Blue Mage Theories

[Beckett]

The two most likely theories I've seen are:

1) Blue Mage is a solo class that doesn't fit into the rigid role system of FFXIV. By learning various blue magic, BLU will be able to do all kinds of things that any other single job wouldn't be able to, but since it doesn't fit into the classic DPS, Tank or Healer categories, it won't be able to do group instances. We've already seen it in both Cutter's Cry and Akh Afah Amphitheater, so perhaps those are "BLU-only" versions of those duties. It's possible the new Trust system could also be used to augment the solo play.

2) Blue Mage is a group class, and the level cap will be raised to 80 when Shadowbringers is released. Because going around the world learning blue magic is a time consuming process, the devs want to give us this opportunity before the expansion to take our time and build up our BLUs. If they released BLU with 5.0, players might be overwhelmed trying to gather blue magic spells, on top of doing all of the other things in the new expansion. It could also be that because BLU is a more complicated job than anything they've released before, they're taking the time between 4.5 and 5.0 to "beta test" the job so that they can fine tune it before Shadowbringer's release.

Hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm curious what level it will actually start at. A job that starts at level 1 (so unconnected to any class), or just starting at a higher level (like all of the xpac jobs)?

I believe it’s starting at level 1, at least that’s what this insinuates:


“Level Cap set at 50! (Will increase in the future)”
And below it, in Japanese it reads “Level 1 ~ Level 50”

[KageTokage]

It would be kind of hilarious if they let BLU steal the ridiculous AoE abilities used by S rank hunts, though that might be a smidge overpowered even for the content designed specifically for them.

Mindflayer's AoE unremovable paralyze or Lampalagua's fear would be comical in a PvP setting, and I'm half-hoping they have some goofy, unbalanced BLU only PvP mode where their arsenal can consist of virtually any monster ability in existence.

[Fynlar]

To me, It being "limited" just means it's on beta test and we're testing the core elements of the job. The temporary level 50 cap, too. It just means we can't play this job in higher level content for a while. The solo content mentioned is just the skill-learning part of the job like Kiki said.

Not sure why people think a Job will only be exclusive to solo content. That would be extremely ridiculous.

It's probably got something to do with the fact that this is unprecedented. We haven't gotten a "beta" class before. When we got a class, it was already immediately at the level cap and immediately usable in all content. The fact that this isn't kinda already indicates it's not going to be like everything else we've gotten so far.

[Jib]

What if the "limited" means:

You can only use it and level it EUREKA!!!

They put the relic there.. they thought.. we need MORE!!.. lets put a new job also!! So you get your abilities by killing the monsters in Eureka!!!!

NOOOO!!!!

[HyoMinPark]

What if the "limited" means:

You can only use it and level it EUREKA!!!

They put the relic there.. they thought.. we need MORE!!.. lets put a new job also!! So you get your abilities by killing the monsters in Eureka!!!!

NOOOO!!!!

I hope the devs are prepared for mutiny.

[Crushnight]

What if the "limited" means:

You can only use it and level it EUREKA!!!

They put the relic there.. they thought.. we need MORE!!.. lets put a new job also!! So you get your abilities by killing the monsters in Eureka!!!!

NOOOO!!!!

Doubt it as they said it is available to everyone with a job at lv50 and completed 2.0 MSQ

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I believe that Yoshida said that its level cap will be increased gradually with patches after expansion hits. That means that it's going to still be capped at 50, or 60, when 5.0 hits and probably get 10 more levels at 5,1; 5,2 and 5,3 or 5,2 and 5,4 or some such.

This would be a really dumb decision. People are incredibly hyped to potentially main BLU and suddenly they'd be forced to wait almost half the length of Shadowbringer's life cycle before its raid capable. At that point, why even bother with three jobs in the expansion when one is simply gimped?

[xxvaynxx]

This would be a really dumb decision. People are incredibly hyped to potentially main BLU and suddenly they'd be forced to wait almost half the length of Shadowbringer's life cycle before its raid capable. At that point, why even bother with three jobs in the expansion when one is simply gimped?

^
This.
Like what was even the point? it might as well just be a mini-game job, where you just collect monster skills.
So I highly doubt it won't be 70 before SB is over.
Because many people are hyped for BLU and want to main it, and SE will have a lot of backlash for this if its not even ready until the new ep is half way done.

[Alestorm]

I guess I'll need to stock up on some Royal Blue dye to post on the MB soon, it'll sell like hot cakes with all the new BLU's running around.