the power of these abilities may not lend well to party dynamics. On top of that, you'd have to define each particular pixel as a specific terrain, or else limit the various zones as being one type of terrain only.

As for Blue Mage, one who was well-trained could quite possibly be an asset in a party... especially if you had Goblin Rush, Bomb Toss, or even Fireball already at your disposal. I shudder to think of how hard it would be to get some of the abilities... how many times would you have to die before getting 1000 Needles or 10000 Needles? Still, a Blue Mage that could Warcry or the like could be quite useful.

Time Mage unfortunately would be pretty limited for party purposes... more of a support healer no doubt, like Summoner is often relegated to. Two spells neglected to be mentioned above that a Time Mage should have would be Slow and Haste, and possibly the -ga versions of both spells as well. Perhaps an experienced Time Mage might have other spells as well, such as translations of some of the spells from SaGa Frontier (imagine being able to stop time for a short period of time! Imagine trying to program that ability into the game! o.O)

Chibi!!!!

We've discussed this over the LS, but I thought I'd post some of my ideas here :)



Weapons. Staff A-, Club B, Dagger D, Throwing D

As far as armor, I'd say give them most of what Redmage can wear, sans the heavier armor. Cloth sets, Robe sets, etc... *maybe* harnesses. Allow them to equip some shields, but give them a 0 rating (so any shield skill they'd get would come from their subjob).

Spells... here's what I'm thinking. Have their spells dependant on the terrain/weather in terms of spell strength. If the element is present in the terrain or weather, then the spells of that element are cast at enhanced strength: i.e. an offensive spell would land as if the monster were weak to that element. Allow them to cast spells from elements not present in the environment, but have those spells considerably weaker, as if the mob were resisant to the element (which would make a Ninja's elemental debuffs more important: they'd let a Geo's weak spells hit at full [normal] strength).

Allow them to purchase alchemical "essences" or samples of specific elements. This would work like Ninja tools and allow them to cast elemental spells at full strength even when the element isn't present, but it would use up 1 "essence" per spell cast.

Also, the Elemental Spirits summonable by Summoners would count as the element being present, so Geo/Smn would be a very appealing combo.

Anyway, actual spells. These are right off the top of my head, so keep that in mind if you decide to critique them. Some of them are designed to change the local terrain or weather so as to make other spells more powerful. Remember the idea here is that casting a spell while it's corresponding element is available makes it powerful, were as casting it without that element makes it weaker. So while the third level spell, Wave, may look like the blm spell Water, keep in mind that it will be weaker most of the time, but stronger than Water if cast while standing in water (or during a rain storm, or after having cast Vapor to add the Water element to the local terrain, for instance). Also keep in mind that it would be possible to "double up" on terrains, like having a double weather effect. So if you cast Mire in an area that already has the Earth terrain, it would still enhance Earth based spells somewhat.

-Spike (level 1, Earth based): Deals earth elemental damage.

-Wave (level 3, Water based): Deals water elemental damage.

-Gust (level 5, Air based): Deals air elemental damage.

-Erupt (level 7, Earth based): Deals earth elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Fire element to the nearby terrain.

-Vita (level 8, Water based): Regenerates target's HP when Water element is present.

-Dust (level 9, Air based): Deals earth elemental damage gradually and blinds target when Air element is present.

-Flame (level 10, Fire based): Deals fire elemental damage.

-Mire (level 12, Water based): Deals water elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Earth element to the nearby terrain.

-Vapor (level 15, Air based): Deals air elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Water element to the nearby terrain.

-Scorch (level 17, Fire based): Deals fire elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Thunder element to the nearby terrain.

-Sink (level 19, Earth based): Deals water elemental damage gradually and adds weight effect when Earth element is present.

-Mirage (level 20, Fire based): Adds "Blink" effect (as per the Whm spell) to target when Fire element is present.

-Snap (level 21, Ice based): Deals ice elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Air element to the nearby terrain.

-Hail (level 23, Thunder based): Deals ice elemental damage gradually and paralyzes target when Thunder element is present.

-Blitz (level 25, Thunder based): Deals thunder elemental damage to target and temporarily adds the Ice element to the nearby terrain.

-Echo (level 26, Water based): Enhances target's resistance to Silence when Water element is present.

-Storm (level 27, Water based): Deals Thunder elemental damage gradually and stuns target when Water element is present.





Job Traits

Level 1: Surveyor
Displays elemental icons to the left of your status icons on the main screen, indicating what elements are currently present in the terrain (much like the icons that indicate the weather). This would usually be Water, Earth and Ice (although Ifrit's Cauldron would have Fire, for instance). Fire, Wind and Thunder would be more weather effects.

Level 5: Resist Element (Earth)
Adds a small ammount to your Earth elemental resistance.

Level 10: Crystal Finder
Increases the frequency and number of crystals dropped by defeated enemies when signet is active, and gives a chance that crystals will drop when signet is not active. Does not affect conquest points. Might affect the number of clusters dropped by elementals.

Level 15: Resist Element (Water)
Adds a small ammount to your Water elemental resistance.

Level 20: Resist Element (Wind)
Adds a small ammount to your Wind elemenal resistance.

Level 25: Elemental Killer
Gives the geomancer an edge when fighting Elementals.

Level 30: Resist Element (Fire)
Adds a small ammount to your Fire elemenal resistance.

Level 35: Resist Element (Ice)
Adds a small ammount to your Ice elemenal resistance.

Level 40: Resist Element (Thunder)
Adds a small ammount to your Thunder elemenal resistance.

Job Abilities

Level 1: Elemental Flux
Use: Self
Durate: 00:01:00
Recast time: 02:00:00
The Geo's 2hr would call upon all elements at once, allowing the Geo and his party members to cast all elemental spells at enhanced strength for 1 minute.

Level 5: Predict Weather
Use: Self
Duration: Instant
Recast time: 00:02:00
Using this active ability brings up an /echo or system-type message that gives you the weather report, a la the weather-link shell NPC's, but only for the current area/region.


I'll leave off for now, but let me know whatcha think. I know theres probably a lot of things that could probably be abused one way or another: again, this is just stuff the thread inspired me to write :)

Clown shoes. Big. Floppy. Clown shoes.

Seriously though Metakaiser and I were actually discussing the AF a while ago, and he had a lot of great ideas for the stats on them (Each peice would correspond to one of the elements and give a special benefit).

For instance, the body piece might grant an enhancement to Resist Element (Earth), while also reducing damage taken by a small amount (5-10%) on earthsday. The gloves might enhance Resist Element (Fire) and add an Enfire effect on firesday. The boots might add Resist Element (Air) and add the Wind element to any ground the Geo stands on on Windsday. If they added any stat bonuses, the bonuses would probably correspond to the element tied to the item (Str for Fire, and hence the gloves in the example above, perhaps Int for the hat if the hat enhanced Ice effects).

As for what it would look like...

I haven't seen a Geomancer in FFtactics, so I dont' know what they would look like. Anyone care to add a little insight?

WOAH holy crap Gailen! Thanks for the AWESOME contribution to the Geomancer idea!

You've introduced plenty of new ideas, including some I forgot to mention in my initial post, as well as a whole lot I hadn't even thought of O_O!

In that case, I've decided to put my brain to work and come up with some fresh new ideas for Geomancer that I think might be interesting.

Considering how Stoneskin can be used by RDMs and WHMs, perhaps Geomancer can learn it as well, and maybe even learn Stoneskin II at a higher level! In this fashion, perhaps even Aquaveil II, Blink II, etc. can be used by the Geomancer at higher levels.

Since WHMs get the "ra" versions of Bar spells, why not let the Geomancer get the "ra" versions of En-spells =;D. The best part about this, is that if theres a certain party member who doesn't want to be Enthundera'd, possibly because their weapon already adds additional elemental damage, then they can always just cancel the effect the same way I accidentally cancel my buffs all the time >.< lol.

For the Geomancer's AF, I thought of the following stats.

AF1: Weapon (LVL 41)
DMG: 38 Delay 355, STR +3
+10 to Light and Dark Elements, +5 to all other elements
+15 to Staff skill
Enhances effects of Light and Dark based spells and abilities.
An elemental staff whose elemental damage varies depending on what Vanadiel day it currently is. For example, the staff deals Dark damage on Darksday, and Fire damage on Firesday, and so on for every day.

AF2: Boots (LVL 52)
DEF: 10, AGI +2
+5 to Wind Element
Enhances effects of Wind-based spells and abilities.
Reduces timers for Wind-based Job Abilities by 20%.
Latent Effect: Increases movement speed during windy weather.
(Basically, whenever the Wind element is present near the compass on the lower left of the screen, the Geomancer would get a speed boost similar to that which the NIN gets on his AF boots when it becomes nighttime. Double Wind elements result in even faster movement.)
Also, Latent Effect: Evasion Bonus I ^^

AF3: Hat (LVL 60)
DEF: 22, INT +3
+5 to Ice Element
+10 to Elemental Magic skill
Enhances effects of Ice-based spells and abilities.
Reduces timers for Ice-based Job Abilities by 20%.
Latent Effect: Adds Ice Spikes effect during snowy weather.

AF4: Gloves (LVL 54)
DEF: 11, STR +2
+5 to Fire Element
+10 to Staff skill
Enhances effects of Fire-based spells and abilities.
Reduces timers for Fire-based Job Abilities by 15%.
Latent Effect: Increases Attack by +4% during hot weather.
Effect increases to 7% during double fire element.

AF5: Pants!!!! (Pants make the world go round =:R) (LVL 56)
DEF: 31, CHR +3
+5 to Water and Thunder Elements
Enhances effects of Water and Thunder-based spells and abilities.
Reduces timers for Water and Thunder-based Job Abilities by 10% each.
Latent Effect: Increases Critical Hit Rate during Thunderstorms.
Adds Aquaveil and Invisible effects during rainy weather. (If engaged in battle, Invisible effect dissapears and requires 2 in-game hours to come back into effect. The same applies if the effect is cancelled manually.)

AF6: Body (LVL 58)
DEF: 42, VIT +2
+5 to Stone Element
Enhances "Stoneskin" effect.
Enhances effects of Stone-based spells and abilities.
Reduces timers for Stone-based Job Abilities by 15%.
Latent Effect: During Sandstorms and rocky weather, Defense +5% and Physical Damage taken -8%. During double rocky weather, Defense +7% and Physical Damage taken -10%.

Note: Some of the latent effect ideas were based off of the various elemental staves at 51, which by the way, would be used to even further enhance the effects gained from the various weather conditions ^^.

Thats all I have for now unfortunately ; ;. Been thinking of this stuff for several hours already lol.

Hope to hear some more great ideas from everyone!

Also check out LegionaireJoe's Thread on the Pirate Advanced Job. He's come up with some fantastic ideas for it!

>>

Edited for my lousy spelling >.<

Edited, Thu Jan 6 12:40:29 2005 by Metakaiser

Chibi, you really screwed with me, talking about this damn job on the LS all the time. Anyways, I'll finally post my ideas for it here. While everyone's been talking about job abilities and job stats, I'll go ahead and post the story ideas I had, as we talked about on the LS.

Flag Quest: Go into Delkfutt's Tower on the first floor and head over to the west side, where the door is that leads to the basement. Standing there will be a NPC, who tells you that he was a Zilart scientist who was working on experiments with energy. He mentions that his experiments involved creating a ninth element, which was a combination of all the known elementals in Vana'diel. He mentions that he wants to begin working on these energy experiments again, but needs the Proto-Core from the Proto-Elemental that he and his fellow Geomancers created long ago. He goes on to say that it was so long ago, he has no idea where the Proto-Elemental could be now, but that it would be somewhere where there is great amounts of elemental energy. He then gives you a Tuning Fork, stating that it would draw the elemental out if it was near.

Now, where you go next depends on what day it is. The basis for the whole Geomacer storyline, in my mind at least, would be the elemental powers of certain dungeons through-out Vana'diel. Anyone with some knowledge of the Strange Apparatuses around Vana'diel would know that each of these dungeons has an element connected to it. The list is as follows:

Fire: Dangruf Wadi
Ice: Eldieme Necropolis
Wind: Ordelles Caves
Earth: Gusgen Mines
Lightning: Outer Horutoto Ruins
Water: Crawlers Nest
Dark: Maze of Shakhrami
Light: Garlaige Citadel

So, heading out to one of those dungeons on the assigned day, you would find a ??? not too far into the dungeon (since a number of these dungeons would get a lvl 30 killed. As for Eldieme, the ??? could be over in the section furthest west, and on the first landing down the stairs. Same with Garlaige and the Crawler's Nest. For something like Ordelle's you could have it be in that first open room, where the NPC is for Eco-Warrior). Now, you will need a party with you for this, since the Proto-Elemental will be an even match for a level 30, even though it will con as impossible to gauge. Go into whatever dungeon and click on the ???. This will cause your turning fork to fly from your hands, and stick itself right into the ground. Then the Proto-Elemental will pop. Kill it and it will drop the Proto-Core (Rare/Ex). Take the cluster back to the Zilart scientist and he will grant you the ability to be a Geomancer and give you a staff. The staff would be lvl 5, INT+1 MND+1 and all elements +2, and the staff would be Rare, GEO only.

Now, as for the AF quests, these would involve more investigation into the Strange Apparatuses in the dungeons I've mentioned before. Ideas I had for this would be that upon reaching level 40, you would return to the NPC in Delkfutt's. He will discuss with you how there is a strange relationship between Water, Fire and Ice. He goes on to say how Fire is over Ice on the chart of elements, but that by melting Ice, Fire brings about Water and its own undoing. He asks you to forgive him, saying that he's just thinking aloud. He then hands you some Proto-Crystals stating that the core was destroyed while he was working on it and shattered into eight pieces.

After giving you the 8 Proto-Crystals (Ex) he tells you that this relationship between Water, Fire and Ice is stuck in his mind and that he wants to look into it further. The scientist tells you that you are to go to the Strange Apparatuses in Crawlers Nest, Dangruf Wadi and The Eldieme Necropolis, trade a crystal to each machine and bring him back the results. With each machine, trading the crystal will cause the machine to reactivate and will produce a Proto-Water, Fire and Ice Cluster (Rare/Ex) from the respective dungeons. Return to Delkutt's, trade the scientist the clusters and retrive your AF1, a staff that is INT+2 MND+2 and all elements +5.

For your Artifact armor, you will need to return to the scientist, who tells you to further your research into the elements and trade the rest of the Proto-Crystals to the Strange Apparatuses. This time, there will be some NM fights involved and things of that nature to spice it up a bit. Also, with each passing quest will it will become clear that you are a pawn in a game that you truly know nothing about. For the GEO, there is to be no coffer hunts.

For your last AF quest, you must go to you home nation and talk to your Moogle. He states that a letter has arrived for you and gives you the letter (key item). In the letter, the scientist confesses that you were indeed his pawn and that by placing the Proto-Crystals in the Strange Apparatus you have reactivated the power stations within the dungeons and they have begun sapping the surronding areas of their energy and that energy was being sent to his lab in Delkfutt's. With this information, gather an alliance and head once again for Delkfutt's. Go into the basement and head to I-6, where you will find the door to his lab. Trade your AF weapon to the door and it will open and you will be granted a cutscene (your weapon will of course still be in your inventory. All GEOs on the quest must trigger the cutscene in order to get their AF3. Non-Geos need to just click on the door to enter the NM battle). After the cutscene, there will be an NM fight versus the scientist and two Proto-Elementals. Killing the scientist will cause the elementals to despawn, so focus on him, if you can. Killing him will grant you your AF3. After killing him, go to the Strange Aparatus in the room and turn it off. This will cause a power flux which will return the energy to the various dungeons and cause the Proto-Crystals to shatter.

Edited, Wed Jan 12 01:51:05 2005 by Xanoxonax

O_O wow Xano you REALLY did put alot of thought into that. when you were talkin on the LS i didnt think you put that much down lol. And Gailen you got some good stuff too you guys surprised me. too bad SE couldnt take these kick *** ideas and put them to good use. i'll see you all on the LS later