Rework Bluemage!

[Duelle]

Anything is better than what we currently have as of 5.0, if the job gets access to duty finder and current level stuff they would atleast be able to participate. Just like how almost nobody wanted to play machinist in 4.0 but they could still participate in any current content available.

I wasn't around during Stormblood long enough to know what the deal was with MCH, but that sounds like a false equivalence. Any failings MCH had during Stormblood were most likely the result of poor design and/or balancing (read: stuff that could be fine-tuned because the groundwork was already in place). BLU was intentionally made devoid of mechanics. That's a huge difference between those two scenarios.

As for mechanics to back it up, there is a ton of mechanics already in their spells.

I've looked over the spell list in and out of the game, and I don't see much aside from a handful of spell interactions, most of which are little more than gimmicks (Lv5 Petrify => Drill Cannon, any stun => Sharpened Knife).

I also see a bunch of spells that are not usable in dungeons and raids (Doom, Missile, Lv5 Petrify, Tail Screw, Snort, all stuns, anything that resembles CC), a tank stance with a cast time, and two suicide moves. The only things that I would consider usable in the current design would be the DoTs (Feather Rain, Song of Torment), Flying Sardine if you ever need an interrupt (though it doesn't seem like that sort of thing is mandatory) and Bad Breath every 15s for the attack debuff/Peculiar Light for the magic damage taken debuff. I won't claim that utility isn't covered, but that leaves BLU to spam Water Cannon between the cooldowns for Feather Storm/Glass Dance/Shock Strike.

Which takes us to my point on gameplay and mechanics. BLU doesn't have much to go by, especially when compared to the other casters in the roster. It also doesn't have traits that support the job in its chosen role (taking a page from the FFXI "certain spells in a combo grant traits" system wouldn't be a bad place to start). And considering the devs have a fixation on giving everyone a resource bar (even jobs that never needed them; see: PLD), you'd need to address BLU's lack of that as well.

To get back into brainstorming, you could plausibly make spell interactions BLU's thing (the way Astral Fire/Umbral Ice is BLM's thing and Aetherflow is SMN's thing), but you need to take it well beyond just the gimmicky stuff currently in place.

[Jandor]

To get back into brainstorming, you could plausibly make spell interactions BLU's thing (the way Astral Fire/Umbral Ice is BLM's thing and Aetherflow is SMN's thing), but you need to take it well beyond just the gimmicky stuff currently in place.

Could take advantage of the elemental spells.

In FFXIV you have the following interactions:
Fire melts Ice, Ice blocks Wind, Wind extinguishes Fire (yes I know that last one is stupid.)
Lightning boils Water, Water erodes Earth, Earth grounds Lightning.

For example, you use an earth spell and it gives you an earth buff, any water aligned spell used will do bonus damage because it's going "through" the element it's strongest against.
So your water spell then does bonus damage, removes the earth status, and replaces it with a water one. Then you use lightning to attack, clear the water status, and complete a basic 3 button combo, gaining a 'blue mage token' to be spent on a more impressive non-aligned spell like 'Bad Breath'.

Thinking a gauge something like this.



Start with Fire, Fire extinguished by Wind, Wind blocked by Ice, one "token" granted.
Lightning opener, grounded by Earth, eroded by Water, second elemental triangle "token" granted, and one bigger "token" for completing the whole elemental wheel.

Small token for something like a toned down Bad Breath.
Bigger token for stuff like the Primal spells but beefed up?

I think the job could probably still use a little more than that, but it's a solid enough foundation to build upon IMHO.

[Banim]

I'd be happy if BLU was part of the new jobs for next expansion. They could still retain their limited job content having a separate set of abilities, much like all other jobs have a separate set of tools in PvP modes and the Wolves Den area.

[Zerogunsoul81]

I hope that blue mage get fleshes out into a full class at some point. Cus the showed off they're adding a morbol mount for it. And i just wanted it to be a full fledged class. And not a minigame they use as a way to keep people play for an extra 4 to 5 days. And a way to carrot on a stick people into playing it. I want a my fav class to be able to do things with. Instead of it being the MMO version of being stranded on a desert island.

[AngelicSnake]

I think they’re already working on one or two more limited jobs atm. I highly doubt they’re gonna fix blue mage because of it :/ limited jobs were such a stupid and out of touch idea.

[Tracewood]

It's a shame they're sticking with the limited job system for BLU.

They could of made it where even if you leveled to 80, you have to talk to the NPC that starts the quest to "unlock" it for use, but it would have strict requirements like having nearly all spells and completed tiers of the masked carnival. Yes, you'll get those who complain that it isn't free to use at the start, but it's a compromise for those who really want to main it for MSQ and such.

[Kisshu]

It's a shame they're sticking with the limited job system for BLU.

They could of made it where even if you leveled to 80, you have to talk to the NPC that starts the quest to "unlock" it for use, but it would have strict requirements like having nearly all spells and completed tiers of the masked carnival. Yes, you'll get those who complain that it isn't free to use at the start, but it's a compromise for those who really want to main it for MSQ and such.

Honestly, I'm fine with nearly anything. I recall from the live letter that they said BLU content will be in patch 5.12. I would think it's around end November or start December. So that's close to a year without any new content for BLU since it was released in January.
If they want to go forward with limited jobs, they need to support them more than just release and forget.

At least normal jobs get new content each patch in the form of new dungeons and trials for combat, or new recipes and deliveries for crafting/gathering.

[Zerogunsoul81]

https://youtu.be/aBiC1rNhzLY a vid made by someone who did their homework. It's worth a watch

[KageTokage]

I guess they realized BLU wasn't causing enough damage relative to other DPS at 50 to have mostly buffed its skills across the board in 5.1.

They did however deny spamming of Final Sting/Self-destruct for whatever reason.

Still think they might as well try to balance as a normal class if they're bothering to put this much thought into its changes, though.

[ReiMakoto]

I guess they realized BLU wasn't causing enough damage relative to other DPS at 50 to have mostly buffed its skills across the board in 5.1.

They did however deny spamming of Final Sting/Self-destruct for whatever reason.

Still think they might as well try to balance as a normal class if they're bothering to put this much thought into its changes, though.

Its actually potentially a nerf as peculiar light and off guard are now just a trick attack effect and cant be stacked, so whilst all the potencies are up we're losing the very power multiplicative buff stacking effect, also there's aoe dropoff for non primal skills