So.... What exactly is this? [Stormblood Speculation]

I was browsing through the Stormblood screenshots and artwork available on the teaser site, and I ran across an image that at first glance appears to be a mage gear preview. As I looked, though, I noticed an object that appeared to be some sort of bagpipe hanging from the left hip. Take a look for yourself: Stormblood media It's the 21st item, last one on the fourth row.

Am I misjudging this item? Could it be an Astrologian weapon, or is it something new, akin to a new class? It could possibly be a blue mage, but if that's the case then they are innovating with the weapon choice. That makes sense, of course, since most previous iterations of the class used swords similarly to red mage (for whom they've already re-imagined the weapon into a swordstaff). The move away from an aggressive weapon such as a sword could be because they want to reclassify blue mage into a healer, and if the third class released is a tank samurai then the trend (one from each role) would continue. Obviously there's a lot of speculation and conjecture here, but the pieces seem to fit... at least for now, anyway. The gear in the artwork is also blue, which admittedly is a weak correlation to blue mage but at the same time this class has normally been defined by the color of its garb, so it's not as huge of a stretch as it may first appear.

What do you guys think?

I'd guess that's the new Bard AF

I think it's pretty obvious that that's the BRD new AF

Man the reaching you had to do to try and argue for it being blue mage gear makes my head spin.

How you saw bagpipes, a musical instrument, and immediately thought something other than bard is beyond me. On top of the large plume hat and an obvious Moogle playing a horn in the top left, everything about it screams bard.

It looks too of a mage robe though. Is that a bag pipe? It could be Bard's new AF. I can hardly imagine SE would release spoil images of an unannounced job. If it's indeed for Bard it doesn't look very fitting though at least for my liking.

Man that DRK & WHM AF....so "lit".

It's the BRD AF. Sorry to burst your dream bubble.

Also, amazed which hoops people jump through to force bluemage into the speculation..o,o'

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shippuu

Man the reaching you had to do to try and argue for it being blue mage gear makes my head spin.

How you saw bagpipes, a musical instrument, and immediately thought something other than bard is beyond me. On top of the large plume hat and an obvious Moogle playing a horn in the top right, everything about it screams bard.

---

It's not really reaching. The gear looks very much like mage garb as opposed to what normally qualifies as bard dress. The moogle and the fact that it is a musical instrument made me think bard at first, but then I thought about how the bard instrument is a harp, not a bagpipe or any other wind instrument. I certainly agree that this is most likely new Bard AF, but I felt the slim possibility of it being something else should be examined. The plume is not indicative of anything, though.

My first thought was, 'Is that a remake of the AST iLvl200 set from HW?' Then I looked closer. It's likely the bard set. Or concept for it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Atoli

It's the BRD AF. Sorry to burst your dream bubble.

Also, amazed which hoops people jump through to force bluemage into the speculation..o,o'

---

No dream bubble here. In fact, if you read my post history you'll see that I actually support samurai speculation moreso than blue mage. Just a slim possibility that I noticed in the difference in what normally looks like bard gear.

Looking at it all again, I'm sad at how awesome the DRK armor looks because my tail clipping through the cape is going to be beyond annoying.

You know what I instantly think of when you say blue mage? Bagpipes. That highlander spirit just embodies the magic of emulating monsters to me.

It's a long coat and it's blue.
OMG BLUE MAGE CONFIRMED

haha but really

It really doesn't look any more mage-like than the hw brd af to me. And if you would have bothered to do a simple google search you would have seen it's bard.

The new WHM gear is gorgeous. What race is the female wearing it? She surely cannot be Elezen, she's too pretty and proportionate to be an Elezen.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

The new WHM gear is gorgeous. What race is the female wearing it? She surely cannot be Elezen, she's too pretty and proportionate to be an Elezen.

---

If you look at concept artworks for elezens, they are extremely pretty and proportinate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

The new WHM gear is gorgeous. What race is the female wearing it? She surely cannot be Elezen, she's too pretty and proportionate to be an Elezen.

---

Seeing the shoe dangling gives me hope that they finally stop having the socks end at the ankle and they no longer add socks to the shoes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jonah_Greymont

It's not really reaching. The gear looks very much like mage garb as opposed to what normally qualifies as bard dress. The moogle and the fact that it is a musical instrument made me think bard at first, but then I thought about how the bard instrument is a harp, not a bagpipe or any other wind instrument. I certainly agree that this is most likely new Bard AF, but I felt the slim possibility of it being something else should be examined. The plume is not indicative of anything, though.

---

No other wind instruments?

I mean, it's not like they haven't been a part of BRD's designs since the beginning...oh wait
http://i.imgur.com/QYN1Bkf.jpg

Ooops


It's not a slim possibility it's anything else. No other job is known for instruments period, certainly not Blue Mage of all things. It's cut and dry bard.

That's an idea. New stormblood glamour, instruments to replace the harp for brd. Bagpipes would be amazing or a banjo or a bass guitar or bongos.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LLSmoothJ

Seeing the shoe dangling gives me hope that they finally stop having the socks end at the ankle and they no longer add socks to the shoes.

---

I hope for this as well. It's all we can do..is hope xD

Bards will be able to play scottish flutes?

But if that's really bard af since when did bard use a dagger. The other weapon looks so much like a dagger. Another idea is that that picture is whatever the third new job is gonna be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khalithar

That's an idea. New stormblood glamour, instruments to replace the harp for brd. Bagpipes would be amazing or a banjo or a bass guitar or bongos.

---

It will be just gear accessory, not a real weapon

But still it could be the third new job. So what's to say at this point that it is definitely bard af. I'd say give it a couple months for the release date of Stormblood to get closer before you say that it is definitely bard af.

That White Mage gear looks awesome. Kinda makes me want to finally level my WHM.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kogasan

But if that's really bard af since when did bard use a dagger. The other weapon looks so much like a dagger. Another idea is that that picture is whatever the third new job is gonna be.

---

What other weapon?

You've got a bagpipe on one side:
http://i.imgur.com/dxUtxLd.png

And then a curved horn with key pads on the other side:
http://i.imgur.com/hlRPuOL.png


It's BRD AF. You people are being ridiculous at this point.

There are tons of gear pieces that have extra daggers or vials or bullets or what have you that can be worn by jobs that use none of those things. What's on your gear doesn't matter at all, only what's in your hands.

That image was originally shown in Las Vegas fanfest, I believe they straight out mentioned the job names before or after showing the images (DRK/BLM/WHM/BRD), maybe someone with access to the fanfest archive can verify.

I clearly recall them talking about them, and mentioning how due to player feedback they were going with two different models for male and female WHM.

....it has to be blue mage because the robes look "mage-y"?

Because BRD/MCH have never had robed gear... ever. I guess.


Did we all forget about those cast bars, though? Maybe those robes are Mage-y because its for out beloved BowMage?

I still think it could be for whatever the third new job is. Besides at this point it doesn't really matter. Because Stormblood is still months away and we don't even know what the third new job is gonna be.

Why do you keep saying third new job? At this point only one job has been revealed, there is no guarantee that there will be 3.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kogasan

I still think it could be for whatever the third new job is. Besides at this point it doesn't really matter. Because Stormblood is still months away and we don't even know what the third new job is gonna be.

---

There's no "thinking" needed when we outright know from the press information that it's the Bard AF.

Didn't they already say we'll only have 2 new jobs?

btw about that pic. There is tons of details that prove it's bard gear. THE most obvious for me is gloves. One of the glove have 2 fingers free. Like some other bards gloves, 2 exact same fingers. Never seen that for other jobs except for bard. (they hold the string with that hand)
The bagpipe can be another details, the mog IS an obvious one too. Similar hat and "robe" already exist.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jeycht

Didn't they already say we'll only have 2 new jobs?

---

No. What was said by the dev team is that the number of jobs has a relation to 2016's Moonfire Faire.

Technically yes, but the tweet that it was said in was taken down. Even so, YoshiP has stated before that the 3 HW jobs were a pain in the ass make and that they likely would not do 3 jobs at the same time again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shippuu

It's not a slim possibility it's anything else. No other job is known for instruments period, certainly not Blue Mage of all things. It's cut and dry bard.

---

Geomancer has used Bells, which are decidedly an instrument. Still, I can admit defeat when I see the writing on the wall. I was unaware of the press announcement that this was in fact the Bard AF, which I've found since I started this thread. I did do some research prior to posting this, but nothing came up until I scrolled down and read through multiple hits. I haven't seen the gear you referenced in the photos either. As I stated in the OP, I recognized this as wild speculation at best anyway and was looking for verification on what it actually was, hence the thread title.

All in all, still good to see the passion in the community for what they hope will come about. Even if Blue Mage is incoming with Stormblood, I would hope everyone acknowledges that the Bard AF is hardly evidence of that. Thanks for the discussion!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fevelle

If you look at concept artworks for elezens, they are extremely pretty and proportinate.

---

If they looked like the artwork I would go Elezen and never change. Unfortunately, what we have in game is a far cry from the artwork.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

If they looked like the artwork I would go Elezen and never change. Unfortunately, what we have in game is a far cry from the artwork.

---

They took the Elvaan model from FFXI and ran with it, it seems. Very lanky and awkward.

That is probably Bard, but one could then say is the 2nd image before that (Pink Outfit) Dancer?? :o

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maero

That is probably Bard, but one could then say is the 2nd image before that (Pink Outfit) Dancer?? :o

---

That one is definitely White Mage AF.