How Blue Mage Could Exist in FFXIV

[Nixxe]

It all depends on what you consider to be core to Blue Mage.

In my opinion, as long as it's a job that learns monster abilities and uses them as a core mechanic, it's a Blue Mage. The specifics of HOW they learn them are VERY flexible. With those requirements, it would be EASY to fit a Blue Mage into this game.

Others have a MUCH longer list of requirements for Blue Mage, many of which are specific to only a few or even just one of the other games in the franchise. Some insist that a BLU must be struck by the ability to learn it (this shows up in some FF games, but notably not VIII, XI, X, or XI). Some insist Blue must have hundreds of skills of which you can equip only a limited number at a time (this trait is unique to ONLY FFXI BLU). Some insist that you must be in combat with the monster to learn the spell (this was not a requirement in VIII; you could acquire the blue magic item without Quistis in combat and feed it to her later). Some say that learning a spell should be up to RNG - that you only have a CHANCE to learn, even if the mob uses the spell (this is found in only XI, and arguably VIII since the blue magic item only has a chance of dropping).

BLUs have a rich and varied history in Final Fantasy. The core nature of their job has never changed, but the implementation has changed, often radically, from game to game. It would have its own implementation and identity in FFXIV, as well; whether that implementation will suit your tastes depends a lot on what you believe is essential to a Blue Mage. Just be aware that what you consider to be essential is not necessarily what others do - and if what you consider to be essential is flat-out incompatible with the way jobs are implemented in this game, well, you will be disappointed. Frankly, though, your being disappointed is a small price to pay if the alternative is to leave BLU out of the game entirely.

FFV introduced blue mages and provides the framework for them. They are casters that learn mob abilities through getting punched in the face by them and half of the fun of blue mage is trying to figure out what can and can't be learned and then coming up with creative uses to do wonky and sometimes broken stuff. Anything else, whatever you call it, is not a blue mage. I really couldn't care less what other people think. They're free to be wrong as they continue to ask for something more akin to a feral black mage than a true blue mage.

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)

Getting punched in the face doesn't make them a tank. As I said earlier, they were only slightly more resilient casters. They weren't going to soak hits like your warrior.