Don't like Blue Mage? Here is how to convince SE to change it...

[Extreme]

But I do like it.
The game needs more solo content. I'm very welcoming of the idea of limited jobs.

Hate to be that person, but isn't this a multiplayer game?

[Alien_Gamer]

It is an MMO. It's also irrelevant to the fact that sometimes people want to do things by themselves. Not everything needs to be group content in an MMO.

[Jollyy5]

While I was a bit disappointed that BLU isn't a normal class, I still think that it's better than nothing.

I was expecting 2 new classes to be added in Shadowbringers, but instead we essentially get two and a half, which more than what I expected.

I was always worried about FFXIV team using the exact same formula for every patch and every expansion, but I'm sort of glad that they are at least trying to implement something new, and who's to say BLU will forever remain a limited class? Wouldn't be the first time the developers have changed their mind over something. The way I see it, this Blue Mage could serve as a "beta-test" of sorts, if it's in the game, that's already a step to the right direction.

[ChocoFeru]

We need more limited jobs.

I wish Summoner was a limited job as well. A true Summoner, and not this disgusting "warlock with a pet" job that we got now.

Hope BLU works, so we will get a true Beastmaster that can charm monsters to fight for him, instead of a generic BST job that has a melee rotation + pet (boring).


All my support for BLU, will enjoy it!

[Reynhart]

I wish Summoner was a limited job as well. A true Summoner, and not this disgusting "warlock with a pet" job that we got now.

Fun fact, in most FF games, Summoner is only a flashier and more mp-expensive Black Mage (Not sure people would like a "faithfull" FF summoner)
But, in most games where Summoner actually has a real "pet", the party literrally go away to let if fight solo. So in a sense, maybe it should have been a Limited Job.

[Shurrikhan]

I suppose they started their BLU concept expecting it to fit XIV's mold at first. If they ended with that version of BLU, I'd assume that it's because they didn't find a way to make a traditional job work while retaining the core concept of BLU.

I see no reason to assume that they started with aims to create a combat-ready BLU, and -- as naive or egotistic as it may sound -- suspect shortsightedness if they honestly could not find a way to make a "true" BLU work as a content-ready job.

Sure, they could have made BLU learn their spells via monsters in quest, like other jobs did, but I'm not sure people would have really liked that.

This has nothing to do with BLU being made content-ready. All other jobs could as easily have their skills learned through RNG methods in the open world and specifically designed content and it would not remotely affect their ability to be matched into content. At worst, without merely sane guideposts or requirements, they would underperform when missing certain skills relative to having them, but competency variation already exists in far greater amounts based on simple player ability alone, even in a guaranteed skillset. (Hell, perhaps with a bit more agency in the acquisition process, and more difficult solo content included in the process, people might bother to read their tooltips and understand what rotations work and why, indirectly decreasing the variation in player performance in leveling dungeons.)

At best, they could have made you chose the order of the spells (14 spells for 14 quests and you pick one of them at each quest). Their is also the issue BLU is frequently massively overpowered in every game it appeared on.

But, it hasn't been. Certain skills have been incredibly powerful in the right contexts, but BLU itself has not been overpowered in "every game it appeared on".

They also commented on how not having the appropriate spells might result in being kicked, but, for me, it felt like overdramatizing. After all, you're not forced to do your job quest right now, so you could end up with a tank not having all its skills (True story when I ran Coil, our WAR forgot to unlock Infuriate ).

For now it can at at best be a "hero class". Allow it to progress through the latest expansion only after another job has already reached level cap, and attach simply attach a warning to it that job acquisition is an additional responsibility. Signal in the Recommended Duties and/or Actions & Traits pane when one may unlock a further action. Done. They were warned.

You'll probably end with FF frequent issue with debuffs. The only mobs that would be affected significantly by them are those that you can kill without those effect easily. Especially if BLU is the only job to have expanded CC.

Not unless you do a poor job of it. The steps to create a balanced defensive debuff are both simple and universally beneficial.

1. Allow for dynamic cooling rates, rather than solely reduced recast times. You can think of this as the difference between the old Spear card, which worked only before abilities went off and affected each varying recast time by a percentage -- varying in flat amount -- and what would affect the recast times if cast after usage and would, after its effect time, reduce each recast time by the same flat amount, maintaining sync.
2. Give debuffs actual potencies. This is multiplied by the caster's relevant stats and effects just as damage would be. It is cast on an enemy and...
3. Calculate percentile through the formula 20 times debuff "damage" divided by in-nominal-duration generative mob damage. This refers to how much damage the mob is recharging every second within the debuff's stated duration.

Modifications specific to Slow and Blind. (Slow and Blind do not include avoidable damage in its in-duration generative damage calculation.

• Calculate the damage that would be dealt for the original strike. Do not inflict.
• Calculate the damage that was dealt for the real, delayed/blinded strike. Inflict.
• Reduce duration of the remaining Slow/Blind debuff as if adding the difference between the second and first to the in-duration damage. (In this way the effect is accounted for only if it makes an actual difference.)

Benefits of such a change:

• A more effective and engaging Blood Price mechanic, a slew of Defiance mechanics, and a fair bit of stuff to be done with Shield Oath and maybe even Samurai's parry, Monk's earth stance, and Ninja's shadow and wind techniques.
• Literally every debuff can be used in-combat to produce up to roughly twice* its would-be damage as damage prevented, regardless of whether it's on a mob or boss. The greater the damage effected, the lesser and/or shorter the effect. Given same mob damage per second, the lesser the duration, the greater the percentile. (*Can be adjusted.)

[Beckett]

DON'T GIVE THEM MONEY

It would take an enormous amount of players quitting the game at once to get them to change BLU to a group job in an attempt to lure people back. It's a number so large that it's completely infeasible to ever expect it.

DON'T PLAY THE JOB

It's incredibly unlikely that this would cause SE to rework BLU for group content. Their modus operandi for failed content is to ignore it and pretend it never happened, not to make improvements. The best you could say about the 'ignore the job' method is that it would prevent them from making new limited jobs. BLU would still be screwed though.

SE has already put a ton of effort into making this solo version of Blue Mage, and they have a road map already planned out for at least the first few patches of Shadowbringers, if not the entire expansion (Yoshi-P said BLU would be getting its level cap raised over multiple patches after 5.0). Maybe, maybe they would do a massive overhaul of the job in 6.0 or 7.0, but like I said, the MO of the dev team is to ignore and forget, not improve.

I think the most likely decent outcome for BLU is if it is seen as popular in its current form, and the devs see that there's a reason to keep supporting it and making it better. It'll never be the group job that I and others wanted, but at least it'll be something.

Of course, this boycott discussion is moot anyway. We're just theory crafting here, because nothing we decide to do in this thread is going to make any difference. If the job is fun, people will play it. If it's not, people won't. The devs will respond accordingly to either situation.

That being said, I think anyone who does want to quit the game over BLU being a limited job, or anyone who is going to avoid playing BLU for that same reason, is perfectly justified. I totally get not wanting to pay for a game that's creating content that you don't want, or just ignoring that aspect of the game. But it's an unfortunate reality that neither of these choices are going to turn BLU into a group job. At least not any time within the next couple of years.

[JohnSpawnVFX]

Hate to be that person, but isn't this a multiplayer game?

Are you in party every single second of your online time? Do you all submit mini cactpot tickets as a party? When one of you wants to craft something, do you all craft the same thing together?

See how the "this is a multiplayer game" point is silly?

[Estelle9lives]

What people who are defending the current state of Blue Mage doesn't seem to get is that no one would complain if they added more solo content/wanted to try something new.

But not at the cost of making one of the most requested jobs from the fanbase a mini-game/a half-job that can't even do current content proper. A job you can't even main - that's a real slap in the face for all the people who were looking forward to it. The current implemantation outside of maybe the Masked Carnivale (which is still a gimmick) also sounds like "Overworld Eureka" to me, as you'll have to go around killing a truckload of trash mobs to level/get their skills. Truly fun content.

Personally I didn't even care about BLU as a job and I'm still disappointed, and the fact they seem intent on making MORE limited jobs makes me afraid of things to come. I know for sure I'm not touching BLU with a 10 foot pole unless they make it into a full fledged job.

[Reynhart]

I see no reason to assume that they started with aims to create a combat-ready BLU, and -- as naive or egotistic as it may sound -- suspect shortsightedness if they honestly could not find a way to make a "true" BLU work as a content-ready job.

I'm pretty sure you could suggest your own view of BLU and it would be received "too powerful"/"too weak"/"not faitfhull" complaints at the same time. It's not that easy to create such a versatile job.

All other jobs could as easily have their skills learned through RNG methods in the open world and specifically designed content and it would not remotely affect their ability to be matched into content.

First, it would have affected their ability to be useful in content. What would happen to unlucky DRKs that couldn't manage to "drop" their Blackest Night "accreditation" ? And BLU is built upon running around seeking monsters, the other jobs are not. Remove that from BLU and you have simply another hybrid mage.

competency variation already exists in far greater amounts based on simple player ability alone, even in a guaranteed skillset.

Yes, more the reason to not add another opportunity for underperforming. Like I said above, be unlucky enough that you can't drop that one mandatory skill and you're screwed. And the people you're paired with in matchmaking are also screwed.

(Hell, perhaps with a bit more agency in the acquisition process, and more difficult solo content included in the process, people might bother to read their tooltips and understand what rotations work and why, indirectly decreasing the variation in player performance in leveling dungeons.)

In theory, you're right, but seeing what they did with most jobs in SB, it doesn't seem to be the direction they want for their playerbase.

But, it hasn't been. Certain skills have been incredibly powerful in the right contexts, but BLU itself has not been overpowered in "every game it appeared on".

You're right. White Wind and Angel Whisper are overpowered in the context where you need healing. Bad Breath is overpowered in the context where mobs is not immune to status ailments...Blue Mage is so overpowered that they dediced it was worthy a being a Limit Break in two games. There is also something else to consider. BLU frequently has access to more elements that BLM, frequently limited to Fire/Ice/Thunder. In a content where elemental weakness has been removed, BLU would lose that specificity.

Debuff calculation

I won't lie, it sound extremely convoluted...and it also point how silly "speed" is actually calculated in this game, since your Slow wouldn't actually "Slow" the target.

Benefits of such a change: [LIST]A more effective and engaging Blood Price mechanic, a slew of Defiance mechanics, and a fair bit of stuff to be done with Shield Oath and maybe even Samurai's parry, Monk's earth stance, and Ninja's shadow and wind techniques.

Problem is, at that point, you're not just creating a new job, you're changing lots of formula in the game. A game that is purposefylly streamlined to be available for a broader audience.