Game Watch Translation - Heavensward Role Highlights (EU Media Event 5/18-5/20)

[Slycer]

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EU Media Event Translations

Note: All translations are done by me (Slycer) - if anything sounds inaccurate or misleading, please send me a PM or reply on one of the threads and I can look into it. My focus with the translations is on readability (staying true to the content) vs. 100% robotic word-for-word accuracy which often reads as an incoherent mess.

If you're copying portions of the translation or copying it in full please link back to this original translation as I tend to edit them heavily as I re-read them several times and update them for accuracy based on other information sources.

Game Watch: Yoshida Interview
Dengeki: Yoshida Interview
Famitsu: Yoshida Interview

Game Watch: Field/Dungeon Area Trial Notes
Dengeki: Job Updates/Additions
Game Watch: Job Updates/Additions <- You are here
Famitsu: Job Updates/Additions, Compiled Info

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Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703030.html

Note: Healer info is in post 1, Tank info in post 2, DPS info in post 3.

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Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Job Report (Healer Edition)

During the European media tour, we got a chance to play quite a bit of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. In this article, we'll primarily be discussing Astrologian, which is attracting the attention of healers, as well as introduce the changes for White Mage and Scholars at level 60.

Note that the specific performance and parameters described here may be adjusted and vary in the future. This is intended to give you a rough idea of the main updates for the jobs. The description is based on our experience in May, so please note that effect or ability names may change after implementation.

Astrologian will be an active buffer and healer. Try your luck with the rolls.

Astrologian, introduced in Heavensward, was established as a job to perform "astromancy" in northern Sharlayan. By turning the star globe floating in their hand and drawing constellations with arcana, they can alter fate. At this event, we got to play as an Au Ra female Astrologian. At job level 60 we had item level 170, and had about 10,000 each of HP and MP despite being a healer. It seems that 170 is not the upper limit of item levels in Heavensward, either, so the performance of gear will be on another level altogether.

All of the job actions through level 60 were available. One main difference from the past is that since astrologian has no class, if you look under "Actions" where class actions are displayed, nothing is there - all of the actions are under "Job." It took me a while to scroll through everything since it was all in one place. By the way, the additional actions are taken from thaumaturge and conjurer [[Note: originally said arcanist and conjurer, a correction to the article was issued on 5/27 and updated here]].

In addition to the equipment that was provided, macros were also registered for the trial, but because I didn't even know what was attack and what was healing for astrologian, I went to register my own macros from the beginning.

The basis for curing will be "Benefic" [[I'm guessing at English, the JP is benefiku]]. Upon casting, the additional effect that occurs at a certain rate as a proc will be to cast the higher tier "Benefic II" [[again guessing, JP is Benefira]] with no casting time. So the basic pattern will be to cast Benefic until getting a Benefic II proc, then using the Benefic II proc as needed. In a pinch, there is an instant heal ability called "Dignity." This is something to use in an emergency when your target has low HP. Thanks to Dignity and the Benefic procs, I got the impression that you'd be able to help rapidly recover other party members.

That said, I started off in reverse here and probably should have started by explaining Astrologian's stance switching with Diurnal Sect and Nocturnal Sect. From a usage perspective, it can be thought of as the Sword and Shield Oaths on Paladin, but the effects of certain abilities vary depending on which is selected.

Specifically, Diurnal Sect grants a continuous recovery (regen) effect when using recovery actions while Nocturnal Sect puts up barriers to help absorb damage when using recovery actions. Choosing which to use may be choosing one's favorite, or in a full party it might help to select based on the partner healer, whether it's white mage or scholar.

AoE recovery actions are also available, with differing effects. The circle-generated type of AoE magic is called "Wheel of Fate" [[or Wheel of Fortune, or Ring of Fate...]]. This will also be augmented with either a sustained regen or a damage barrier depending on the stance. Although I'd like to present the disadvantages, I couldn't find many, although certainly more will become apparent after using it further. Astrologian doesn't have a native regenerative spell, so you'll have to take that into consideration, but I did get the impression that their overall healing ability was quite high.

Then there is the characteristic "Draw" action for Astrologians. With this, they can draw a card, after which it's possible to activate the effect by using the card. In addition to draw, there are other card actions as well. One action allows you to return a card and enhance the effect of the next card, known as "Royal Road," others allow you to return a card and immediately re-draw ("Shuffle") or save a card for later use ("Spread"). The actions may be used at almost any time. In other words, although it seems like luck, it can definitely be controlled to an extent by player skill.

The cards are each representations of gods in Eorzea, such as "Azeyma's Balance" and "Byregot's Tower," each with its own effects. These can be utilized in both solo and party play.

I tried it out several times, and the card drawing is very effective. It seems to be particularly effective in boss battles where high DPS is needed, so its proper utilization may have a major impact depending on the situation. As a side note, you'll need to take care not to forget to draw. It was likely because I wasn't familiar with the job in the time we had to try it out, but I noticed that I frequently forgot to draw because I was so focused on healing and drawing every 30 seconds is quite frequent. However, if you keep up the pace and use it every 30 seconds, you should expect a fairly high buffing effect.

For attacking, you can use Cleric Stance and other additional skills, but there aren't many strong individual actions available, so I got the impression that you cannot expect much DPS from the Astrologian himself. However, by supporting with cards, since the overall party's DPS can be raised, that can effectively be taken into account as additional DPS from the Astrologian.

Additionally, Astrologian is equipped with the other necessary functions a healer performs, such as a raise ability (with weakened effect), MP recovery, quickened spell casting ability, an ability to erase debuffs, etc., so it shouldn't be very difficult to play. Astrologian also has unique ability "Celestial Stasis" learned at level 60. The effects are still undergoing final adjustments, but it will be like a Stop Time magic with a cool and flashy effect. It's certainly one of the abilities you'll want to master as an Astrologian.


White mages finally receive new attacks besides Holy, and Scholars see a rise in their healing performance.

For white mage, the new abilities are easy to understand. The new attack spells Stone III, Aero III, and Assize will be added, along with a new instant recovery ability Tetragrammaton, and "Asylum," which will generate an area on the field where players recover HP. Let's go through them in order.

Stone III will be the strongest earth elemental magic attack, above Stone and Stone II. Aero III is a wind elemental magic attack above Aero and Aero II. Aero III is also an AoE, so it will be possible to do a good amount of DoT from a long distance. The new ability "Assize" not only does powerful damage in its AoE, but can also be used to recover the HP of nearby party members. Since it can also be used instantly, it's a very strong integrated offense and defense spell.

Up until now, white mage's only immediate recovery action was "Benediction," but their instant healing capabilities have been enhanced. The new ability Tetragrammaton is an ability which can be utilized more frequently to recover fewer HP. Asylum is another instant ability that can be used to generate a healing area where players will recover HP over time, which may help to change WHM's ability to fight.

Scholars are unique in their strong abilities to heal, buff, and attack. A new AoE healing ability, Indomitability, has been added as a higher version of Succor. Whereas with Succor the spell is cast by using MP, Indomitability is triggered as an instant ability with a higher recovery value, but Aetherflow will be required. Emergency Tactics is an instant ability which removes the barrier effect of Scholar healing spells and replaces it with additional recovery power, which should likely help out in an... emergency.

In addition, new attack magic dedicated to Scholars will be added. The power won't be so high, but it will be an important component of Scholar's offensive capability.

Deployment Tactics are another ability newly added for Scholars. This ability will extend the effects of Eye for an Eye and Galvanize from one party member to other party members around them, similar to a buffing version of Bane.

A new ability to assist with scholar's healing is called "Dissipation." In this test edition, it was determined that the effect was too strong so adjustments will continue to be carried out prior to release. I gave it a try anyway, and it was very helpful.


So, in addition to its basic recovery ability, by using stance changes and drawing cards, Astrologian can function as both an effective buffer and a healer. However, it's unlikely that white mages and scholars will be deprived of party spots just because of the addition of Astrologian. In addition to their extremely high recovery performance as a pure healer, white mages should also be able to put out significant DPS by using Cleric Stance along with some of their new spells. Finally, Scholar will have stronger AoE recovery and see improved performance as a buffer, so, while somewhat technical, with mastery it may have the highest potential.

[Slycer]

Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703328.html

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Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Job Report (Tank Edition)

The European wing of the media tour for the Heavensward expansion pack of Final Fantasy XIV was held by Square Enix in a castle Nantes, a provincial town in the French countryside. We traveled quite some distance to visit this venue, so I'd like to pass along this information about the early version of Heavensward that we were able to try out.

In the trial, we were able to try out the new actions for the three new jobs and the existing jobs up through level 60. We were able to check out the Coerthas Western Highlands and Abalathia Sea of Clouds areas with a flying mount, and enter two of the new dungeons. For this article, I'll focus on warrior, paladin, and especially dark knight based on my experiences. Separate articles are also being published for the other jobs and the new dungeons, so please check them all out to get all of the new details about Heavensward.

For the trial, I was able to play as an Au Ra male at level 60. All of the battle classes were at the level cap with item level 170 equipment available. It might be a bit into the summer vacation before players reach this state, so I feel like I got a bit of a taste of the future.

For eight person battles, we were able to test level 50 content, such as with the Gilgamesh battle, but naturally since the level is synced to 50 for participation, we could not try out the new abilities there. I got a chance to try out each of the new jobs (dark knight, astrologian, and machinist) at level 60, and I feel they are all strong jobs, but they are still totally functional at level 50 with the level sync state.

The actions learned between level 50 and 60 really build the strength and diversity of the jobs, though, which is also true for the existing jobs. In other words, as you learn the various new actions through level 60, each job seems to evolve significantly in different ways. I'll discuss this evolution here for each of the three tank jobs.

Additionally, please remember that this description is as of May, so the content of this article may become inaccurate after future adjustments, and names or effects of abilities may change after final implementation.


Get used to using MP to clash with your foes as Dark Knight.

Dark Knights are outlaws with a certain roguish appeal who were unwilling to fight for the clergy. Equipped with their greatswords, dark knights have quite an aggressive appearance which makes them look like a DPS. However, after actually using them, you'll find that they have all the skills needed to be convinced that they are capable tanks. One feature specific to dark knight is the ability to consume MP to use the power of darkness and using powerful buffs to attack and be attacked. The abundance of choices available to dark knight is the highest among the three tanks, but you'll need to be on your game to truly take advantage of that power, so it could be quite a tricky tank.

In battle as dark knight, the starting point for the various abilities is "Darkside." After using Darkside, it will become visible as a red and black aura emanating from the feet. Damage dealt will be slightly increased, but the dark knight will be placed into a state where he is constantly consuming MP. The consumption is not as high as the recovery rate outside of battle, so you will recover MP when not in combat, but in battle the recovery rate does not keep up so your MP will slowly be depleted.

Also, while using Darkside, the dark knight's MP is not affected by MP recovery actions from machinist turrets or bard songs. To recover MP during combat, you'll have to do it on your own by using actions that have associated MP recovery effects such as "Siphon Strike." So when only using Darkside, it is possible to slowly recover MP. It's not much different from managing your MP while spamming Flash on Paladin, but the difficulty goes up when you introduce some of the aspects of "Dark Arts."

With the Darkside aura active, you can use the buffing Dark Arts actions. There is nothing that raises attack power itself, for example, but they raise the power of individual actions or add special additional effects when the actions are used. For example, while using Dark Arts, the weaponskills Soul Eater and Abyssal Drain are enhanced with the additional effect of absorbing HP. The defensive buff "Dark Mind" receives an increased amount of damage reduction. So while with Paladin you can activate protective buffs by simply using them, with dark knight it's possible to combine offensive or defensive abilities with Dark Arts to achieve a stronger effect.

Dark Arts consumes a surprisingly high amount of MP. Since dark knights don't have the same flexibility with MP as casters, your MP will bottom out after just about three uses. Dark knights have an ability called "Unleashed" to gain enmity over an area, corresponding to "Overpower" from warriors, and "Unmade" to gain enmity on a single target, but these are both MP consuming magical attacks so it's essential that dark knights don't neglect their crucial role of drawing enemy hate. Without being accustomed to the job, I was frequently running out of MP and had situations where the enemy was running after the healer and I had to chase it down because I was too focused on using the additional effects from Dark Arts.

I play as a tank for my main job. I think I can say this safely for my fellow tanks as well that MP is not really something we are normally worried about. However, because the effect of Darkside ends when your MP reaches 0, I found that I was unable to execute actions and then I realized that I ran out of MP. If you're a tank planning to change to Dark Knight in Heavensward, it might make sense to first learn about MP management as white mage.

Of course, dark knight also has certain abilities which can be executed without Darkside or Dark Arts. They have basic combos to increase hostility akin to the Halone combo and the Butcher's Block combo, and ranged abilities to gain enmity. They can also use additional skills from paladins and warriors [[gladiator and marauder for additional actions]] such as Provoke and Foresight. The "Grit" stance for dark knight is similar to the Shield Oath stance on paladin which increases enmity gain and reduces damage taken by 20%. As a side note, existing tank actions like Shield Oath and Defiance are being adjusted with increased accuracy which is good news, especially for warrior, as tank classes had struggled to get enough accuracy.

Earlier I mentioned that dark knight is an active tank class. They have abilities to rush in where they jump into the air and dive down swinging their greatsword [["Plunge Cut"]]. There are also actions that allow you to aggressively attack with a placed DoT type skill. Skilled players should be able to use this tank job to generate strong DPS similar to warriors. Additionally, they also have a last stand type action similar to Holmgang on warrior which is a unique ability that fits well with dark knights, so please check that out at release [[this is "Last Stand" - gives Zombie status if you drop to 1 HP, need to be healed to full in the next 10 seconds or you die]].

We also got a chance to see the level three limit break for dark knight, which was a flashy move with clear demonic influence. This job might be irresistible for those who are into that kind of thing. If you're looking for a ferocious tank class, there's no doubt that dark knight is the one you'll want to play.


Additional abilities for warrior and paladin to provide more action as off tanks.

Warriors can use Defiance and accumulate stacks of Wrath which can be used for attack or defense. If we consider Defiance to be the Shield Oath of Warrior, the new action "Deliverance," specializing in offense, is like its Sword Oath. With Deliverance active, you'll accumulate a new buff called "Abandon" instead of Wrath.

Similar to how Wrath is saved, with Deliverance active, the familiar Butcher's Block and Brutal Swing combos will increase the stages I, II, III... storing up to V. With the stacks, you can activate dedicated single target and AoE attack skills. On the defensive front, a new action called "Raw Intuition" will be granted which allows a guaranteed parry from the front, but a guaranteed critical hit if attacked from a different direction.

Wrath and Abandon are kind of like Astral Fire and Umbral Ice on black mage in that you can only have one or the other. However, it's possible to switch the remaining stacks to the other kind while maintaining the same stage. You can gain stacks of Abandon with Deliverance active, then on a tank swap switch from attacking to tanking with Defiance and still have the accumulated stacks pooled. If you use Infuriate to gain five stacks of Wrath then activate Deliverance, you will still have Abandon at five stacks.

In the past if you were in Defiance for HP and you left it to become offtank, you could still accidentally take hate back by just using Storm's Eye and the regular combo for DPS, so with these new abilities its strength feels more closely aligned to it's namesake as "warrior."

Along with new recovery and support actions for Paladin as well as new long-awaited combo attacks that lead with Riot Blade, there will be no change to gaining enmity with Rage of Halone, but a new combo attack will be added. "Gore Blade" is a new skill that continues the Riot Blade combo with an additional effect of damage over time. "Royal Authority" will be a powerful physical attack combo action from Savage Blade. Although there won't be any changes to gaining enmity with the Halone combo, it's likely that there will be signficant changes so that you won't be as bored as an off tank.

As another feature, there will be new actions for recovery and support. Divine Veil is an action that you'll be able to use which gives nearby party members a barrier effect when you are cured. While players often gather around a healer for strong attacks like Gigaflare, with just single target Stoneskin there were situations where DPS would still die because they were focused on attacking. By taking advantage of this new ability, the survival rate of those players around the tank should increase. There will also be a new defense buff which guarantees a single blocked attack. Since it only blocks one attack, its utility will likely be limited, but it should prove helpful on powerful attacks from raid bosses, for example.

Like many other jobs, paladins will evolve but will not be significantly changed; however, many of the previous inconveniences and lacking areas will be addressed. Although it's not as tricky to play as warrior and dark knight, it's a simple job that provides a strong shield for a party. Since the effects of the new actions appear blessed or angelic, the opposing image that noble and divine paladins project when compared to dark knights is enhanced. Paladin is a tank that will be a strong protector of his fellow party members.

[Slycer]

Translation below is the article intro and the Machinist info. I'll update with the info on the other DPS jobs when I finish translation.

Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...27_703339.html

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Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Job Report (DPS Edition)

I'd like to deliver the last of our job reports from the Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward European media tour, the DPS edition. I'll be discussing the updates and general feel to the various attacking jobs, including the new Machinist job. There might be some difference in the amount of information for each job as I tried out as much as I could in battle as each of the different DPS jobs at level 60 but our playtime was limited.

The character used was a level 60 Au Ra male using item level 170 equipment, and the impressions below are based on fighting field monsters, participating in FATEs, and trying out the new dungeons.


Although it's in similar standing with Bard, Machinist feels completely different in action.

Machinist, the new DPS job, fights using a gun as its main weapon. As the name indicates, the job can also operate two turrets and use them for attacking or support. Additional skills come from the Archer and Lancer classes.

Properly utilizing attachments and "Reload" actions will be the main skills to learn for this job. When no attachments are active, it's possible to freely move around and use skills like a Bard. However, achieving a high DPS will require a more careful approach to fighting, utilizing attachments.

Upon using an attachment, the attack power of Machinist weapons is significantly increased. However, aside from some skills, attacks will be more like those from casters, where moving while charging will cancel the attack. The two ways to fight will be either attacking while moving around freely avoiding enemy mechanics like bard currently does, or finding a safer spot in the back near casters where you can focus more on powered up attacks.

There is also a powerful attack that can only be used while the attachment is mounted, so it will be important to know when you can and cannot move around. Additionally, there is also an ability which can reduce the cast time of one attack which allows the high damage to be maintained, so there are definitely ways to improve.

Another element to increase the DPS is "Reload." This is the action of loading special ammunition into the gun and there are two types - "Reload" which loads five shots, and "Quick Reload" which reloads one shot if needed quickly. Although they're referred to as special ammunition, they can be thought of as a stacked buff. When you load five special ammo, you'll have a buff called Ammunition V. Using certain weaponskills in the presence of this buff will yield higher damage and an increased frequency of additional effect procs.

The weaponskills can be used in a combo when the additional effect procs. The normal rotation will be like a basic combo of three abilities which can be interwoven with other techniques that use special ammo. To guarantee connection of the combo, you'll need at least two bullets, but you may want more since the other abilities also consume ammunition. Since it takes a decent amount of time to reload, rather than always using the special ammunition, it might be better to think of it as an attack buff to use when you need to deal high DPS for a short time.

Another available ability with an additional Stun effect is called Suppressive Fire. There are other abilities with effects like Bind and Heavy, as well as an ability like "Weapon Break" reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics which reduces physical damage dealt.

For attack skills, there's one called Spread Shot which attacks enemies in a cone shaped area, and other cool abilities like setting bombs to accumulate damage on an opponent or throwing a grenade at your opponent.

Another major feature of the Machinist is the Turret. There are two kinds of turrets. The Autoturret Rook has an elongated shape and can fire against a single enemy. Autoturret Bishop has a round shape and can perform attacks to enemies in an AoE around itself. Unlike Summoner Egis which are intended to persist with the Summoner, turrets are stationary and so they must be reinstalled from time to time. They have no endurance so they can't be used to tank, but they are quite dependable as a supporting attacker.

Since you can only have one at a time, the available ability called "Turret Recovery" allows you to force a turret to leave the battle.

The turrets also have further support effects. By using a specific action, the turret's mode can be changed to recover TP while consuming MP. The effect range is about the same as that of a Bard song. Bards have also seen upgrades so there should be no worry that Machinists will unseat them completely, but they will doubtless be an attractive option for long range physical attacks.


New actions will also change the fighting style for the six existing DPS jobs!

So, moving on to the six existing DPS jobs.

Dragoon

Let's start with dragoon, since it's the job that symbolizes Heavensward. Most of the change to dragoon is contained within the new "Blood of the Dragon" action. Upon using this ability, action strength is increased for a short time. With the effect active, you can use two new abilities to lengthen the Full Thrust and Chaos Thrust combos. More importantly, the effect duration of Blood of the Dragon can be prolonged in this manner.

The strongest of the abilities that can be used with Blood of the Dragon active is Geirskogul, which is a frontal AoE attack learned at level 60. This attack has the additional effect of shortening the duration of Blood of the Dragon. Since Blood of the Dragon does not have a very long initial duration, if you use Geirskogul just after activating it, the effect would end immediately after. However, you can first prolong the duration with the previously mentioned actions until you have enough remaining duration so that it does not immediately end.

For dragoons fighting at level 60, by properly using Blood of the Dragon and timing other buffs to be used when the effect ends, DPS should be enhanced, so it will be like two phases to the DPS.

After using the Blood of the Dragon, if you don't do anything to extend its duration, it will end quite quickly. You can do things like first accumulate the Full Thrust or Chaos Thrust combos to a certain point before using Blood of the Dragon, so taking all of these different things into consideration should noticeably change the course of battle.


Monk

A new ability called "Chakra" has been added to Monk. A red aura effect will display every time you use the ability and it will stack up to five. Chakra itself has no effect on battle, but when stored up, special attack actions will become available.

Of primary importance to monk when fighting enemies is maintaining Greased Lightning which can be difficult to do when an enemy goes invulnerable, jumps away from the battlefield, or prepares a powerful attack. In such cases, you can make a quick decision to begin accumulating Chakra to perform a powerful technique when the enemy returns.

With these, it's possible to effectively maintain DPS through periods of battle where you're waiting to attack.

A new AoE attack technique will issue an AoE attack as a blue beam from above an enemy, and a powerful attack called Tornado Kick will require Greased Lightning III, which will be consumed upon use.

With these new skills the attack style won't drastically change, but the areas of battle where monk was lacking will be addressed. Although battles won't change quite as much for monk as with other DPS, it seems to be evolving in the direction of becoming more technical.


Ninja

Ninja was a job that was added later on, and at first glance it looks like there is no significant change to the basics of their battle capabilities. On the attack side of things, there will be a new third part of the combo from Spinning Edge and Gust Slash. The weapon skill that serves as the third stage of the new combo will also have a combo additional effect to prolong the effect duration of Huton. Previously, ninjutsu would often be used to recast Huton, so because this makes room for other ninjutsu, there could be a major change with the ability to use more than one ninjutsu.

You'll have to look over your rotation completely since you'll also need to continue to maintain the two DoTs and skills which weaken enemies. Additionally, there will also be a new weaponskill which hits three times and an action which increases the damage of weaponskills for its duration, so it should become possible to put out some impressive DPS. [[corrected 5/29]]

Two of the new actions will be support abilities. One ability will allow the ninja to pass on the majority of their accumulated enmity to a party member. It was a common sight to have Shukuchi pull hate instead of a tank at the start of a fight, so this might be something you can utilize instead of intentionally stopping DPS to allow the tank to get control of enmity. There will be another action which has the effect of reducing the target's enmity. It can be used on other party members, so it might be quite useful.

With the new three stage combo and the other added support functions, it seems like Ninja will be a bit more tricky to play as a DPS and will also need to more consciously cooperate with its party to have the greatest impact.


Bard

The future for bards may have been in question with the implementation of machinist, but it will see significant growth with new skills through level 60. Similar to the machinist attachment mechanic, Wanderer's Minuet is a new song which will increase the bard's attack strength but require actions to charge up. When using conventional weapon skills like Straight Shot, the actions will charge instead of immediately activating to deal additional damage. As with machinist, two choices will arise: the current situation with higher mobility, or a more powerful assault from a fixed location.

There will also be two new actions that can only be used during Wanderer's Minuet. From there, some of the new abilities reminded me a bit of Summoner. There are two types of bard DoT called Venombite and Windbite, and the fighting style was to always maintain the two. However, by using one of the new actions [["Iron Jaw"]], both of the DoTs can be refreshed at the same time. Furthermore, after applying the DoTs, the new Sidewinder ability will also give additional damage to the DoT effects. By adapting and using these techniques effectively, you'll be able to put out much higher DPS than before.

Attacking while moving around has been part of the identity of bard, so although you might be a bit worried about needing to stop for casting time, when you see the damage improvement you'll know that it's worth it. One of the other new actions for bard is Keeper's Paeon [[guessing based on JP]] which is an additional effect that doesn't conflict with other songs and applies to target party members and pets.


Black Mage

For black mage, a new tier of magic has been added with Fire IV and Blizzard IV. However, these spells aren't simply new versions of Fire III and Blizzard III. Up until now, the system for black mage was to stick with casting fire spells under Astral Fire until running out of MP, then using Blizzard spells to accumulate Umbral Ice to refill MP. At level 60, a new element to maintain called Enochian will become available.

Enochian is a buff that raises damage during its effect duration but is also a prequisite for casting Fire IV and Blizzard IV. These new spells will be the spells you cast first. Blizzard IV will increase teh duration of Enochian, but the amount by which the duration increases will reduce with each cast.

Additionally, because Fire IV and Blizzard IV do not update Astral Fire and Umbral Ice, you will still need to use the current Fire III and Blizzard III to maintain them. Maintaining this balance between Astral Fire and Umbral Ice along with Enochian will be crucial to the strength of black mages.

A new ability which triggers a haste effect for the caster is known as Ley Lines. This is a ground generated ability which projects a circle just above the ground upon utilization. Once the circle is generated, its position is fixed, and both the buff effect and the ground circle will disappear if the cast exits the range. It's possible to move within the effect area, but because of its size it will not be possible to avoid all enemy AoEs.

I didn't have an opportunity to try out black mage this time, but I did hear about some numbers which were surprising, so it is likely to still reign as one of the best damage dealers if you can take advantage of all of these elements.


Summoner

After playing with each of the jobs, summoner felt to be the most challenging. Instead of receiving a new Egi, summoners are receiving a new element where they can harbor the power of Bahamut, called Bahamut Aether.

Within this, there is a procedure involved before you can release the power of Bahamut. First, when you utilize actions which consume a stack of Aetherflow from the pool, you'll receive the Bahamut Aether buff for 30 seconds. Upon earning Bahamut Aether, new abilities known as Dreadwyrm Trance become available. With this, you can use the power of Bahamut to increase your own attack power.

Of course, this is all intertwined with existing elements like the normal DoT management, but to ease this, Tri-disaster will be reborn as a spell worthy of its name learned at level 56 which applies Bio, Bio II, and Miasma at the same time. The original technique has been renamed as Tri-bind.

You won't learn Deathflare and Dreadwyrm Trance until you're close to the level cap. There have also been various adjustments to existing summoner actions, so it will feel quite different when it reaches level 60, similar to the change in the black mage rotation. We got the impression that summoner would be a powerful job, but complex to operate.

[Slycer]

Either I horrifically mistranslated and/or misinterpreted or Celestial Stasis is a level 60 ability for Astrologian - the article says nothing about it being a LB3.

[Voyage1970]

Chances are they just reused the name for the level 60 ability since the LB3 can't have a different effect than other healing LB3. Would be weird to use Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stop for healing purposes so they'll just rename it to something else.

[orinthia]

"Dissipation."

Fuck, got proto-ultima flashbacks. /p terrored, buffs plz

[Sho]

Chances are they just reused the name for the level 60 ability since the LB3 can't have a different effect than other healing LB3. Would be weird to use Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stop for healing purposes so they'll just rename it to something else.

This right here may have happened. They specifically mentioned that it would have been a LB3 a while ago. However, they can always repurpose the ability for something else.

I think what they really wanted to do above all is evoke the "flashiness" of the ability from FFT. They can't achieve this if it does some silly heal instead:



Has to affect the enemies. However, I can't see the effects of stop lasting much longer than say Tri-Disaster or Hyoton, and likely share the same mob types that resist bind type effects.

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Added luls ensue when you realize how many Celestial Stasis FFT /p macros will be made because of this video.

[The47thSen]

Either I horrifically mistranslated and/or misinterpreted or Celestial Stasis is a level 60 ability for Astrologian - the article says nothing about it being a LB3.

星天対抗 is the name of the level 60 skill you get, which is basically the Don't Act spells in FF12.
星天停止 (galaxy stop or wahtever) is the LB3.

Also, I ithink it was mentioned in maybe the dengeki or famitsu article scholar's fairy consuming ability gives a 50% boost to healing abilities. It's overpowered so they're tweaking it somemore before release.

[Slycer]

Added in the tank information. Working on DPS information, please look forward to it.

Also saw some of the replies on reddit about the incorrect additional action classes for Astrologian - I fixed it. As some of the posters there mentioned, the article as written at first stated arcanist and conjurer, a correction was edited in later stating the correct thaumaturge and conjurer classes for additional actions.

In general, I used the English names wherever they were known, otherwise I used the English equivalent of the Japanese names and noted as such.

[Lucavi]

I keep seeing these naming differences from Warrior. I'm assuming Defiance and Deliverance are English translations of Defender and Destroyer stances in Japan.

[Seravi Edalborez]

I keep seeing these naming differences from Warrior. I'm assuming Defiance and Deliverance are English translations of Defender and Destroyer stances in Japan.

They are. (Also Warcry is Infuriate)

DRK sounds kind of worrying on paper if MP management is that much of a chore.

[Slycer]

I keep seeing these naming differences from Warrior. I'm assuming Defiance and Deliverance are English translations of Defender and Destroyer stances in Japan.

Yes, it was kind of a pain in the ass to translate because I had no idea what they were so I was trying to piece things together with the known English names. What you said is right. "Defender" and "Destroyer" sound kind of cool in their opposition to each other, I'm not really a fan of the English "Defiance" and "Deliverance." The especially weird part is that they use romaji for those ability names in Japanese, which would usually indicate a direct correspondence in English.

Edit: Just noticed I still had some "Defenders" in there and changed them to Defiance.

[Voyage1970]

DRK sounds kind of worrying on paper if MP management is that much of a chore.

From what the article mentioned it seems MP management was only an issue because he was spamming "Dark Arts" for the buffed actions. The constant MP drain from Darkside is easily managed with Syphon Strike. I think of it as a way to have effectively 2 separate cooldowns from one ability. Compare it to Sentinel and Rampart, Defensive Action A reduces damage taken by 20% on a 90s cooldown but with Dark Arts active it reduces damage taken by 40%. But because Dark Arts drains a shitload of MP you can only really utilize the buffed Defensive Action every 180s due to MP recovery.

Those are just numbers I pulled out of my ass but that's how I see it working. You only use Dark Arts for those emergency situations while tanking (and for burst DPS while off tanking) and any other time you use the base ability.

The especially weird part is that they use romaji for those ability names in Japanese, which would usually indicate a direct correspondence in English.

The same is true for pretty much all BLM spells as well. The localization team even responded to the change with basically "Fire, Fira, Firaga would confuse people into not understanding that they do different things, such as Fire 2 being AoE" ignoring the fact that Japan seems to have no trouble with the naming convention and calling it Fire 1, Fire 2 isn't all that much better.

[LinktheDeme]

Wasn't there mention of a vulnerability debuff on the boss for dk? I was wondering if that was clarified as a slashing debuff or a flat vuln debuff

[solracht]

"weakness" debuff is what someone else said... whatever that means

Listed here too: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...view?sle=true#

[Niiro]

I assume it's just a DRK version of Storm's Path.

I was betting on DRK lifting INT down from MNK but they may have just given them something else.

[Slycer]

Added the machinist info in post #3, I'll update again later with the rest of the DPS info. Unless I'm misinterpreting, it sounds like the two turrets aren't exclusive to support or attack - they can both be switched into a support mode but they have a different type of attack (single target vs AoE around the turret).

[Ramset]

Anyone else "worried" that nobody has any details on what Deliverance stance actually provides for warrior? Increased attack power, STR bonus, Sword Oath clone, %increase in damage dealt? Do Abandon stacks also crane critical hit chance?

The media folks just mention its offensive stance for warrior, but nobody has said what it actually does. If it just gives you extra HP like Defiance but no damage reduction...it's not that great of an enhancement. If that's the case I think Sword Oath will own even harder now considering PLD is getting two know high damage combos.

[Rocl]

So the type of turret doesn't determine the buff in support mode like previously thought? ie bishop restores MP and rook restores TP

[Seravi Edalborez]

Another major feature of the Machinist is the Turret. There are two kinds of turrets. The Autoturret Rook has an elongated shape and can fire against a single enemy. Autoturret Bishop has a round shape and can perform attacks to enemies in an AoE around itself. Unlike Summoner Egis which are intended to persist with the Summoner, turrets are stationary and so they must be reinstalled from time to time. They have no endurance so they can't be used to tank, but they are quite dependable as a supporting attacker.

Since you can only have one at a time, the available ability called "Turret Recovery" allows you to force a turret to leave the battle.

The turrets also have further support effects. By using a specific action, the turret's mode can be changed to recover TP while consuming MP. The effect range is about the same as that of a Bard song. Bards have also seen upgrades so there should be no worry that Machinists will unseat them completely, but they will doubtless be an attractive option for long range physical attacks.

Underlined part is kind of dumb. I hope that you can just auto-desummon the previous turret by just placing a new turret, and it doesn't actually force you to unsummon then summon.