Blue Mage Ideas; Building the Job
Introduction
I want to start this thread by saying I have been one of the people throwing venom at the FFXIV team for their implementation of BLU and calling them lazy when that really isn't a fair assessment on my part. I am disappointed that BLU is not a full fledged job, but am glad that it is being included into the game with a possible revamp later down the road.
That said I wanted to give some ideas on how BLU could be implemented as a normal job while still keeping as much of the base idea that the FFXIV team wanted. So that includes learning abilities and having abilities that players can set themselves from a larger list.
I also would like to hear from other people on ideas as to how BLU could be implemented as a normal Job. Hopefully this spawns some discussion and doesn't turn into a debate thread of why it should or shouldn't be a standard Job and stays to an ideas thread. Then we could compile the best solutions to tackle the FFXIV teams worries and possibly present it to them.
Ability Acquisition
As it stands the vision for BLU is to be a limited job that learns various different abilities off of monsters and then out of 49 abilities can set 24 of those 49 onto an ability bar of their choosing. I don't feel that needs to be sacrificed. I think its great to have that openness involved for BLU.
Yoshi-P is afraid that BLU players will not have the proper ability sets for dungeon play and that the BLU abilities will be to strong for endgame play.
The Idea:
Learning out in the OW I think is great and a accelerated leveling experience through the open world I think fits.
So to tackle the first challenge. We have a pretty good system in game already that would lend itself well to how BLU can learn abilities in the open while maintaining structure and limits for people in DF. The Hunt Log.
The Hunt Logs are already Job specific and it could be re-purposed a bit to accommodate BLU's special circumstances of learning abilities. Each Log could be mob specific and grant an ability upon completion of that Hunting Log. That way it feels like BLU is learning the spells by fighting and studying those monsters while also maintaining structure. Set it so a certain number of those Logs need to be completed before they can queue for specific dungeons or specific level ranges for dungeons.
Example:
Our BLU adventurer receives their next Hunting Log. It is to learn Loop from Colibri, a basic physical slashing damage spell with a potency of 145. The BLU then decides what Colibri they want to kill in the world or in dungeons if they have already completed the required Logs to enter one and defeats 15 Colibri. Once they complete the Hunt Log they receive the EXP and the Ability Learned animation and can progress onto another Hunt Log of their choosing.
Certain Logs can be marked as required for DF and Endgame play so adventurers have a clear cut path of progression to DF and endgame play.
Wrong Ability Sets
Another thing is people say; what about BLU's that don't set the right abilities. In my opinion this is a bad argument. I have seen tanks queue for dungeons and never use shield oath, or know what flash does so they don't use it or NIN that don't know how to complete Mudra's and bunny all the time. Also BLU players will not be new adventurers because of the requirements of completing ARR story and already having a level 50 Job.
Its also no different than groups requiring a certain ILVL to join them. Meet your groups requirements and continue about your day. At the end of the day bad players will be bad no matter what class they play and vice versa.
I would like to say that those in the community have also suggested that certain spells be set as mandatory for DF play so it is easier on the team to balance a predetermined 24 that are designated as DF and Endgame ready and leaving the rest as OW/BLU specific for solo play.
Which isn't a bad idea and it was even used somewhat in FFXI where players had specific BLU spell sets to tackle different areas of the game.
Balance
Now moving onto balance. It seems there is discontent about BLU having to strong of abilities. This just isn't the case or really doesn't need to be the case. BLU throughout the series has been changed to mesh into that specific FF's goal. Level 5 Death is not a requirement to be a BLU. We didn't see Level 5 Death for BLU in FFXI for example. So BLU in FFXIV could learn abilities that fits into the role that the SE team wants BLU to take and then make adjustment to other certain spells.
Example:
White Wind a usually strong Heal in other BLU mages could be adjusted to be a low potency target heal that instead increases the potency by X amount of the next heal spell that hits that target. With an internal CD so the same target can't be affected by other BLU spells. Spells like Bad Breath could have a low potency that inflicts the status ailments on OW mobs but on dungeon bosses, its a low potency attack that poisons while the other ailments are status immune. It would still have its place by being a damaging spell that applies poison.
That said there are tons of abilities to work with in FFXIV that could be adjusted via potency to fit. For a list of mob abilities: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Mob_Action
They don't have to be OP and could be tailored by choosing abilities from that list that make sense in the confines of the games systems.
Class Specific System
A class specific system would be next. I've posted this in other threads but I still think a monster gauge is a good idea. This somewhat pulls on lore from XI as all the BLU in FFXI eventually turn into Mind Flayers by being consumed by the Blue Magic. The Monster Gauge would be a system that takes into play the Monster Weakness chart we have seen in other FF games. Here is the Monster Weakness chart from FFXI for example:
Our BLU would cast abilities such as Loop a Colibri or Bird ability. Since Birds are weak to Amorphs, if the next BLU spell is Digest an Amorph spell that drains HP from the target it would have an increased potency because the previous spell was something it was strong to. By using these combos the BLU would add to its Monster Gauge. As the Monster Gauge increases their damage increases. The idea would to stay in balance, not unlike RDM but within its own system. If the BLU were to cap its Monster Gauge out, they get a decent damage increase and access to a strong BLU damage spell, not unlike BLM and Foul. The BLU would have to consume their Monster Gauge by using the opposite of the weakness chart or suffer an internal CD on their ability to activate the Monster Gauge and a DPS loss.
So in short:
- Weak ===> Strong = Monster Gauge Increase
- Strong ===> Weak = Monster Gauge Decrease
Monster Gauge peaking gives a short damage buff and access to a special DPS BLU spell. If they don't consume the gauge and bring it back into balance before the buff falls, they suffer an internal CD on Monster Gauge and a DPS hit.
It would be moderate-high DPS with short bursts of spike damage.
Conclusion
Hopefully this was easy to read and understand. I am a big advocate for BLU, I've always loved the class and have been waiting since FFXIV 1.0 and especially ARR for BLU to be introduced to the game. I don't feel it is to late and that it can be tweaked to fit into the systems for FFXIV. BLU after all is a versatile Job and it can be manipulated well because of it to fit into a lot of different systems in various different ways. I hope you all can come up with even better ideas or add onto this existing idea.