Blue Mage: Job Enhancements!

[evanwimbish]

(This is a question to Square Enix.) ;

Regeneration from 10~25 was definitely a step in the right direction! however when will we be seeing more unique Blue Mage enhancing magic's? preferably ones that rely on blue magic skill would be nice! Looking into the future of Blue Mage, please consider adding more enhancing magic's! the last Blue Enhancing Magic received was Natures Meditation for 20% attack bonus which was yet some time ago so it is beginning to feel like enhancing magic's for Blue Mage are overdue!

Blue mage should be eating enemies TP! so absorb-tp like spell would be innovative towards the job. Unique spells like this are what gave BLU it's allure, please keep unique job magic's / Job traits coming, and use less of remixed versions of other job traits.

Barrier tusk - Should be re-evaluated to work more like phalanx! (potency wise) Since the two currently cant co-exist I cant see this effecting the in-game balance, and making the spell reliant on your blue magic skill would add a nice flare to the job. Diablos pet should not have a higher phalanx than Blue Mage.

lastly, enhancement spell(s) that would govern the balance of BLU played in all ideal situations would be ideal as well, for example;

Yesterdays News- Raises TP, Job trait; Quick magic, Recast 120 seconds, casting time; 6 seconds.

Lingering Auroma- Grants player spikes which are dependent on day / weather. Job trait; Critical Hit % increase, Recast 180 second, casting time 8 seconds.

Keep the job fresh!

Evn

[Selindrile]

Still can't find the room for Regeneration, but who cares Sanguine Blade rocks now.

I'm okay with the way both Tusk and Meditation work now, but, I still think their duration (or lack thereof) is more than a little ridiculous, same for Orcish Counterstance, Cocoon's duration is short but considering what it does and it's cost, it's the one I'm most fine with, Occultation is pretty pricey if you don't have a mythic, meh. Magic Fruit is still our most cost effective cure, though White Wind has it's uses.

At the end of the day, I really think our buff durations need to be lengthened, it's just super annoying and inconvenient to have to reapply between each battle, and having them on pretty much fulltime (barring dispels) would not in any way be gamebreaking.

[Ophannus]

Their logic behind short durations was that BLU enhancement spells are typically stronger than mages, for example Protect vs Cocoon. Also we're battlemages and not backline mages so they gave us short but potent enhancing spells to use in the heat of battle.

Barrier Tusk is very, very excellent. 15% DT that surpasses the cap is far better than -38 damage in most cases.

Nature's Meditation could be a bit longer but the fact that it stacks with Berserk means it probably won't be increased. SE probably is aware that we can stack both and doesn't want us to be sitting on +45% attack for 3 minutes with only one cast of Nature's Meditation+Berserk as it'd be pretty powerful.

As for spells, I wouldn't mind an 'enspell' or 'temper' spell. Something to add damage to our swings, since we swing fast, it could add up fast. It could be an enlight-animation but would be non-elemental so it can be used on a variety of mobs. Maybe dealing like 15-18 damage. The Leafkin spell Phototrophic Wrath could impart an Enlight effect(we currently have no Leafkin spells). If not, then give us Phototrophic Blessing and retool it to give Refresh. Make it give 6mp/tick for 3.5 minutes for 70 MP. It'll give about 420MP total, subtract the MP cost for 350 total MP(Battery Charge only gives 250 MP in 5 minutes, this will give 350MP in 3.5 minutes).

[Selindrile]

Barrier tusk has diminishing returns the way it stacks with normal PDT, though it can go beyond the cap, so 50% PDT + Barrier tusk = 57.5% PDT, not 65%, between that, and it's abysmal duration, I can't be bothered to set it, also, -38 damage taken is FAR superior for any sort of cleaving, when you're taking low amounts of damage, 7.5~15% PDT is only superior when taking more than 506 damage on attack (if already in 50% PDT), or 253 if in 0 PDT. Most mobs don't hit for that much per strike even when not cleaving, and so -38 damage is better, though admittedly Barrier tusk may help you survive single big moves, you know, if it lasted long enough to worry about casting, but it's never, ever better than Phalanx for cleaving, even /Rdm's phalanx is stronger considering the low-per-hit damage the mobs are striking for.

Nature's Meditation I use between fights, but it's not potent enough for me to reapply in the middle of the fight, they don't last enough to justify the missed attack rounds, it would not be gamebreaking if it lasted longer though.

Cocoon is the one spell in our arsenal that is so potent that I feel justifes it's low duration, and is very much worth reapplying when it's useful mid-combat, that said, nothing would break if it lasted longer either.

I wouldn't mind a new Refresh spell, or a healing spell that actually beats Magic Fruit, but mostly, I just want Tusk and Nature's Meditation to last longer.

[Tennotsukai]

I would love spells that would allow us in the front lines in AA fights and the sorts. A hate reset spell that removes 50% hate, which would help with pld tanking and dmg upkeep. A max hp boost spell, so we can withstand a beating. A new enhanced -dt spell for dmg mitigation. Some potent magical enfeebles that are easy to land on bosses like frightful roar. A ul spell that gives us mp somehow. A temper spell would be pretty bad ass actually.

Of course, what I really want is for diffusion to have a recast of 0 through jp. Blu would be so awesome then.

[evanwimbish]

barrier tusk is terrible! I use my 509 enhancing scholar alt to apply phanlx and I receive 0 dmg taken from a majority of the monsters in ffxi, If I try to use barrier tusk even with -50% pdt armor on if u add it up its 65% so an attack for 100 should hit me for 35 dmg where as if I use diablos phalanx, or a scholar/rdm phalanx it is significantly higher because it is "-damage taken" barrier tusk is just for physical damage and it does not stack with any other form of phanlx, blu/rdm's phanlx is waay better (more so since the x2 enhancing swords were released) so I literally cant find any practical uses for barrier tusk.

and to clear up this whole "it breaks the cap" NO it does not (breaking the cap would insinuate that I would be allowed to equip more pdt armor)

think of it like you would haste, you can ONLY HAVE A MAXIMUM OF 50% physical damage taken from armor, after that you can use other sources until you reach the cap of -85% damage taken. Example 50% physical damage reduction (capped gear) now I'm going to have to find other forms of - physical damage taken to reach the 85% cap (cant remember if its 80 or 85)

[Tennotsukai]

I won't lie, barrier tusk is terrible. How about we get a better recast on diffusion. 5 minutes wouldn't be game breaking. Please!