Thank you for making Blue Mage unique!

[Skyskip]

Good news then, there are already 15 jobs in the game for you, and more coming in 5.0, please look forward to it.

NB. That is partially sarcastic by the way, but I do feel that complaining that Blue Mage (and its content) is a waste of time because you don’t like it (and don’t see the potential) is like complaining that Savage / Ultimate is a waste of time, or that crafting and gathering is a waste of time, or that Gold Saucer is a waste of time, or even that Eureka, as bad as I personally think it is, is a total waste of time (as opposed to something that could be improved).

Hey guess what? None of those 15 jobs are BLU so your point is irrelevant.

The only power I have as a customer is complaining and not paying. I am going to fully utilize that first power until the last power is the only thing I have left. It's not a waste of time because there's always a chance complaints will be heard and the job will be adjusted. You can keep trying to snuff out my complaints but I promise you that I will outlast you.

[Acidblood]

Hey guess what? None of those 15 jobs are BLU so your point is irrelevant.

The only power I have as a customer is complaining and not paying. I am going to fully utilize that first power until the last power is the only thing I have left. It's not a waste of time because there's always a chance complaints will be heard and the job will be adjusted. You can keep trying to snuff out my complaints but I promise you that I will outlast you.

If being able to dress up and play as a job called 'Blue Mage' in current-tier content on day-1 means that much to you then fair enough... I just find it more than a bit disturbing that we finally get something genuinely new, finally get a job that breaks the mould and stays true to its identity, and can participate in some new and interesting sounding content to boot, and the general reaction is 'delete it, I'd rather be able to do the same old duty / raid grind for the 16th time, only this time wearing a blue cape and casting abilities called bad breath / white wind / etc.'

[Skyskip]

If being able to dress up and play as a job called 'Blue Mage' in current-tier content on day-1 means that much to you then fair enough... I just find it more than a bit disturbing that we finally get something genuinely new, finally get a job that breaks the mould and stays true to its identity, and can participate in some new and interesting sounding content to boot, and the general reaction is 'delete it, I'd rather be able to do the same old duty / raid grind for the 16th time, only this time wearing a blue cape and casting abilities called bad breath / white wind / etc.'

New is not always good. And this isn't good. 5 year old content isn't interesting, but guess what? If you want to do that so much, go stomp on it with your level 70 classes and don't ruin BLU in the process.

[Fyce]

Pretty much. Blue Mage is my favorite job in the series by a long shot.

Then you should be happy that they made it stay true to itself rather than having a dumbed down version with the vast majority of its iconic skills being stripped of everything that makes them fun (such as crowd control, status effects, level based skills, random silly stuff, elemental weakness system, etc.).

Gatherers and crafters help you make money and support yourself.
DoM/DoW classes have a purpose in any form of content and are not restricted.
BLU is restricted and is only partially playable and doesn't interact like a normal class would revolving around RNG and can't even level to do the new xpac.

It's not hard to see why BLU is a side attraction like Gold Saucer that doesn't engage in any other content besides the limited content it can do so why can't I play it like any other class? That makes it pretty useless.

Fisher cannot participate in the kind of gathering the other classes do. It also has a gameplay of its own, as well as content of its own.
BLU is to battle jobs what FSH is to gathering classes. Yet, nobody thinks that's a problem.

Besides, you should be careful about calling side-content "useless". Especially when playing a theme park MMO that is absolutly filled with that kind of content.

New is not always good. And this isn't good. 5 year old content isn't interesting, but guess what? If you want to do that so much, go stomp on it with your level 70 classes and don't ruin BLU in the process.

Funny to speak about "ruinning BLU" when you are the one who want a job which has very little in common with that iconic class. You'd prefer it to be butchered and shoehorned into that mould to the point that it'd be an insult to its identity rather than having it stay true to itself but not being able to run your Expert roulette with.
Also, I love how you deliberatly ignored the actual new content coming up specifically and exclusively for it by implying that it'd only do "5 year old content". You are in such denial and hate that even a single positive aspect is too hard for you to recognize. Impressive.

[Valdegarde]

Then you should be happy that they made it stay true to itself rather than having a dumbed down version with the vast majority of its iconic skills being stripped of everything that makes them fun (such as crowd control, status effects, level based skills, random silly stuff, elemental weakness system, etc.).

Don't you dare tell me what makes Blue Mage fun for me. This is not it. Never once did I take joy in finally learning Grand Delta as Strago to just kick everyone from the party and go repeatedly use it on level 8 things for giggles. On the flip side I never cared that Degenerator or Bad Breath didn't work on Ultimecia, because I finally earned Shockwave Pulsar and could use that.

Stay true to itself? You're kidding me. This is as far as it gets. You might have your own opinion of Blue Mages, but I have mine too. And mine isn't satisfied with a ghost of a functional job just for the sake of preserving perceived novelty aspects.

Go back and play FFV and use Roulette over and over just to amuse yourself, I'd rather actually have a job capable of using Grand Delta, Nova, Cry in the Night, Aqualung, etc. in important fights alongside the rest of the party. Did you know Aqualung was non-elemental in FFV? I don't think hitting elemental weaknesses is as integral to Blue Mage as you think it is.

[Fyce]

Don't you dare tell me what makes Blue Mage fun for me. This is not it. Never once did I take joy in finally learning Grand Delta as Strago to just kick everyone from the party and go repeatedly use it on level 8 things for giggles. On the flip side I never cared that Degenerator or Bad Breath didn't work on Ultimecia, because I finally earned Shockwave Pulsar and could use that.

Stay true to itself? You're kidding me. This is as far as it gets. You might have your own opinion of Blue Mages, but I have mine too. And mine isn't satisfied with a ghost of a functional job just for the sake of preserving perceived novelty aspects.

Go back and play FFV and use Roulette over and over just to amuse yourself, I'd rather actually have a job capable of using Grand Delta, Nova, Cry in the Night, Aqualung, etc. in important fights alongside the rest of the party. Did you know Aqualung was non-elemental in FFV? I don't think hitting elemental weaknesses is as integral to Blue Mage as you think it is.

FFIV
Bloodfeast - Minor non-elemental damage to one enemy in addition to the Sap status.
Bad Breath - Inflicts multiple status ailments to one enemy.
Constrict - Inflicts Paralyze on one enemy.
Slap - Inflicts either Paralyze or Curse on one enemy.
Blaster - Inflicts either Paralyze or Death on one enemy.
Stone Gaze - Inflicts Gradual Petrify on one enemy.
Stone Touch - Inflicts Gradual Petrify on one enemy.
Hex - Inflicts Pig status on one enemy.
Glare - Inflicts Confuse on one enemy.
Wing Scales - Inflicts Blind on one enemy.
Tongue - Inflicts Sleep on one enemy.
Bile - Poison damage on one enemy.
Gaze - Inflicts either Confuse, Sleep, or Paralyze on one enemy.
Sleeping Gas - Randomly inflicts Sleep on one or all enemies.
Poison Gas - Randomly inflicts minor non-elemental damage and Poison on one or all enemies.
Curse - Randomly inflicts Curse on one or all enemies.
Pollen - Minor non-elemental damage to all enemies in addition to the Sap status.
Flamethrower - Minor Fire-elemental damage to all enemies.
Blaze - Fire-elemental damage to all enemies.
Frost Blast - Ice-elemental damage to all enemies.
Lightning - Thunder-elemental damage to all enemies.
Earthquake - Non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Thermal Rays - Non-elemental damage to all enemies.

23 skills. Only 2 of them are about dealing straight non-elemental damage. The rest are skills with status effects and elemental properties.

FFV
Doom - Kills one enemy after 30 seconds.
Roulette - Kills one random ally or enemy.
Aqua Breath - Deals non-elemental damage to all enemies. Deals 8 times the damage to desert enemies.
Level 5 Death - Kills enemies whose levels are a multiple of 5. Ignores death resistance.
Level 4 Graviga - Casts Graviga on enemies whose levels are a multiple of 4.
Level 2 Old - Inflicts Old on enemies whose levels are a multiple of 2.
Level 3 Flare - Casts Flare on enemies whose levels are a multiple of 3.
Pond's Chorus - Inflicts Toad on one target.
Lilliputian Lyric - Inflicts Mini on one target.
Flash - Inflicts Blind on all enemies.
Time Slip - Inflicts Old and Sleep on one target.
Moon Flute - Inflicts Berserk on all allies.
Death Claw - Reduces a target's HP to single digits and inflicts Paralyze.
Aero - Deals Wind-elemental damage to one or all enemies.
Aera - Deals Wind-elemental damage to one or all enemies.
Aeroga - Deals Wind-elemental damage to one or all enemies.
Flame Thrower - Deals Fire-elemental damage to one enemy.
Goblin Punch - Deals non-elemental damage to one target. If the target's level is same as the caster's level, deals 8 times the damage instead. Ignores row positions and weapons' special effects.
Dark Spark - Halves the target's current level.
Off-Guard - Halves the target's Defense.
Transfusion - Sacrifices the caster and fully restores one target's HP and MP.
Mind Blast - Deals non-elemental damage while inflicts Sap and Paralyze to one target.
Vampire - Absorbs HP from target and restores caster's HP.
Magic Hammer - Halves target's MP.
Mighty Guard - Grants Protect, Shell, Float to the party.
Self-Destruct - Kills caster to deal non-elemental piercing damage to one target equal to user's current HP.
???? - Deals non-elemental piercing damage to one target equal to caster's Maximum HP minus their current HP.
1000 Needles - Deals 1000 damage to one target. Damage cannot be reduced.
White Wind - Restores HP to party equal to caster's current HP.
Missile - Reduce target to 1/4 of its current HP.

31 skills. None of them deal non-elemental damage without some sort of gimmick attached to it (ie Aqua Breath, Goblin Punch and 1000 Needles for example). The rest is ALL about status effect, support, level based, or gimmicky.

FFVI
Doom - Inflicts Doom status on target.
Roulette - Randomly select a single enemy or party member, including caster, and inflict Death on them.
Tsunami - Deals Water-elemental damage to all enemies.
Aqua Breath - Deals Water and Wind-elemental damage on all enemies.
Aero - Deals Wind-elemental damage on all enemies.
1000 Needles - Deals exactly 1000 damage on single target. Ignores defense.
Mighty Guard - Casts Protect and Shell to the party.
Revenge Blast - Deals damage on a single enemy equal to caster's maximum HP minus their current HP.
White Wind - Heals all party members including caster an amount of HP equal to caster's HP.
Lv.5 Death - Inflict Death on all enemies with a level that is a multiple of 5.
Lv.4 Flare - Inflict non-elemental damage on all enemies with a level that is a multiple of 4.
Lv.3 Confuse - Inflict Confuse on all enemies with a level that is a multiple of 3.
Reflect??? - Inflicts Blind, Slow, and Silence on all enemies with Reflect status.
Lv.? Holy - Deals Holy-elemental damage on all enemies with a level that is a multiple of last digit of the party's current gil.
Traveler - Deals damage on target equal to number of steps taken throughout the game divided by thirty-two.
Force Field - Chooses a random element and nullifies all attacks of that element, regardless of user.
Dischord - Halves target's level, reducing its stats. Fails on targets immune to Death.
Bad Breath - Inflicts Blind, Poison, Imp, Confuse, Sleep, and Silence on one target.
Transfusion - Caster is removed from battle, restores a single ally to full HP and MP and cures all status ailments.
Rippler - Target and caster exchange all positive and negative statuses. Fails on targets immune to Imp.
Stone - Deals non-elemental damage and Confuse on one or more targets. Deals eight times as much damage on targets the same level as the caster.
Quasar - Deals non-elemental damage on all enemies. Ignores defense.
Grand Delta - Deals non-elemental damage on all enemies. Ignores defense.
Self-Destruct - Caster kills self and inflicts non-elemental damage equal to their HP on a single enemy.

24 skills. Only 2 of them are about dealing straight non-elemental damage. The rest is similar to FFV with status effect, support, level based, etc.

Do I need to continue? I don't think so. Oh and, you forgot to say, when taking Aqua Breath as an example, that is was a skill that was more effective against "Desert enemies", making it quite close to an actual elemental spell exploiting some weaknesses.

It's fine if you dismiss roughly 95% of Blue Magic just to focus on pure damage, but don't come saying to me that this is what a Blue Mage is all about.
I absolutly don't care if two or three moves are OP damage blasts. The fact is that absolutly everything else isn't.

You don't like Blue Mage. You like high damage spells. Go play Black Mage, they already have that.

[Lambdafish]

You don't like Blue Mage. You like high damage spells. Go play Black Mage, they already have that.

Thank you for summing up my frustration with people's wants for BLU. It's a far more gimmicky job than people give it credit. Hell, in FFVII, it was a gimmick materia in its entirety, and in FFVIII it was a limit break gimmick, rather than a job with identity.

What people seem to want is a job with BLU moves without anything that gives BLU it's classic identity. I know they have done it with other jobs in the past, with BRD being a fancy archer, and DRK not being HP drain, but these jobs have more identity through songs and darkness respectively, BLU doesn't have that.

Like you said, if you want a job that uses high damage magic from BLU, what makes it different from BLM?

[Arrius]

You don't like Blue Mage. You like high damage spells. Go play Black Mage, they already have that.

Also, balancing gimmicky spells in FFXIV outside instanced places wouldn't be possible anyway, since the complexity of the game is very low compared to other titles.