Bleh...
This update is tempting me to un-retire
: myself. I've always wanted to see how blue mages were going to be implemented into the game. I knew it was only a matter of time before they were added, since they have been a part of every FF game since 5.
I was going to joke about how the 2hr was simply going to be the ability to cast one of the spells you learned, while the rest of the time the BLU would be useless, but I think Arlania made a godo point when she said that the 2hr is probably what you will use to learn the spells. Like you use the "Observe" command, and for the next 30 seconds, if the monster uses the ability, you'll learn it. Something along those lines.
The big question will be how the spells are translated from monster use to party use. Do you really want to use that spiderweb spell when you're exping in the middle of a bunch of non-aggroing mandragoras in the boyanda tree? Will the spells that are AoE remain AoE. Will the line-of-sight spells remain LoS?
Either way, I'm really excited to see how the expansion will play out, though I think that the job will be available to level 30's, just like all the other advanced jobs.
I also think they'll need to add new jobs, if anything for the very concern that a few have expressed about everyone and their uncle playing a BLU if it's the only new job released. With party dynamics the way that it is, any new job needs to be able to take the place of an existing job. Because I doubt they're going to expand parties to groups of 7 now.
The idea of a Geomancer is neat, but when you figure in that you'll be standing/medding in the exact same spot for 2+ hours, it may become a very dull job. On the other hand, it may add an additional element of strategy to camp selection. Choosing to exp in the desert, or in garlaige, mid 30's may now have drastically different pro's and con's.
The idea of a mime is way too far-fetched to be realistic (Not to mention dull).
A dancer would be neat, but bards already have enemy-affecting songs. Though I think I could honestly say that I'd get my account back from Kat in a heartbeat at the chance of making a galka dancer. *thumbs up*
A female hume in Time Mage AF would look hot, but I don't think there's enough meat in that category to make it a job (Two jobs have the spell haste, two jobs have the spell slow, a bard has versions of both, and a RDM or BRD can refresh, on top of it.) Anding tier II or III version of those spells would also be too powerful, so I don't know what other time altering spells a time mage could have other than like Stop and Meteo. Also, a Time Mage alone wouldn't bring enough to the table, I think, to warrant ousting a current party member. Certainly couldn't boot a RDM or a BRD for a TMM (Refresh, anyone). If it did have the Meteor spell, I'm sure it'd be to TMM as Holy is to WHM (Useless). So it's only real slot would be as a TMM/WHM, and that's just lame. But I was a WHM, so I'm naturally defensive about how people like to kick them out in favor of a /WHM subjob.
One job that would maybe be cool is the idea of a Magic Knight. This was an FFV job that allowed you to enchant your sword with a spell (Fire I, Ice II, etc), and your next hit would deal elemental damage. RDMs kind of do this with the en- spells, but a Magic Knight woulnd't be a continuous addition of 1-4 damage. It'd be like one large attack that wore off immediately. They could be used as like variable skill chain members.
A Beserker is something that has been used in a few FF games, but not something that is really covered in FFXI. But the idea of a beserker is basically just a strong melee character you can't really control too much, so I don't know how that'd play into an MMORPG.
It's hard to come up with new job ideas, because FFXI kind of bred a lot of jobs together (Mainly when making the RDM and BRD jobs) to make the idea of adding jobs like Oracles, Magic Knights, Time Mages, and Dancers a lot less useful.
Long post, but bleh... you should expect them from me by now :D I'm excited about the expansion, but less excited by the fact that I kinda want to play the game again. heh
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