FFXIV: Limited Job and why it doesn't work

[Auryan]

Helping Answer this question :

1. The reason why BLU should have more than designed to be , because right now BLU as "Side Content" have really small attention to the devs team and it's keep getting worse , while having your favorite job getting small portion while it's supposedly got big update (lvl 70) it's really sad. As for now all I can see being a "Limited Job" is the only way to abusing some old content while the current content for them is getting super small portion of it ( lvl 70 ).

2. We already have the resource for BLU and they don't need to make it from scratch again for other job , another reason why it's easier to make BLU as normal job instead making a new one. Tho I won't hate it if Geo / Green Mage become a job, the more the merrier.

1) Being treated like side content could be because BLU is side content? As I said earlier, mentioning that the job concept being your favorite is emotional and relatable, but not convincing. At least not persuasive enough for me to think it being a good reason for SE to invest more time and resource into what they consider as side content.

You could however say that giving BLU more access to content like Eureka/PoTD/HoH, more unique achievements and goals, Masked Carnival stages, etc. are all things they should do. And I would be in favor of, but that's not what a lot of people here are asking for. They want to make BLU into something it isn't: a standard job along with the rest. Not just that, they want it to keep the current BLU for old content, carve out all of the interesting bits and plop it with the rest and call it a day. Having your cake and eating it too kind of deal.

2) That's not how they design jobs though. Even if going with the hypothetical that after 6.1.5 they raise BLU to 80 and then think it's no longer worthwhile to keep investing in the idea, they have at that point already sketched out ideas for potential jobs for the next expansion. What if they already have allocated resources to another caster or other roles? I seriously doubt they would bump one out just for an overhauled blue mage.

The more likely route they'd take in that scenario is to not update it after a certain point. Content no longer getting updated has precedence in the game. Look at anything chocobo-related, Verminion, leves, Squadron, etc. They can indirectly keep it alive with more Wonderous tales/Moogle Treasure hunt-style content that encourages running older content, but that'd be it.

EDIT: typos

[Kaworu]

BLU is awesome, I love mine. But it would be great if we could run normal stuff with everyone...

[ItMe]

Dunno maybe someday in the future or on the next FF MMO lol... all up to devs teams , but I'm here just sending some feedback regarding this "L I M I T E D J O B"

Ah, I see.
Thank you for clarifying.

[Mariel_Crystallie]

1) You could however say that giving BLU more access to content like Eureka/PoTD/HoH, more unique achievements and goals, Masked Carnival stages, etc. are all things they should do. And I would be in favor of, but that's not what a lot of people here are asking for. They want to make BLU into something it isn't: a standard job along with the rest. Not just that, they want it to keep the current BLU for old content, carve out all of the interesting bits and plop it with the rest and call it a day. Having your cake and eating it too kind of deal.

2) That's not how they design jobs though. Even if going with the hypothetical that after 6.1.5 they raise BLU to 80 and then think it's no longer worthwhile to keep investing in the idea, they have at that point already sketched out ideas for potential jobs for the next expansion. What if they already have allocated resources to another caster or other roles? I seriously doubt they would bump one out just for an overhauled blue mage.

The more likely route they'd take in that scenario is to not update it after a certain point. Content no longer getting updated has precedence in the game. Look at anything chocobo-related, Verminion, leves, Squadron, etc. They can indirectly keep it alive with more Wonderous tales/Moogle Treasure hunt-style content that encourages running older content, but that'd be it.

1. That's what I'm asking for since the beginning , they really almost no care with BLU despite they having a new level cap update which why I say they keep getting lazier for this type of "Side Content". If they really gonna treat the "Limited Job" this way I prefer they not even make another one , because it will only wasting resource that you can use to work with something else instead making a half-baked job that only abusing old content like now.

2. Well we don't know exactly how they create a new job , even Sage come up from scratch while they thinking about Alchemist as healer before lol. well again BLU already have all the resource they need in game , only need the rebalance.

[GavynG]

Absolutely agree with everything said in the video. Summed up my thoughts entirely. Give us Blue Mage mains our identities back. (as in let us actually main it and play with friends that don't care for BLU)

I don't think YoshiP really understands the appeal of "jobs". It's not all about roles.

[NolChannel]

Realistically, Blue Mage is a means to refresh interest in content that is one tier old, just now with an overpowered role with superior healing, mitigation, and damage. It does... exactly that.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. It doesn't need to be a main job, and it doesn't need to be "balanced". The imbalance is what makes it fun, as you're pretty much doing DPS a good 80 iLevels above what other mages would do at the cost of having much worse armor and complete RNG on mechanics. It changes the way you engage with old fights, and I love it.

[Auryan]

1. That's what I'm asking for since the beginning , they really almost no care with BLU despite they having a new level cap update which why I say they keep getting lazier for this type of "Side Content". If they really gonna treat the "Limited Job" this way I prefer they not even make another one , because it will only wasting resource that you can use to work with something else instead making a half-baked job that only abusing old content like now.

2. Well we don't know exactly how they create a new job , even Sage come up from scratch while they thinking about Alchemist as healer before lol. well again BLU already have all the resource they need in game , only need the rebalance.

1) To be fair, it's not just what you're asking. You want BLU to have more access to content and be a standard job. You're statements on this very thread show that. Even if BLU was able to do deep dungeons and Eureka (and eventually Bozja), I'm pretty sure you'd still call that "lazy" and "half-baked." Mostly because it's the fact that BLU is barred from max level content being the actual issue.

They care for the content as much as they would any other minor side content. And I think that's where most of your disappointment stems from: reality vs. expectations. BLU is side content more comparable to Ocean Fishing and Gold Saucer-related activities and less to more major side content like Eureka/Bozja and Ishgardian Restoration. And seeing as you have a liking to the job, I can see why you would be let down.

2) Yoshi P has actually been pretty forthcoming in explaining how they create jobs. Here's a link to an interview that lists the step they take to add new ones to the game: https://www.aetherflowmedia.com/inte...-with-yoshi-p/

That's beside the point though, the important thing to know is the planning for new jobs are made years in advance, with resource allocation for new jobs already set. And scrapping a piece of side content and then stitching the mangled remains and calling it a standard job doesn't fall under the category of well-planned. You could call it a rebalance, I'd call it a mess. To make BLU into what you want it to be would require a very significant overhaul and design shift. It's much easier to play armchair game designer than it is being an actual game designer. I think we fall into that trap at one point or another.

[Mariel_Crystallie]

snip

1. Well I'm asking for more because BLU still my favorite job , and as my favorite job it's really sad looking at the current BLU we have. All the content that have replay-ability with BLU is only abuse the old dungeon , I mean if we can go Eureka/HoH/POTD at least it will have some replay-ability stuff that we can do as BLU. With the level 70 release I kinda wishes that BLU can be used in Ultimate too , sadly no. Ultimate despite the hardest content it's still has the best replay-ability content ( though I already have all the weapons , it's still a very fun fight to explore as other class and I expected BLU can join to increase the fun in there ). If they can access all level 70 content and add more carnivals stage & reward I will drop off the word of "lazy" or "half-baked" , but for now yeah it's "lazy" and "half-baked". Still the biggest problem for me is the real usage of BLU with some "Replay-Ability" content , not as tool to abuse things like now.

2. Interesting article to read.. well again here I am just dropping some feedback and wishing the best to BLU and care about the future "Limited Job" because the current Limited Job looks really suffer a crisis content.

[Shurrikhan]

1) But why?
Why does BLU have to be more than what it is designed to be (side content)?

Because it is already more than side-content, at the expense of any group content that would otherwise be done by normal jobs (but will not be, because BLU cheese largely pushes them out).

2) Why change BLU when simply adding a standard caster job would accomplish the same thing?

Because:

1. The present circumstance is problematic in terms of content expectations/difficulty (see the old world/content portions of current relic grind).
   
   
2. The present circumstance denies BLU any meaningful or interesting rotation or similarly core elements of gameplay generally expected of combat in any decent MMORPG, and allows the devs to excuse this lack of quality as a necessary cost of having further job content when that cost is not at all necessary.
   
   
3. A standard caster job that is not BLU would obviously neither be the best fit for BLU's theme nor excuse the development resources already expended for BLU's skill acquisition, no part of which is mutually exclusive with its having a complete and compelling kit at a given level or its being applicable in/to a given role; such merely requires actually putting some thought into the matchmaking systems themselves.
   
   
4. Making BLU more than a mere joke creates certain precedents towards versatility, player choice, and job interactions or job-specific content that could be beneficial for the game.

To be clear as to my own position:

Allowing BLU to do normal content in a roughly normal manner (e.g., not only via premades, not only at least a patch after everyone else, though perhaps at a variably slightly higher item level requirement) does not require it to lose its unique skill acquisition system, its multi-role functionality, or its above-average pool of skills. It requires only...

1. that BLU be balanced, ideally at just under typical (especially, role-specific) performance of fixed-role jobs, though with some ultimately subtle unique affordances that might make a dungeon run slightly faster or push a particular phase if, for example, one's co-healer can make up the difference;
2. that BLU retain limits on how many of those skills can actually be slotted at a given time;
3. that matchmaking have additional, fitting requirements of BLUs to ensure that they can, in fact, meet the requirements of their chosen role -- in some cases requiring a higher item level to the degree that they would sim short for mechanics specific to a given dungeon or span of dungeons;
4. and, ideally, that there be a small window of time granted upon entry to instanced to further swap skills about, though barring the removal of the minimum number of role-related skills (more strict for tanking or healing than DPS).

In such a case, the delays consequent to their unique skill acquisition system is just due balance for their being to fill any role. The additional cognitive requirements made of them through their building different skill "decks", likewise, is due compensation for their unique versatility. I'd offer, though, that their chances of acquiring a skill classified into a certain role should vary Armory Bonus for that same role.

The above requirements are not easily met, but they can be met, and the goal is, imo, worthwhile, not just for BLU's own benefit but for what it would prototype for the larger game.

[Alleo]

I do kinda wonder how often they will even touch Blue in the future. Since you cant use it for a big amount of current content you will always need new exclusive blue content to keep it alive. (I for example would not just level up something like that so that I could do old outdated stuff a bit faster.) But this also means that ressources are taken away from the game to make more unique stuff for something that is bascially a niche in this game.

I believe that it would be possible to make Blue both, a unique job but also something you could use for all the other content. For this they simply give it certain skills through job quests or simply by reaching a certain level. These are then the skills used in normal content. Maybe to give it a bit of variety you can choose a couple of your other skills (SE could decide which ones you can choose from thus stopping people form equiping the OP ones). This way people are able to use Blue in every single content.

And on top of that they could still introduce the learning more skills for unique content mechanic. And as soon as someone usnychs old content they unlock the ability to use all of their skills too.

This way even if SE decides to barely put out some new side content for Blue you would still be able to play that job for the rest of the expansion as a normal job.