So...About Blue Mage

[Soge01]

Sure, I get that. But if you have "limited BLU" versus "unlimited BLU" as basically functionally separate jobs, and you have to strip away everything that basically makes blue magic "blue magic" (e.g., learning the spells by seeing them cast) in order to make it play well within level roulette... why not just make a different caster? Instead of a broken blue mage stripped of its blue magic identity, why not come up with a different caster that has some identity that works better in roulette?

Or, to put it another way: if, in order to make BLU work in normal play, you have to...

• Ensure that BLU learns spells at specific levels like other jobs (rather than learning them in content through observation), so you can guarantee that a given BLU has the necessary spells (rather than joining Roulette at level 63 while only having Water Cannon).
• Strip out the spellbook functionality, so that you can guarantee a given BLU DPS in a roulette has the necessary skills to function at that level, rather than some custom spell-set that doesn't work. (Who's going to want to wait for 15 minutes while a BLU tries to shuffle their spells to something appropriate to whatever they got in roulette?)
• Ensure that BLU syncs down in roulettes, so that (for instance) you don't have 17 AoEs in Sastasha while the other DPS has precisely none.
• Limit BLU to the DPS role, rather than allowing it to tank/heal, so that roulettes can role-match in a sane manner.

...then I would ask, what exactly about blue mage makes you want to play it in normal content? This is not a facetious question, I am genuinely curious; to me, all the things that would need to get stripped out to make BLU work in normal content would be most of the things that I personally feel actually make BLU... well, BLU. As opposed to just another caster?

Yes, it's possible they could basically define a set of spells from the BLU spellbook and just give them to you at various levels, and turn it into a normal caster; mechanically, that's possible. But what would give BLU a separate identity from any other caster at that point? What would make it worth making one of the two jobs in 7.0 be "BLU with a set spellbook where spells unlock automatically level by level, enforced DPS role, and with all the weird buffs/debuffs that would make balancing high-end content (like Savage or Ultimates) incredibly difficult if they had them", as opposed to some other caster?

Personally, I would prefer BLU remain BLU -- and a limited job that can be all the weird things -- and just get another caster. Because if you've split BLU into functionally two jobs... what's the gain? This is a genuine question, because I don't understand what it is that people actually want out of "second BLU".

And you would have to split it, realistically, because 1. existing BLU needs to be able to learn spells in the overworld, but you wouldn't want someone advancing the MSQ with that, and 2. you wouldn't want someone able to power-level "unlimited BLU' via "limited BLU"s absurd overworld XP buff. Among other things.

(I mean, this is leaving aside the fact that if they did make "unlimited BLU" one of the two jobs for 7.0, I can just imagine the howling on the forums about "that's not a new job, they just took an existing job and stripped all the neat stuff out to give us another caster DPS! That's so lazy! We should get a third job!" or whatever.)

- As another pointed out on page 7, the totems and learning new Blue spells specifically for the "unlimited" version of Blue Mage could be used as a possible way for that version of Blue Mage to learn spells.

- People like myself want a Blue Mage that can play in all content without the restrictions the current Blue Mage has. It's not fun to see your favorite job be restricted to just niche and outdated content when all the other Jobs get to have fun playing through all the current content and even old content that the current Nlue Mage could thrive in, like Eureja and Bozja. That isn't to say I would want to get rid of current Blue Mage for an "unlimited" version. That would be just dumb, lol! While I enjoy Blue Mage for what it is currently, it would just be nice to have a second version of it where it has access to all content. xD

- The identity of Blue Mage, I believe wouldn't be stripped from it if a second version of it were made so it can play in all content. Blue Mage, fron my own perspective from what I've played in this game and previous FF games, has always been a powerful caster class that takes the power of its enemies and uses it against them. To me, this can be easily replicated in an "unlimited" version of Blue Mage. How would one do this, I cannot say. Though a previous poster here on one of the previous pages to 6 made a really in depth thingy on joe an "unlimited" Blue Mage could function and he talked about Blue Mage using the same elemental spells over and over again to unlock bigger and powerful ones. Like, you start out with Water Cannon and you got to Water Breath (I think that's a spell) next and so on, until you can blow up your enemy with Leviathan's Tsunami attack or something as your big water elemental finisher. So, at least in my opinion, there are plenty of ways to keep Blue Mage's iconic traits intact without stripping it of what it is.

- I also wanted to see Blue Mage have a full version of it possibly made for 7.0, because it's the caster job anybody would think of when you mention New World. And since we're more than likely going there next expansion, why not make a fully functioning version of it? Another poster on a previous page to 6 also pointed out how we could get another Blue Mage Job Crystal that functions similar to all the other Job Crystals, so as to also help keep the identity of current Blue Mage seperate from the newer one.

And about those who would complain on the forums about the devs being lazy for just making a second Blue Mage for the 7.0 expansion instead of giving us a completely new class with a seperate identity. Who cares. They'll complain to the high heavens until they actually get their hands on this second Blue Mage job and most of them will either shut their gobs, thinking this new Blue Mage is a fine addition to the already existing caster jobs or they'll screech even harder, complaining that the Job is severely lacking in something or the other like SMN.

Personally, I'd rather see the devs take that risk. I'd rather Blue Mage have two distinct functioning versions one where we can play it in it's own fun little niche content with other limited jobs and expanding on the lore that is that version of Blue Mage. And being able to play a standard job class Blue Mage, where some of us who actually want to play it in all content can finally do so with some fun little unique caster gimmick of it's own that doesn't do what the current casters do.

- And keeping Blue Mage in the DPS role if it's made "unlimited" is fine by me. Blue Mage has always been a DPS of sorts in other FF games. Or at least the ones I've played, so it makes sense it would stick to that type of gameplay, unless the devs want to pull a Dark Knight on us and try something new with it.