[Eorzea]

What do you think about customizable spells in order to avoid every mage being the same?

For the sake of convenience and clarity, let's use a Black Mage as an example. What if the process were to be something like the following:

• Obtain a spell.
  
• Master the spell after X amount of uses.
  
• Get the option to customize it with one additional effect. For example, add an AoE effect, increase its damage, reduce its mana cost, add a damage-over-time (DOT) effect, etc.
  
• Master the upgraded version of your spell after X amount of uses.
  
• Get the option to once again customize it with one additional effect, this time either choosing from the things previously listed or further increasing the effect you chose previously (such as widening the range of AoE, further increasing the damage, further reducing its mana cost, increasing the amount of damage or length of time of the DOT, etc.).
  
• Finish.

Something like that.

It would sure make things more interesting, would it not? It's a bit boring to see every mage have the exact same library spells in my opinion. Why not spice things up a bit?

Discuss.

[Momotaru]

That's a really good idea.. And in order to keep every master mage from having the same spells and effects in the end, they could put a limit on the number of additions or upgrades you could make.. That way at max power, every mage doesn't end up with the same thing in the end anyway.

Or did you only intend your proposition to have 2 upgrade options? That would work.. Just a nice little something to add variety. :msncoffee:

And, should you have upgraded your spell in a way you don't like, you can pay a hefty fee to some NPC wizard in order to reorder the upgrades and changes you made.

[Eorzea]

Yeah, I was proposing only two upgrade options (or at least some sort of limit). Like you said, though, the option should be there to redo things if you feel you've made a mistake or want to try something different (but it should definitely come at a high cost).

[Ch1efer]

I really like the idea of further customization when it comes to any class and custom spells would be a great idea for any disciple of magic. There is a few ways they could go about doing it and I think the more complex the better. I agree with the high cost thing too, make it nice and hard to be able to get the good stuff. Well, I'm running off of no sleep so before I try to say anymore and just sound dumb, I'm going to bed. :D

[Hugbees]

I'd love this idea. I love having things to tweak on my character and this would be awesome! I'd try to go for lower MP cost + faster cast speed. If that worked for healing too I'd be in love with it!

[Cid]

This sounds vaguely like the "skill tree" in WoW and other games...

I think this is something FF has been missing for years.
I think it will help contribute to the success of FFXIV if they can find more ways to allow gamers who have the same job to customize their jobs a bit.

For example, in WoW if you played a hunter, you could be a Marksman hunter, a beastmaster hunter, or a survival hunter (DPS focus, Pet Focus, and Tank focus respectively) All of the jobs had 3 variations that you could mix and match with.

Obviously I would like to see FF do something original, but the idea is a good one!!

[Hugbees]

I would like to see something similar to Warhammer Online's skill tree system. Unlike WoW's talent system which defines what role a class plays, Warhammer's defined how your class performs its role. For example, the Runepriest had 3 trees, one that focuses on direct damage/heals, one for spells that work over time, and one for AoE. While some classes skill trees defined their role, it wasn't as extreme as WoW's was where, say, only a protection warrior could tank.

Depends on how many classes this game offers as well. We've seen quite a bit from the Disciple of War, and I'm sure there are plenty more to come. Also, how would this work for... a Chef? :galka:

[rblyell]

I'm more of a "oooooohhh, pretty..." type so i just like to change how the spell appears...effect means little to me when casting heh. I'm more of a color and shine kind of guy.

[beoulve]

This sort of sounds like the merit system in FFXI... It can work though it also became a bit of a chore to get merits to fully master your job.

Like for example, for black mage for merit 1 abilities you have the options of having Elemental Seal recast, Fire, Wind, Ice, Earth, Thunder & Water magic potency. For merit 2 you can choose from Burst2, Flare2, Flood2, Freeze2, Quake2 & Tornado2. Each one you can choose up to 5 upgrades each and you can use 10 points in total per category.

It would be pretty interesting to see if SE would expand from their merit point system using the ideas mentioned. I'd like to see things like say a red mage & black mage hybrid by having high fast cast and strong spells.

[Momotaru]

Perhaps it could extend to abilities as well..

Maybe for classes/jobs that either don't exist or aren't justifiable in existence due to lack of content, add-on abilities could be added to existing classes..

For example, if chef or food preparation job doesn't exist.. instead of making an entire class around an idea like cooking, it could be one of so many choices of add-on skills for certain classes (I imagine fisherman and gatherer could have their own versions of that.. maybe some hunting class would have a cooking skill too).

If you're a Fisherman, you can maybe have an added skill of 'Lure' (use bait to attract specific monsters), Sushi Chef (prepare sushi food items that expire quickly, but can be directly fed to yourself or a party member [item can not be deposited or stored]) or some other third unique ability.

I can see difficulties in making this concept balanced though.. Added abilities may be too hefty of a bonus.. I like the original idea of adding tweaks or minor benefits, best.

[MiniCloudz]

Excellent idea! It would be great to customise spells, even abilities. Melee jobs in FFXI always used manners such as, "I'm a tank Warrior.", as opposed to, "I'm a dual-wield, damage dealing Warrior." It would be nice for mages to be able to say, "I'm a fast casting, medicore damage black mage.", as opposed to "I'm a slow casting, heavy damage black mage." :msnchuckle:

If such an aspect was implemented, it would be better if SE didn't focus too much on it. I agree with Momo, I like the original idea of minor benefits to add originality to your class compared to others in that genre. :D

[Bewoulf]

Oooooh, Amazing idea Eorzea. I whole heartedly want this to happen. I never thought of that level of customization. The greatest thing about it is that it wouldn't be hard to do. It wouldn't take months of testing to get that balance right. I think avoiding the cookie cutter-ness of FFXI should be top priority for FFXIV. Because other then how hard it was to make gil, that was my biggest complaint for FFXI.

[FR8TRAIN7070]

I agree with momo. If you customize spells you should be able to customize ability's. Mabey even, lets say you are a BS you can choose to be a smith that specializes in certain types of armor or so on so forth....I just think that would be neat. Not saying thats how its gonna be that is way open for interp. But i think the idea should work for all classes alike. No one would be the same then.

[Control]

I don't so much like the idea of the word "customizable" but the idea of each specific discipline having its own paths you can freely evolve into sounds really promising. Like if you use a lot of fire magic you become a fire mage of sorts. Or if you prefer claw fighting over brawling you gain more feral abilities rather than the structured boxing style of the cloth and bone knuckles.

It already looks like they have something like that planned but my brain is thinking of much deeper and more complex system than i think they are doing.

So in summation customize no, evolve over use yes.

[bd4]

the game site mentioned something about choosing to specialize or being diverse in the classes so maybe the ability
to make a skill or spell advanced would be to focus on the class that way you are rewarded for choosing to focus.