New JP Interview re: Expansion

[LD]

Mitigation is lowering the damage you receive while still taking direct damage, and avoidance is avoiding getting hit for as long as possible. Dread Spikes and those debuffs fit into those categories, respectively. A Stoneskin tank is not taking HP damage, the shield is taking damage.

Geomancer was always a debuffer though, and buffing itself with earth isn't outside the realm of possibility. I find it a little odd that you'd say 'GEO isn't a buffer', as if giving it a super-powered Stoneskin isn't possible, and then say we should imagine an entirely new game mechanic.

I don't see the point of exploring the unknown when it's highly unlikely SE will suddenly get innovative on us. BLU, COR, & PUP were only new in the way they operated, not in what they did. They are all just DD/Hybrid jobs (BLU, arguably, having the most range in that respect.) The game has limits and SE will work within them, I don't believe they'll do anything so new that there isn't already a similar mechanic within the game. Hell, Blink existed before Utsusemi, and that was seen as a revolution.. The only thing that would be truly new would be an MP-less nuker, and even that isn't so out there, since it's still dealing long-range, non-physical damage (Chi Blast.)

[Khamsin]

Mitigation is lowering the damage you receive while still taking direct damage, and avoidance is avoiding getting hit for as long as possible. Dread Spikes and those debuffs fit into those categories, respectively. A Stoneskin tank is not taking HP damage, the shield is taking damage.

Geomancer was always a debuffer though, and buffing itself with earth isn't outside the realm of possibility. I find it a little odd that you'd say 'GEO isn't a buffer', as if giving it a super-powered Stoneskin isn't possible, and then say we should imagine an entirely new game mechanic.

I don't see the point of exploring the unknown when it's highly unlikely SE will suddenly get innovative on us. BLU, COR, & PUP were only new in the way they operated, not in what they did. They are all just DD/Hybrid jobs (BLU, arguably, having the most range in that respect.) The game has limits and SE will work within them, I don't believe they'll do anything so new that there isn't already a similar mechanic within the game. Hell, Blink existed before Utsusemi, and that was seen as a revolution.. The only thing that would be truly new would be an MP-less nuker, and even that isn't so out there, since it's still dealing long-range, non-physical damage (Chi Blast.)

Geomancer never was a debuffer, either. They were offensive spellcasters, like BLM.

And the reason I say a new tank would likely introduce a completely new way to mitigate damage is because the last time they added a tank job (NIN), they did that. Nobody would have imagined a tank simply doding every hit with shadows before NIN and utsusemi was introduced. If people had been asked to come up with tank ideas back then, they'd probably be limited to thinking about reducing damage like a PLD does. Now, since we're used to PLD and NIN, all we're thinking about is damage reduction and avoidance like PLD and NIN do. There's a good chance that the next tank job will do it completely differently, and it won't fit into the category of damage reduction or avoidance.

[Sagacious Sundi]

Geomancer never was a debuffer, either. They were offensive spellcasters, like BLM.

And a lame one at that.

There's also another type of tanking that probably wouldn't work too well: easily recovering. Self-healing JAs with low recast, drain-type JAs with low recast, having a JT or something that enhances amount of health you recover from spells/items/abilities, etc.

[BRP]

Geomancer never was a debuffer, either. They were offensive spellcasters, like BLM.

It honestly hardly matters what jobs were like in previous games. BRDs were pure buffers and never debuffers either.

[Sagacious Sundi]

Didn't they just scare enemies or something lame in FF3. I also remember them having debuffs in FF5 (I swear I remember some thing effective against undead or something that you could use against X-Death's 3 little piggies, but Odin was better anyway). In FFT (like Khamsin said, not much derived from here that wasn't in a previous game) bards were pure buffers (and all-male and you need like every/most mage job iirc) and dancers were pure debuffers (and all-female and you needed most melee jobs or something).

EDIT: Talking about bards in this post.

[Qbertian]

Man, if only SE would just give BST a jug pet that you could buff and ramp up its enmity generation to a tanking level... Or, you know... just give them something. I mean, anything really. Anything. At all.

[Khamsin]

Geomancer never was a debuffer, either. They were offensive spellcasters, like BLM.

It honestly hardly matters what jobs were like in previous games. BRDs were pure buffers and never debuffers either.

They were debuffers, too. They had songs that either ridiculously buffed the entire party or debuffed all the enemies. The only reason they were never worth it was because it took all their time, and they couldn't do two things at once.

It does matter to an extent how the canon FF series job was portrayed because, so far, they've kept to it pretty well, in spirit. Many jobs, while not exactly the same in FFXI, are pretty damn close, just modified for an MMORPG. e.g. Ranger's X-Fight > Barrage, Red Mage's X-Magic > Fast Cast/Chainspell, Ninja's Image ability > Utsusemi, Samurai's SwordCatch > Third Eye/A+ Parry, Thief's Steal and Flee > Steal and Flee, etc. Blue Mage even kept fairly consistent, just with a new way to access spells and adjusted for the FFXI world, but overall the same kind of abilities as the traditional Blue Mage.

The types of adjustments I see being made for Geomancer would be adjusting for FFXI's elemental system (which changes a bit with each FF), but nothing so drastic as becoming a debuffer or buffer when they, traditionally, were unable to cast such spells before. Hell, even in FF6, Mog (sort of a Dancer/Geomancer hybrid) could only heal the party, at best. Everything else was simply damage. Although I'm not sure Mog would really be a good example of FF canon Dancer or Geomancer, really.

EDIT: In response to the Tactics reference, I don't consider Tactics part of FF canon with respect to the main series (of which FFXI is a part). This is backed by the fact that, until FFXII, there's been little to no mixing between the Tactics series and the FF main series. Even in FFXII, they borrowed from the Tactics world concept, and made the traditional avatars airships and made former bosses and Tactics totema into the new avatars, but beyond that they didn't really use much in the way of Tactics job or game mechanics and such.

Also, in response to the BST pet tank... give SMN's a dispoable Alexander tank with ballista-provoke (forced target switching, rather than real enmity)!

[Kyreth]

I want AoE enfeebles tbh
Dynamis would be so much easier, Graviga, Paralyga, Slowga each set of mobs rather doing each one individually as it's pulled.

Rocl demands more spells for the lazy mage.

RDM Beastmen doing Graviga, Paralyga, Slowga on you as they're pulled. Which being -ga's aren't absorbed by shadows or anything.

Yeah, that's be aces in Dynamis, those damn BST pets are annoying enough as it is without help.

Why is RDM mobs cast Bio3 but they dont cast Slow2 Paralyze2 and the like?

I mean what, they couldn't be meritted spells like that?

Dynamis has it's own unique pain-in-the-ass mobs as it is. I think if we got -ga versions of debuffs as a RDM spell, it'd end up plugged in somewhere on the regular spell lists.

Alternatively, give us a debuff version of BLU's Diffusion. Turns single target debuff into AoE debuff. Which would work nicely.

[Kaslo]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

[Rocl]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

We could call the 2hr "Mostly Worthless"

[Khamsin]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

We could call the 2hr "Mostly Worthless"

Unless they add a thunder elemental HNM or something.

[BRP]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

We could call the 2hr "Mostly Worthless"

Unless they add a thunder elemental HNM or something.

Magic Immunity 2hr would be sweet if it was AoE for party members.... AV BECOMES DEFEATABLE!!!!!1


I'd honestly like to see Runic in-game as a PLD ability, that would negate any spell or magical based WS targeting a PLD(even AoE). Though, I imagine it maybe being "shadow" based so not to make PLD/NIN even more dominant.

[Rocl]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

We could call the 2hr "Mostly Worthless"

Unless they add a thunder elemental HNM or something.

They already have that Dark Elemental HNM in Newton Movapolos!! Yensho!!!

[Khamsin]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

We could call the 2hr "Mostly Worthless"

Unless they add a thunder elemental HNM or something.

They already have that Dark Elemental HNM in Newton Movapolos!! Yensho!!!

But just imagine... an elemental HNM that can't be stunned, and can't be Thunderburstaga MMVII'd. It could drop some sort of Ridill-staff for BLMs: Occasionally nukes 2-3 times!

[fantasticdan]

Will all this talk about a new tank, than looking at the ToAU jobs, makes me think... PUP really should have been a tank job, with the puppet able to effectively tank in party or solo situations. Think of a puppetmaster putting on a 'puppet show' to distract the mobs attention, would be a lot more interesting than what it is now.

[LD]

Geomancer never was a debuffer, either. They were offensive spellcasters, like BLM.

And the reason I say a new tank would likely introduce a completely new way to mitigate damage is because the last time they added a tank job (NIN), they did that. Nobody would have imagined a tank simply doding every hit with shadows before NIN and utsusemi was introduced. If people had been asked to come up with tank ideas back then, they'd probably be limited to thinking about reducing damage like a PLD does. Now, since we're used to PLD and NIN, all we're thinking about is damage reduction and avoidance like PLD and NIN do. There's a good chance that the next tank job will do it completely differently, and it won't fit into the category of damage reduction or avoidance.

In FFT all of the Geomancy attacks had an added effect. They weren't 100%, but they happened often enough to be notable.
In Final Fantasy V, Geomancer had spells that were straight damage, spells with damage plus an added effect, and spells that directly delivered a status ailment. It WAS a debuffer. Maybe not a full-time debuffer, but it had the capacity.
Oh, before anyone says it, whether they were useful or not is besides the point.

Blink Existed Before Utsusemi. The Mechanic existed before the Ninjutsu, it was just a vastly superior version. Utsusemi's only innovation was that it was reliable (to put it mildly) and sub-able (when they raised the cap to 75.) Blink, in and of itself, is simply a (very slightly) superior form of evasion, so the concept existed even before that. Any new tanking method will only be an innovation in the same way Utsusemi was: A Vastly Superior version of an existing mechanic. We will see nothing that isn't simply a reworking or reimagining of an existing JA, spell, or WS effect.

[Max™]

Hmmm, a way to tank that isn't Shadows or Bleeding.

Take Shield Masterys gooey delicious bits, call it... Fencing, apply it to parrying, increase the rate of parry procs dramatically with the mastery trait/skill+ gear, and have it give TP when you parry.

Perhaps even a chance to counter attack, that always pisses mobs off.

[Zalius]

reflect tanking mirite

[Munkey]

Galliants roll - Blaze spikes..... should make it a Phalanx type spell for physical dmg reduction.

[Septimus]

RDM and BLU only have mDEF boosts not a pure way to mitigate.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a Runic or Magic Shield (more than Rampart) and maybe even a 2hr that is an invicible for magic.

I remember when ToAU came out and they added "Runic Seal" to the autotranslate dictionary. I was so excited thinking that Square read my diary and finally gave it to RDMs.

I was very sad when I found out that they didn't. ;_;