How Blue Mage Could Exist in FFXIV

[Claire_Pendragon]

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.

I was refering to games outside of FF14.

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.

BLU had to survive all the hits it took.
This required putting up buffs to make them even more resilient than some of your other party members.
(Of course a Knight with Might Guard on them would take less dmg, but in the end, its like a 20% difference or less)
Depending on the FF, BLU were some of the tankiest mages in the game.
BLUs in FFTA were unkillable with Damage MP on them, as they regen MP every turn. Even if you hit them for 999999999999 they would survive if they have 1 MP, as u cant harm their HP until all MP is gone.
BLU in FF5 were tanky with buffs
Blue Magic in some FFs made some tanky buffs for everyone
BLU in FF explorers is insainly tanky with buffs.
BLU in FFXI were able to tank better than PLDs in most level ranges, with only a small handful of exceptions, again, with buffs.

I never bothered with Strago, to see how good he could ro couldnt be. Mainly because he wasnt built for melee.
Quinna or w/e shes called in 9 started off weak, but became tanky later on. She definitely wasnt a hard hitter, or a good healer, thats for sure. (But didnt go far with her either.)

BLUs have been everything at one point or another.
They have never been JUST a healer, JUST a DPS, Just a tank through out the series.
They usually do excel at one thing, with a mild amount of support at the other things.
(Similar to RDM.)

The ONLY reason you dont use BLU for soaking hits in melee range, is because it requires wasting turns buffing them.
In an MMO/real time combat, everything is different.

This is why they worked as tanks so well in XI and FF explorers.

Which, once again, in FFXIV, they could quite literally be anything, if they so choose, but I would personally rather see them in the tank spot.