Comments from the Devs

[Vuitton]

Thaumaturges worship the trader god Nald'thal, a singular manifestation of the twins Nald & Thal. They control life and death, respectively.

The current Thaumaturges' Guild, the Arrzaneth Ossuary, is the temple built for Thal, the one representing death. There exists an entirely separate (and currently unused) temple in Ul'dah for Thal, the Milvaneth Sacrarium. They could use this to easily implement a more support/curing-based specialization for Thaumaturge.

It's also possible that they prematurely toned down the curing capabilities of the base Thaumaturge's skill set so one would eventually need to specialize as a White Mage to be good at it again.

Makes sense. A reason why Conjurers got Curaga and the extra Raise in 1.18 might be because they already had those base spells. They haven't reassigned abilities yet, so they may have gotten them just because of that reason with the intent being they'll be moving them around at a later date.

[Thiefami]

Going too much off backstory that may be changed for necessary game mechanic improvements. Con was given cure spells so thm would have to specialize in healing?lol. You people are in denial

[Alkar]

For the same reason that they originally increased the healing potency of Sacrifice, back when Cure completely outclassed it: they want more than one class/job available as healers.

You may see the THM healing nerf as an indication that CON is the preferred healer. I see it as a necessary step to introduce a specialized healing class; it would have taken some crazily overpowered healing to out-heal pre-nerf THM, so the next best solution is to nerf THM down, buff CON to usability, then introduce WHM as the specialized healer. Then you don't have all the legions of CONs complaining about being useless as healers, as the base expectation is (and always has been) for WHM to be the preferred healing job.

In that case how come they didn't remove nukes from Conjurer so that you have an incentive if you want to be a BLM?
And why is it bad if a class without BLM spells gets that job but it's super fine if they become WHM despite lacking the basic spells?
The truth is that Conjurers should become both BLM and WHM with THM getting something else. SE doesn't want to do this apparently.
WHM is meant to be the healer of the game. Giving away its spells to another class so they can be competent in a place where they're supposed to be using another job doesn't make much sense to me.
They said jobs are meant to be used in raids and any content that requires 8 people or so. If Conjurers are getting BLM why would they need cures? Equipping BLM would remove those spells most likely making this change quite pointless.
I also doubt they want to have THMs play in a way til level 30 (or whatever level these jobs will be at) and then become a dedicated healer.

[sruon]

Going too much off backstory that may be changed for necessary game mechanic improvements. Con was given cure spells so thm would have to specialize in healing?lol. You people are in denial

Pretty much this.

[miokomioko]

Going too much off backstory that may be changed for necessary game mechanic improvements. Con was given cure spells so thm would have to specialize in healing?lol. You people are in denial

Despite what you may think, backstory/lore are probably some of the few things that won't be inexplicably changed/rewritten/scrapped to address mechanical game-balance issues. Reallocation and adjustments of abilities/spells/actions that aren't even acknowledged in the game whatsoever makes a lot more sense from all angles of game development (on an already released RPG).

Nothing in the game actually says Conjurers were meant to focus on healing their parties, it's just assumed by what adjustments they have made to spells since. At most, the official site just says they vary between offensive and defensive magic. Similarly, it says Thaumaturge focuses on enfeebling enemies and supporting allies.

[solracht]

It's also possible that they prematurely toned down the curing capabilities of the base Thaumaturge's skill set so one would eventually need to specialize as a White Mage to be good at it again.

Ding ding ding ding. I think we have a winner.

Silly speculation:

By forcing THMs to equip WHM to heal, we may end up with the following options:

Job-less THM, who can DD in easier events.
WHM-THM, who can heal in harder events.

Job-less CON, who can heal in easier events.
BLM-CON, who can DD in harder events.

I imagine eventually they'll add more jobs per class to cover multiple roles, but for now, this is probably the easiest way to let classes take care of multiple roles.

It's probably why BRD could end up on ARC too: BRD-ARC can support, and job-less ARC can DD.

[Alkar]

Ding ding ding ding. I think we have a winner.

Silly speculation:

By forcing THMs to equip WHM to heal, we may end up with the following options:

Job-less THM, who can DD in easier events.
WHM-THM, who can heal in harder events.

Job-less CON, who can heal in easier events.
BLM-CON, who can DD in harder events.

I imagine eventually they'll add more jobs per class to cover multiple roles, but for now, this is probably the easiest way to let classes take care of multiple roles.

It's probably why BRD could end up on ARC too: BRD-ARC can support, and job-less ARC can DD.

So you guys want your healers to have no training whatsoever. Gotcha.

[miokomioko]

The only thing that doesn't sit right with me regarding that concept is that people generally play a specific class because they want to be a "DD" or a "healer" and said job allocation would turn classes into the opposite playstyle as a player might want/expect.

[plue]

The only thing that doesn't sit right with me regarding that concept is that people generally play a specific class because they want to be a "DD" or a "healer" and said job allocation would turn classes into the opposite playstyle as a player might want/expect.

I agree, and I don't know why they would alter roles of set classes when it's clear that people chose them to play the said roles.

[Waraji]

So what? Go back 2 months and everyone was boasting how badass THM was for Healing and how it was so much more overpowered than CON, and it was alllll Good. Come 1.18, CON gets boosted in healing and those same people are boasting how badass CON now is in Healing and how it was now much more overpowered than THM, adn it was alllll Good.

So tell me, who gives a shit now if they change one class or the other with ability redistribution. This has now come to my realization that a Large majority of the people claiming these changes are going to be the worst thing ever, are the same people who claim they will not Log into the game, and haven't since fucking December 2010.

[Vuitton]

Not mentioning the fact that all of the spells and abilities currently assigned are about to be redistributed to other classes. We're all playing characters without identities at the moment. THM was awesome at healing and now CON is. After the distribution they might both suck at it, or both be great at it, who the fuck knows.

[Elcura]

So you guys want your healers to have no training whatsoever. Gotcha.

Training? Sounds like this is a bigger deal to you than it actually is.

[solracht]

The only thing that doesn't sit right with me regarding that concept is that people generally play a specific class because they want to be a "DD" or a "healer" and said job allocation would turn classes into the opposite playstyle as a player might want/expect.

Some players started as CONs because they had the WHM spells, some players started as CON because they had the BLM spells. I'm sure you can find the same thing for THM. Someone is going to get pissed no matter what with the entire "1 class, 1 job" thing for now. 2 jobs would've been best, but it's obviously not going to happen.

So you guys want your healers to have no training whatsoever. Gotcha.

Have you not played an MMORPG since 2005 or something? (XIV obviously doesn't count).

[Gadritan]

It'd be great if SE made THM->Dark Knight and CNJ->Samurai just to troll you herps out there trying to find logic in their job selections.

[Spider-Dan]

In that case how come they didn't remove nukes from Conjurer so that you have an incentive if you want to be a BLM?

Because CON nuking is so feeble that it would be trivial for BLM to put them under the table?

THM healing was already incredibly godlike. CON nuking is far from it.

And why is it bad if a class without BLM spells gets that job but it's super fine if they become WHM despite lacking the basic spells?

Yes, because there's no way that they would add spells to a job that didn't have those spells before. Oh, wait, this isn't the Paladin thread.

No matter how you slice it, since there's only one job per class (in this update), CON will have to miss out on either WHM or BLM. Given that the BLM armor has been showcased, it seems likely that BLM will be released. So, given that:

1) CON nuking is not viable as a legitimate DD strategy, and
2) THM healing is incredibly inferior post-update

...giving BLM to CON and [a healing job] to THM kills two birds with one stone. Furthermore, while that healing job could be RDM, DNC, etc., if it's WHM then the issue of healer-priority-perception is also resolved.

Now, you tell me: what does giving BLM to THM solve? THM already has a damage role in endgame-type fights. With your option (CON->WHM, THM->BLM) CON and THM would essentially become useless junior-grade classes. With my option (CON->BLM, THM->WHM), each class gets more options for lower-level content and a (mostly opposing) specialist role for high-level content. You get both specialization and flexibility. Sounds like a win-win.

The truth is that Conjurers should become both BLM and WHM with THM getting something else. SE doesn't want to do this apparently.

So if you acknowledge that SE isn't going to do that, WTF are you arguing, exactly?

[Gadritan]

Perfect example.

[Waraji]

Everything else... So if you acknowledge that SE isn't going to do that, WTF are you arguing, exactly?

http://www.ponychan.net/chan/arch/src/130766029092.gif

[Sephiroth]

So, given that:

1) CON nuking is not viable as a legitimate DD strategy

Are you serious?

CON nuking is the best DD in the game right now. Have you not watched those Darkhold speed run videos with like 6 CONs? Can't go wrong with 1000 damage magic bursts that don't require TP.

[Hiroishime]

I believe most are using scourge/banish not CON's nukes.

[Amiricle]

Theres another possibility in that the Con and Thm weapon classes will both be able to choose either of the Whm or Blm job classes. So we will have Whm/Con's & Whm/Thm's as well as Blm/Con's and Blm/Thm's come that patch.