Blue mage shouldnt be "Limited"

[Koka-Kola]

White Wind isn't spammable, but just one single cast of it by a Blue mage in full health can completely heal the tank taking a big tank buster, or multiple people that decided not not move from aoe, that's WAY stronger than Vercure of the Dancer's heal. Unavoidable AoEs almost never fully blasts the party's HP (at least at once), so 2 White Winds from 2 different blue mage dpsers can even null the need of an actual second healer.

Diamondback's duration is so big that will let you ignore key mechanics from a fight... Why not have a party full of Blue Mages dpsers and worry less about stressful mechanics?

Aetherial Mimicry can literally let you have 1 healer and 1 tank be full fledged dpsers while their roles aren't needed.

Cactguard cast by a tank is a -15% spammable dmg reduction... Thus it would be optimal for your offtank always be a Blue Mage, to keep that on the main tank.

You're generalizing a lot there. Your point is valid in which you say that Blue Mages have the dps complexity, but those examples that I listed, and many others can literally break the balance of a fight, especially in Savage modes. If this doesn't let you see how the limited status is needed for how Blue Mages are at the moment, then I don't know how else I can put it into perspective...

White wind at full health yes, but anywhere below 50%, not worth it. its cost is too great to use often. Diamond backs cost is 3000 MP and lasts 10 seconds(No mp recover when active). It only reduces your damage taken by 90%. Now insta kill mechanics cannot be dodged or ignored. With that in mind all of the tanks CD's are better that diamond back for those reasons. I mean gunbreaker is invincible for 10 seconds AND can move freely. Quite the difference there. Diamond back does NOT allow you to skip mechanics unless you are over geared (Just as other jobs could) Now Aetherial Mimicry (Mimics a targets role: DPS gets 20% crit chance, healer adds additional effects to some healing skills, tank adds some damage reduction) is a solid point but blue mage cannot out heal or out tank a normal healer or tank (Just as most casters can dos and heal.) Diamond back is not spammable(3000 cost with no MP recovery when active), mighty guard, cactguard and even aetherial mimicry cannot make up for an actual tank class since tanks get significantly more health and have more tank skills. Ive seen it all too much where a member in a blue farming group had to swap to an ACTUAL healer or tank (Synced) because blue cannot do what those roles do best. Also what is stopping a blue mage as entering a dungeon as a tank or healer? well as a DPS class, why would you queue as a tank? You dont get a fast queue, and you dont do the job that well and if they did queue as such then that is just as bad as healers or tanks queueing and saying "I am DPSing." (Happens often)

[ForteNightshade]

White wind at full health yes, but anywhere below 50%, not worth it. its cost is too great to use often. Diamond backs cost is 3000 MP and lasts 10 seconds(No mp recover when active). It only reduces your damage taken by 90%. Now insta kill mechanics cannot be dodged or ignored. With that in mind all of the tanks CD's are better that diamond back for those reasons. I mean gunbreaker is invincible for 10 seconds AND can move freely. Quite the difference there. Diamond back does NOT allow you to skip mechanics unless you are over geared (Just as other jobs could) Now Aetherial Mimicry (Mimics a targets role: DPS gets 20% crit chance, healer adds additional effects to some healing skills, tank adds some damage reduction) is a solid point but blue mage cannot out heal or out tank a normal healer or tank (Just as most casters can dos and heal.) Diamond back is not spammable(3000 cost with no MP recovery when active), mighty guard, cactguard and even aetherial mimicry cannot make up for an actual tank class since tanks get significantly more health and have more tank skills. Ive seen it all too much where a member in a blue farming group had to swap to an ACTUAL healer or tank (Synced) because blue cannot do what those roles do best. Also what is stopping a blue mage as entering a dungeon as a tank or healer? well as a DPS class, why would you queue as a tank? You dont get a fast queue, and you dont do the job that well and if they did queue as such then that is just as bad as healers or tanks queueing and saying "I am DPSing." (Happens often)

I want to put some things into perspective for you because your assessments grossly underestimate how utterly broken Blue Mage would be in regular content.

A Caster at level 80 with 50% HP will still heal for substantially more than any actual healer is capable of. 90% damage reduction is more than tank LB3. This effectively makes it the equivalent of a tank invulnerability. So yes, it does allow you to skip mechanics because their damage is made laughable. To emphasis this point, there is literally nothing E12S can do to damage a Blue Mage tank/heal combo. She simply doesn't deal remotely enough damage or have any mechanics that would be threatening. A full Blue Mage would be laughably overpowered to the point of rendering every other job complete obsolete.

[Hank_Hotspur]

I think the more important part of keeping Blue Mages similar to how they were in previous FF games was to make them actually usable in the main game rather than a side thing. While earning spells from enemies has been a staple, no way would the job become beloved if you couldn't use it in dungeons or story quests from FFV on. Right now, FFXIV Blue Mage is more like the Gold Saucer, Triple Triad, Tetra Master, Blitzball, or any of the other side content from a normal FF game rather than a job: it's something you do as a side distraction before getting back to the meat and potatoes main game offers.

We've come to understand that MMO conventions mean things from regular FF games must be altered. I love Red Mages in the other games as a jack of all trades, but they wouldn't fit into the role paradigms of this game, so it was changed. I like Red Mage in FFXIV very much, making it a caster with a melee combo and some token white magic utility spells was a very pragmatic adaptation. So why is it that every other job is subjected to some form of alteration to fit the MMO gameplay but it would just be too unreasonable for Blue Mages to undergo the same?

[Ultimatecalibur]

I think the more important part of keeping Blue Mages similar to how they were in previous FF games was to make them actually usable in the main game rather than a side thing.

The Blue Mage has always been a "side thing." In every game in which Blue Magic has appeared almost all of it has been backtracking for bonus gimmick content job rather than an on content job. The primary way to learn most Blue Magic spells in the majority of games is to go back to earlier areas, often after you have gained access to the "Control" command, and deduce how to get them to use their Blue Magics.

While earning spells from enemies has been a staple, no way would the job become beloved if you couldn't use it in dungeons or story quests from FFV on.

I doubt that. The collecting spells was something you did before completing the Disc-One, Disc-Two, Very Definite, and/or Bonus Dungeons not while you were progressing through the game. Heck, FFV added an additional version of Blue Mage (Necromancer) gained only after completing the Bonus Dungeon and beating the Super Boss. FFVI required that one of it's three Blue Mages (Gau) return to a specific over world area after you completed content in order to collect his variation of Blue Magic (Rages).

You dont seem to care about BLU much, but I know there are a lot of people who do care, and would like to actually do something relevant with the job.

Blue Mage has always been about warping standard gameplay and going back through irrelevant content to break it harder.

[P0W3RK1D]

Blue Mage has always been about warping standard gameplay and going back through irrelevant content to break it harder.

But even then Blue Mages could still play and fight on the same level and content as every other class, the devs didnt put in a content or level lock, keeping you from venturing in the overworld with the blue mage in your party, and blue mage could still fight and progress on the same level as everyone else.

[Raikai]

I think the more important part of keeping Blue Mages similar to how they were in previous FF games was to make them actually usable in the main game rather than a side thing. While earning spells from enemies has been a staple, no way would the job become beloved if you couldn't use it in dungeons or story quests from FFV on. Right now, FFXIV Blue Mage is more like the Gold Saucer, Triple Triad, Tetra Master, Blitzball, or any of the other side content from a normal FF game rather than a job: it's something you do as a side distraction before getting back to the meat and potatoes main game offers.

We've come to understand that MMO conventions mean things from regular FF games must be altered. I love Red Mages in the other games as a jack of all trades, but they wouldn't fit into the role paradigms of this game, so it was changed. I like Red Mage in FFXIV very much, making it a caster with a melee combo and some token white magic utility spells was a very pragmatic adaptation. So why is it that every other job is subjected to some form of alteration to fit the MMO gameplay but it would just be too unreasonable for Blue Mages to undergo the same?

I think it is possible. For example, if you give Blue Mages different roles (tank, melee, healer, caster), you'd still have enough spells slots to fill the whole, or nearly the whole, spellbook as it is now... And role unlock would be tied into certain spell unlocks. And the spells would be properly balanced around the role and the "1 hit KO" spells cooldown and enemy invulnerability already make them extremely niche anyway. There are ways to implement the flavor of spell collectability with it being a regular job.

I'd be all for this, but sadly they went into an easier route and made what it is now.. The damage is already done, and I honestly don't see they re-creating the job from zero to implement such a thing, because that would be like creating a new job.

Said that, I do enjoy Blu for what it is today, but the limitations behind the limited job defnitely need more love, because there are a lot of potential there and so much more that could've been given.

[alceste007]

I think the more important part of keeping Blue Mages similar to how they were in previous FF games was to make them actually usable in the main game rather than a side thing. While earning spells from enemies has been a staple, no way would the job become beloved if you couldn't use it in dungeons or story quests from FFV on. Right now, FFXIV Blue Mage is more like the Gold Saucer, Triple Triad, Tetra Master, Blitzball, or any of the other side content from a normal FF game rather than a job: it's something you do as a side distraction before getting back to the meat and potatoes main game offers.

We've come to understand that MMO conventions mean things from regular FF games must be altered. I love Red Mages in the other games as a jack of all trades, but they wouldn't fit into the role paradigms of this game, so it was changed. I like Red Mage in FFXIV very much, making it a caster with a melee combo and some token white magic utility spells was a very pragmatic adaptation. So why is it that every other job is subjected to some form of alteration to fit the MMO gameplay but it would just be too unreasonable for Blue Mages to undergo the same?

Yeah, I really agree with this. The current mage implementation feels like a downgrade from previous FF games where Blue Mage could be a main job. The current Blue Mage really is just for goofing around which is a big disappointment.

[Keramory]

Honestly I'm okay with nerfing Blu to what it needs to be, to be a real class and participate with everything else. Got it to 60 in a day which was cool (and a little messed up) and then it was just spell grind. And that's all you really do. Make Blu parties to spell grind. That and blow through alliance duties for relic. Which if anything is another reason to nerf blu anyways. People near demanding blu only alliances to get through them quicker to farm. That goes against Yoshi's dev policy of trying to limit job demands for content anyways.

That and everyone expected a caster for the newest dps job and surprised (maybe a little upset) it's going to a melee slot. Make Blu a proper caster in regular content and bam, win.

[Canadane]

Being limited made it a lot more expansive and fun.

[Fal_Kearst]

Being limited made it a lot more expansive and fun.

And you get a cool Morbol mount when you clear the achievements!!!