Blue Mage Design by Tyrian Jabberwock

[mikanana]

Personally I want blue mage to break the mold by being a caster tank.

I thought mages in general had a shit of a HP, if they're going to do it I hope they do it in a witty way

[Shiroe]

agree, Blue Mage should be a caster tank

in MAIN-tank stance, play more or less like most tanks, but with some exclusive designs..

in OFF-tank tance, play like a caster (cant attack from afar, with some caster advantages.. and maybe disadvantages, like its best move is very stationary / cast time).., buy give it an instant "teleport to the other tank" move

[Shiroe]

CAN attack from afar'

[GDofLevin]

Thanks but it gets even better would you like to see more?

[Jellybums]

Are you doing this as a hobby or you pitching an idea? Just a suggestion, write the blue mage's selling points in three bullet points, like making an elevator pitch. Then if that makes the reader curious, they will read through your content. Right now I have the foggiest idea what a blue mage does other than it uses beast abilities it picks up and what exactly that translates to in the game, dunno so I don't know if I wanna play it.

Anyway, is your class inspired by Eastern European lore? If you noticed, places/items/clothes design in FFXIV are inspired by real world places/cultures and I haven't seen much influence from Eastern Europe. Your class might make a good addition to the game if so.

[GDofLevin]

I am simply pitching this idea and no its not a hobby. I genuinely wish to give FFXIV something back for saving my artistic skills. Blue Mage is my first attempt. If you'd like more info I currently have on said class, if you'd like to help me work it better, send me a link where I can send said info.

[Sylvain]

My only concern with blue mage is the gear sharing. Assuming we keep it as a mage in cloth, It would be the only tank not using the usual str vit tank gear, so it would need it'd own gear category, cloth with possibly int and appropriate defensive stats such as tenacity.
Now, ff14 doesnt need more gear category, it is painful enough to have DRG and Nintendo with their own gear slots.
So what could they do?

[Zeldert-Castiel]

I've talked to my twins about this (she's a tank mainly and she took all three existing ones) and she really want to take Blue Mage if it ever come out.

The thing is, as far as I know casters and healers need cast time before attacking because usually tanks will give direct attacks (without cast time). This might be a trouble if BLU actually need cast time while DPS attack first.

And about the weapon, I may not know about the previous FF but I love your concept. And the blue aura around the tank is a nice personal trait for BLU.

How about a combination weapon like RDM?

[matthatter56]

Personally I want blue mage to break the mold by being a caster tank.

Or since Blue Mage learns spells they could do all 3 roles depending on what spells they choose to learn. But after a certain level you would be locked into a role unless you spend GIL to reset.

[Claire_Pendragon]

I thought mages in general had a shit of a HP, if they're going to do it I hope they do it in a witty way

BLUs stats varry from game to game, but in most games their HP is roughly closer to that of a THF/RDM, and most of their spells do more dmg with higher levels of HP.
Followed by STR/INT/MND/MP/Lv as secondary stat modifiers.

Of course theres no point in trying to fight as BLu w/o your defensive buff spells alongside your offensive buff spells enhancing your effectiveness.
(Essentially the best way to describe BLU, is to say that BLM is the single target burst DPS, and SMn was the AoE Burst DPS casters. Then RDM was the single target Jack of all Trades, and BLU was the AoE jack of all trades. Though, again its dependent on the FF.)

My only concern with blue mage is the gear sharing.

Personally if I was in charge, I'd just make the changes.
Though SE might not be willing to make the changes to gear.
So I do agree it's an issue that could make them say "nah, let's do something else instead"

The thing is, as far as I know casters and healers need cast time before attacking because usually tanks will give direct attacks (without cast time). This might be a trouble if BLU actually need cast time while DPS attack first.

I don't see a problem with cast bars.
(1) PLD has cast bars for their primary dps, and it hasnt hurt them.
(2) DRK has a ranged spell thats instant cast for starting fights, and a ranged AoE spell that generates threat.
(3) Personally think the cast bar could be reduced or removed occasionally while in tank stance at the cost of dps, but in DPS stance the cast bar returns with the spells normal potency.
(4) 0.5s casts can be interrupted on occasion, but usually dont. Plus the moment u press the button, you can start running, and u cant interrupt the spell from finishing, unless your playing on a japanese server or have some low ping like that.

Another personal change is that I would make a trait for the actual "Cast" of the spell to actually lower incoming damage DURING the cast.
So you could almost forgo the tank stance for BLU all together.
Give BLU its haste spell, to make your GCD the same as a MNK/NIN/SAM
But when MTing, Just have spells with longer cast times, to keep yourself in a state of casting. Because the cast time is 2.5s instead of 2s, your GCD clips. (These spells also have enmity modifiers)
Make spells that are 0.5s but have a much steeper MP cost, and wont hurt your GCD DPS.
Your rotation will include a method to refresh your MP, such as adding in WS between spells, but since you're not casting, you're mitigation drops, and these spells and WS dont have threat modifiers.

You essentially use the old WAR system of "Attack with the right WS to "create a stance", rather than just prepop a stance.