New Spells

[cengeal]

So I was looking through some of the gifts for all jobs upon certain amounts of Job Points, and was thinking it would be cool for BLU to have a spell gift. But the question is - which spell? We just recently got Mighty Guard, which is pretty awesome itself. If you have other ideas for Gift BLU spells, feel free to add.

Going by previous FF versions, there are two spells that come to mind for BLU's "ultimate" spell: Super Nova (or just Nova) and Shadow Flare. Super Nova would be AoE while Shadow Flare is single target. I would like to see them be Non-elemental, similar to Requiescat or Meteor. Obviously they would have a large MP cost, but I would prefer it if they were not unbridled spells.

Another idea for a spell would be Doom. If the monster is immune to doom maybe have it land a massive DoT, similar to Kaustra. I am not entirely sure how this spell would work, maybe only make it available while Azure Lore is active? If the spell required 1200+ JP's and AL to be active, it's hard to imagine it would be overused/abused.

[Zarchery]

Isn't there already a Blue Mage Doom spell from taruses?

[cengeal]

It's mortal ray, and I've seen it work maybe twice. I mean a spell called Doom, that doesn't have face-to-face conditions, that actually lands. Or maybe they could improve Mortal Ray. In any event, I don't think we'll see the spell become available.

[Zarchery]

It's mortal ray, and I've seen it work maybe twice. I mean a spell called Doom, that doesn't have face-to-face conditions, that actually lands. Or maybe they could improve Mortal Ray. In any event, I don't think we'll see the spell become available.

But Blue Mages don't learn spells really. They learn mimicry of monster abilities. Doom is very much a spell, and it would be a big break from precedent.

[cengeal]

But Blue Mages don't learn spells really. They learn mimicry of monster abilities. Doom is very much a spell, and it would be a big break from precedent.

While Blue Mages don't learn "spells", they convert their knowledge into spells. And since I suggested we learn the spells via JP gift, it would be away from precedent either way.

And replying to your earlier thread, I played around with mortal ray. Horrible spell. Accuracy on it is low, when it does land the doom effect takes 60 seconds to land, long casting time, 267 mp cost. The only way i would ever set it is to maximize dual wield. With how bad the spell is, the effect might as well be a death effect rather than doom.

[Jopa-Sopa]

But Blue Mages don't learn spells really. They learn mimicry of monster abilities. Doom is very much a spell, and it would be a big break from precedent.

Isn't it also a TP ability used by Yagudo NMs in Dynamis/WotG?

[Zarchery]

Isn't it also a TP ability used by Yagudo NMs in Dynamis/WotG?

I don't think so.

You guys really don't want this. Black Mages get Death at 1200 job points, and let me tell you: it seriously sucks. Consume all your MP to, in most cases, do about the same damage as Meteor.

White Mages get FullCure, a single target Benediction that consumes all your MP, which is also pretty awful for the cost.

Red Mages hit the jackpot with Temper II and Refresh III.

But 2 out of 3 of the 1200 job point spells are awful, so I don't like the odds for any other job getting a high job point spell.

[Kensagaku]

First off, yes, it is a TP move used by Yaudo NMs in Dynamis, gives a 10-second doom count, removed by killing the caster.

Second, Death is actually pretty phenomenal. MBs to hit up to 99,999 easily, and while it's prone to resist (unlike Meteor) it's also not tied to a 5-minute timer and can be used fairly frequently. With all of the sources of Refresh and MP restoral out there, MP should not be a problem.

FullCure is also pretty good. Why? Because its effects work at the minimum of 30 MP, as stated in the dev post here. 30 MP for a single target benediction? I like that idea! Yeah it's not something you want to spam when you're topped off, but the fact that even at low MP levels it can remove a huge amount of status ailments at once makes it fairly useful.

But yeah, I don't know. We just got Mighty Guard as a godly spell. I'm not sure we need a true Doom ability. I'd rather see things like the big classics; Shadow Flare, Pulsar Shockwave, Grand Delta/GrandTrain, Force Field, Transfusion (self-kill to convert your HP/MP to the target, perhaps? It'd be a niche move but have its uses. No idea how an enemy would use it, though), Dark Spark, etc. There's a bunch of good moves I'd love to see over a Doom spell, which is just cast and watch the enemy die.

[Zarchery]

Death I'm skeptical about and I'll believe it when I see it first hand or in a video.

FullCure sounds like a lot of bang for your buck when you cast it at 30 MP, except that you're precluded from casting just about any other spell while your MP is that low. No Curaga, Stona, Viruna. No Raises if someone gets knocked out. No Cures at all while you're trying to refill that gap from 0 to 30. Yeah that could only take a few seconds if you're really loaded up on Refresh, but I find myself in a lot of situations where I don't HAVE that kind of time. As soon as I finish one cure, I have to move on to the next one.

[cengeal]

Death I'm skeptical about and I'll believe it when I see it first hand or in a video.

FullCure sounds like a lot of bang for your buck when you cast it at 30 MP, except that you're precluded from casting just about any other spell while your MP is that low. No Curaga, Stona, Viruna. No Raises if someone gets knocked out. No Cures at all while you're trying to refill that gap from 0 to 30. Yeah that could only take a few seconds if you're really loaded up on Refresh, but I find myself in a lot of situations where I don't HAVE that kind of time. As soon as I finish one cure, I have to move on to the next one.

It seems to me that the best time to use Full Cure is right before you convert, use sublimation, or pop a vile elixir. FFXI is full of spells and job abilities that are going to seem like puzzling decisions if done at an improper time. There's a time and a place for everything, and using Full Cure when you have 1k+ MP is not the time to do it. The best time to use Death is when you can do a Magic burst. I do Sinister regularly, and my friend has MB'd with it for 99,999 numerous times.

My question to you is: has it occurred to you that you are just not using the spell properly? When I try a certain approach, and it doesn't work, I try to modify it, if not flat out change my approach. First impressions aren't everything. I always try to remain humble and open-minded, which often results in me acknowledging that I don't know everything. It's important to keep yourself open to new ideas and new strategies in this game, because it is rapidly evolving, at least for the time being.