Final Fantasy XIV will kick off with a new patch in 2019. A part of its content is the new “Limited Job” Blue Mage. Here is everything we know about it.
What is a “Limited Job”? The Blue Mage will not be a “traditional” job as they have appeared in the MMORPG so far. As the first of the so-called “Limited Jobs” of FFXIV, it is subject to several restrictions:
- It has a maximum level of 50 (the current maximum is 70).
- It cannot participate in random content.
- To enter a dungeon or a trial, it must either be alone or in a full pre-formed group.
It was primarily designed for solo gaming and is excluded from most group features. To compensate, the Blue Mage receives more EXP from opponents and gets its own exclusive content, the “Masked Carnival”.
When will the Blue Mage arrive? The new content patch 4.5 will go live on January 8, but the Blue Mage will make players wait a bit longer. Fans will get their hands on the new job a week later on January 15.
How does the Blue Mage learn new spells? New spells are gained by the Blue Mages by defeating monsters, but only certain ones have abilities that the Blue Mage can learn.
A special spellbook will give players tips on where to find the new spells, but only very vaguely. Producer Yoshida says the book will only give small hints like: “The monster is located in this and that area”.
However, it will not reveal which monster it is and which ability exactly will be learned from it. According to Yoshida, it should be a community-wide task to figure it out. Players do not have to adhere to the order of spells in the book.
Once the Blue Mage has found the right monster, they only need to draw its aggro and wait for the desired ability to be executed. If luck is on their side, this ability will be learned as soon as the monster is dead.
You can watch a demonstration of this here:
How do the spells of the Blue Mage work? In total, there will be 49 different spells that the Blue Mage can learn. However, only a maximum of 24 can be used at the same time. These “sets” of spells will be stored in up to five different decks.
Unlike other spells in FFXIV, such as those of the Black Mage, the abilities of the Blue Mage will have elemental properties.
This means that the Blue Mages can strategically exploit the elemental weaknesses and strengths of their opponents by adjusting their spell decks according to the combat situation. For example, flying monsters will be vulnerable to lightning elemental spells.
Players will also be able to heal and buff in various ways, such as through the defensive stance “Mighty Guard,” which transforms the Blue Mage into a full-fledged tank.
In a dungeon, a group of four Blue Mages can become a true steamroller that demolishes everything.
What exclusive content does the Blue Mage receive? The “Masked Carnival” content is an arena where new rules will apply. In it, the Blue Mages will have to face different groups of monsters alone.
The arena will have up to 25 different battle rounds, each containing up to three phases. A preview screen will show players which opponents will appear in the battles and what elemental weaknesses they have.
To complete all rounds of the Masked Carnival, the Blue Mages will have to specifically adjust their spell sets to the elemental strengths and weaknesses of their opponents. This will result in players having to constantly change their rotation to handle various situations.
Why is the Blue Mage a “Limited Job”? It is definitely unusual to implement the Blue Mage in this form in an MMORPG. The job breaks all previous rules of Final Fantasy 14 by introducing several gameplay mechanics that are completely new.
Director Yoshida stated that the development team found no way to integrate the highly sought-after Blue Mage into FFXIV without losing its identity. Therefore, they opted for the middle ground of a “Limited Job”.
Additionally, it can be recognized from the known abilities that the Blue Mage will be an extremely strong job. Not only can it heal and buff itself and other Blue Mages in the group, but it can also severely cripple enemies with debuffs and even kill immediately with “Level 5 Death”.
Yoshida himself said that he and the FFXIV team want to see how players use the job to break the rules of FFXIV. He said: “It [the Blue Mage] is totally strange, but it’s really fun.”
You can watch the trailer for patch 4.5 here:
Final Fantasy XIV: Watch the dramatic trailer for patch 4.5 here
