Simple Solution to BLU

[Lord_Zlatan]

Well, let's see how NIN turns out...since NIN is supposed to "Not play like any of the other classes", "Not your typical job" and " NIN DOTs aren't like other DOTs."

And with mudra....We can come to the conclusion that Ninja may possibly have more abilities than the other jobs have right now. So, let's see how that plays out...maybe that'll give a clearer image of how BLU could be.

But, I don't think 3 soul crystals would ever be the route, nor do I think it should be. That would mean you can't switch between them during battle, so if you needed to cover for someone as a Healer coming from DD or Tank mode, you wouldn't be able to...which would defeat the purpose of a "hybrid class."

I don't understand. .. you can change jobs in combat?

What you can do, is in fact, switch ur job by changing weapon and or soulstone... what's the difference here?

[Rex]

I don't understand. .. you can change jobs in combat?

What you can do, is in fact, switch ur job by changing weapon and or soulstone... what's the difference here?

....I'm saying you can not change jobs in combat. Which would make the use of a "Hybrid job with 3 soul crystals" pointless. Because you would want the Blue Mage to be able to switch on the fly. If the method were 3 different soul crystals for one job, you wouldn't be able to switch on the fly. Which, again, would make the idea of a hybrid job pointless. Hopefuly that makes what I said a little clearer.

I reference Ninja because of the mudra....it can be something where Blue Mage has certain ability combos that switches it between "modes"...if Blue Mage were to actually follow the idea of filling each role.

But again...because of how the game matches players in Duty Finder content...Blue Mage would have to fall under a certain category. They'd have to completely rework the system or add a category. Because for the time being it's based only on "Healer / DD / Tank" divisions...so technically a "Hybrid Job" can't even work in the game right now.

[Toodles]

Hate to burst bubbles, but SE won't implement BLU like many want it in this game.

They want rigid balance, they don't want hybrid classes, nor do they want ability-bloat.

As well, I highly doubt they're going to code a complicated system that'll only ever be used by one job.

This suggestion is honestly the most realistic solution.

[LineageRazor]

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.

[madolyn]

better get some form of rdm before blu. i swear.

[Lord_Zlatan]

sorry

We were kind of on different pages there, so sorry for the snarky answer.

But... why not a compromise? Currently, there is nothing in the framework of the game that would allow us to switch roles in combat, which is OK. We ca however, switch to whatever we want out of combat, so in a way BLU would still be able to do that, just not as on the fly and seamless as we are accustomed to. I'd rather have some form of it than no form of it (BLU/DRK, BLU/PLD/NIN, BLU/WHM player in FFXI).

In addition, how about this for an idea. Blue Mage can be the class and the 3 jobs that stem from it would be 1 for each role (IDK... Azure Protector [tank] Azure Reaver [DPS] Azure Cleric [healz] or something).

The class would learn various spells from enemies, while the jobs would enhance the abilities we learn and allow for combos of abilities that would benefit the role, while leaving out others. just a thought.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

The problem with trying to make BLU hybrid is the gear. All the gear in the game is tailored for specific roles; you'll never have a tank use gear that boosts magic related stats, even if they can use Cure. You wouldn't have a DPS use gear that boosts physical strength when it's not their main focus. To have BLU be able to do all 3 roles at will means the developers would have to spend quite a while making gear tailored for each BLU "stance". You don't want someone playing as a BLU tank to be using gear that doesn't enhance their tanking abilities. There's simply no piece of gear that would allow a player to hybrid their class because of how the stats for each job works.


There's also the problem of balancing, especially in PvP, with all the spells for each "role" the BLU has.

[Lord_Zlatan]

The problem with trying to make BLU hybrid is the gear. All the gear in the game is tailored for specific roles; you'll never have a tank use gear that boosts magic related stats, even if they can use Cure. You wouldn't have a DPS use gear that boosts physical strength when it's not their main focus. To have BLU be able to do all 3 roles at will means the developers would have to spend quite a while making gear tailored for each BLU "stance". You don't want someone playing as a BLU tank to be using gear that doesn't enhance their tanking abilities. There's simply no piece of gear that would allow a player to hybrid their class because of how the stats for each job works.


There's also the problem of balancing, especially in PvP, with all the spells for each "role" the BLU has.

you can fix this by having them use a one handed weapon and then an offhand weapon with stats appropriate to the role.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I don't think it would be as simple as that. You'd still run into the problem of trying to make tons of gear over 3 different roles for the same job and this is ignoring accessories and the main body slots.

[Lord_Zlatan]

I don't think it would be as simple as that. You'd still run into the problem of trying to make tons of gear over 3 different roles for the same job and this is ignoring accessories and the main body slots.

yeah it could be a pain. Thinking more in depth about it now, all this stems from the simple/easymode itemization on gear. if there was disciple of war gear that had -/+ enmity on it, this could work. If there was disciple of magic gear that had +/- status effect enhancement, this would work. Sadly this is not the boat we are in at the present time.