Quote Originally Posted by Toodles View Post
It's far more simple than all these elaborate spell-slot & augment ability suggestions.
I agree - but it's still far more complicated than the framework of this game allows. People are so fixated on the idea of BLU as a hybrid class that can fulfill several roles. I'm really not sure why... even in FFXI, where it was arguably more flexible than in any othe Final Fantasy game, it still got firmly relegated to a DD role whenever participating in party activities. Certainly there were experiments, and you'll find plenty of BLUs that will tell you, "Yeah, for this fight, you totally want BLU as a nuker/debuffer, so equip a mage staff instead of sword!" or "BLU makes the best tank for this fight!" but as a general case? BLU might have had a bunch of healing and buffing spells, but they were solidly DD in practice. If you want a healer, you don't bring a BLU with healing and buff spells equipped - you bring a healer. If you want a tank, you don't bring a BLU with tanky spells equipped (not that there really were any) - you bring a tank.

In Final Fantasies prior to FFXI, BLU was even LESS of a hybrid class. It was always, ALWAYS a generic mage, made special only by the fact that its heals, buffs, debuffs, and nukes were flavored by the fact that they were obtained from enemies and sometimes have special mechanics (mechanics, unfortunately, that are difficult or impossible to balance in an MMO, such as White Wind's restoration of HP equal to current HP, any of the Level ? spells, or 1000 Needles). Just like SMN, BLU was simply a mage job that happened to have a mix of supportive and offensive spells.

So, it confuses me why folks are so fixated on making BLU a hybrid class, particularly in a game like this one that is ferociously hostile to hybridization (not that ANY MMO is particularly kind to hybrid classes - they ALWAYS get shoehorned into a particular role, and if that role doesn't measure up to non-hybrid jobs in that role they don't get invited to events) so providing suggestions to promote a hybrid class are unlikely to be taken seriously. Pick a role: Healer, Tank, DPS. They are what we have to work with. Find a way to make BLU work in that class. It's not completely unreasonable to add a buff or something to a DPS class (MNK has Mantra, after all, and BRD has all kinds of support while both are solidly DPS), but focus on a single role. As long as BLU learns at least some of its abilities from monsters, it has fulfilled everything that is core to the idea of Blue Mage.