Time Mage Discussion Thread

[Mordred]

Time Mages are pretty light on damage, but they're pretty heavy on serious uncurable CC - Stop in particular can be a showstopper (no pun intended). Esuna doesn't do jack against most of a Time Mage's mojo, so I think we might be able to get by just with Meteorain and Meteor as DD skills.

That said, if you have anything else for DD, shoot.

[kablizzy]

Nope, just wither. I figured damage over time was cool for Time Mage.

[Schwerpunkt]

We don't want to fall into the "you need items to cure this status effect" trap. Maybe when we start talking about prestige classes, but definitely not for basic classes that players will run into regularly.

I honestly don't see the value of this as a DoT. Frankly, Entropy as a direct damage ability makes plenty of sense.

[kablizzy]

I agree on that point, but what of Poison? Antidotes cure poison, and if there are a handful of other ways to cure it, surely, it acts as poison?

[Schwerpunkt]

Poison can also be cured with Esuna and overwritten by Regen (which, in turn, can be overwritten by Poison).

This, judging by how you've described it, is just unavoidable damage that ramps up over time. Which is problematic.

[kablizzy]

I don't know what posts you've been reading, but I explicitly want it to be NOT that.

[Schwerpunkt]

Then what is it you want this ability to be? Because we've been all over the place over the past page.

[kablizzy]

Just like it is, damage-wise, that can be cured by Dispel, perhaps Monk's Stigma Magic, and maybe Geomancer's Purifying Water or One With Nature, the Remedy item, and Regen would counteract the damage for, like, up to 50 turns anyway, depending on level. Ribbon would prevent it as well as other status-ailment prevention techniques, and so on.

[Schwerpunkt]

Then it has no utility. Again, an ability like this is either overpowered or useless. And we've gone from "overpowered" to "useless" in about one page.

It's time to just cut the ability concept.

[kablizzy]

So there's absolutely no middle-ground? It either has to auto-kill someone or it can't ever have any usefulness for any character in any circumstance whatsoever, ever?

[Mordred]

May 12, 2013 18:10:06 GMT -6 kablizzy said:

So there's absolutely no middle-ground? It either has to auto-kill someone or it can't ever have any usefulness for any character in any circumstance whatsoever, ever?

Some things are like that... From what I can tell, this may well be one of them.

[Schwerpunkt]

May 12, 2013 18:10:06 GMT -6 kablizzy said:

So there's absolutely no middle-ground? It either has to auto-kill someone or it can't ever have any usefulness for any character in any circumstance whatsoever, ever?

This ability, in order to be balance, has to be equally effective against high HP growth classes (like the Knight) and low HP growth classes (like the Wizard) without being too effective or too ineffective against either. And since it scales in this manner, it has to be equally effective at level 1 as level 40.

We can either spend a few hundred man hours crunching the numbers and attempting to strike a balance between these complex variables or we can acknowledge that it's unfeasible.

[Ilium]

Haste

Slow

Stop

Float

Reflect

Quick

Wither: Inflict Gradual Petrify

Gravity

Tachyon: New name for Meteor.

Reaction

Critical Quick

Mana Shield

Support

Double-Slit: Halve all damage inflicted on the Time Mage from the adjacent tile it is facing.

Movement

Levitate

Relativity

[Ilium]

Heroes of Ivalice Stats/Growth Rates



Equipment: Staff, Rod, Hat, Clothes, Robes



Base Stats:


HP: 33


MP: 44


PA: 3


MA: 5


Move: 3


Jump: 3


P-EV: 0%


M-EV: 8%


Speed: 8



Growth Rates:


Primary HP: +5 Every Level


Primary MP: +12 Every Level


PA Growth: +1 Every Eight (8) Levels


MA Growth: +1 Every Five (5) Levels


Secondary Bonus: MP + 6, Speed + 1, MA + 1


Alternate Bonus: MP + 5