Blue mage at patch 4.5

[Powercow]

Which is why they decided to try and keep the iconic aspect of BLU. But that required it being put aside from the current roster, and it getting dedicated content, because FFXIV doesn't work with elemental weaknesses and all that stuff BLU is mostly about.

Wha- no, no it's not. Blue Mage is literally, and only ever has been, about learning skills from enemies and then using it back at them. Every time Blue Mage has shown up, it has been slightly different (or radically, in the case of Enemy Skill materia) than its previous incarnations. Sometimes it requires using an item to learn the skill, sometimes you need to kill the enemy, sometimes you need to eat the enemy, sometimes you need to be hit with the skill... but the one constant is that you learn skills, then use them. FFXIV is going with the see-it-kill-it approach, which is fine, that fits the mold.

But FFXIV Blue Mage isn't even really Blue Mage. Were BLUs ever super duper flexible godtier OP characters that couldn't be used in the rest of the game? No. They never have been. (Yes in 11 they were pretty damn strong, but they weren't so strong the devs barred them from current content.) This is a change in design from what Blue Mage has been to something radically different for FFXIV. If anything this version of Blue Mage has *less* in common with every other version outside of that one time the job became an item.

[Cidel]

I had a long response typed-out for how this whole BLU situation feels to me, but it's kind of hard to articulate. So I just finished deleting that essay (for another thread, some other time perhaps...) and I'll do my best at just consolidating my opinions with much shorter, to-the-point statements.

I am somewhere between disappointed and dull surprise with how they are handling Bluemage. Disappointed, because (thus far) nobody can ever say "I'm a BLU main" or play it in relevant content with randoms due to restrictions of the status of being "limited." Dull surprise, because while actually letting BLUs collect spells outside of job quests, of course they'd turn around with a big "BUT-" because them leaving it at that would actually require extra work and balancing. One interview with Yoshi-P a while back even foreshadowed this because he didn't know how to make such a thing with XIV's limitations.

I think restrictions they had to impose on their chosen "vision" of BLU highlights the underlying issues they designed themselves into regarding their battle content. The fact that they think BLU as they designed it would have access to too many "overpowered" spells that they're only willing to allow it in largely irrelevant content makes the whole job sound like a glorified god-mode undersized party mode for the duty-finder. It was their choice to give BLUs access to those potentially problematic spells/abilities in the first place.

I appreciate them having BLU be able to go and collect their spells on their own, but if that was the only way they felt comfortable designing the job's identity after turning BRD into an archer-archetype with limited buffs with flashy music-based flair and SMN being delegated to only 3 unique summons (with no new egis of the other iconic summons- even aesthetically, from ARR launch all the way to the coming-end of this 2nd expansion) but suddenly a strong affinity to Bahamut (and only Bahamut)... then as of now I dunno what more to say about them. It doesn't feel like a new job, it's a sideshow that apparently is designed with game-breaking spells and the freedom the job is designed with permits too many possibilities for bad/new players to apparently ruin group content and they don't want to take steps to make stopgates to moderate/prevent it (as of now).

[Sandpark]

Wha- no, no it's not. Blue Mage is literally, and only ever has been, about learning skills from enemies and then using it back at them. Every time Blue Mage has shown up, it has been slightly different (or radically, in the case of Enemy Skill materia) than its previous incarnations. Sometimes it requires using an item to learn the skill, sometimes you need to kill the enemy, sometimes you need to eat the enemy, sometimes you need to be hit with the skill... but the one constant is that you learn skills, then use them. FFXIV is going with the see-it-kill-it approach, which is fine, that fits the mold.

But FFXIV Blue Mage isn't even really Blue Mage. Were BLUs ever super duper flexible godtier OP characters that couldn't be used in the rest of the game? No. They never have been. (Yes in 11 they were pretty damn strong, but they weren't so strong the devs barred them from current content.) This is a change in design from what Blue Mage has been to something radically different for FFXIV. If anything this version of Blue Mage has *less* in common with every other version outside of that one time the job became an item.

The difference between offline FF Blue and online ones is Blue can play multiple roles in an online game. In FFXI the power did not matter as much because many jobs were OP in certain content. Also you did not have a duty finder dictating what you could or could not enter in group content with. In XIV, the roles are very strict so if Blue stayed true to it's core it could be a tank, healer, or DPS in XIV which says the rule is one role for party content.

Could it be worked around? Sure, but then those OP abilities would be omitted or nerfed beyond high hell. I mean when someone wants to play Blue, is their wish to learn skills from trash monsters in the open world? In XI, most spells were learned from trash monsters in the open world. But many of those trash monsters were actually dangerous depending on your level. There is no open world danger in Eorzea.

• Level 50 Blue: I am fixing to go learn my epic spell!
• Bystander: Where do you learn that?
• Level 50 Blue: I have to go to Rathefrost and fight Plasmoids!
• Bystander: Do you need help?
• Level 50 Blue Mage: Umm, I don't think so?

I remember joing an alliance of Blue in XI to go learn certain spells before the cap was raised past 75.

Edited:
I don't know if you played XIV when some of the relic had unique trials for artifact armor and relic weapons. I think Blue Specific multiplayer content is so everyone else needing it has a good reason to go help you.