BLU as an "Unlimited" Job - Thoughts and Suggestions

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Originally Posted by Factoree

Wondering if anybody has any thoughts on what this implies for the game, BLU or otherwise. Could very well be that it’s time for some CC to return/debut on other jobs, or if not it could be one of two opposite extremes: that BLU’s seeming focus on CC should be its core attraction (maybe give it a Scan gauge that shows the targeted enemy’s immunities?) or that a hypothetical balanced version of BLU should get the vast majority of its CC gutted.

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I think the most likely recourse would end up being BLU's CC being gutted. Likely with similar limitations that their insta-kill abilities would get if it were to become a real job.

Since, adding in a bunch more CC's to other classes as well as overhauling the way that Diminishing Returns works, would likely have far more severe impacts to the game than we might initially think. Especially if such changes to DR end up affecting what CC gets applied to us. Not only in terms of enemies chain-CCing us to death (See: Fighting the Deathclaw Elite Hunt target as a class with only a single damage type) or being trivialized by chain-CC, but also massive implications for PvP content, where even with the current DR BLU would be pretty dumb in because of the sheer variety of CC's they have available (Petrify, Deep Freeze, Stun, Silence, Bind, Paralyze, Blind, Heavy etc) would allow them to chain-CC as is by just using different effects with different DR stacks.

Not only that, but in the practical sense of their CC, most of it is just a set up for their combo bonuses, after which it is removed. So it's not as if for gameplay reasons they are required to keep all of their CC intact, if there are alternative ways of allowing them the ability to set up their combos that would not rely on having to affect targets with CC.

Though, it's not as if they would need to lose all CC effects, or have them be all limited in use, just merely tuning down of various skills that would see a lot of common usage (For example, The Ram's Breath)

Personally, I see a Debuff, Skill Chain, and Magic Burst system modernized to FF14 being something worth looking into. The systems and concept discussion of FF11 with friends of mine was far more entertaining than actually playing that game, and it'd be interesting to see if such a system could be implemented into FF14's more structured content.

Putting a majority of these "Starters" on Tanks, Supporty DPS, and Healers while putting the "Breakers" on the DPS is also a healthy way of sharing damage responsibilities for party content, while including expensive / costly solo alternatives so that any individual job can do their cool stuff when in the overworld as well, where resource cost doesn't matter, or during encounters when properly supported by a team.

And this relates directly back to Blue Mage as it could be retrofitted into that Supporty DPS who fills the "Starter" requirement for many different jobs, or at least has the capability to support such a notion with its Load Out selection.

Got more physical? Load up on skills that enable Slashing, Piercing, and Blunt breakers to occur. More magical? You can handle that too. From a gameplay perspective, the Blue Mage is therefore less concerned about its own burst windows and instead focused around enabling others. Raid Burst windows may sync up, but each Job also has a burst window that doesn't so neatly sync up to the 120 second set up.

Machinists cycle every 60, Black Mage's every 90, a Blue Mage built into this system is always working up the next big thing practically every 30 seconds.

I'd play that.