Please reconsider stance on blue mage

[Dwill]

I don't want to see blue mage in FFXIV. WHY? Well thats because SE more than likely will chop BLU to bits and by the time it was "balanced" it would probably look nothing like what you know to be a blue mage. Please look at SMN and SCH for an example.

Also, mobs in this game are not very interesting or memorable. The attacks they could give would be rather useless imo, as most enemies are resistant to heavy.

Oh look, it's this argument again.

[Riko_Futatabi]

God, FFXI was so much better with the versatility of jobs. I hope Bahamut destroys the current system in time for 3.0.

[Fendred]

God, FFXI was so much better with the versatility of jobs. I hope Bahamut destroys the current system in time for 3.0.

You and me both kind of wished for the same thing. Unfortunately, he is keeping with the same leveling scheme and roles for the expansion. I don't remember exactly where, but I'm sure it was in the last live letter. He will eventually have to change the combat system simply due to the fact that there is only so far a developer can go with a strict tank, healer, and damage dealer scheme when the franchise itself demands more flexibility.

I think he may be frightened at some level after what happened to Tanaka. There are some well travelled steps he can take to make the current system flexible enough to handle it without usurping the natural order of things too much (I'm a computer science major that happens to study MMOG design in his free time), but given the culture he is a part of it may take some time before he feels safe doing so. It is frustrating from a westerner's standpoint because we tend to be more bold on our large projects due to less cultural backlash.

[Souljacker]

It is frustrating from a westerner's standpoint because we tend to be more bold on our large projects due to less cultural backlash.

From what I understand the JP are already asking for his resignation. If ever there was a time to be bold, it's now.

[Gardes]

Additionally, in the event you are able to use abilities forever once you learn them, the difficulty of learning abilities would be high, and we wouldn't be able to balance the system so it wouldn't revolve around procuring your abilities instead of equipment.

Woooow, I missed this text and it's a really baffling one. What the hell? Learning a spell permanently means it must be hard to learn? Is this coming from tanaka or somebody else? If they're giving ninjas more than 5 skills to use (and smn too) why does blue mage have to have barriers for having their spells? And what's with this fear about having players not being accepted into groups if they dont learn some of the wanted spells when they can just make players learn spells as part of the job questing process? Get to level 30, npc gives you a story yadda yadda and then makes you go fight different mobs to learn spells. It's not like anybody is expecting XI version of blue mage with their 70+ spells (dont remember the exact total at lvl 75 but i remember looking up a list and then going on a quest to learn them level by level and it was huge). Not when you say this...

conversely if you are swapping in only certain abilities you've learned, the true image of a blue mage would diminish, so this is something that I am concerned with.

and then turn xiv black mage into a completely different image from the classic all elemental black mage. How about smn too? I would like to see yoship walk up to a podium and say "if _____, the true image of a summoner would diminish, so this is something that I am concerned with." in front of a crowd of upset xiv summoners (edit: akiza izinski in the middle of the front row).

[Aegis]

I suppose this is a good a thread as any to wheel out my pocket blue mage design again

Class: w/e, idc, doesn't matter much though I'd prefer a whip based class a la Quistis

Job: Blue Mage
Job Abilities:
30: Lancet
35: Tier 1 Spell
40: Tier 2 Spell
45: Tier 3 Spell
50: Tier 4 Spell

Lancet, as any FF fan knows, is the Blue Mage ability to learn a spell. Basically a mob uses an ability, say 'Bomb Toss' you use Lancet and when the mob dies you will a) learn the spell or b) have a chance to learn the spell (delete as per developers' sadistic tendencies dictate).

Mob abilities fall into 4 tiers, from the weak (Pollen/Bomb Toss) to the strong (White Wind/Mighty Guard/1000 Needles) and correspond to each slot. If you attempt to learn a spell for which you already have one learnt it will replace the existing spell.

Spells that have been set will impact your attributes/job traits eg Celeris might add to your spell speed passively as long as it's set in addition to its active effects when used. Pollen might give a chance for the next healing magic to consume no MP.

Some spells would be able to combo with class weapon skills, but not all. There could be a tradeoff between the strength of a spell and its ability to combo.

As for Blue Mage's role in DF, the spells set could determine role, with higher level spells being weighted more.

Key:
Melee DPS spell,
Ranged DPS Spell,
Tank spell,
Healer Spell

Set Pollen, Bubble Curtain, Waxy Flesh and Mighty Guard? Tank
Set Sanguine Bite, Celeris, Final Sting and Divebomb? Melee DPS
Set Pollen, Bomb Toss, Void Fira and Pinecone Bomb? Ranged DPS
Set Pollen, Celeris, Iron Will and White Wind? Healer

The negatives I can see?

Lancet is obtained 5 levels before your first spell slot. Making it useless for 5 levels
I'm not sure how the Duty Finder would manage if you flagged for say a High level and a Low level roulette at the same time if your two high level spells were healing and your two low level spells were DPS. Would it be able to distinguish your role for each level range? Might be tricky to program.

Thoughts? Criticisms? Mocking laughter?

[Brightshadow]

Blue Mage would be quite interesting my only problem with the job/class would be that it would be a lot of work to make an animation for each spell just to have them become useless every couple of levels. this is especially seen with the FF11 blue mages because they have 100+ spells yet they only use 12 spells. And maybe 8 situational spells.

I do like the stance idea however they could make these stances long job quests that require you to fight all the enemies of the spells inside the stances. In addition the stances could also change your role.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

All the monster abilities as of now are laughably bland, with Bad Breath being a possible exception, so unless the next expansion focuses on monster skills that are unique and useful for a blue mage, don't count on the class being useful.

[Delmontyb]

I agree! I think it's fun to hunt down different abilities, and going back to having them equip-able will help make the class/job very diverse.

I think the blue mage could fill any role, depending on the skills that they have equipped, and to make it "easy" for people to understand, you can implement skill sets to allow players to pre-save builds just like they do now for gear.

I think also showing what "role" you are based off your skill build will be helpful as well.

Build a tank, a healer, or DPS/Support. The blue mage in XIV would be a wonderful introduction to the world and be a challenging job for those who want to hunt down their abilities. As a class they would have some natural abilities, that can be replaced as they learn new abilities. And some story quests will grant them certain abilities, just like the current system.

So please don't hold back from bringing the Blue Mage to XIV.

[Dwill]

God, FFXI was so much better with the versatility of jobs. I hope Bahamut destroys the current system in time for 3.0.

Versatility was there, balance wasn't (and from last I checked, still isn't) there. What good is versatility going to do to you if your class in unwanted ?