Quote Originally Posted by JiSH View Post
i think for BLU to be normal job we really have to throw out the current skill system, cause if BLU have options to choose from a pool of skills unlike other jobs who only have a set one, it'll be a lot harder to balance and unfair to the other jobs. i think it's a good idea to just streamline the whole thing and make BLU like every other job who only has a set of skills, sure it's not as flexible as the current BLU, but that's what ffxiv is always about, streamlined skillset, which is not a bad idea, it'll fit in in the current job concepts as a normal job.
If you streamline Blue Mage to only have a set of skills it just defeats one of the main concepts of Blue Mage where you can pick and choose spells. We could let them have at least 6 different combos (one of each element or mixed), kinda like the egi glamour system. As for the AoE though there still can be a combo but the AoE has to have at least 1 of each type of AoE ranging from Fan, Cone, Donut, Circle, etc. In all honesty I doubt rotation is the way to go for Blue Mage rather I feel we should go with Red Mage or Black Mage way, I mean they are still a rotation in a sense that you cast Fire III and when you finish the fire rotation to swap to ice and then back to fire. I mean like let them free form their spell casting, you can just spam a couple of the same spell and with the job gauge it can be a build up kind of gauge only this time the more the gauge has stored points the powerful spells will be for that 1 time and it only applies to that 1 spell related to the gauge.

An example would be I spamming Sonic Boom or Abyssal Transfixion and that can slowly build up the job gauge and at Level 1 I can cast an OGCD Blue Mage spell like Feather Rain and it'll only deal a 220 potency DOT damage, however if I store it and build it up to Level 2 it'll start to deal 250 potency dot damage and it can go up to about Level 5. I mean the same could be applied to Level 5 Death, but instead of 5 it can be X where depending on the amount you store it'll affect levels with the multiple of that number, however it won't be available at level 1 so you can't use it and it'll be blanked out. When you reach to level 2, it starts off as Level 2 Death then 3, 4 and finally 5.

I think they should consider a job gauge for it, Blue Mage with the ability to pick and choose spells is part of its identity but it can be balanced with not only potency of spells but also the Job Gauge can play a key part in balancing the job itself. I mean we have Job gauges nowadays and it is a key thing for most jobs. Elemental Gauge with the Enochain timer of 30 secs, Balance Gauge with Red Mage, Trance Gauge with Summoner and most of the spells' potency ranges from 650 - 750. I mean their strongest attacks/spells are locked behind the gauge itself.

We can still have Blue Mage as it is with the option to pick and swap spells and learn from enemies, and if we let it become a normal job it'll be better as it can easily learn spells from groups and understandably we need to add in more spells for pre-15 level range and it can be done. There are at least 57 Unique spells in the areas near the starting city zones 27 AoE, 8 Buffs, 21 single target, 1 Utility (not including what we already have in game with the Blue Mage Spell book). Right now it lacks a lot of overworld spells and most of the spells you can obtain is through Dungeons, Raids and Trials and Missiles is one of those spells where you have to go through the Hildebrand Quest line to unlock Battle at Big Keep Trial just to learn missiles, even before that you have to do another trial called Battle at Big Bridge. Saying it is solo-able job is just a plain lie. If you were an existing player, it would be easy as you could have done it already but not for new players.