So...About Blue Mage

[Blueyes]

There are some interesting ideas about what could be, but not enough thought about the time it will actually take to make something happen. BLU is a side job and it's fine as it is. It's also very OP in its capabilities. For this reason, it's perma-banned from things like Ultimates and Eureka / Bozja.

Conversion to a non-limited status is moot when you have 19 classes to choose from.

Oh I have taken the time investment into account. Given that SE's original plan was to release multiple limited jobs, my suggestion was to take the development time that would go into the next Limited Job and instead spend it on turning Blue Mage into the full job that it should be. This should have no impact on the regularly scheduled program of releasing two jobs with each expansion. They've shown us that they can give us "two and a half" jobs over an expansion cycle. In the future, they can give us two normal jobs as per usual, plus the "remaining half" of Blue Mage so that it may participate in regular duties alongside every other job.

And no, converted Blue Mage to a non-limited status is not moot. Blue Mage is one of the most iconic and beloved jobs of the Final Fantasy franchise. Some are fine with its limited status, but there are many who see it as a total disservice to the job and its fans.

[SeverianLyonesse]

Oh I have taken the time investment into account. Given that SE's original plan was to release multiple limited jobs, my suggestion was to take the development time that would go into the next Limited Job and instead spend it on turning Blue Mage into the full job that it should be. This should have no impact on the regularly scheduled program of releasing two jobs with each expansion. They've shown us that they can give us "two and a half" jobs over an expansion cycle. In the future, they can give us two normal jobs as per usual, plus the "remaining half" of Blue Mage so that it may participate in regular duties alongside every other job.

And no, converted Blue Mage to a non-limited status is not moot. Blue Mage is one of the most iconic and beloved jobs of the Final Fantasy franchise. Some are fine with its limited status, but there are many who see it as a total disservice to the job and its fans.

At this point, non-limited PVE job design has become so genericized and toothless, I would not want that to happen to BLU.

Instead, I would prefer the opposite. Make BLU non-limited *as-is* and bring up every other job to be equally as broken and distinct. Use the PVP designs as a foundation and build out from there.

Screw balance. The evolution of FFXIV has been a gradual heat death as everything approaches absolute zero in the service of "balance". I don't want to play a balanced game, no matter how "challenging," if the individual job fantasies aren't engaging and fun.

[Deveryn]

Oh I have taken the time investment into account. Given that SE's original plan was to release multiple limited jobs, my suggestion was to take the development time that would go into the next Limited Job and instead spend it on turning Blue Mage into the full job that it should be. This should have no impact on the regularly scheduled program of releasing two jobs with each expansion. They've shown us that they can give us "two and a half" jobs over an expansion cycle. In the future, they can give us two normal jobs as per usual, plus the "remaining half" of Blue Mage so that it may participate in regular duties alongside every other job.

And no, converted Blue Mage to a non-limited status is not moot. Blue Mage is one of the most iconic and beloved jobs of the Final Fantasy franchise. Some are fine with its limited status, but there are many who see it as a total disservice to the job and its fans.

My perspective is fresh on the whole blue mage thing. I understand there's a history, but this is not those games. It's gonna be different. Blue mage is its own way to play and it should be left as such. There's only so much to be done within the confines of this game and its system.

If they start to make it more like other jobs so it can play more with them, it will lose what flavor it has. Even the idea of simply allowing them into roulette as they are forces everyone into the DPS role. Then they have to have a basic kit for whatever might come up. We certainly don't want to have to wait for them to tidy up their spells when they pop into roulette content.

I can't say that I'm interested in the idea of more limited jobs. What would even be different about them? They would likely be limited in the same way as BLU, but just have a slightly different flavor. It hardly seems worth the effort.

[Auryan]

I can't say that I'm interested in the idea of more limited jobs. What would even be different about them? They would likely be limited in the same way as BLU, but just have a slightly different flavor. It hardly seems worth the effort.

BLU's gimmick is about collecting spells and other limited jobs can have a similar niche as well. Take Beastmaster for example: it's entire thing can be about charming and raising pets. Fight alongside a Mandragora and after a while it learns Photosynthesis or Leaf Dagger or w/e. Puppetmaster can be all about collecting parts for your mammet that unlocks different abilities and traits for a slew of different scenarios and synergies. It's pretty vague on what the Master actually does and would probably borrow a lot from the XI iterations, but you get the idea.

[Deveryn]

BLU's gimmick is about collecting spells and other limited jobs can have a similar niche as well. Take Beastmaster for example: it's entire thing can be about charming and raising pets. Fight alongside a Mandragora and after a while it learns Photosynthesis or Leaf Dagger or w/e. Puppetmaster can be all about collecting parts for your mammet that unlocks different abilities and traits for a slew of different scenarios and synergies. It's pretty vague on what the Master actually does and would probably borrow a lot from the XI iterations, but you get the idea.

Pet AI has a long history of being buggy in MMOs. Summoner had its share from problems with the egis. Bahamut would even just sit there and not hit anything. EW finally saw summoner pets essentially take on a more decorative role performing a bare minimum of attacks in a general area. Beast master seems like something that will remain in the realm of NPC capabilities.

Puppet master could potentially work. I think they could do some kind of marionette / mount situation where we have control over a puppet, but we would likely have more turrets. I think rather than being limited, it should actually be something like Arcanist, where it can branch off into at least 2 different roles.

[Auryan]

Pet AI has a long history of being buggy in MMOs. Summoner had its share from problems with the egis. Bahamut would even just sit there and not hit anything. EW finally saw summoner pets essentially take on a more decorative role performing a bare minimum of attacks in a general area. Beast master seems like something that will remain in the realm of NPC capabilities.

Puppet master could potentially work. I think they could do some kind of marionette / mount situation where we have control over a puppet, but we would likely have more turrets. I think rather than being limited, it should actually be something like Arcanist, where it can branch off into at least 2 different roles.

Pet AI's being buggy will definitely be a thing, but I say they embrace the jank. So what if your pet Malboro's Bad Breath is a second late? It will all be worth it when your enemies are covered in 8 status effects and reduced to knee high length. Seeing as BLU isn't balanced around being an optimal DPS against other DPS, why should the thought of BST or PUP having perfect uptime be such an important thing?

We know that the devs hate the ACN/SCH/SMN situation and if they could go back in time they would have never gone that road, so that option is not happening. I like some of your other PUP ideas though.