about blue mage

[Fyrebrand]

* The hallmark of the Blue Mage is that they learn their spells from enemies, by getting hit by them. This is not possible in FFXIV for anything other than damaging spells or debuffs, since obviously an enemy is not going to cast a heal or support spell on you, such as White Wind.

* Whatever spells you expect a Blue Mage to learn, obviously the existing enemies in the game do not cast them. So, a bunch of new monsters would have to be placed in the environments, or they'd just have to find mundane skills certain enemies already have and just go with those.

* I never played FFXI, but from what I gather you actually don't learn spells by getting hit by them, but rather by defeating certain enemies. It sounds a little like completing a glorified Hunting Log to learn new spells. And obviously, there is a limited range of enemies you would realistically be able to defeat at any given experience level. So, in the grand scheme of things, it is not fundamentally different from simply learning new skills at certain levels, the way all other classes do. The only major difference is that Blue Mage would have an added hassle attached to it, forcing you to go on a fetch quest for specific enemies every time you want to learn a new spell.

* The most interesting part of a Blue Mage is the quirky novelty of how they learn enemy abilities, and the fact that they have unique access to some exclusive spells and effects. Once you know all the spells, that novelty ceases to exist, and you're just another class. The class needs to be justified and balanced on the merits of its arsenal in comparison to others. In a single-player FF game, there is no need to worry about whether every character is fairly "balanced" to be viable solo, or that they will always have a role, or whether one character is overpowered. But in an MMO like FFXIV, this is the prime concern.

* FFXIV's system, where you start off as a class and then transition into a Job, does not fit Blue Mage at all. Blue Mage is too different from anything else in the game. It cannot integrate with other classes/jobs at all.

* I'm sorry, but you are never getting Bad Breath. It would be OP. The only way it would exist is if they neutered it beyond recognition. And for that matter, that is also the only way Blue Mage would exist. You would have a "Blue Mage" in name only.