Blue Mages - Final Fantasy XI :: Dreams in Vana'diel :: Community

Card · 08-17-2005, 05:47 PM

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about Blue Mages considering that they're not even in the game, but I've put a lot of thought into this, and I want to get it out there. Keep in mind that while I love Blue Mages, use them in every game in which they're available, and would really enjoy seeing them in FFXI, I am aware that they would unbalance the game quite a bit, and much of the blue magic that they learn could screw up the entire party and enmity system.

First, Blue Mage should be an advanced job, obviously. It has potential to be a VERY powerful class, and I would hate to get killed because some noob players chose BLU as their beginning class and screw everything up in Valkurm Dunes. I'll go into that in just a moment.

When I think of a blue mage, I always think of a few basic spells: white wind, mighty guard, and bad breath. These are INCREDIBLE skills. White Wind, for those who don't know, restores to the entire party HP equal to the current amount the Blue Mage has. Essentially, it's a conditional Curaga. If the BLU is really hurt, it doesn't heal everybody for very much. However, if the Blue Mage has full health, it would be essentially a benediction. Tanks would have a really hard time holding hate off of a spell that could heal for that much. SE would probably have to nerf it to heal maybe 1/4 of the Blue Mage's HP to all party members, or something to that extent, as well as making it a very difficult spell to gain, which brings me to my next point.

There are no monsters stupid enough to cast White Wind or Mighty Guard on your party. Why would they want to heal you or cast wall and haste on you? That doesn't even make sense. The introduction of a blue mage class would lead to people wanting a beastmaster to be able to make its charmed pet cast attacks on party members. If SE would implement that, you would see little duos of Blue Mage and Beastmasters running all over Vana'diel, making BSTs very sought after. Maybe some people would like that. Maybe some wouldn't.

As for blue mage stats, in general, they seem to be on par with a red mage. They often use the same equipment: swords and medium armor. No shields for blue mages. However, Red Mages are more geared toward casting magic, whereas Blue Mages are better suited for melee combat. Blue mages often have a bit more HP, Strength, and Defense, while Red Mages have MP, Magic Attack, and Magic Defense. Blue Mage spells are often the most MP expensive spells in the game, so what would this spell for parties? Another damage dealer? I'm not sure what the place of a blue mage would be in a party. Like I've mentioned, a lot of the spells would generate too much hate for a beginner tank to handle.

Take for example, the spell ???? from FFV. It deals damage equal to your Max HP minus your Current HP. A blue mage could easily deal loads of damage if he was in the red, then follow up with the "Blow Up" spell learned from a bomb, if death was inevitable (which it would be, since he gained so much hate from casting ????).

How about the spell Blowfish? Works like 1000 needles, does 1000 damage. That's a pretty powerful hit.

Remember the spell "Frog Song?" Turn your enemy into frogs? That would be pretty nice, but I don't see this one happening.

They also have a spell called "Fusion," which transfers all of the HP the Blue Mage has to the person they're casting it on. Blue Mage dies, target is healed. I don't think there will be many altruistic Blue Mages casting this.

Magic Hammer! Now there is a spell I'd like to see a BLU cast! If monsters have MP, that is, which I'm not sure they do. That PLD Antican cast Cure V on itself about 6 times during a fight in Quicksand Caves... but wouldn't you like it if a Blue Mage could deal damage to a monster's proverbial MP?

Then, you have the ever popular Roulette spell, which would have no place in FFXI. In games where you fight multiple enemies at once, Roulette is alright. You have a pretty good chance of killing an enemy in one shot with it. In FFXI where it's your party of 6 versus 1 enemy, would you really want to risk it? I can see this being another last ditch effort, like if the Blue Mage is the only one standing. You and me, Robber Crab. Roulette. If it hits the Crab, you win. If it hits you, you lose. If you don't cast it, you lose anyway.

The spell Bad Breath could essentially put a Red Mage out of business. Confuse, Darkness, Poison, Slow, Mini, Frog, Berserk, Sleep, Doom? What else can that spell do? But putting all of those ailments on a monster at once would cause far too much hate. Not like the mob could hit you or do anything about it, though.

And finally, let's discuss the Lv? And Lv# spells that blue mages learn. Lv? Spells generally cast the effect on monsters the exact same level as the Blue Mage. So, would these spells only effect mobs that con as Even Match? Those aren't exactly useful. And the Lv# spells could be useful in certain situations. Lv4 holy deals damage to monsters with a level that's a multiple of 4. Lv3Def-less, reduces defense of monsters at level multiple of 3 to 0. That's useful. Can you imagine how quickly exp could go with the spell Lv5 Death in the BLU's repertoire? The mentality of the game would drastically change if a blue mage had that spell. Groups of level 30 players would head off to Sky and wait right by the gate. Have the Blue Mage run out to pull with the spell Lv5 Death. Oh, there's 1000000 exp for you guys. Every blue mage would be asked "{Lv5 Death} {Do you have it?}"

I guess the entire point of this article is to bring to the light the fact that while yes, blue mages are GREAT, they would have to be drastically changed to fit into the scheme of FFXI. However, since they changed Red Mage a lot from its original form, I can't see a reason not to put a Blue Mage into the game and tweak it. Here's hoping for the new expansion.

tdh · 08-17-2005, 07:05 PM

I've stated a number of times that I think a Blue Mage would be nice, but I just can't see how it would work in with the existing jobs.

I can't really even guess what jobs could be added. I mean we have 15 jobs, and some of these have problems finding party spots.

Card · 08-17-2005, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by tdh

I've stated a number of times that I think a Blue Mage would be nice, but I just can't see how it would work in with the existing jobs.

I can't really even guess what jobs could be added. I mean we have 15 jobs, and some of these have problems finding party spots.

Yeah. I hear you. Blue Mages could have a really difficult time getting parties, because people would request for them to have specific spells, and if there were a bunch of stupid Blue Mages running around, they could get a bad reputation as a whole job. It would be like the DRG epidemic all over again. The only way a blue mage could really work would for the entire Blue Magic system to be weakened. They were so so so powerful in other games that people might be disappointed if they were balanced for FFXI.

Also, should this post be moved somewhere..?

tomfin10 · 08-17-2005, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by Card

They were so so so powerful in other games that people might be disappointed if they were balanced for FFXI.

Kind of like Summoners? >.>; I'm not saying that Summoners suck in FFXI, I'm just saying that they have more of a supporting role in FFXI... unlike other FFs.

Card · 08-17-2005, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by tomfin10

Kind of like Summoners? >.>; I'm not saying that Summoners suck in FFXI, I'm just saying that they have more of a supporting role in FFXI... unlike other FFs.

Yeah. Summoners aren't weak, but they're not the end-all magic caster like Rydia from FF4. I do appreciate it when I have a summoner in my party, however. Fenrir is love.

tdh · 08-17-2005, 07:20 PM

OF course, no matter what new jobs are brought in the next expansion, we're going to have a huge flood of the new jobs to deal with.

Realistically, there should be 3 new jobs added. That makes sense, right? So we're going to have three new jobs, everybody's going to be playing them. That new novelty is going to get them a lot of invites for a few months, until the novelty falls off, and people really know it's in and outs.

Card · 08-17-2005, 07:24 PM

Is that how it was when they brought in DRG, NIN, and SAM? I joined FFXI after Zilart was already implemented. I don't want a bunch of people playing jobs just because they're new, I want them to play them because they've enjoyed them in other games.

Blood Red Poet · 08-17-2005, 07:55 PM

The only job added that would fit into FFXI-dom smoothly, would be a job that helps melees more than BRDs would, mainly against HNMs.

Even then, not very good at all.

tdh · 08-17-2005, 08:00 PM

In beta you had to be Lv.40 before you could unlock the Zil'art epansion pack jobs. Whish I never obtained. But during the last 3 weeks of the game, I didn't see many of the other jobs. I think I saw 2 or 3 SAMs but that was it. And I only got to play the last two and half months of the NA beta. So I'm not sure how things were when the new jobs were added.

Though, and I know a lot of people probably won't like this, I hope the new job quests require you to be Lv.50 or 60 to do. I'd rather not have the newbies, or players who don't put that much time into the game to get their hands on it easily and early.

I'm one of the few people who wished S-E didn't allow SMNs to get their Avatars from the Lv.20 quests.

Xhaztol · 08-17-2005, 09:42 PM

BLU's would have to be WAY gimped. Somehow, I think they'd tie some of those uber powerful spells into some sort of 2 HR. I dunno.

Crowzukin · 08-18-2005, 01:02 AM

My friends and I in my Japanese LS were discussing this the other day. We came to the conclusion that Blue Mage and Geomancer were shoe-ins for the next expansion.

But how would S/E eat up Blue Mages' money? Equipment costs only? Since I don't see Blue magic costing any money to acquire.

ibroyles · 08-18-2005, 01:27 AM

Good point they wouldnt even have to buy their spells like other mages.

Card · 08-18-2005, 02:27 AM

Originally Posted by Crowzukin

My friends and I in my Japanese LS were discussing this the other day. We came to the conclusion that Blue Mage and Geomancer were shoe-ins for the next expansion.

But how would S/E eat up Blue Mages' money? Equipment costs only? Since I don't see Blue magic costing any money to acquire.

I dunno. Make them have low MP and make BLUs buy MP+ gear, I guess. Or really expensive shamshirs and sabers etc?

Rai-Jin · 08-18-2005, 03:01 AM

It would be cool if you have to get your spells made first.

Like lets say ima BLU (^^) and I defeat a Goblin and then I get an "uncomplete Scroll Of Bomb Toss". I bring this Scroll to some Alchemist (not craft some npc guy) and he of course needs some cash to make it so humans can use the scroll

something like that

-VM- · 08-18-2005, 04:22 AM

Make it so BLU gets a Job Trait that gives them a 5% chance to obtain a skill from a monster (if the monster has one of the skills that the BLU can obtain) only if he deals the killing blow or something so its still rather difficult to get the abilities. Also, I think BLU should be required to have 100%+ TP AND MP to use their "Spells" to help gimp them.