Why is it that so many feel that Blue Mage would have so many similarities to it's FFXI predecessor? They broke the mold with Dark Knight, Ninja is not a Tank, Red Mage can do allot but it's not exactly what it was in FFXI, so why is it we would have to hunt down spells from beasts? It could be that Garlemald engineered a new job and have it's skills and resource be Ceruleum, be more magitek than beast themed.

Perhaps Thavniaran alchemy could be the source of a Blue Mages power. Hunt down the target, get a sample of blood and mix it to gain a new skill. Rinse repeat for following job quest, progressively hunting more powerful marks to gain more fantastic abilities, each enemy revealing a bit of story as to why this certain monsters attributes are ideal for the base of a new skill.

If i can come up with half plausible variants of Blue Mage, i'm sure SE already has an idea of how to implement a far more fleshed out story/ play experience.