Thread: Blue mage at patch 4.5

There have been a lot of good ideas on these forums and the subreddit for how to achieve a middle ground with blue mage. I think the best would be two different job crystals. One for the "Carnival Mage" and one for "Blue Mage". Blue Mage can be the XIV version of the job like how we have XIV rdm and all the other jobs and Carnival Mage (FFV blu) can be the job with the limitations and all the memes and shenanigans for those that want the soloing job. I also like idea of the Carnival completion allowing the limitations to be removed or something like achievements that let you queue up for all content in the 21-25 range once you have finished the "Learn all level 21-25 blue mage spells" achievement. SE's goal should be a middle ground and I strongly believe that would result in a net increase of happy and excited players than right now.

Originally Posted by jon041065

There have been a lot of good ideas on these forums and the subreddit for how to achieve a middle ground with blue mage. I think the best would be two different job crystals.

I think thats easier said than done and will take a lot of time to get right, in terms of overall balance and fun job mechanics. Don't get me wrong, i want them to do something with blue mage, because even if i am not a fan of the class myself, i can relate to people that wanted this job for years and do all content with it.

Originally Posted by Powercow

Wha- no, no it's not. Blue Mage is literally, and only ever has been, about learning skills from enemies and then using it back at them. Every time Blue Mage has shown up, it has been slightly different (or radically, in the case of Enemy Skill materia) than its previous incarnations. Sometimes it requires using an item to learn the skill, sometimes you need to kill the enemy, sometimes you need to eat the enemy, sometimes you need to be hit with the skill... but the one constant is that you learn skills, then use them. FFXIV is going with the see-it-kill-it approach, which is fine, that fits the mold.

But FFXIV Blue Mage isn't even really Blue Mage. Were BLUs ever super duper flexible godtier OP characters that couldn't be used in the rest of the game? No. They never have been. (Yes in 11 they were pretty damn strong, but they weren't so strong the devs barred them from current content.) This is a change in design from what Blue Mage has been to something radically different for FFXIV. If anything this version of Blue Mage has *less* in common with every other version outside of that one time the job became an item.

The difference between offline FF Blue and online ones is Blue can play multiple roles in an online game. In FFXI the power did not matter as much because many jobs were OP in certain content. Also you did not have a duty finder dictating what you could or could not enter in group content with. In XIV, the roles are very strict so if Blue stayed true to it's core it could be a tank, healer, or DPS in XIV which says the rule is one role for party content.

Could it be worked around? Sure, but then those OP abilities would be omitted or nerfed beyond high hell. I mean when someone wants to play Blue, is their wish to learn skills from trash monsters in the open world? In XI, most spells were learned from trash monsters in the open world. But many of those trash monsters were actually dangerous depending on your level. There is no open world danger in Eorzea.

• Level 50 Blue: I am fixing to go learn my epic spell!
• Bystander: Where do you learn that?
• Level 50 Blue: I have to go to Rathefrost and fight Plasmoids!
• Bystander: Do you need help?
• Level 50 Blue Mage: Umm, I don't think so?

I remember joing an alliance of Blue in XI to go learn certain spells before the cap was raised past 75.

Edited:
I don't know if you played XIV when some of the relic had unique trials for artifact armor and relic weapons. I think Blue Specific multiplayer content is so everyone else needing it has a good reason to go help you.

Originally Posted by Blueyes

Blue Mage being equally capable as a DPS, tank, or healer seems to be a common misconception. While yes, Blue Mage is known to posses powerful mitigation or healing through spells such as Mighty Guard and White Wind, often times, those two spells were all that Blue Mage had for support utility. Across several games, it's normal to see approximately 80% of their spells as offensive in nature, whether it be through direct damage or negative status effects.

SE knows this. There is a reason why it's been officially classified as a Magical Ranged DPS. And when DPS jobs can have support utility like Mantra and Troubadour, I wouldn't consider it remotely game breaking for Blue Mage to have spells like Mighty Guard and White Wind while being classified as a DPS job. I also wouldn't consider it to be a disservice to the identity of Blue Mage if it can't tank or heal as well as it can deal damage. The only case where Blue Mage was truly that diverse has been in FFXI.

The representation of Blue Mage in FFXI was a deviation from the norm. But in its defense, it could also be called an expansion of what came before. And it's quite clear that FFXIV is borrowing heavily from the FFXI representation. However, when you consider what it means to be a full-fledged tank or healer, and consider that Blue Mage has been designed as a solo job, is it even being created with those capabilities in mind? If Blue Mage were being designed to be the most flexible party job, it would be a different story, but it's designed to clear content on its own.

Being equally capable of dealing damage, tanking, and healing isn't something that is required of Blue Mage in FFXIV. At its core, Blue Mage has a consistent focus on DPS, and while it will possess mitigation and healing spells, those spells may primarily exist for its own benefit when it's being designed as a solo job.

It did not matter what role Blue was in older FF because that did not involve other real players and there was not a "Role" in the sense that in most FF you could have every character possess heals, defensive buffs, and damage skills.

Well what game can you borrow from besides it's online sister mmo which is an FF multiplayer game?

1. They can strip Blue of tanking or healing stuff to make it a DPS.
2. They could strip high DPS and healing stuff to make it a tank.
3. They can strip tanking stuff and high DPS stuff to make it a healer.
4. They can trash the Carnival system and make you learn skills via the open world.
5. They can trash learning skills from open world enemies and learn it by leveling and quests.

It's their mmo, they could do whatever they want. If Beastmaster gets introduced later they can omit the ability to tame beasts and just learn it via leveling and quests. They omitted many summons from Summoner for the sake of balance and the strict trinity. They omitted the need to defeat the little summons we have, in order to earn them. We summon chicken nuggets versus the colossal divines the series is known for due to being a multiplayer game. They omitted skillchains, elemental wheels, and other things. So yeah, they can do whatever they please.

And I would be fine either way regardless of what I prefer. Because I realize whatever happens, it happens because this game is it's own mmo.

If blue mage is meant to be played solo, I'd love for it to not have glamour restrictions. The tired old excuse of confusing other players would not apply, if the content is meant to be played solo. I've got plenty of bard gear that I'd love to add to my red/blue mage wardrobe.