How Blue Mage Could Exist in FFXIV

[Reynhart]

Yep because they can't throw junk weapons for damage, Ninjutsu attacks are more limited since elemental weaknesses

No, they're not. But instead of just doing elemental damage, they actually have really different effects.

as well as the ability to completely dodge physical attacks.

They removed that because they thought it was broken.

And the Rogue AKA Thief? Can't even steal properly.

Considering that stealing is just a stupid mechanic..."I can steal this wonderful weapon, but if I kill the boss before, the weapon disappears"...it's better left out of the game.

Does it make it bad? No. Just inferior. Which it is.

Frankly, with the mudra mechanic, this is the first I actually think playing NIN is fun...and dynamic.

[MagiusNecros]

No, they're not. But instead of just doing elemental damage, they actually have really different effects.

Considering that stealing is just a stupid mechanic..."I can steal this wonderful weapon, but if I kill the boss before, the weapon disappears"...it's better left out of the game.

Frankly, with the mudra mechanic, this is the first I actually think playing NIN is fun...and dynamic.

Effects....like...? Please go on. Outside of Suiton(which just allows you to use another skill to do increased damage) you just have skills that do damage. No special effects about them. Doton inflicting Heavy and Hyoton essentially being PvP exclusive for a shitty bind are pretty meh.

Stealing would be nice to have for gathering monster mats though yet we've seen Mug is completely worthless. But oh please use it for a small bit of damage.

Mudras are completely 1-3 inputs to use an oGCD skill which just ends up being akin to another skill on the GCD since you spend time plugging in those inputs. If you find that fun and wonderful then great. I see it for what it is. And I'd much rather just press one button for my Ninjutsu and move on.

[Reynhart]

Effects....like...? Please go on. Outside of Suiton(which just allows you to use another skill to do increased damage) you just have skills that do damage.

Single physical damage, single magical damage, AoE magical damage, DoT magical damage+Heavy, Haste, Bind...instead of Fire-damage, Ice-damage, Thunder-damage, etc...elemental properties are just reskins of the same effect.

Stealing would be nice to have for gathering monster mats though yet we've seen Mug is completely worthless.

No, what would be nice is the ability to poach. Every sheep you kill has wool, you don't need to "steal" it.

Mudras are completely 1-3 inputs to use an oGCD skill which just ends up being akin to another skill on the GCD since you spend time plugging in those inputs.

Yes, and it can open lots of differents skills with 3 slots. If they had a 4th mudra, it would immediately open at least 2 skills, and you could even have longer chain of Mudras if you want.

And I'd much rather just press one button for my Ninjutsu and move on.

Then you'd be restricted by having the same number of skills that every other job, and thus, less variety.

[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.

[LineageRazor]

Does that make the XIV incarnation of Ninja a bad one ?

This is always a dangerous question to ask. In this game, for ANY job you will find folks who will claim it was Ruined Forever by the way it was implemented in this game. WAR? They made it a tank, unforgivable! SMN? They made it a dot-DPS instead of focusing on summon damage, unforgivable! BRD? They have extremely limited support ability, unforgivable! DRK? No self-harm abilities, unforgivable! I could go on and on. Naturally, there are going to be folks critical of how NIN was implemented, as well.

And you know what? There opinions don't necessarily matter. Try as they might, SE will NEVER satisfy everyone. It's best for them to ignore the peanut gallery, and create the job in such a way that it fits THIS game, not so that it perfectly copies how it worked in OTHER games.

For folks harping on "BLU must learn its skills from mobs, otherwise, unforgivable!" do bear in mind that the manner in which BLU learns spells from mobs has varied from game to game to game. Sometimes it's learned from consumable items (Quistis, FFVIII), sometimes you need to use a special ability on a mob (Khimari, FFX), sometimes you need to be outright hit by the ability (Strago, FFVI), sometimes it's enough to just be in combat with the mob when it uses it (You, FFXI).

While it is true that it has ALWAYS been a component of BLU that you needed to seek out the monsters using the skills to learn them from them, if this is the biggest thing stopping Yoshi P from authorizing implementation of the job (he's afraid folks will be rejected for not having learned the proper spells), I say SCREW IT. Learn the abilities from the appropriate monsters, but in scripted fights that take place during job quests. Any BLU that does their job quests will have every Blue Magic spell in the game, and so the only way you'd reject a BLU for not having spells is if they didn't bother with their job quests. Which is fair, since the same handicap applies to other jobs, as well - if they don't do their job quests, they don't have all of their abilities, and you'd likely reject them, as well.

The most important thing about being a BLU, is being a mage that uses monster skills. Pretty much everything else is negotiable.

[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.

[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)

[Radacci]

I don't see why. If BLU has as many monster skills as BLM has spells, why would it be pointless?

you mean tiers of fire, blizzard, thunder? so blu gets 10 needles, 100 needles, 1000 needles, and 10000 needles? or make that a combo.

[Reynhart]

Learn the abilities from the appropriate monsters, but in scripted fights that take place during job quests.

Exactly what I said

I'm always under the impression that Yoshi-P drowns in a puddle..."It so difficult to do this thing..." hmmm, no, I don't think it is. It's like the eternal debate about SMN and SCH, and how clunky it is because of the bonus points, or the job adjustment...Remove the bonus point and add a main stat bonus to the job crystal, and make adjustement on the job skills...there, done. Speaking of SMN, some of its quest actually require doing some trials from the MSQ, so sending a BLU to learn a spell in Aurum Vale would not be that peculiar.

[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.