Pointless & Overly Weakened Spells

[Mephie]

Hello ^^ I figured after seeing the magic hammer thread, that i should start a thread just for conversing and speaking our minds on spells we think have been overly nerfed or are just plain pointless in our minds... and i don't mean so and so spell doesn't do 9999 damage make it more powerfull. I mean normal issues i didn't see a spell discussion thread but if there is one i'll post my thoughts there. anyways here are some of the spells i have issues with and i hope you Blu's out there will voice yours too.

Lowing
(Disease... ummm when would disease even be useful on a mob since I'm pretty sure it doesn't affect nm regen or regen when its unclaimed)

Exuviation
(when i got this spell i was thinking it was gonna be a sweet spell not unlike the moth version... how wrong i was... all we got was a single erase effect combined with a cure 2.... the least they coulda done is make the amount of ailments healed go up with our blue magic skill... not unlike occultations shadows and the hp regained go up per healed effect, further insult on this is wind of promyvian is cheaper cheaper to cast and it the same thing but AoE... for a lvl 75 spell this is horribly weak and at the moment not even worth the set points)

Feather Tickle and other tp wipers
(at least tell us how much tp we take off of it)

Feather Barrier and Memento Mori
(Horribly low durations making them somewhat useless)

Metallic Body
(An incredibly low cap that normally a normal attack can break through which makes the recast and casting time a waste)

Low level spells in general
(It would really be nice to see these scale better cause the status quo is get new spells set them ignore old spells, and given we have to fight for set points this compounds the problem)

please add to this any spells you can think of as I'm just going of the top of my head. hopefully the devs will look at our concerns and address or at least explain them.

[Covenant]

Lowing and the other "disease" spells could potentially be great if they did what they said. Lowing prevents recovery of HP/MP. If a mob's ability to drain/cure/aspire could effectively be block by Lowing, this would be an amazing move. But it doesn't, so it sucks.

I'm not the greatest Bluemage but I do understand some of the underlying "principles" of the blue Mage set lists. A lot of spells double up and offer greater reduncicies. Such as multiple stun moves, multiple debuffs, multiple enhances and such. However, you won't get the best result if your setting spells for a normal balance approach such as equal parts nuke, physical, and enhancements. Exuviation and winds both offer dispel options. Why? Well imagine if your the blu/WHM healer and fighting a foe that constantly spams debuffs? Or group enhancements?

Feather tickle should be a 100% TP down? That what it does to players.

I wish that the "amplification" ability could do just that, so if it were used in conjunction with the shorter duration spells could conceivably boost duration. For ex, 30sec >45sec~1min. Or with metallic skin boost the cap higher.

While feather barrier and memento mori have short duration, they have short recast timers.

[Ironside]

Mephie - From what I'm reading elsewhere, affecting unclaimed NM regen is exactly what Lowing does. I haven't tried it myself though.

Exuviation's Erase has helped me quite a few times, and it's a very strong hate tool for BLUs that are holding or tanking for whatever reason. Diffusion + Exuviation is more hate than Invincible if it hits enough people.

Haven't used Feather Barrier or Feather Tickle, so I can't say anything as to their effectiveness. Memento Mori has its uses for Charged Whisker though, the MAB is pretty nice.

Metallic Body is made obsolete by Diamondhide, albeit at a comparatively high MP cost.

I don't see a need to boost most low-level spells, honestly. BLMs don't cast Water II for damage at 90; why should BLUs try to DD with Bludgeon or Foot Kick at the same level?

[Prothscar]

90% of our spells are and almost always have been completely pointless, it's kind of sad.

[Tashan]

While I agree with some of the aforementioned, I just want to say:


Metallic Body is made obsolete by Diamondhide, albeit at a comparatively high MP cost.

19 MP for a 150HP return is a fantastic MP:HP. Being a 1 point set cost is also encouragable as filler.



Feather Barrier and Memento Mori
(Horribly low durations making them somewhat useless)


Feather Barrier is a bit poor. Memento Mori on the otherhand is pheonomenal. It's a 40 MAB increase, which for even one spell at a time, is worth using.

Even for just one nuke at a time it's worth using, and you can get more within the duration

Feather Tickle and other tp wipers

According to Wiki, Feather Tickle is 10-30 TP, while Reaving Wind is 100 TP.
Magic Barrier is better than both imo though.


Low level spells in general
(It would really be nice to see these scale better cause the status quo is get new spells set them ignore old spells, and given we have to fight for set points this compounds the problem)

I think it's a little silly to think anymore of our lowest level spells would still be worth using at LV90. Most job gets their spells scaled into newer more powerful ones.

At LV90 I would still say our low level enfeebles like Blank Gaze, Sheep Song, Chaotic Eye, Geist Wall, Filamented Hold, Sandspray and Head Butt are still worth using. Then there are spells such as Cocoon, and Metallic Body which are good for their low MP cost.

I do wish Reactor Cool had a lower set point cost though.

[Covenant]

As far as low spell "being useless", blue mages are an exception due to "blue magic traits". Most of the traits use cheaper low level spells, or you can use the more blue point expensive "higher" spells to gain traits. This lends itself for players wanting old/lower spells to power up as you level.

Then again, as far as mp cost, most of these low spells give a good damage return...certainly higher than a normal melee swing.

[Karbuncle]

Momento Mori is actually +20MAB.

Still great to use before Charged whiskering something.

[Tashan]

Momento Mori is actually +20MAB.

Still great to use before Charged whiskering something.

What's your source for that?

[Karbuncle]

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Memento_Mori
http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Memento_Mori

I could test it myself but Wiki is pretty reliable about small stuff like this.