Blue Mage might actually be a good thing.

Great post Seraph'ir Vhinah

I have become so tired of the same old content...I have waited around in the hope they would add some kind of openworld content for those that enjoy that. There was nothing more lonelier than a Beastmaster out in FFXI in the middle of nowhere (in a good way haha..)i had great respect for those I knew. I know I played PUP it was great I could use my Automaton as tank healer or a dps I was ok I knew people who where highly skilled. I think this is a good idea I hope they add more as it really is needed. The game is stale for some of us who are tired of duty finder. The game will feel more alive I am really excited. Please don't take from the people who enjoy this type of content...they will be adding plenty more for those who do not like this style of play.

I'll be honest. I think there is a misconception about what the concept of limited jobs "adds" to the game. Yes, Blue Mage hasn't been created with a familiar cookie-cutter formula. A lot of out of the box thinking has gone into it. More than I expected. And I appreciate that.

However, is it really necessary that, in order for a job to have this level of creativity go into it, that the job must be omitted from participating in content? I'm inclined to disagree with that stance.

People say that this opens the door for Beastmaster. Taking the method of learning Blue Magic into account, it's easy to imagine Beastmaster venturing out into the world, taming wild monsters, then calling them into battle when inside an instanced duty. But I have to stop and wonder, why can't that work while allowing the job to participate in end game content? Numbers just have to be scaled so that the job's performance is inline with other jobs of the same role.

I just feel like people are being blindsided. People accept the Limited Job that is Blue Mage because they like of the innovation that went into the job's design, but why can't it be a normal job that can participate in all content while being innovative at the same time? Why must it be one extreme or the other?

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Originally Posted by Blueyes

People say that this opens the door for Beastmaster. Taking the method of learning Blue Magic into account, it's easy to imagine Beastmaster venturing out into the world, taming wild monsters, then calling them into battle when inside an instanced duty. But I have to stop and wonder, why can't that work while allowing the job to participate in end game content? Numbers just have to be scaled so that the job's performance is inline with other jobs of the same role.

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Consider this. Beastmaster is just one job, yes? Yes.

If it could have, let's say, 50 monsters under its control. Is it possible to balance all of them? Mathematically yes, it is possible. But do you know how?!

By shoehorning them into specific template like they did with all the jobs now. Ultimately there would be only two or three "beasts" that you can use, with different skins. Just like the move between carbuncle and egi. And even then, they would have two or three skills. They would be neutered into oblivion being only a beastmasters "skin". Personally I don't think that's a good option, really.
If they'd want to do it any other way, it'd be like adding 50 new jobs. It IS possible, but it is unrealistic. The amount of work necessary would far exceed making an entirely new game, let alone any other job. After all, balancing while keeping things "unique" in such a limited environment grows significantly more difficult with every addition to the pool. And you'd ask for dozens of those at once?!


Now, this whole "fiasco" is kind of irksome for the weirdest reasons. Seriously. I think they should just call it "Purple Mage" and be done with it. The people that want a Blue Mage can then keep crying "We want Blue Mage!" instead of "We don't want Blue Mage true to the class if we can't play it like everything else! Delete it!", Square Enix will have a "unique" class for FFXIV and people that care about the Blue Mage's systems will have it. Everyone wins!

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Originally Posted by kikix12

If it could have, let's say, 50 monsters under its control. Is it possible to balance all of them? Mathematically yes, it is possible. But do you know how?!

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It's not up to the playerbase to know how, it's up to the developers. And to say it's unrealistic is like saying it's unrealistic for them to balance tanks, or for them to add any jobs whatsover.

Beastmaster worked on charms.

- Charm A, Send A on B. When A and B both nearly dead, let go of A, Kill A and B. Repeat.
- Charm A. Use A to kill B, C, D, E.... and when A's charm broke, recharm A and continue.
- No viable pets were nearby for whatever reason, able to summon a pet to use that would not break but would instead expire with a timer.

It was a powerful class that shined solo, yes, but you could still use it in group settings. You could in theory take a full group of BST into content if you chose.

49 unique abilities to start with, they said. 49. And attaining them is RNG based. I don't love that RNG part at all, but ok, I can deal with that. But going through that effort - to play a solo job - is a joke.

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Originally Posted by Blueyes

I just feel like people are being blindsided. People accept the Limited Job that is Blue Mage because they like of the innovation that went into the job's design, but why can't it be a normal job that can participate in all content while being innovative at the same time? Why must it be one extreme or the other?

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Short Answer: Because of the playerbase.

The concept of a Blue Mage being able to customize their skill set, which is a big part of the draw, would be completely destroyed because people would ultimately dictate what the "correct" setup is for endgame. All those nifty abilities you've learned would be narrowed down to a handful, especially since they'd have to make certain abilities flat out not work against raid bosses.

This is a job created for people who aren't necessarily into that scene so they can mess around and have fun, while still working towards something without being told they're "doing it wrong". For everyone else, you've got all the other jobs at your disposal.

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Originally Posted by Andevom

Short Answer: Because of the playerbase.

The concept of a Blue Mage being able to customize their skill set, which is a big part of the draw, would be completely destroyed because people would ultimately dictate what the "correct" setup is for endgame. All those nifty abilities you've learned would be narrowed down to a handful, especially since they'd have to make certain abilities flat out not work against raid bosses.

This is a job created for people who aren't necessarily into that scene so they can mess around and have fun, while still working towards something without being told they're "doing it wrong". For everyone else, you've got all the other jobs at your disposal.

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Dragoon is now a job that can only be used in open world and FATEs and can no longer queue for roulettes or raids, because players are trying to dictate how the DRG should use their skills.

But that's fine, right, cause you've got all the other jobs at your disposal.

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Originally Posted by JBee

Dragoon is now a job that can only be used in open world and FATEs and can no longer queue for roulettes or raids, because players are trying to dictate how the DRG should use their skills.

But that's fine, right, cause you've got all the other jobs at your disposal.

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How does that...Even make sense in this context? You know, besides the fact the playerbase does try to force optimal meta stuff on people at times.

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Originally Posted by Andevom

Short Answer: Because of the playerbase.

The concept of a Blue Mage being able to customize their skill set, which is a big part of the draw, would be completely destroyed because people would ultimately dictate what the "correct" setup is for endgame. All those nifty abilities you've learned would be narrowed down to a handful, especially since they'd have to make certain abilities flat out not work against raid bosses.

This is a job created for people who aren't necessarily into that scene so they can mess around and have fun, while still working towards something without being told they're "doing it wrong". For everyone else, you've got all the other jobs at your disposal.

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No. The concept of Blue Mage is simply learning and using enemy attacks, I don 't know where the "customize move set" has come from (11?) but that's not what Blue is. In the current way they're adding BLU we'll be able to use 24 of the 49 attacks, we'll quickly figure out which are the best 24 and just like Yoshida didn't want, we'll see people being kicked from party finders if they don't have that 24. Their excuses for it being limited were weak.

I can appreciate their efforts for trying to recreate a faithful BLU job in this game.. But I gotta say the result is a bit disappointing. If BLU will never be able to participate in group content then it's really a shame. We already have a solo grind for practically useless relics, so here's another solo grind for practically useless BLU. I thought this was a team game. :confused:

At the end of the day I guess it doesn't affect me too much, I was never planning on being a BLU main, and quite frankly I would've debated about leveling it up anyways since I don't particular care for caster jobs. So like much of the other side content in this game, it will be the next to join my list of Unaccepted Quests.

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Originally Posted by Shadowshinra

No. The concept of Blue Mage is simply learning and using enemy attacks, I don 't know where the "customize move set" has come from (11?) but that's not what Blue is. In the current way they're adding BLU we'll be able to use 24 of the 49 attacks, we'll quickly figure out which are the best 24 and just like Yoshida didn't want, we'll see people being kicked from party finders if they don't have that 24. Their excuses for it being limited were weak.

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Yes, it was from FFXI, but that also had...*goes to look* ... A lot of blue magic, some of which gave stats, or combined for autoabilities, and how you set it up mattered. Otherwise, you just had access to all blue magic you learned when you could cast it.