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[Blueyes]

I think Yoshida's heart was in the right place when designing Blue Mage, but I disagree with the execution. Many people seem to think it had to be one extreme or the other. It had to be either this or a reskin of Black Mage. That no alternative, or middle ground, was or ever will be possible. That is simply untrue.

The latest interview gave some perspective into Yoshida's view pertaining to Blue Mage. You'll notice that the primary reason as to why Blue Mage has been limited isn't because of spells that are too powerful for normal play or the possibility of Blue Mage functioning as a tank or healer. Those points were touched on briefly, but they come across as byproducts of Blue Mage being limited rather than the reason as to why it was limited in the first place.

The real reason why Blue Mage has been limited is because of the learning mechanic. And that, quite frankly, is SE forcing players to play how they see fit. Players would feel bad when kicked from a group because they lack spells? Let's solve that problem by not allowing Blue Mage to queue with random people. Players aiming for world first raid clears would have to put in extra work compared to other jobs? Let's solve that problem by removing Blue Mage from the raid scene entirely. Those are not proper solutions.

I also find it ironic when people talk about how Blue Mage will improve the open world experience when Blue Mage has been actively discouraged from participating in one of the few open world activities that exist: FATEs. I get that many players aren't a fan of FATEs, but will grinding basic, open world enemies be better? It would be something different, but better? And again, this is SE forcing Blue Mage to be played how they see fit. Why penalize players who want to level up through FATEs? What purpose does that even serve?

To summarize SE's logic: