What is a Limited Job in Final Fantasy XIV?

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Limited Jobs in FFXIV are playable jobs with a number of restrictions, designed for casual play. Currently, there’s only one – the spell stealing Blue Mage. Blue Mage is apparently just the first of several planned Limited Jobs, but we haven’t had any solid news on that front for a while (as of this writing).

As such, this article will be taking a good long look at the Blue Mage job: how to get it, why you should play it, and what you won’t be able to do with it.

Blue Mage (and most likely any future Limited Jobs) are heavily focused on solo play.

 

What Is The Blue Mage Job?

Blue Mage was introduced in Patch 4.5.

That’s basically right in the content dead zone between Stormblood and Shadowbringers, and it was probably intended to keep people interested in XIV in the run up to the new expansion.

Blue Mages are a part of Final Fantasy history, and fans will be delighted that their iteration in XIV is faithful.

Blue Mages wield canes and luxurious masquerade ball style – they’re really distinctive from a lot of other classes visually. They mimic the spells of monsters, and have their own unique ability mechanic within the game to do so.

Playing Blue Mage means going out into the world and hunting monsters to learn their secrets.

We’ll go into more detail about how to do that further down.

Blue Mages are also level capped at 70, ten levels below the cap for everything else.

Originally it was restricted to level 50, but it’s been increased with patches, bringing new spells and quests along the way.

We might see it increase to 80 sometime after Endwalker’s been out for a little while – don’t hold your breath though.

But this is not a job you’ll be able to take to endgame content, or any serious multiplayer activity. It can, however, be a really entertaining diversion from the usual routine of Duty Roulette and story grinding.

If you’re burned out on your current job and want to try something a little different, Blue Mage is the way to go.

 

How Do I Unlock The Blue Mage Limited Job?

Blue Mage is totally independent from other jobs in FFXIV.

You don’t have to get any specific job up to a certain level to unlock it.

Once you’ve hit level 50 on any Disciple of War or Magic class/job and completed the Realm Reborn Main Scenario Quest, Blue Mage is yours for the taking.

Just head to Limsa Lominsa’s Aetheryte Plaza and grab the quest called “Out Of The Blue”, waiting for you nearby.

Completing this simple quest will reward you with the Blue Mage soul crystal – at which point you’ll be completely free to swap in and out of the job at will.

Blue Mage also has its own set of class quests to pursue as you level, along with an exclusive in-game event – The Masked Carnivale.

 

How Do I Unlock Spells As A Blue Mage?

Blue Mages don’t learn their abilities as they level up.

To unlock their spells, you’ll have to venture out into the world and witness a monster using specific moves in combat against you.

When the monster dies, you have a chance of learning that spell yourself, at which point you can set it as an action and cast it yourself.

Luckily, there are plenty of resources by now pointing you in the right direction.

Listing everything here would be a bit overwhelming, but I’d recommend getting started with this Reddit post.

We can cover some basics here, though.

Spells are ranked from 1-5 on their difficulty to learn.

The basic aim is to watch the monster cast the spell you want. When it dies, you have a chance to learn that spell. The odds on that chance are affected by the 1-5 ranking: the higher the rank, the harder they are to learn.

You also don’t have to be hit by the spell to learn it.

So if you’re partying up with friends and the spell targets one of them, you still get a chance at learning it.

All you have to do is be there when it’s cast.

But if you’re monster hunting in the overworld and another player outside of your party has tagged the target, you won’t be eligible.

And if you’re partied up with other Blue Mages, you’ll all learn the skill if it drops.

Essentially, there’s never going to be a scenario where your friend learns the skill and you don’t. Although you won’t learn the spell if you’re dead at the time the monster is killed, so a good rule of thumb is making sure all Blue Mages are alive before going in for the kill.

 

What Can’t I Do With A Limited Job?

Blue Mage is excluded from a ton of core game activities.

You won’t be able to progress through Main Scenario Quests while playing a Limited Job, or take part in Duty Roulettes, Deep Dungeons, or PvP.

You can enter dungeons or trials in parties that have been formed beforehand, or undersized parties.

So Blue Mage is a fun side activity, but not a full-time job.

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