Blue Mage might actually be a good thing.

[Astarotha]

i love the overall setup and i love the absolute pimp that is BLUM, but i do have reservations about it being removed from df, a decision that wont impact asia or japan almost at all where everybody uses pf, but here where its "USE DF, PF'S FOR UNSYNCED STEAMROLLING YEAH!!!" i think theyre holding back blue needlessly

they have many ways of balancing content at their fingers simply by looking at the other classes in the game and about where similar abilities sit on potency like what does a cone aoes potency look like? if that cone aoe has an added effect, how much does the potency drop? if we make it more expensive to cast or give it a CD does that balance by raising the potency or adding more/better debuffs? there is a modicum of work there but i dont think most of their abilities will be so utterly different from anything that has ever happened in the game before that its got nothing to compare against

as for specialty spells that ARE vastly different like lvl 5 death, this is an RPG, not only that, its Final Fantasy, contractual immunity is damn near expected on bosses, to find a boss that ISNT immune to stun all the time actually feels like an accomplishment, not only that, we do come into this game as an MMO expecting some things not to work like they might in other FFs as well, like cheesing phantom train by casting raise or throwing a phoenix down at them (because you cant target enemies with items or healing spells with one exception), so having some things like bosses and undead being just completely immune to any DEATH styled spell makes sense not only from a conventions of the genre standpoint but also from a lore standpoint (death spells work a certain way, and creatures strong enough or that dont have what the spell destroys are just simply immune or take a small amount of damage)

as for "THE META" assholes, big surprise theyre assholes that will kick a competent blam because they died once due to being just outside the healers aoe just before a roomwide attack, wholl lock sams out of pf no matter how good they are, who grind the game down to a TAS level machine, theyre not who i want to play with, and guess what, most of those people arent using DF anyway unless its ex and theyre just as likely to drop party because they dont like how much tp the brd has after the first wall pull, please dont let those jerks completely curtail the ability for us to main BLUM in roulettes and have a little fun while also moving toward cap

i dont think the dev team has failed, i just think theyre giving too much weight to their hangups and once they have a ton of play data after 4.5 im hoping they can find any major balance issues that need addressing and once those are addressed then they can prepare blum for being considered a full job

[Ilenya]

They can't use it anyway if they can't play it. Better to have something than nothing.

That's just it, though. There are actually people on the forums saying it'd be better if BLU wasn't released rather than having this sort of system. People *cannot* be happy with this, and SE could not win.

[MomomiMomi]

That's just it, though. There are actually people on the forums saying it'd be better if BLU wasn't released rather than having this sort of system. People *cannot* be happy with this, and SE could not win.

It would be better. Because then the possibility of them bringing a BLU that can actually be used still remains in the cards. This eliminates it.

[Ilenya]

It would be better. Because then the possibility of them bringing a BLU that can actually be used still remains in the cards. This eliminates it.

"Better to have something than nothing"

[MomomiMomi]

"Better to have something than nothing"

We can't use it. This is nothing.

[Elerus]

That's just it, though. There are actually people on the forums saying it'd be better if BLU wasn't released rather than having this sort of system. People *cannot* be happy with this, and SE could not win.

One is never going to please everyone, but SE absolutely could have chosen a different path that would satisfy the majority - keep the solo content (hell expand it and add it to other classes too! This game does need more original content) for Blue Mage and give them a curated skillsket that would let them participate in the game. If Square was a little mom and pop studio operating out of a garage in California I would cut them some slack. But, they're a multi-billion dollar international company and it bewilders me that we get the "we just can't do it! Muh dev time and creative space" excuse. Ultimately they are here to deliver a product, and it should be the best product and cater to the most of their consumers as possible.

In short I think we could have our cake and eat it too here. Even if it takes longer, even if Blue Mage launches in this initial state and Square has to say, "Yeah, give us until the middle of 5.0 and we can collate all this data and expand on Blue Mage as an actual class and refine the solo aspect, too!" That approach would at least hint at continued support and evolution, instead we are presently looking at another batch of side-content that Square does not have a good track record of supporting long term.

[Ilenya]

We can't use it. This is nothing.

Of course we can't. It's not out yet.


But saying it can't be used is a complete lie. It can be used. In everything? Obviously not, the level cap is 50. But it still can be used in things.

One is never going to please everyone, but SE absolutely could have chosen a different path that would satisfy the majority - keep the solo content (hell expand it and add it to other classes too! This game does need more original content) for Blue Mage and give them a curated skillsket that would let them participate in the game. If Square was a little mom and pop studio operating out of a garage in California I would cut them some slack. But, they're a multi-billion dollar international company and it bewilders me that we get the "we just can't do it! Muh dev time and creative space" excuse. Ultimately they are here to deliver a product, and it should be the best product and cater to the most of their consumers as possible.

Nope. As noted, people would be complaining that it didn't play like Classic BLU, or that you couldn't choose the Blue Magic you wanted if SE forced a set on you. SE couldn't win, so they went with what they wanted.

[Desudro]

I think I've finally been able to piece together what it feels like for someone who was 100% fully intended on changing their main job to BLU the day it came out and doing all the content - dungeons, raids, trials, 24-mans, EVERYTHING. Imaging this scenario:

You tell your father that you know it will be a challenge, but you really want to go to this super expensive restaurant for your birthday (players begging for BLU). After some time, his friend lets slip that he's going to finally take you and it's going to be a bit earlier than your birthday as a surprise (the leaks a few months ago). You're all excited and he FINALLY officially confirms that it's coming, but he's putting a limit on it - you can only have a $50 entree because it is expensive after all (Friday of Fanfest). Then, the day you go to the restaurant, they bring you the menu...and its McDonalds (Saturday of Fanfest).

[MomomiMomi]

But saying it can't be used is a complete lie. It can be used. In everything? Obviously not, the level cap is 50. But it still can be used in things.

The amount of things we can use it for is greatly outnumbered by the things we can't. We can't even use it for MSQ. That's like, the bare minimum of what a job should be able to do. They're going to raise the level cap, but will it ever even reach the current one? I have my suspicion they'll be keeping it 10 levels behind.

[Ilenya]

The amount of things we can use it for is greatly outnumbered by the things we can't. We can't even use it for MSQ. That's like, the bare minimum of what a job should be able to do. They're going to raise the level cap, but will it ever even reach the current one? I have my suspicion they'll be keeping it 10 levels behind.

NIN/DRK/AST/MCH/RDM/SAM cannot be used for all the MSQ, they must be useless.