Add Blue Mages Already

[Tanathya]

Dual wielding swords alone is not a blue mage trait, but combined with that sort of spell set, it's too similar to not be a blue mage.
Just like how Astrologian is too similar to time mage.

And I'd certainly welcome a blue mage that uses other weapons, (in fact my own proposed blue mage interpretation uses a gunblade) but if this class were made, then we would not get a blue mage period, dual wielding or otherwise, because there would already be a class too similar to it.
Too similar to include a separate blue mage class, not similar enough to appease blue mage fans.

I'm not against the idea of this sort of class, at all. But because of it's similarity to blue mage, it would be pointless to deny that similarity.
That should be embraced instead, make it a full on Mystic Knight/Blue Mage combo, like Astrologian has embraced time mage.

Not necessarily, they could very well make it a gun mage, much like they did in FFX-2. Or something new, since BLU is, again, the most flexible job of the whole series by default. That's the whole point.

[Derio]

I honestly want to know what jobs they will release in the next expansion. But most importantly what roles. They said they arent doing 3 job releases ever again so we will get 2. But at the same time they said adding in new tank and healer didnt increase their numbers as expected so we really dont know what they will add.

I do know if they add in 2 more dps, the tank and healer communities are going to be furious, myself included.

Blue mage is often seen using a mace( blunt weapon type).

Not sure on making it a tank.

The one thing I am uncertain on is how blue mage will be implemented as blue mages learn abilites from enemies which makes you wonder what abilities will they choose

[kidalutz]

I wanna see Blue Mage But I also want to see Dancer and maybe a chemist.

[Jandor]

But at the same time they said adding in new tank and healer didnt increase their numbers as expected so we really dont know what they will add.

I do know if they add in 2 more dps, the tank and healer communities are going to be furious, myself included.

That tank/healer line really annoys me. What did they even mean by it?

So, because DRK/AST didn't increase role numbers people playing those roles just shouldn't expect new jobs?

If proportion of tank/healers didn't change then surely neither did DPS, seems that it follows on that there is 'no point adding DPS jobs' as well?

[Tanathya]

I'd definitely add chemist in a healer role.

[Seraphor]

I honestly want to know what jobs they will release in the next expansion. But most importantly what roles. They said they arent doing 3 job releases ever again so we will get 2. But at the same time they said adding in new tank and healer didnt increase their numbers as expected so we really dont know what they will add.

I do know if they add in 2 more dps, the tank and healer communities are going to be furious, myself included.

Blue mage is often seen using a mace( blunt weapon type).

Not sure on making it a tank.

The one thing I am uncertain on is how blue mage will be implemented as blue mages learn abilites from enemies which makes you wonder what abilities will they choose

Job quests could be easily be focused around getting hit by certain abilities.
They simply script the enemy into using a unique version of the skill you learn after getting them to a certain HP threshold.

It's not the same mechanic as in XI or as fulfilling, but it carries the lore on.

Conversely (or in addition to) it's job mechanic could be centered around taking hits to power it's blue mage spells, similarly to DRKs ability to gain MP via taking hits.
So you can see how it would work as a tank, a similar mechanic already exists in an existing tank job.

When looking at the most common blue mage spells it's easy to see how they'd work in a tank roll.
White wind is a unique healing spell (typically healing up to the same HP as the character using it) that could have a calculation that works as tank utility, something like an AoE clemency. (it could heal up to the same percentage of HP as the tank, so the healer can focus on keeping the tank alive, then the blue mage tank pops a White Wind cooldown to bring everyone in range up to his level)
Mighty Guard is already a tank limit break, but could be replicated via its own shield skill.
Spells like mind blast, magic hammer, blaster and bad breath, all providing debuffing and could also work as enmity generators.
1000 needles is just begging to be their staple AoE pulling skill, while Matra Magic could be the ranged pulling skill.
Then the unique flavour of elemental spells like aqualung, electrocute, etc, could differentiate from other elemental spells on the existing coloured mages by making them enmity generators, or the blue mage tank's high level AoE attacks.

Meanwhile, if you make it a healer, you're only going to be utilising a couple of classic blue magic spells and inventing a bunch of White Wind alternatives to fill in the gaps, and if you make it a DPS it'll just end up being a Red Mage clone with a few different utility spells and a slightly different job mechanic.

A Blue Mage as a tank would basically be a Dark Knight, but with more focus on utility and mitigation than HP and MP maintenance, and with their damage mainly coming from the big ticket spells while their bread and butter weaponskills are a little weaker to compensate.

Personally I think the next expansion should introduce a new Tank and Healer (with the Tank being Blue Mage) and then the expansion after than can be free to introduce another two DPS.

[Rongway]

But at the same time they said adding in new tank and healer didnt increase their numbers as expected so we really dont know what they will add.

We can speculate all we want as to the reasons why AST and DRK didn't have the draw that they expected, and we'll never really know for sure. But I maintain that an important part of it is that AST and DRK were too much like what we already had. Surely there are people out there who would like to heal but who don't like the glittermage archetype, who would like to wear something fiercer than dress robes and pope hats; or people who would like to tank but would like to rely on evasion, illusion, or mysticism rather than living inside a metal barrel and swinging a big sword.

This is why even if we ignored or modified the lore, we still can't have, for example, GEO (CNJ with a bell); necromancer (more dress robes, just darker); or an armored SAM variant (another armored job with a big sword).

We need something totally different from what we already have, and what we don't have yet is a a DoM tank and a DoW healer.

[kashi11]

DoM Tank - Blue Mage
DoW Healer - Dancer

Something I wish we could get is a TP based healer with a style similar to Alchemist from FFX-2. Using items to heal and guns to attack. But we have alchemist as a DoH already :/

[Aerori]

Just skimmed this thread, but I'm really glad that I'm not alone in wanting a DoM tank/DoW healer.

The day they implement a caster tank is the day I'll take up a tanking class.

[Biridan]

I don't know much about ff11 blue mage. I didn't even know they had one until this thread. The blue mage weapons I remember is khimari/Spear. Gau/claws. Realm/paintbrush.