How Blue Mage Could Exist in FFXIV

[Nixxe]

Blue Mage will, of course, be a tank released in whatever expansion let's us go to Thavnair.

Why would it be a tank? It was a slightly more resilient caster. That's it. If you put it in the front row to soak hits with your warrior, you were doing it wrong.

[Dualgunner]

Why would it be a tank? It was a slightly more resilient caster. That's it. If you put it in the front row to soak hits with your warrior, you were doing it wrong.

It's a spellcaster that learns new spells by getting hit in the face. If you're getting hit and you're not a tank you're doing it wrong *looks at MNK and SAM*

But in all seriousness, after the success of RDM I am fully behind the team in any conception they have for BLU, be it fully faithful to the series or not. I feel making it a vengeance based tank would be the best way BLU could fit into XIV, however.

[ADVSS]

It's a spellcaster that learns new spells by getting hit in the face. If you're getting hit and you're not a tank you're doing it wrong *looks at MNK and SAM*

But in all seriousness, after the success of RDM I am fully behind the team in any conception they have for BLU, be it fully faithful to the series or not. I feel making it a vengeance based tank would be the best way BLU could fit into XIV, however.

I have to agree that the easiest way to put the lore into the job would be to make it a tank, though there were some blu like ff characters that either devoured the enemy to learn the skill or use lancet to do it, personally it would be cool for a colored mage to be a tank, the concept being that they get their power from the aether expended upon them, by monsters, or some other spells(absorption/reduced damage taken, up BLU guage), Obviously, like every job in here the skill list will be limited but they could definately make a caster like tank, Only question is the weapon

The look of the FFV original incarnation of BLU looks very tanky with the huge shoulder pads and blue cape, and sunglasses...hahaha well that would be interesting

[Kazrah]

True, however at least FFXIV has fluid physics pretty well down, compared to some. As to other weapons, I'm curious as to what you had in mind.

Given that I had set it from Thavnair and how Thavnair appears to have that Near Eastern theme, the prime choice was the saber, using a martial style of one hand holding the weapon and another hand placed on a sheath at their opposing hip (almost like Samurai) unless they were to dual-wield sabers. The overall goal for that type of weapon was to have a fighting style matching what you would expect of a swashbuckler or anyone using a sword that would not be as effective with thrusting attacks.

Other options included a scepter (effectively a really ornate club), dual sabers, a even a pole at one point. I did consider the whip though, but kept thinking about what sort of style and animations would be required for it as well as what games I had played that had whips or chains as options and preferred more static alternatives.

Before I posted it to the forums, the concept had a saber and a spell focus that looked like a jeweled buckler, then it was just a jeweled pommelguard and then removed completely.

It's a spellcaster that learns new spells by getting hit in the face. If you're getting hit and you're not a tank you're doing it wrong *looks at MNK and SAM*

Once. They learned by getting hit once.

Actually the main reason why I didn't make it a tank was because I never felt like it had enough of a toolkit for tanking. Sure, some examples like White Wind and Mighty Guard (a.k.a. the tank 2-bar Limit Break), but there's really not much more than that. It was also traditionally never that tanky, only being sturdy enough to take just as many hits as any other typical melee job, hence why I kept it to that role and tried providing more support components.

[ADVSS]

Once. They learned by getting hit once.

Actually the main reason why I didn't make it a tank was because I never felt like it had enough of a toolkit for tanking. Sure, some examples like White Wind and Mighty Guard (a.k.a. the tank 2-bar Limit Break), but there's really not much more than that. It was also traditionally never that tanky, only being sturdy enough to take just as many hits as any other typical melee job, hence why I kept it to that role and tried providing more support components.

I have to agree that the vast majority of its spell kit was dps related and debuffing, but now with RDM we're starting to get less needy in that department...hmmm

However in terms of a DD caster that RDM didnt fill, we still have room for one that has more debuffing and buffing than straight res/cure so there could still be room for it as a caster DD...

Thing is I would be shocked to see no tank or healer in 5.0. And given what balance we have now, i would just think wed get a ranged physical if we got a dps(like in HW)

if they held onto the thavnair theme id love to see MSTK make that tank slot as well, but after seeing SAM implemented which all classic iterations show it surely had to be a tank, im not entirely certain that theyd have to go with the aesthetic

And besides M barrier, all of MST toolkit was Up DPS with spell sword, so hmmm

Healer would be pretty odd fpr BLU, but it would be funny fo be rewarded for missing a mechanic

[Kazrah]

Thing is I would be shocked to see no tank or healer in 5.0. And given what balance we have now, i would just think wed get a ranged physical if we got a dps(like in HW)

Oh, I'm more than convinced that 5.0 will bring a tank and a healer. Not because of the lack of players in those roles, but rather due to a necessity to expand on the variety in both of those roles. I doubt we'd get another dps job that soon, but I'd agree that the next one would likely be something ranged.

As for aesthetic, BLU has a couple it could choose from. The FFV and the FFT versions are probably the most notable, with the BLU of the FFTA series most often being the one I kept thinking of when I worked on that concept. Then again, it could be like SAM and break tradition from past games, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing either.

[Souji_Lashtail]

Other options included a scepter (effectively a really ornate club), dual sabers, a even a pole at one point. I did consider the whip though, but kept thinking about what sort of style and animations would be required for it as well as what games I had played that had whips or chains as options and preferred more static alternatives.

Before I posted it to the forums, the concept had a saber and a spell focus that looked like a jeweled buckler, then it was just a jeweled pommelguard and then removed completely.

Hm. Cool ideas, though I'd say the swashbuckler aspect has been swiped by RDM. Going off of the Thavnairian alchemist theme, perhaps a whip-blade, ala Seven of Type-0? Something that fits that they're alchemists and tinkerers?

[Kazrah]

Hm. Cool ideas, though I'd say the swashbuckler aspect has been swiped by RDM.

Not as much as you'd think, mostly because pirates and anyone using cutlass-style or tulwar-style blades never used the formal fencing style used by RDM.

We would just have to realize this isn't like 11 or the single player games, if you want BLU, know your skills are already set in stone of when and how you learn em.

This is pretty much what I was getting at with how Blue Mage would learn spells in FFXIV. Cutscenes to show the character getting hit by the monster ability, then getting images of how the monster uses the ability and then using that same ability against the monster. As for the Bad Breath example, I think I had it as an cone-based dot effect because it needed something extra in the AoE damage department.

So basically you aren't interested in an actual blue mage and are just so giddy over the idea of some random class called a blue mage being included that you'll happily take whatever is dumped in front of you.

It's called readaptation, because if devs followed your standards of logic, then we'd never have anymore new jobs.


As for everyone else, thank you so much for your suggestions! I'll definitely keep working on the concept with at least the majority of them in mind.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Why would it be a tank? It was a slightly more resilient caster. That's it. If you put it in the front row to soak hits with your warrior, you were doing it wrong.

If it wasnt getting hit by the blue magic, it wasnt learning magic.
If you had it only in the back row, then you ran out of MP solely casting, rather than meleeing to save on MP when you can.
(If you kill something in a single hit with a melee strike, there's no reason to waste MP unless you need to, or it saved u MP in healing, in cases like AoE, or enemies requiring more than 1 hit to kill, and you aim for their elemental weakness.)
This also applied to RDM.
Why people bothered to cast spells on RDM, outside of healing between fights, is beyond me. It's just easier to melee. (Even more so in RDM case, when they cant AoE, but BLU commonly had potent AoEs for early/mid levels)

Also dont know why you wouldnt use mighty guard as BLU either.

But imo, the only way to both give heals/buffs/dmg/ranged/aoe to a single class, w/o either being broken, or discouraging them from using only 1 type of spell, is to be a tank.
RDM is discouraged from using cures, since it is a DPS loss for its intended role. (obviously fine in easy content)
Healers are going to be using heals more, and with the current changes, they will be doing less dmg, except in easier content, or when there are 2 healers.

PLD has ranged nukes, AoE spells, Single target and AoE weapon skills, self heals, and buffs.
It can pretty much already play like a BLU, except its self cures are a detriment to its ability to tank outside of easy content.

(which is why I'd personally change how White Wind works, so it wouldnt be a DPS loss, or liek DRKs blackest Night, at least have a means to make up for its DPS loss, with a "Catch up" mechanic)

[Kazrah]

Also dont know why you wouldnt use mighty guard as BLU either.

Probably because Mighty Guard is already implemented in the game as the tank 2-bar Limit Break. I'll give some time to let people go look that up.