Late to the BLU Party

[Mibgestalt]

So if Blue Mage comes out, but a ton of people don't start leaving the game, would you concede that it wasn't as big a misstep as people are making it out to be?

No? You're picking a single sentence out of what I said in regards to your post and only focusing on that is pretty disingenuous, and makes it seem like you don't really have anything to say on my other points, but I'll humor you.

I don't think most people consider it a "huge misstep". I don't think that many people considered RDM or SMN a "huge misstep", you made that claim, not me. The thing is, people that love FFXIV are probably going to play FFXIV anyway. People that love Blue Mage are probably going to play Blue Mage anyway. However, that doesn't change that they feel like the limitations placed on Blue Mage are unacceptable, or that they're not a missed opportunity. Also, unlike RDM or SMN or any other job, the limitations placed on Blue Mage will continue to affect its development and relationship with the content in the game moving forward, so I doubt it will ever "die down" completely.

I could make an equally (pointless) question to you in return, even though it's just as disingenuous. If Blue Mage comes out and its shown not to increase the playerbase over a normal content patch, or retain the playerbase longterm, would you concede that Blue Mage was a failure? If this solo design proves no more valuable to the game that a normal job? See, it's not really a meaningful metric, but you're the one who honed in on missteps and reaction as a metric of value.