Quote Originally Posted by Yasuhiro View Post
"I want the Blue Mage to be dumbed down because this game has babied me through linear progression and it's out of my comfort zone"
Gotcha?
Who said anything about WANTING this? I cheerfully lapped up every BLU spell in FFXI, even the ones that I knew I'd never, ever use. Time and again, I've been disappointed at how babying FFXIV tends to be.

In spite of that, though, FFXIV is still a fun game that I enjoy. It's why I still play. A lot of the old staple Final Fantasy jobs have changed a lot from what can dubiously be called "tradition" - but those changes are something I look forward to with ANTICIPATION, not DREAD. I'm genuinely fascinated to see how the old staples will evolve to fit within the framework of this game, rather than prepping my pitchforks and torches to storm the castle as soon as a job fails to live up to my unreasonable expectations. What will FFXIV's take on <insert whatever here> be?

And do some jobs fail to live up to my expectations? Sure. I was really hyped for Machinist, but was let down by how similar it was to Bard (and both jobs became a whole lot less fun with Wanderer's Dirge and Slow-ass Barrel). Edgar would be sad. Summoner, on the other hand, I actually find to be MORE fun than previous Summoner incarnations, enough that I don't even mind the distinct lack of flashiness.

Each Final Fantasy game has had its own take on the various jobs introduced throughout the franchise. Sometimes, there are similarities, sometimes the jobs are radically changed. THAT is what it truly means to be "traditional" in the Final Fantasy sense - each game is its own entity, with only a few references to tie it to previous installations of the series. Don't like how this particular game handles your favorite job? That's too bad; maybe there will be something more to your liking in FFXVI.