BLU for Duty Finder and Raids! Show your support!

[BillyKaplan]

making it work for group content would require scraping everything they have and starting over.

That is absolute rubbish. There are content modes already in the game that go to town with your skills and your hotbars. PvP and the deep dungeons at least. They don't need to touch the BLU solo experience, I admit it's fresh and interesting, and a good time sink for enthusiasts of the job. But the only thing stopping them from making it a 'proper' job seems to be the two misconceptions they brought up in fanfest which people have torn apart in this thread alone repeatedly. It's not a matter of 'can't', it's a matter of 'won't'.

Pretty much this.

Show me the person who asked for BLU so they can't play it in over 90% of the actual game. People aren't complaining about its rendition, they're complaining about a popular job being added as side content.

[Seraphor]

Don't normally post on the forums. Coming here to show my support for this.

I wasn't particularly hyped for Blue Mage, but I hate what it represents. That solo content will be locked to specific, solo content only jobs. That those jobs won't be able to do anything but their unique solo only content. That they might add other jobs to this new system in the future.

I don't want the hype of every new job announcement to be blunted by the fear that it might be another limited job.

On the other hand, we were never likely to see more than 2 new jobs per expansion, this "limited job" allows for more jobs to be added.
In addition to our 2 expansion jobs we can also get other jobs that dont fit into the system.

Possible future limited jobs?
Mime or Puppet Master seem to fit the bill to me.

[Seraphor]

Show me the person who asked for BLU so they can't play it in over 90% of the actual game. People aren't complaining about its rendition, they're complaining about a popular job being added as side content.

Erm... 90% of the game is 'old content' the people dont play anymore.
People have been clamouring for a reason to play old content.

You could just, not get Blue Mage at all...

[Zafran]

#Unlimit_BLU

After RDM i had really high hope they can make BLU work in this game. It still can, but they came up with unconvincing excuses not to do it. If you dont put the effort into acquiring the skills needed, you shouldnt expect a party invite. And the LV5 response? Bosses dont get stunned, slowed, or silenced. Why should they get insta killed now? Come on square enix!

Lock duty finder and party participation after unlocking certain skills needed to join. We are already limited to 24 actions only, so cant get overwhelmed.

We have been waiting for so long to play this job. And you are giving us a triple triad job instead, where you release 2-3 new skills each patch for us to "collect"

[Oreos]

Long, heartfelt, possibly stupid ramblings coming in the next few posts. It can't all fit in one, so I apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

This is my very first post on these forums in all my time of playing this game since back in 2.0. Normally I'd just shrug off a poor design choice and do my best to work with it. But I can't do that here.

I remember thinking back at the launch of 2.0 "I'd love to see BLU implemented here." I watched with baited breath every single live letter or press event in some hope beyond hope for this job that I truly love. I remember the whole Spiderman/Sam Raimi conspiracy theory and clung to that desperately. When Samurai was announced instead, I was disappointed, but I knew that Blue Mage would eventually be a job.

But this is not the Blue Mage job. This is the battle content equivalent of Triple Triad. I honestly don't doubt that it will be enjoyable side content. But it's side content. I haven't dreamt of a Blue Mage job since literally the launch of the game so that I could play solo in an MMORPG. I dreamt of the day that I'd be able to raid with my static with the job I have loved throughout literally every iteration within the Final Fantasy franchise.

Through every game with a Blue Mage archetype, I have played Blue Mage. The theme of obtaining strength directly through combat with enemies just struck a chord with me. I will freely admit that the ability acquisition they have described is WONDERFUL. When I saw that I would start at level 1 and have to truly grind my way through all my spells, I was giddy. But what am I going to do with these spells? Why am I doing this work? I can't stay silent when an idea I've loved since I was a child is relegated to a single-player experience in an MMORPG.

[Oreos]

If I knew that Blue Mage being implemented this way would only be temporary, I would honestly have no problem with it. This is a job that has had a history of incredible utility and versatility, and finding a way to properly incorporate that into a rigid Holy Trinity MMO like 14 is a vast undertaking. If you needed the time between 4.5 and 5.0 to properly test the job, balance the skills, and collect feedback from the community, I would have given such an incredible amount of respect for the dedication being shown. Hell, even if it took until 6.0, I'd still support it, although with less gusto. But you have effectively told this playerbase that has begged for Blue Mage for years that we do not get to play it like we do other jobs because you just don't want to deal with the hassle.

Imagine if this was how they implemented Red Mage: "Having access to swordplay, healing white magic, and destructive black magic is too complex for group content. Please enjoy this solo experience."

Or for Summoner: "Summons would be too large and bulky in a group, so you're only going to be able to play this job in the overworld."

But no, they didn't do that. They adapted the CORE FLAVOR of each individual job into a working adaptation for the MMO environment. I find Red Mage too simple to truly enjoy, but their kit consists of dashing swordplay, heals and resurrections, and powerful black magic. They kept the flavor of the job intact and made sure it worked in the context of group play. The Summoner Egis may be a little small and goofy, but the core motif of gaining power through these imposing and mighty avatars and summoning their spirits to do battle alongside you is still there.

[Oreos]

They have kept the fantasy of all these jobs alive while still incorporating them into a group environment. Why can't the same be done for Blue Mage? We're already restricted to 24 actions set at any given time. Yes, I know that eventually a particular set of 24 actions would be found that offered complete optimal damage capabilities. But a particular rotation has been developed for every other job the game, and that hasn't forced any other jobs to be unable to complete raid content. That's completely fine. Expand upon that idea and limit the potency of certain actions in group content. No, I do not think Bad Breath should inflict poison, blind, silence, sleep, and slow on Omega. But if you change it to instead provide a damage over time and possibly a slight increase to damage taken or decrease to damage dealt effect on bosses, the CORE FLAVOR of the spell is kept. I don't think Angelic Whisper should provide all of my party with auto-reraise, but I do think it could function as a defensive cooldown that provides mitigation or healing to the group. Please understand that the extreme effects of the spells do not need to remain unchanged. You just need to capture the spirit of the job and its history.

I also need to address the absurdly condescending "justification" that people who play BLU without all their spells would be removed from raids, so you just shouldn't let BLU raid. You are effectively saying that because the job has a high barrier to entry for optimal play, it should just not be allowed in situations where optimal play matters. You are completely disqualifying people from even having the opportunity, because why? It would be a grind to gather all the spells? I think we're all fairly comfortable with a grind at this point in the MMO market.

You could have made this work. You could have established particular spell requirements that people would 100% have to have in order to do raid content. You could have toned down the potency or absurdity of certain spells to fit into raid content. But you didn't, because it was too complex, or difficult, or time-consuming, or people might be a little mean if you didn't gather all the spells. You could have made this work, and it is so incredibly insulting and disheartening that you didn't try hard enough.

I have looked forward to Blue Mage in 14 since 14 was announced. To know that I will NEVER be able to live that dream I had of playing Blue Mage alongside my friends as we progress through raid content fills me with such sadness and disappointment the likes of which I have never experienced in a video game. As a life-long fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, I implore you, with every fiber of my being, to reconsider your design choice and find a way to implement Blue Mage properly within this game that I love.

[BillyKaplan]

Erm... 90% of the game is 'old content' the people dont play anymore.

And that's why it's tucked away in roulettes... BLU can't access.

People have been clamouring for a reason to play old content.

Which they still could've kept in place while still letting BLU be a regular job, I don't see the contradiction.

You could just, not get Blue Mage at all...

When they keep adding content to the game, and people are constantly told not to play it if they don't like it, and you rarely see content that's well received... what a time to be alive. Also you completely ignored the point I made so I'm guessing you have no real counter to it.

[Granyala]

Why am I doing this work? I can't stay silent when an idea I've loved since I was a child is relegated to a single-player experience in an MMORPG.

It is not.
You can do the content in preformed parties.
You simply cannot use automated matchmaking.

Really do not see the problem here. Get a few friends and convince them to drag your butt through the content. They won't care if your DPS isn't up to snuff compared to other classes. Dungeons & normal trials shouldn't be a problem.
I doubt BLU can be strong enough for EX/savage, you might want to steer clear of those.
I am sure there will be groups whacky enough to take a BLU along there too. ^^

Given the freedom players have with this job, it is a good decision to restrict matchmaking (they could allow low level matchmaking though b/c low level stuff is easy as f*** anyway) instead of forcing all BLUs into FOTM abilities so they can compete.

[Zakon]

this "limited job" allows for more jobs to be added.

In the worst possible way. We basically get them, but don't get them at the same time. A limited job means that job will never be usable in content that people enjoy doing as a group in an MMORPG, because now it's a limited job.

When people say they'd rather have gotten nothing than this implementation of Blue Mage, this is what they mean. They'd rather hold on to the hope of eventually getting a playable Blue Mage, than one which is locked to content they can only play by themselves.

It is not.
You can do the content in preformed parties.
You simply cannot use automated matchmaking.

In outdated content that people could breeze through by choosing to de-sync anyway. Based on what they were saying during the live letter, it is unlikely BLU will ever be playable in current content, because it is designed as a solo job and not fitting for parties.