Thank you for making Blue Mage unique!

[WellFooled]

I suspected something like this when they announced it at the Keynote. Realistically, a Job like BLU is simply too difficult to include in any balanced fashion without heavily restricting it to fit the existing Role structure. Those restrictions exist on other classes for a reason.

I am not sure I wouldn't have preferred a BLU modified and restricted as a normal Job but frankly I didn't really think we would ever see true BLU working in a game format like FF14. With game formats like this any role or Job has to have a certain amount of specialisation and BLU is anything but.

"A format like FFXIV" is a mold the developers have forced themselves into without much cause. No other MMO I've ever played, or even heard about, is as so strict, to the point of having zero customization of gameplay. The stats are so boring we don't even look at them, there are no sub jobs, no skill trees, no enchanting effects, no gear with any cool abilities, etc. Absolutely nothing. Every other MMO in existence includes something like Blue Mage in their game. FFXIV can do the same, but for some reason the developers have tied their own hands behind their backs. The result is that truly interesting concepts either don't exist in their game or are pushed to a purgatory on the side like blue mage.

I think they should untie themselves and give us interesting jobs, interesting stats, customization like blue mage offers. They don't need to be perfectly balanced, as all other MMOs are proof of. They just have to be balanced within a reasonable margin to be a success. Blue Mage can exist alongside all other jobs in FFXIV.

[Penthea]

Every other MMO in existence includes something like Blue Mage in their game.

...what? No they don't. I get that you want more customisation for classes but saying every other mmo has something like blue mage is a very long stretch. Have a think about what makes a blue mage so iconic...most mmos do not have this at all.

[Zakon]

I like how a thread which is trying to praise the implementation also contains a hope for it to be playable in relevant group content eventually.

[Lambdafish]

No other MMO I've ever played, or even heard about, is as so strict.

I don't know if you've played those MMOs properly, but they do have an issue with toxicity. You can't actually customise those classes, because those classes will get locked from endgame. In XI, jobs are so unbalanced that there are jobs that actively don't see play because people don't want them. That's something that XIV wants to avoid so that people can main what they want without multiple threads here saying "people don't want my job, fix it", or on the flip side "people are forcing me to play BLU because it's mandatory". When we talk about restrictions and freedoms, is that not just as bad?

Same with WoW, I've heard plenty of horror stories of players quitting because endgame players wouldn't let then participate because they have the "wrong build" or they are the "wrong class"

[Kogasan]

Thanks but no thanks SE. Please scrap your plans for blue mage and try all over again. No one wanted blue mage this way and we know you can do better. So try again next time.

[Penthea]

Same with WoW, I've heard plenty of horror stories of players quitting because endgame players wouldn't let then participate because they have the "wrong build" or they are the "wrong class"

A lot of the time so-called highly customisable class aspects give the illusion of choice. It looks like you have choice but the fact is you don't. There is almost always a cookie cutter way to build a class, and a cookie cutter build for certain content. Of course you could just not do those builds but then good luck finding any decent raid team that will take you.

I'm personally glad to be rid of that crap in FFXIV. It felt so pointless to have "custom class features" that were rarely legitimately flexible.

[SDaemon]

Please scrap your plans for blue mage and try all over again.

No thanks. Please keep it as is SE.

[Lambdafish]

A lot of the time so-called highly customisable class aspects give the illusion of choice. It looks like you have choice but the fact is you don't. There is almost always a cookie cutter way to build a class, and a cookie cutter build for certain content. Of course you could just not do those builds but then good luck finding any decent raid team that will take you.

I'm personally glad to be rid of that crap in FFXIV. It felt so pointless to have "custom class features" that were rarely legitimately flexible.

Me too, and I'm so glad that the concept of BLU hasn't been watered down to meet the XIV formula. This is the BLU people wanted, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Now they just need to gather feedback from 4.5 and expand the role of a limited job in 5.0 (maybe slowely allow dungeon matchmaking, but not raids)

[WellFooled]

...what? No they don't. I get that you want more customisation for classes but saying every other mmo has something like blue mage is a very long stretch. Have a think about what makes a blue mage so iconic...most mmos do not have this at all.

Sorry, poor wording on my part. I didn't mean to suggest that the iconic monster magic abilities of blue mage are present in other MMOs, but rather that gameplay customization similar to what Blue Mages will have in FFXIV in a very common thing in other MMOs.

I don't know if you've played those MMOs properly, but they do have an issue with toxicity. You can't actually customise those classes, because those classes will get locked from endgame.

That's a valid concern for sure, but you can't stop jerks from being jerks. Those sort of issues are already present in FFXIV, even as well balanced as it is. I don't think the game should be so limited because poorly behaved people are going to behave poorly.

[Penthea]

That's a valid concern for sure, but you can't stop jerks from being jerks. Those sort of issues are already present in FFXIV, even as well balanced as it is. I don't think the game should be so limited because poorly behaved people are going to behave poorly.

Saying they're jerks is wrong. You could say the person who refuses to use the optimum build is a jerk because it forces the rest of their team to work harder if they don't.

The game isn't limited because of jerks. I think SE recognise that a lot of mmos have customisable features that are actually locked into very limited uses by cookie cutter builds the community figures out. Having everyone use the same build really makes these custom features pretty irrelevant.