Blue mage. How would it work in XIV

[LamchopSHK]

Exactly what the title says.
Just wondering what the community would think how a Blu would work in XIV.

We're talking wep, skills, systems, lore. Go wild!

[m3eansean]

Its been covered here in the forums a number of times. General consensus is that it would not be what most want, or would expect from playing the class in earlier entries of the franchise.

Long story short, we are limited by the skill system and no class can have more or less skills than another class to a large degree. Therefore, you will not be "learning" any monster skills in any kind of pertinent content during combat, as it would not fit into the current game structure. You would have class quests with lore where you "learn" a predetermined skill set (like any other class) but in the end, your just another melee or magic DPS with a specific, set rotation for acceptable DPS output.

Don't count on going out in the field and learning a ton of abilities and selecting which ones you want to use in the raid later that evening.

[Jonnycbad]

^Pretty much this ._.

[Sacerdos]

Blue Mage would have as a core rotation of BLU spells like Goblin Punch, and for each Job Quest you get a Monster Skill slot.

Each Monster Skill slot has a specific set of monster skills that can be slotted, all with a similar theme.
For example:
lvl 30: Maintainable Self-buff: +7.5% dmg, +15% crit chance, +10% spell speed
lvl 35: Debuff: -10% Str, -10% Int, -10% Pierce Res
lvl 40: Support: group +10% Healing for 10s, group 5% Vuln down for 10s, group 40 Potency HoT over 30s

And so on.

A lot of issues with this idea though:
1. A lot of skill animations for a single Job. Reuse of existing animations would lessen this issue.
2. Adding a variety of monster skills means stealing utility and mechanics from other classes. Homogenization.
3. Player base will figure out the optimal skill for each slot and abuse anyone who doesn't follow the optimal monster skill build.

[Duelle]

The Basics

Lore-wise: Probably based out of Radz at han. A sort of cloister of beast mages that are a rare sight, with the ability to trap the essence/souls of monsters and draw on their power. There are those who practice this art in secret, since it carries a sort of stigma.
Weapon: Jeweled Gauntlet. The jewels would be what store monster essences/souls. One on each knuckle with a jewel on the "palm" of the gauntlet as well.
Role: Ranged caster DPS

The spells

Blue Magic is split into two categories, lesser Blue Magic and greater Blue Magic.

Lesser Blue Magic: This is derived from common beasts. Wolves, Ochus, Bats and so on. These spells are understood partly by observation of monsters, but their true power is not unlocked until you absorb enough essence from the corresponding monster.

What this means in gameplay is that you'd get lesser Blue Magic spells the same way ACN and THM learn their spells (as they level). The difference is that when you get a spell it has a potency penalty and the cooldown between uses is quadrupled. Each spell's tooltip marks it as "imperfect" until you kill 3 monsters of that corresponding type. So if you were to learn Acid Mist, it would have a potency penalty and a quadrupled cooldown until you kill 3 ochu-type monsters. At this point the tooltip updates to show you've unlocked its full potential and get to use the spell at full power. You'd only need to do this once per spell.

Higher Blue Magic: This is derived from powerful/legendary monsters. These are skills you'd learn from dragons, behemoths, Marlboros, powerful undead and so on. These would be learned through the job quests (30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60), and each quest would feature the monster type corresponding to the spell you'll learn at the end of the quest.

So if the lv35 BLU quest is supposed to reward you with Bad Breath, then by the end of the quest you'll see your character killing a marlboro and absorbing its essence into your gauntlet. Higher BLue Magic is learned at full potency, so you don't need to kill additional mobs of that type.

Use of Higher Blue Magic is limited by a resource called Lore.

Other Mechanics

Blunt Damage: Certain lesser Blue Magic spells would count as blunt damage. Incidentally, you might get a spell or two that decrease blunt resistance, creating synergy between BLU and MNK.

Lore: Lore is a resource that works sort of like the limit break bars. When you unlock BLU you have a maximum of 3 units of Lore that you can store. All actions performed will slowly fill the bar up, and once a bar fills to max, you get one unit of Lore that can then be spent to cast Higher Blue Magic. The lv50 ability (Unbridled Wisdom; 5 minute cooldown) would instantly give the BLU 3 units of lore when used.

Monster Correlations: This would be a combo system of sorts between certain lesser Blue Magic spells. Using spells in accordance to monster correlation would help fill the Lore bars faster, thus letting you use more Higher Blue Magic.

Extra stuff

- The AF should be designed around Strago Magus' aesthetic. This guy's aesthetic might also work. When all else fails, there is a last resort.
- The particle effects should involve transparent shades of the monsters involved. So for example when a BLU casts Headbutt (ability gained from beetle-type monsters), you see the shade of a beetle exit the gauntlet and fly straight at the target mob.

[seorin]

At a minimum, they'd get some core spells from their class quests, which are themed around going and learning them from monsters. As mentioned above, they could stop there, making BLU like any other class with a slightly different flavor.

Ironically, BLU would work better in Guild Wars, where the game is made for classes to swap abilities in and out. If something like that could be copied and adapted to FFXIV, it could work well, but it would be a ton more effort than any of the other dozens of classes they could add, so we're not likely to ever see it unless it's a simplified version.

I'd say the best we could possibly hope for (and even then it's a bit much) would be learned BLU skills going into the 'additional' category and being equipped to cross class slots in lieu of taking skills from other classes. The abilities would likely be monster themed versions of existing cross class skills, with maybe a few exceptions.

[Kumori_Kumo]

The way I see it, the only way a Blue Mage would work in this game would be to create a Pokémon-like rock-paper-scissors with the creature typing, and have a core set of moves that are all roughly analogous to each other, but change with the type of subtype 'stance' you put on.
Fighting Vilekin? Switch to Cloudkin stance and use Fish Barf.
Fighting Spoken? Switch to Voidsent stance and use Void Fire.
That kind of thing.

[Duelle]

The way I see it, the only way a Blue Mage would work in this game would be to create a Pokémon-like rock-paper-scissors with the creature typing, and have a core set of moves that are all roughly analogous to each other, but change with the type of subtype 'stance' you put on.
Fighting Vilekin? Switch to Cloudkin stance and use Fish Barf.
Fighting Spoken? Switch to Voidsent stance and use Void Fire.
That kind of thing.

That effectively limits you to a handful of skills per mob type. This is sort of why I think the correlation should apply to the BLU themselves rather than their target.

[Kumori_Kumo]

That effectively limits you to a handful of skills per mob type.

/shrug
I didn't say it was good, just that it seems like the least labor-intensive and therefore most realistic possibility. I wouldn't wanna play it, mind you, but it seems way too complicated otherwise.