FFXIV Blue Mage: Could It Work? I think it can... and here's how!

[OranGemeo]

Keep in mind, this entire post and ability list was made by myself. This is no way going to be added to the game (although I would certainly hope it makes it to Yoshida and he considers it). With this being said, I will detail the class below. I hope you will read them and understand my thought process!

My personal goal was to make a very educated concept for Blue Mage. In order to do that, I gave it intense thought for how I would like to see it work up to level 70. As such, I have given reasonable traits / abilities / learned spells that would be associated with the class as well as the playstyle! I've done my best to divide it up into easy to understand parts. - Keep in mind this is a fairly complex class.

Class Design & Weapon Choice

My favorite blue mage design has come from FFXI. This is an example of the "blue mage" look:
One of the standing issues with blue mage would be the weapon choice. Based off my abilities, I think the perfect fit would be a "Gunblade". This is a highly desired weapon and I think could fit well for this class. Because of this, the XIV Blue Mage attire may look more Garlean. That would certainly be ok with me!
*The abilities for Blue Mage will allow the execution of the "gun" feature on the sword.
**I would propose that this class starts you at LEVEL ONE.
***Also, BLUE MAGES CANNOT USE ROLE ACTIONS.

Before Reading Abilities

In order for this class to function, I thought that it would need to meet my expectations for what the class was. Obviously, the "learning" component is a BIG DEAL. If this class was locked to one specific role, this makes this very difficult to do. At what point do you have "too many" spells and too many slots? My XIV Blue Mage concept hopes to address all of these issues.
How? By giving the blue mage the ability to become ANY ROLE in FFXIV. Based off the spells that they slot, they will reach a certain "Affinity". An affinity is achieved the the slotted spells equal a total of 50. Normally, this can be achieved by 3-4 spells being equipped. It is worth noting that a blue mage COULD NOT queue unless they have an affinity on them. You are able to have a maximum of 90 affinity. You can mix and match spells to your desire. Keep in mind though, there is a trait learned later, that halves the cost of spells learned of your affinity type. (This keeps the balance there - you cant have a tank using all the amazing DPS and Healer actions too!)



As soon as you started the class, you would be introduced to the "Blue Mage" Meter. Which tells you what "Affinity" you are in as well as keep track of your "Blue Stamina". Blue stamina is gained by basic attacks only. Like TP usage was in FFXI, this gauge acts to bolster certain abilities or give you access to them.
**Also, BLUE MAGES CANNOT USE ROLE ACTIONS.

Job Traits

The staple blue mage trait is “learn.” This allows the blue mage to witness a spell and learn it for later use. Blue Mage learns some very helpful traits as they level.

Lv. 1 - "Learn" - Allows the Blue Mage to witness a spell and learn it. The enemy cannot be above or below 10 levels of you.

Level 15 - "Azure Affinity" - Allows the learning of affinity points based off the spells you equip. When you reach 50, your role will switch to the match the affinity you earned.
**Upon learning this trait, you CANNOT use the Duty Finder until you have met the proper affinity to be considered one of the below.
Tank Affinity - You are considered a tank. You will gain a bonus 5% HP and 5% damage reduction.
DPS Affinity - You are considered a DPS (base class is dps too). You will gain 5% increase in damage dealt.
Healer Affinity - You are considered a healer. You will gain a bonus increase to maximum mana pool by 10%.
Level 30 - "Azure Affinity Lv.2" - This adds a large boost to your capability as a Blue Mage. You can now acquire traits off the spells you learn. You must have 50 affinity in a role in order to learn traits. The type of spell added does not need to be of the affinity you're in.

Level 50 - "Azure Affinity Lv3" - Spells equipped of the proper affinity will have their slot points halved after meeting the quota of 50 affinity.
Level 66 - "Spell Affinity" - Your next spell will cost half of its mana provided it is used in a combo action. Spells used when a target is “Blighted” to the corresponding element will also grant you 20% of the mana back.

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Additionally, as blue mage slots “blue magic”, they can gain additional traits from slotting certain abilities. The first “learned” trait in the group requires two spells to be slotted to gain the effect. Further enhancing the trait required one additional point... and that only applies to the "Enhanced" traits. Auto-Regen/Refresh, Siphon Mana, and Solidarity only have one level tied to them. (You will need to refer to the Blue Mage Spell List to see these)

Enhanced STR 1/2/3
Enchanced INT 1/2/3
Enhanced VIT 1/2/3
Enhanced MND 1/2/3
Auto-Regen - Causes you to passivly gain HP over time.(2% every 2 seconds)
Auto-Refresh - Causes you to passivly gain mana over time.(3% every 2 seconds)
Siphon Mana - Causes all physical auto attacks to drain 50 mana per hit. / Causes all magical based auto attacks to drain 80 mana per hit.
Solidarity - 50% chance spells will not be interrupted.

Learned Abilities

The key part of Blue Mage would be an interaction you get within the "Character" menu as you change classes. This would bring up a menu that sorts out your learned spells by affinity (tank/dps/healer). There are 12 tank, 18 dps, and 12 healer actions. You can only equip a maximum of 10 spells upon reaching level 70. So this means that you obviously have some choices to make. **I will further explain this below. For now, take a look at the Blue Mage Abilities.

Level 1: Blade Fury - increases damage done by your physical auto-attacks with a potency of 30. Duration: 15 seconds. Recast: 30 seconds
Level 4: Blue Magic Spell 1 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 6: Blue Magic Spell 2 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 10: Blue Magic Spell 3 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 15: Role Specific Blue Action#1- This is a specific action that is gained only when you reach an affinity with a class. This particular ability IS on the global cooldown.
Tank - "Zephyr Winds" - Instantly create a shadow clone of yourself, absorbing the next hit. Does not work on AoE but DOES work on single target effects. Certain actions cannot be avoided, however. (This ability is not on Global)
DPS - "Goblin Punch" - Deals the remaining damage of "Blade Fury" upon execution of this ability at 75% potency. Ends the effect of Blade Fury. Does not take into account attack speed.
Healer - "Choco Cure" (500 potency heal)

Level 15: Convergence - Increases the potency of your next Blue Mage spell by 30 potency. If the spell is a healing spell, it will increase it by 100 potency. This will remove any AoE effects tied to the spell cast. Recast: 70 seconds.

Level 18: Magic Bullet - changes your auto-attack chain temporarily into ranged magical attacks. This utilizes the "gunblade" aspect of your weapon by firing bullets. The attacks will have a potency of 70. Duration: 15 seconds. Recast: 40 seconds

Level 25: Blue Magic Spell 4 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 30: Moving Chant- Allows the next blue mage to move and cast while being unable to be interrupted. (Recast:40 seconds)

Level 35: Blue Magic Spell 5 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 38: Spin Slash Medium- channels all basic attacks to be an AoE spin slash. Duration: 5 seconds. Recast: 120 seconds.

Level 40: "Special" Blue Spell #1- Allows the slotting of specific blue mage actions. These are generally learned in the blue mage quest line or very difficult to learn spells. These abilities are ALWAYS not on global cooldown and typically have a very long recast.
Level 42: Magic Burst - deals unaspected magical damage to the target with a potency of 200. Not on global cooldown.

Level 45: Chain Affinity - Opens up a window of opportunity on your opponent. This allows for the execution of certain abilities to place a detrimental "pox" effect on the target that increases damage recieved by 5% from all sources and deals 300 magical potency damage to the target. The pox will not land unless a correct chain sequence is implemented.
Recast: 120 seconds. Pox duration: 10 seconds.
This ability drains 30 blue stamina to initiate it's sequence. It gives you 45 seconds to land the required abilities to achieve its effect.

How to utilize Chain Affinity:

Certain blue mage spells have affinity bonuses, named “Cobalt” / “Sapphire” / and “Cyan”. You must chain these abilities together and close it to receive the Chain Affinity effect provided below.

Cobalt Chain (Cobalt -> Sapphire -> Cyan -> Cobalt) – Tethers yourself to the current target for 20 seconds reducing the damage you take by 10%. Additionally, you will gain a 10% Maximum HP Shield. This is the mitigation one primarily for tanks.

Cyan Bolt (Cyan -> Cobalt -> Sapphire -> Cyan) – Deals unaspected magical damage to the target at 400 potency. This increases the potency of all of your actions by 20 for 10 seconds. This is the BIG BURST damage one obviously for DPS.
Sapphire Rain (Sapphire -> Cyan -> Cobalt -> Sapphire) – Deals magical damage to target at 100 potency. Additionally, heals all nearby allies for 200 potency and applies a regen to all that lasts 10 seconds. This is the healer one that allows them to further extend their healing.

Level 45: Role Specific Blue Spell #2- This is a specific action that is gained only when you reach an affinity with a class. This particular ability IS on the global cooldown.
Tank - "Exuviation"- Restores a small amount of HP and renders you immune to knockup and draw-in effects. (Cure potency 50, Draw In Prevention 4 seconds)
DPS - "Hundred Fists"- Increases auto-attack speed by 10%. Combo Action: Scamper. If used after scamper, it will increase the auto attack speed by 30%. Giving you a 60% attack speed increase.
Healer - "White Wind"( 200 potency heal, increasing to 500 potency based off user HP.) - An AoE heal that gets more effective based off the amount of HP the user has. The lower hp, the more potency.

Level 48: Blue Magic Spell 6 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 50: Azure Grace- A 500 potency cure to self. Also restores 3000 mana. Recast: 40 seconds.
This ability drains 20 blue stamina to initiate.

Level 52: Blue Magic Spell 7 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 54: "Special" Blue Spell #2- Allows the slotting of specific blue mage actions. These are generally learned in the blue mage quest line or very difficult to learn spells. These abilities are ALWAYS not on global cooldown and typically have a very long recast.
Level 56: Monster Correlation- strengthens all Blue Magic by 50 potency if the spell used was learned by a monster of the same family it's hitting. This does not affect any potency of an action after the first tic if it's a DoT ability. Effect ends upon successful cast.

Level 58: Blue Magic Spell 8 - allows the slotting of one blue mage spell.

Level 60: Diffusion - Grants the effect of any single target blue mage spell to be considered AoE. The ability will lose 60 potency. Recast: 120 seconds.

Level 62: Blue Magic Spell 9 & 10 - allows the slotting of two blue mage spells.

Level 64: Assimilation- Reduces cast time of the next two spells to 0.

Level 68: "Special" Blue Spell #3- Allows the slotting of specific blue mage actions. These are generally learned in the blue mage quest line or very difficult to learn spells. These abilities are ALWAYS not on global cooldown and typically have a very long recast.
Level 70: Azure Lore - Immediately fills your "Blue Stamina" to the maximum. Upon execution, all auto-attacks will cease for 20 seconds.

The Fun Part... Blue Mage Spells!

For ease of reading, I have created a table for the abilities. I have also divided them up based off the affinity they give. I have put a lot of thought into these particular abilities and there is A LOT of customization a character could do. Keep in mind you can slot 10. They dont all have to be of the "affinity" that you are. Abilites can help you learn traits.

So you may have some Blue Magic Questions like...
So you may go for more a "physical fighter" blue mage and only slot physical abilities so you augment your STR up to level 3. Or you may go for a more "magical" blue mage and fight at a distance using your "Magic Bullet" ability. You could choose to be a hybrid and do both. What traits do you need? Will you serve main/off tank? What other dps with you? What abilities should you slot to make use of them? What can your other healer do? How can you benefit the team with your actions?
---Note:
Physical Based Blue Mages: They often use a combo like system akin to other classes. It is dependent on you finding the proper spells that combo well together.

Magical Based Blue Mages: Most blue mage spells will inflict "Element BLIGHT" to a target. Targets that are blighted will take increased damage from the same element being on them (A 10% increase in damage dealt). Blight lasts for 10 seconds and is ONLY overridden if the BLUE mage casts another blight spell. So others can take advantage of this effect. There is also “Element AVERSE”. Element Averse means that the target will take 20% more damage if hit from an ability that the target would be “weak” to. As seen from the “Elemental Wheel” below.

Dark >< Holy
Fire > Ice > Wind > Earth > Thunder > Water > Fire

Spells can be learned from monsters by witnessing them being cast. You must survive the battle in order to learn it.
There are various types of monsters you can learn them from, indicated below. This is only important for the “Monster Correlation” Ability.

Ashkin/Undead(U)
Beastkin/Mammals(B)
Forgekin/Automata/Mechanical(F)
Spoken/BeastTribes(S)
Vilekin/Insects(V)
Seedkin/Plants(P)
Soulkin/Materalistic(M)
Scalekin/Dragons(D)
Cloudkin/Birds(C)
Wavekin/Fish type(W)
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...Anyway. I am sure you understand how this class could be VERY fun and diverse. Key actions are never left out of your role and the rest is determined by how you like to fight. Obviously people would figure out "the best way to blue mage"... But there would always be customization.

BLUE MAGE TANK ACTIONS
*You can view the full size by right-clicking and opening the image in a new tab.

BLUE MAGE DPS ACTIONS

BLUE MAGE HEALER ACTIONS


*In none of my spells did I indicate MP values or SPELL CAST TIME. They are all "SPELLS". I just dont have the ability to determine them.
**These abilities and ability names primarily came from me observing enemies in FFXIV and waiting for them to cast something. The key element was the enemy had to "Ready" or "Cast" the ability. It could not be a "Spell", it had to be an ability that they used.
***I also used this fantastic website: (https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Bestiary)

The "Other Blue Magic" Spells.

If you noticed, or perhaps I have put you on information overload, there are certain abilities learned at level 40, 52, and 68. These are "off-global" cooldown spells. They would typically be learned from mandantory "blue mage questline" fights. Additionally, you could learn some from particular boss monsters. These are spells/abilities that would be much more powerful that most of your "slotted" spells.

*This list below has a TON of room for improvement. I just dont have the capacity anymore to think of more of these. ^^

Pheonix Plume (Magical) (Healer Affinity Required) – Protects the target with the blessing of the Pheonix Eidolon. Grants the user the effect of “Reraise” that lasts for 1 minute. Learned from Pheonix in the level 40 Blue Mage Quest.

10,000 Needles (Magical) (Healer) – Deals a static 10,000 damage to the target. This cannot critically hit or even direct hit. But it cannot miss. Can only be executed after “Life Sap” and with 100 blue stamina. This also applies “Dark Averse”. This is a "special" blue mage ability. Learned from Gigantaur.

Bad Breath (Magical) (Tank) - Releases a disgusting foul breath in a large cone. This will apply Silence, Slow, Heavy, Blind, Poison, and Paralyze. The accuracy of this effect is determined by blue stamina. It drains all stamina upon being cast.
This is a "special" blue mage ability. Learned from most species of Morbol.

Darkness (Mag) (DPS)- Shoots a blast of darkness in a cone in front of you. Additional Effect: Dark Blight. Learned From: Facer (Qarn) / Forgekin This is a "special" blue mage ability. Learned from Facers that are only found in the Temple of Qarn.

Shackle (Magical) (DPS) - Deals intense dark damage to target and makes them "vulnerable". Increasing damage taken. This also applies “Dark Averse”. This is a "special" blue mage ability. Learned from Nybeth Obdilord.

Self-Destruct (Physical) (DPS) – Surrender your life and drop to 1HP and sustain the “Weakened” state. Weakened lasts normal time and counts as a death. HP must be atleast 80% to cast. Deals massive damage to all targets equalling 1,000 potency. This deals 20% less damage to each subsequent enemy hit. This is a "special" blue mage ability. Learned from Bombs.

Art of the Swell (Magical) (Tank) – Steal HP from all nearby foes and knocks them back. Will not work on Ashkin(undead). Target will suffer “Wind Blight”. Learned from Zenos Yae Galvus.

What could I possibly hope to gain from this?

In short... I hope to gain support. I have put a lot of time into this concept because I think it's worth it. I think Blue Mage could EASILY work in XIV while retaining all of the elements that I personally would require. If all or some of these ideas made it to Yoshida, to even be possibly considered, I would be humbled and elated.

I think the best way to get this concept to Yoshida is to show support on the forums. If you think a class like would be fun or beneficial to play in FFXIV (I mean come on... a class that allows people to be a tank, dps, or a healer!? Win for everyone) then I encourage you show support on this post.

Also, if you would like to further show support, update your forum signature to contain #bluemagexiv

Thanks for your time everyone! This took me a long time to come up with and put together! I will eventually make some graphical improvements to the stuff I have above

Until then, I will continue my Paladin BLU look-alike. Thanks

[OranGemeo]

Also, if anyone could assist me with how to make "spoiler" type tags that would be helpful! I would prefer to put the information in "spoilers" than in "quotes".

[Thorio]

By giving the blue mage the ability to become ANY ROLE in FFXIV.

I think people confuse Mime with Blue Mage. The latter does not "become roles", they simply harness monsters' abilities to use them as spells.
Mimes on the other hand mimics what their team mates do, therefore borrowing their roles.