An Empty Vessel........

[Midareyukki]

snip

I've seen takes on Blue Mage that frankly could fit. The way they designed it for 14 was very obviously centered around the Learn mechanic... which isn't always how Blue Magic is learned. Nor does it need to be a gameplay aspect; it could very well be featured in cutscenes than be its main defining trait. It should have been designed around "Using enemy skills", but...

While I agree that 14's BLU is fun for what it is, I disagree that this should keep being "BLU". That's its "sin": it's fun, but it'd be way more accepted had it not been called Blue Mage. It feels like it was designed to test Eureka's Logos Actions, barely anything more.

As for Balancing Nightmare... here's the deal. Objectively speaking, a lot of skills had to be adapted to fit 14's gameplay style. Take Dark Knight; if you joined back in HSW you'd know that the class consumed MP almost constantly for as long as you had a stance up. It was removed in Stormblood and repurposed to it being "spell-like" and have MP be consumed to perform abilities. It was redone for the sake of consistency, as it sucked having to stance change just to get one MP point to use a skill. Now it operates like PLD and consumes MP in predictable ways.
Yet this is how DRK is meant to be: constantly sapping you of an important resource. And on other games within the franchise, it's not MP DRK syphons, it's HP. But good luck doing that as a tank xD

That got repurposed just fine, and not everything needed to be included on BLU. A lot of people point to Self-Destruct as an example of "non-adaptable". Yes... if you put it as-is, it's going to break the class and make it too awkward within the game. But a) it doesn't need to be featured in. And b) if it has to, why can't it just be the animation of an explosion as you whittle your MP to 0 for it, and then get it back with another skill? Yes, too similar to BLM's Flare skills, but it'd be a decent enough adaptation of the skill. It's all about imagination, as well as thinking outside the box.

Especially when the box is labelled "Learn".

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I've seen takes on Blue Mage that frankly could fit. The way they designed it for 14 was very obviously centered around the Learn mechanic... which isn't always how Blue Magic is learned. Nor does it need to be a gameplay aspect; it could very well be featured in cutscenes than be its main defining trait. It should have been designed around "Using enemy skills", but...

While I agree that 14's BLU is fun for what it is, I disagree that this should keep being "BLU". That's its "sin": it's fun, but it'd be way more accepted had it not been called Blue Mage. It feels like it was designed to test Eureka's Logos Actions, barely anything more.

As for Balancing Nightmare... here's the deal. Objectively speaking, a lot of skills had to be adapted to fit 14's gameplay style. Take Dark Knight; if you joined back in HSW you'd know that the class consumed MP almost constantly for as long as you had a stance up. It was removed in Stormblood and repurposed to it being "spell-like" and have MP be consumed to perform abilities. It was redone for the sake of consistency, as it sucked having to stance change just to get one MP point to use a skill. Now it operates like PLD and consumes MP in predictable ways.
Yet this is how DRK is meant to be: constantly sapping you of an important resource. And on other games within the franchise, it's not MP DRK syphons, it's HP. But good luck doing that as a tank xD

That got repurposed just fine, and not everything needed to be included on BLU. A lot of people point to Self-Destruct as an example of "non-adaptable". Yes... if you put it as-is, it's going to break the class and make it too awkward within the game. But a) it doesn't need to be featured in. And b) if it has to, why can't it just be the animation of an explosion as you whittle your MP to 0 for it, and then get it back with another skill? Yes, too similar to BLM's Flare skills, but it'd be a decent enough adaptation of the skill. It's all about imagination, as well as thinking outside the box.

Especially when the box is labelled "Learn".

Ive been here since Heavensward. I got fully caught up by the time the Dragonsong War concluded. So yeah, Ive seen what DRK used to be, all the way to what it is now. Honestly, never liked the Job. I love its storyline, but never enjoyed playing it.
But anyway, I personally think Bluemage is Perfect where its at and how it functions. It should stay the way it is for the sake of Variety, plus I think its great to have a Niece OP job that can be used for Farming stuff.
They should just make a whole new caster in my opinion instead of reworking BLU and dealing with balancing it to take on 3 roles. Besides, if they do it to Bluemage, then People are gonna Clamour for it to happen to Redmage. I say begone with that mess.

Instead, Bring on Geomancer. They teased us with the idea in the AST storyline. Id rather see that job be created then Bluemage get changed into another Normal Job.

[Midareyukki]

Ive been here since Heavensward. I got fully caught up by the time the Dragonsong War concluded. So yeah, Ive seen what DRK used to be, all the way to what it is now. Honestly, never liked the Job. I love its storyline, but never enjoyed playing it.
But anyway, I personally think Bluemage is Perfect where its at and how it functions. It should stay the way it is for the sake of Variety, plus I think its great to have a Niece OP job that can be used for Farming stuff.
They should just make a whole new caster in my opinion instead of reworking BLU and dealing with balancing it to take on 3 roles. Besides, if they do it to Bluemage, then People are gonna Clamour for it to happen to Redmage. I say begone with that mess.

Instead, Bring on Geomancer. They teased us with the idea in the AST storyline. Id rather see that then Bluemage get changed into another Normal Job.

The DRK one was an example. A lot of people liked it, a lot of people hated it, but for what was worth, the example still sticks: they took something that functioned one way across the whole franchise and changed it to fit the game. Even if it took them a while to nail it. The same could have been done for Blue Mage, but they didn't try at all.

If you paid attention, you'd know GEO is CNJ but in Yanxian terms. It would look almost indistinguishable outside the occasional spell being written in Yanxian language. It's why we have our own WHM but then you have Y'shtola's "conjury" somehow do the AST bubble. They're different takes on the classes but share a basis. Meaning we're likely not getting GEO. But who knows if we'll one day get Beastmaster, since they teased that in Bozja and it doesn't look that similar to Arcanist.

I think RDM is fine. It's a job that got translated into a proper fully-fledged job on its own with its own identity. It didn't get bastardized like BLU was, so I don't really understand the analogy there. Nothing would happen to Red Mage.

Also... we farm stuff on BLU? Other than Fates?

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I think RDM is fine. It's a job that got translated into a proper fully-fledged job on its own with its own identity. It didn't get bastardized like BLU was, so I don't really understand the analogy there. Nothing would happen to Red Mage.

It wasn't an analogy, Redmage is a Blend of White Mage and Black Mage with abit of Fencer in it (I forget if thats a job) so if Bluemage was redesigned and balanced to have 3 modes; Tank, Healer and Caster DPS, then people would probly want to do the same with other jobs, red mage for example...being remade with a Healer, Caster, and more of a Physical DPS mode. Sure call it silly, but if you've seen what people ask for in these forums, its not farfetched to think it would happen. And I think that would just be alot of trouble for something that might not work out too well, and it would take away from possibly better things.

Also... we farm stuff on BLU? Other than Fates?

Yes, Dungeons. Specifically for Relic and Moogletome Grinds. But also; as rare as they are, there are sometimes Mount Farms of all Bluemages.
Ran in a couple, loads of fun.

[MonsutaMan]

[QUOTE= Meaning we're likely not getting GEO. But who knows if we'll one day get Beastmaster, since they teased that in Bozja and it doesn't look that similar to Arcanist.[/QUOTE]

Hope


Reality


They screwed up SMN at one point, and that is the flagship class.

My image of BST is taming Diresaur and Wyverns in the wilds, but it will mostly likely be 10% of the total bestiary we can use imo....Another clown show for the Carnival.

[DragonFlyy]

They screwed up SMN at one point, and that is the flagship class.

SMN was screwed up since day one. It shouldn't be a pet class, it should be a black mage with the ability to summon large high damage summons and then they poof. Like every other Final Fantasy Summoner until they broke the design in 10.

[Brightamethyst]

They screwed up SMN at one point, and that is the flagship class.

I still feel like they blew their best chance to "fix" SMN back in HW.

Painflare could have been Thundershock with a Ramuh animation. Tri-Disaster could have been Acid Rain with a Leviathan animation. Ruin 3 could have been Ice Lance with a Shiva animation. Enkindle's animation could have transformed the Egi into the primal to do the attack (a la HoH magicites), etc. It would have been a really simple and easy way to add the classic summoner feel while having absolutely no effect on gameplay or balance. It was the perfect opportunity, and they missed it.