JUST FOR DISCUSSION: How would YOU make BLU a normal job with rotation

[Kaiserdrache]

Would redesign it as DPS Class like Redmage, just with more support options from its 28-32 Base Skills id give it and a more Spellblade oriented gameplay that Redmage originally has but is focused more on spells to copy BLM n WHM, than actually a true Spellblade as Combat Mage.
I'd change the Weapon from a Rod to a Dual Blade Staff, literally Zidanes Weapon Type from FF9 late game weapons, when he changes from Daggers to that.

Base Skills would be

- Enfire, Enwater, Enfrost, Enstone, Enwind, Enthunder - Elemental Blade Spells to change the effects of your Basic Attack Skills > Azure Slash, Azure Slicer and Azure Flash/Bomb

- Exfire, Exwater, Exfrost, Exstone, Exwind, Exthunder - Elemental Armor Spells, that change your Combat/Movement Behavior based on which element you use and chang effects of your self heal/defense skills.

That alone makes already 16 Skills for the Base Set with a very high versatility in combat based on how you combine the 6 elements for offense n defense.

Other Base Skills would be:

- Analyze > Weakens Target Defense for a while and increases the chance for you to deal critical hits
- Quadra > The next Base Skill is performed 4x in a row but costs all your MP, potency is increased for each skill performance by 100.
- Azure Blast > An AoE Burst with Ground Target to place.
- Ether Control > Regain back some MP for the cost of some of your Beast Spirit Bar, that you use to perform Beast Spirit Skills from slayed monsters, starts with 50.
- Ether Refresh > Self Heal/ Condition Cleanser based on how much Beast Spirit Progress you victimize. Charge Skill, Effect on Button Release.
- Spiritual Ritual > kind of like Brotherhood, ally actions grant you Spirit Energy, but instead of Attack, Defense is boosted by 5 percent for all types of damage.
- Spiritual Bond > A support skill towards allies, which changes temporarely Single Target Skills to AoE Skills and lets Magic Spells that are already AoEs instead cost lesser MP, for a very munimal cost of your Spirit Energy for each skill performance.
- Azure Sphere > A ranged AoE DoT Shot of condensed magic that explodes in a sphere, dealing DoT to everything standing in the sphere.
- Blade Stream - A gap closer LoS Attack.
- Ether Wall > Create a defensive Barrier Wall that reduces frontal damage by the amount of Health the created Wall has, when you stand behind. Allies can attack/shoot through it without problems.
- Eruption/Quake > An Earth AoE Spell, performable while under Enstone, without it's the weaker Eruption.
- Whirlwind/ Tornado > A Wind Spell, performable while under Enwind, without it's the weaker Whirlwind.
- Geysir/Aqualung > A Water Spell, performable while under Enwater, without its the weaker Geysir.
- Heatwave/ Inferno > A Fire Spell, performable while under Enfire, without its the weaker Heatwave.
- Deepfreeze/ Shockfrost > An Ice Spell, performable while under Enfrost, without its the weaker Deepfreeze.
- Lightning Ball/ Chain Lightning > A Lightning Spell, performable while under Enthunder, without its the weaker Lightning Ball
- Spirit Unleashing > Activate Beast Spirit of Choice and perform a Monsters Signature Skill, due to them not anymore spammable, they can be designed to be more impactful.

Thats together alreader 33 skills quickly, took me not alot of time to come up with them.

[Ceasaria]

Blue Mage could have a normal job rotation without a problem.

We could design him around the idea he is an entertainer (kind of Magician ?) in Masked Carnival.
Why couldn't he plays the "games" theme ? We could associate him with a Gambler too, then.
I don't have the full kit in my head but I think he could have a mechanic where he turns a wheel and get 3 skills he has to use in the right order to benefit effects and maximize potency.
In fact, it would use games and randomness from Gambler to spawn Blue Mage skills to use efficiency together or in a special order, something like that.

[Videra]

Who says a job needs a rotation?

This galaxy brained statement is making my frontal lobe ache.

To answer you, basic design. Every single class in the game has an opener (or set of openers, in some case), and a rotation to follow through with because human beings will always find the correct and most optimal means of playing their class in an MMO. Even spamming frost bolt in Vanilla WoW was considered a rotation.

[Raikai]

I was thinking just about that... And had some really "ambitious" ideas. The aetherical mimicry spell would put you into a specific role, thus flagging you as either tank/dps/heal. When you do that, only specific spells to that role would be available. It would be a MAJOR commitment for them to tune a job like this though.

Maybe a meter would be good, but I really thought about the "resource system" being an elemental wheel, inspired on the Eureka one, that you rotate using your "filler" spells, and choose the stronger spells based on the opposite element of the wheel, or something like that. This would do well with the apparent lack of "theme" on the job's flavor, since it brings all sorts of different spells.

[Deceptus]

They have 80 skills. It's not hard to make 25 dps oriented, 25 Tank oriented, and 25 healing oriented with 5 for fun/flavor. 24/25 spells seems to be the sweetspot range SE wants each job to have (controller limitations yo)

At their simplest form:

Every dps job needs a basic 123 combo attack, 2 aoes, and some buffing / utility

Example of 123 combo: Dropsy > Northerlies (Freeze debuff on mob even if not frozen) > Dragon's Voice (remove freeze)

Every tank job needs basic emnity combo, 2 aoes, a ranged attack, and some defensive utility

Heals need 1 dot, 1 basic attack, an aoe damage, 1 basic heal, 1 big heal, 2 aoe heals, and a bit of mitigation.

I mean, it's not THAT hard to imagine how BLU could function as all 3 roles.

[LineageRazor]

My desire is to see BLU as a job sitting shoulder to shoulder with other DPS jobs. So, no equipping spells, no shifting between roles - no fancy pants, pie-in-the-sky anything. I don't want to buck the system, or make something new or "special" that the game doesn't already have. I want BLU to be just another in a long list of DPS jobs available, but the crucial difference being that I don't WANT to play DRG, or MNK, or BRD - I want to play BLUE MAGE!

So, what would BLU have?
- The now-standard two-step aoe combo. Aqua Breath -> High Voltage would work great for this. The synergy of debuffs enhancing the effects of other spells was one of the few cool things they did with the BLU that they gave us, and a DoT like Dropsy is one that I could see actually sticking around if BLU went mainstream (see MCH's Bioblaster).
- The standard, single-target combos could play off this concept, as well; perhaps a two- or three-step combo to inflict a buff which enables the comboing of a second, dps-focused combo until the debuff wears. The actual specific Blue Magic spells used in these combos are more-or-less irrelevant, but should be flashy and preferably include some classic BLU spells like Goblin Punch.
- The entire roster of Blue Magic would consist of no more than twenty blue magic spells, all of which would be available at all times, and not need to be "equipped" to use.
- BLU's kit would include a few job abilities to enhance them (for example, something like "Azure Lore: 10 sec duration, all Blue Magic spells are instant-cast and recast is reduced by 20%" or "True Blue: The next Blue Magic spell cast will deal critical damage")
- "Chance to learn" can die in a fire. All spells would be learned with 100% guarantee, so long as you are on the mob's enmity list when it uses the ability and still alive when the mob dies.
- Flying Sardine is here to stay. It is the best thing to happen to Blue Mage in the history of Blue Mage. Fite me.

[Brightshadow]

They have 80 skills. It's not hard to make 25 dps oriented, 25 Tank oriented, and 25 healing oriented with 5 for fun/flavor. 24/25 spells seems to be the sweetspot range SE wants each job to have (controller limitations yo)

At their simplest form:

Every dps job needs a basic 123 combo attack, 2 aoes, and some buffing / utility

Example of 123 combo: Dropsy > Northerlies (Freeze debuff on mob even if not frozen) > Dragon's Voice (remove freeze)

Every tank job needs basic emnity combo, 2 aoes, a ranged attack, and some defensive utility

Heals need 1 dot, 1 basic attack, an aoe damage, 1 basic heal, 1 big heal, 2 aoe heals, and a bit of mitigation.

I mean, it's not THAT hard to imagine how BLU could function as all 3 roles.

They don't have enough cooldowns to tank, as for healer they would probably need some emergency ogcd spells.

[ReiMakoto]

As of this update, their DPS rotation is actually pretty structured and nice and i wouldnt mind them making full job out of that, needs more for tank and healer though

[RyuDragnier]

As of this update, their DPS rotation is actually pretty structured and nice and i wouldnt mind them making full job out of that, needs more for tank and healer though

With the Aetherial Mimicry and the spells that get buffed if the buff is tank/healer, I do think they're already on a good road for that. Here's hoping they do more spells like these for the next BLU level update.

[Moonlite]

If BLU was to be a reg job, it would have to work like a reg job. Instead of open world farming you would have a quest and go get X skill from quest and be done and the kit would be pre-planned. While people would like both ways (classic blu and playable) and would be great if they could.



I think the player base needs to decide. Do they want a classic BLU limited job, or do they want homogenized BLU playable job. Does anyone truly see another option with the current SE mindset?