Blue Mage tank???

[ManuelBravo]

....

Those alone would make BLU tanky enough, and thats not including the FFTA version fo BLU, using Damage MP to be an unkillable god.

Hmmm lets look back a bit. A mage type tank. Tanks prioritize on what trait...think about it...Blu would prioritize on what trait? think about it...Even with accessories you would be unbalancing two of the main traits. It would be saying lets put Tendency based on a BLM instead of Spell speed / INT. Blue mages, based on lore depend on two factors. Learning attacks and the potency of them. Hence they would make better support than tanks. Blackest Night Migrates and still some DRK don't use it properly -.-. You would still be trowing off main the main traits for tanking or being a mage. I will admit there are some situations were BLU was a great tank on some battles, mainly in FFXI , and I loved BLU as well. However making them into a tank role would may, big maybe work on old content as a high level. Even with buffs how would you be able to incorporate their lore into FFXIV? Maybe like the battle of warriors of darkness in the alternate reality the RDM is the BLU instead. The only reason FFTA Blue seemed like an proficient tank type was do was do to poor AI even with the Law system and Jagds ( which were joke ) only made it a so so difficulty.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Tanks prioritize on what trait...think about it...Blu would prioritize on what trait? think about it...Even with accessories you would be unbalancing two of the main traits.

I already said that. (which is where the real issues stem from. Though I would still argue for plenty of work arounds.)
(Or did you mean "trait", in that tanks mitigate dmg, and BLUs try to survive attacks, rather than "stat", which is how Im taking it in context of the 2nd part. Which imo, is pretty much the same thing. WARs use holmgang in speed runs as if it were their only mitigation. The trick isnt to lower dmg, but to survive it. THEN lower it.)

It would be saying lets put Tendency based on a BLM instead of Spell speed / INT.

Why would anyone do that? (we know SE makes a lot of mistakes, but that seems too obvious.)

Blue mages, based on lore depend on two factors. Learning attacks and the potency of them. Hence they would make better support than tanks. Blackest Night Migrates and still some DRK don't use it properly -.-. You would still be trowing off main the main traits for tanking or being a mage. I will admit there are some situations were BLU was a great tank on some battles, mainly in FFXI , and I loved BLU as well. However making them into a tank role would may, big maybe work on old content as a high level. Even with buffs how would you be able to incorporate their lore into FFXIV? Maybe like the battle of warriors of darkness in the alternate reality the RDM is the BLU instead. The only reason FFTA Blue seemed like an proficient tank type was do was do to poor AI even with the Law system and Jagds ( which were joke ) only made it a so so difficulty.

*edit*
I dont really see any of this meaning anything to FFXIV. (or even outside of it)
Though BLU being a "support" i wouldnt fully disagree with, but with how FFXIV is set up, and since the job best suited for being a caster tank is now a DPS, BLU is the 2nd best option for being a tank.
BLU just needs a minimum of a 0.5s Cast bar, which leaves them mobile, and able to take hits w/o worry of spells being canceled constantly. It prevents them from kiting as a tank, since they would have ranged attacks.
It also prevents too much auto attack dmg, which imo is what would make their tank stance not need to lower thier base dmg as much as other tank stances. (including the rare interupt, due to perfect timing fo auto attacks and your 0.5s cast time.)

WAR used to be the "Support" tank, but now PLD and DRK have the support, with PLD having the most.

Personally want to see more party utility from BLU, similar to PLD, but with a higher skill ceiling like WAR, but more so for survival, less so dps/threat.
(Would like a AoE regen White Wind to replace the tanks typical AoE threat, as they then use cone Breath Spells as filler on trash mobs. To make up for trash mobs hitting far more often, give breath a 1.5s cast bar, a much shorter CD version of surecast, and make it only stop interruptions of normal attacks. But crits can still interrupt by 50% or higher. (making awareness work well with it) Ideally ready at the start of each pull, but not last the whole pull, so u have to go into melee attacks/melee spells.

So far every tank has their ranged pull on a 15yalm limit, with PLD having a spell cast that reaches the normal 25yalms.

I'd like to see the ranged pull on a 25yalm, but with a 0.5s cast, sol you still have to stop moving to use it, but literally only for as long as u press the button, and can pretty much move instantly right after.
I'd also make it a DoT, so it wouldnt be spammed for kiting purposes. (similar to Aero)

[Rufalus]

One day I had a weird idea that BLU is the only new job they release in an expansion, but it's also the only job with 3 specs. Tank BLU, Healer BLU, DPS BLU.

So it's more like getting 3 new jobs, but less work for the dev in designing gear, animations, job quests etc. Gear, quests and some spells are common to all 3 specs, but there are some role-locked spells too of course to satisfy the demands of each role.

You can't switch role during battle or during an instance, it's still something you set before queuing for a duty so it's not a game breaker. Bring back lots of classic blue magic like mighty guard, white wind, magic hammer, goblin punch.

And there only needs to be one version of blu for pvp, the caster dps spec.

[kashi11]

One day I had a weird idea that BLU is the only new job they release in an expansion, but it's also the only job with 3 specs. Tank BLU, Healer BLU, DPS BLU.

This is genius! One would just equip different soulstones of different BLU mages who sought to learn the arts of monsters, one BLU soulstone of healing, one of slaying, and one of fending. Could make the stones green, red, and blue respectively. The job quests could come from an expert on blue mage lore, and you are tasked with reliving the adventures of past said blue mage to empower the soulstone. Could even be added to the game that BLU is a lost art, and the tomes detailing their exploits were recently uncovered.

[MartaDemireux]

One day I had a weird idea that BLU is the only new job they release in an expansion, but it's also the only job with 3 specs. Tank BLU, Healer BLU, DPS BLU.

One would just equip different soulstones of different BLU mages

Yoshi mentioned something along these lines once upon a time. But this was related to the "hybrid" role/job concept that was floating around a few years ago. That idea involved equipping so many of one set of role-like abilities to determine your role (think RIFT trees).

Personally, I don't see BLU as a healer. But I definitely could see it as a job that could "shift" itself between DPS and Tank roles. I feel like it would be tied to the Role Abilities menu with just one soulstone, choosing which set of 10 role abilities you want.

It could even be the first job to not have any restrictions on gear (outside of job-specific gear), where the main stat of all equipped gear is automatically converted to that of the corresponding set of Role Abilities chosen. BLU abilities could alter as well (like WAR stances provide) so Mighty Guard could be featured as a tank stance with Tank Role Abilities equipped, and when DPS Role Abilities are equipped could be altered to be a self (or even party-wide) mitigation buff. Just have to follow the same rules that changing jobs have: not in battle and not in a duty.

Limiting to 2 roles could even lead to another job getting a dual-role treatment, allowing for two jobs to come out in the expansion with multiple role options. DNC could be a good partner candidate for this and could fill any of the 3 roles, really, but would likely go Healer/DPS to give a Tank, Healer and 2 DPS options with just 2 jobs added.

[Claire_Pendragon]

People were saying that forever with RDM (which imo, would have been the better option for.)
I do think it would be nice to alternate between "playstyles" on BLU.
instead of role, you pick which playstyle within that role you like better.
(the only example of this, would be the MT/OT, or MH/OH set ups for tanks/healers, but for DPS, you have Melee, Caster, Ranged, each with their own style. (Positionals with WS, and Goad/fient. Cast bars but no combos, and addle/manashift. lower dmg ranged, with party buffs. But the whoel MT/OT and MH/OH set up has been sorta squashed with SEs horrible attempt at balance, and refusal to add more tanks/healers to make it work better)

[Starkbeaumont]

what kind of armor Blue Mage used i the past isn't really important as SE can just make them where tank armor in 14. Even if the job gear doesn't look tanky it still can have the same defence as the pld or drk set. just look at the lv70 war set. it doesn't look sturdy at all.
Though if we look at the past BLU had access to shields as well.
I guess they would yield shamshirs. wonder if that would mean redesigning some of the PLD weapons again as they did when nin was released.
Anyway I think BLU can work as tank.

[ForgottenScholar]

There is definitely a chance for this and is my guess at the next tank class for this game. FFXI version definitely showed blu capability as a tank as it does this fairly well and if they adapted it for this game there is scope for this as well as it being any other role. It will get its abilities from the monsters it fights so spells and abilities for tanking, healing and dps can come from this, its just open to what the devs wish it to be. I would be kinda disappointed if they end up making it a dps as essentially thats what ffxi meta made it though it was fully customisable for any role really.

[LurcherReno]

.. But this isn't 11 so they could redesign it very easily..

[AshTerus]

What if instead of being tanky themselves they make the enemy weaker
For example maybe a skill reduces damage that monster deals to the blue mage (would probably be strong if it reduces damage to everyone)
Could work with Bad Breath