How Blue Mage Could Exist in FFXIV

[Jandor]

It's probably not a popular idea but I think BLU could work pretty well if it was something roughly along the lines of FFX-2 gun mage.

Stuff like -
Learn I & II: Memorize the targets next cast ability.
Blue bullet I & II: Fire magic bullet containing learned abilities.
Scan: Identify weaknesses in the target, increases damage received.
Assimilate: Copy targets (can be a party member) buffs onto yourself.
Diffusion: Spread buffs from yourself to nearby allies.
Cross-class: dps role actions and monster abilities learned from job quests.

You could have learn work on allies as well, so you could 'learn' flare from the parties BLM and shoot flare bullets for a bit.
It's only a BLU in a very limited sense, but I think learning abilities being mostly temporary with a few permanent options would be more straightforward, and probably more likely to be implemented.

Ideally I'd have a Musketeer class in game that at 30 goes either Blue Mage or Machinist, I'd also have classes end at 30 altogether and have everything after level 30 tied to job stone. Such a system would give Arcanist/Summoner/Scholar more room to differentiate themselves as well.
It wouldn't have to use guns though I suppose, I just like guns, could give it any sort of weapon really. Don't focus on guns too hard when you shred this idea of a FFXIV BLU .

[Duelle]

Learn (2.0)

The end result is a slow-stack, maintained debuff on a target increasing the damage taken from the Blue Mage by a set amount per application, stacking up to three times. The mentality behind this setup is that it shows a sign of a Blue Mage learning and understanding a target’s weak spots and would know how to hit them, but distractions such as another target or maybe an immediate need for evasive maneuvers would cause the Blue Mage to lose focus and have to study those weak points over again.

The issue I see here is that people who sometimes drop target by accident (like me) would get screwed pretty hard by this mechanic. I'd suggest a debuff that can only be active on one target, or a debuff that is applied when you use Blue Magic on the target. Something else to keep in mind is that encounters with long breaks would sort of screw over your BLU, specially if they follow patterns like Ravana.

There's a reason FFXI had more skills than the previous incarnations: because it's an MMO. Is anyone really going to be satisfied if out of all the new monsters in a given expansion, you get five (and more likely three or less) new abilities?

The reason BLU had so many spells was because part of the job's gimmick was that spell combos granted traits, which leaned to the "build your own class" concept. it didn't hit the levels of spell bloat because SE was also randomly adding things to other jobs, so it was just a matter of giving BLU analogues to those spells.

Besides, while blue mages have not traditionally been about getting huge numbers of spells, they've always been about having to hunt down your spells, and only having the ones available that you've found. If you just learn spells in quests like any other class, it's a blue mage in lore only.

Ability progression for FFXIV is what it is. You can accommodate aspects of BLU's growth to it, but you're not gonna get the full "hunt for your skills" thing.

Back when I wrote my suggestion (see my sig), I took this into account by having the player character learn several spells over the course of the unlock quest. Additional spells could be learned out in the world, but at least it was able to simulate skill learning as seen in prior FFs.

[Remedi]

Can see BLU working as a tank personally, with:
mighty guard as the sentinel, shadow shield, vengeance equivalent

white wind as a heal of sort that might or might not work as it works usually ( heal power = to current health number)

Lifebreak (sometimes called: ????) an attack that does increased dmg as your health is lowered

The list can go on but I would ofc remove from the list all the aero-line skills because they are WHM skills at least till they show what RDM will do

[bardaboo]

With Blu. The class quests could be instanced fights against mobs you learn moves from. That's not an issue. The issue people bring up is "customization" doesn't really work in this game. So how about this. Blu as dps. Most of your class quests end up teaching you 2 different moves under two different skill trees. Each skill tree is only open under a certain stance. One stance is better at single target dps and are mostly weapon skills. The other stance better at aoe and party support/buff and is more caster based. Switching between the two stances could be either like AST (battle locked) or like clerics.

[Claire_Pendragon]

With Blu. The class quests could be instanced fights against mobs you learn moves from. That's not an issue. The issue people bring up is "customization" doesn't really work in this game. So how about this. Blu as dps. Most of your class quests end up teaching you 2 different moves under two different skill trees. Each skill tree is only open under a certain stance. One stance is better at single target dps and are mostly weapon skills. The other stance better at aoe and party support/buff and is more caster based. Switching between the two stances could be either like AST (battle locked) or like clerics.

besides the "Jack of all trades" style, It's better to save that for RDM, so I've pretty much said similar to what you said. But more so "Melee vs Ranged"

We have Combo using melee builds, Ranged casters, and ranged casters with support.

Simply equip abilities u want to use, and they have stacking bonuses, so that you'd be encouraged to pick 1 style of build, but enough customization you can have a few ranged on melee, or in reverse, for situational use.
(If you make a range build, and have a melee DoT, which has great potency,you'd use it if you're in melee range, but you wont always use it for example)

Lastly, single target vs AoE, I'd imagine the ranged support build better for AoE, as it would require the teams DPS to contribute to the overall dmg, while doing mainly AoE attacks. (As similar to what you said, if not exact)

[Allistar]

Well I have not read everyone's opinion on the post but I do think considering that we have families based around the different Beast types in the game how about the blue Mage learns and attacks based on that monster Family type. Consider for example vermin type monster...what type of attacks do they use? All monster family types have certain abilities that are common amongst them same thing with flying type family monsters they all have attacks that are common amongst them even if they have different names the abilities still revolves around the same basic principle this way you don't have to worry about how many different abilities because now your abilities are based on the number of monster family types in the game.

[Kazrah]

Really loving the feedback on this. Good stuff!

One thing though to those of you suggesting "scripted fights" for Blue Mage skills: go check the Origin section (I sorta put it in there...).

For those of you who aren't suggesting that, go check the Origin section anyway. Yes, I know it's super long, but without that load of lore, there would be no sense in having Blue Mage in the game world.

[Sevyrr]

When I think of Blue Mage, I think immediately of FFVII and FFTA where you have to be hit by the monster's abilities (through forced or non-forced control). But the way that Blue mage plays in those games, is that learning the monsters' abilities simply gives you access to them: it's not everything the Blue Mage does. A lot of the time, they're very high-damage melee classes, because their sabers are damn good at that.
So thinking about how they function as a whole: they merge the magic they learn from monsters with their own martial skill. And your suggestion provides that, and houses it in a very XIV-centric way. And I really like your idea about the source of the ability coming from the experience itself, and learning to harness that, rather than magically learning to repeat the innate abilities of monsters.


One thing I would like to say: I think the Dragon Force cooldown time is rather overwhelming. But then, you have one use of it per fight, but you don't want it to be up for multiple fights in a dungeon as well, so I suppose it's balanced through that intention. Good stuff, though, and a good read.

[Kazrah]

One thing I would like to say: I think the Dragon Force cooldown time is rather overwhelming. But then, you have one use of it per fight, but you don't want it to be up for multiple fights in a dungeon as well, so I suppose it's balanced through that intention. Good stuff, though, and a good read.

Yeah, I sorta wanted a megaton cooldown to make Blue Mage desirable in raids that would require some level of thought in knowing when the best time to use it was, and Dragon Force instantly sprang to mind for that role. I also put that Fatigue debuff not just for the issue of ability balance, but also raid balance in following the general theme for group content of preferring no two people in a group sharing the same job.

[Shurrikhan]

I don't honestly see why people are dead-set against monster skills coming from monsters in a more free-form / hunt what you like style, rather than specifically through the job quest-lines? It's not precedented in XIV, but neither is it in any way impossible, and I don't see why one would hold, say, a hero-class / expansion job to the same leveling and acquisition standards as another, as long as its general outputs are about as even as any other in group content over the leveling process.

Honestly, I'd just as well like to see the "Blue Mage" as simply a job stone (e.g. Wildheart, equipped from any class into the job crystal slot) that allows any weapon class to equip monster abilities and adapt their own base skills as have a Blue Mage that doesn't actually bring anything new into the game outside of spell aesthetics. (Granted, I'll admit a dual-wield swordsman with good spell power and utility, if pulled off damn well, could be enough in and of itself.)