Test Server - Feedback on BLU spells

[Mayoyama]

I know the FFXIAH forums have been actively discussing the BLU spells but I thought I should post some of my own feedback here and see what other BLU are thinking.
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Heavy Strike: What can I say.... an auto-crit hit spell with a high STR mod that has a mere 32mp cost? Brilliant! Goodbye delta thrust for low mp cost spell! lol

My only gripe about this spell is that it doesnt appear to skillchain with anything useful with BLU swords. Someone on FFXIAH suggested it has fragmentation but if thats true, then the test server is glitched and isnt showing the skill chain animation.

I was really hoping to have a better spell than benthic typhoon (which has a horrible reputation for being inaacurate and missing a lot) to skillchain with Chant du Cygne. Can we have the skillchain elements of this spell possibly changed to allow it to skillchain with either savage blade or (more importantly) Chant du Cygne. For me personally, I like to skillchain with Chain Affinity often to help capitalise on dps and I've found myself at a bit of a loss since I got my Almace due to the lack of spells that actually skill chain off Chant du Cygne.
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Water bomb: No real complaints other than the AoE range of this move is kinda small but otherwise I can see myself keeping this one set when dealing with spellcasting mobs.
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Sudden Lunge: What's not to love with another low delay (and low mp cost) stun move? lol. And the duration on the stun itself is amazing!
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White wind: So happy to finally have one of the most iconic Blue Mage spells in FF history. From what limited testing I have done with it, it seems to be decent. Oh and did I mention how cool the animation is? lol
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Barrier Tusk: -DT for BLU without /rdm! Love it!
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Dark orb: Initially I was hoping for an AoE version, but having played around with it, it does ok damage and I can't complain really.
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Mortal Ray: /confused. Low acc, high mp cost, takes 60 seconds to take effect and seems to wear off if you go even a short distance from the enemy?

Doom wearing off a mob (http://i51.tinypic.com/mb2u87.jpg)

Other than for lolz I really wont be going out of my way to cast this one
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Unbridled knowledge spells:

Harden Shell: Absolutely amazing. While the duration is short, for the minimal mp it costs I certainly cant complain lol. Would it be possible to possible extend the duration but have an increased mp cost to offset the effect? (not saying to definitely go and change it but ask if it would be possible)

Thunderbolt: Somewhat disappointed with this one (as were a lot of BLU on FFXIAH). While I understand its an aoe stun (which in itself is situationally good or bad) the damage simply pales in comparison to Charged whisker.While I understand that charged whisker has higher mp cost as a balance measure for its damage-potential, I cant help but wish that Thunderbolt, a once much-feared and dreaded HNM move, would pack more of a punch. Also the cast time is a tad slow and will end up making it impracticle to use (for stun purposes), especially against enemy tp moves, especially when whirl of rage has a faster cast time and costs only 73 mp.

[SpankWustler]

Apparently, it is Heavy Strike itself that is broken and thus does not display the skillchain effect. I can't say this from experience since my horrid connection is still downloading the files needed for the test client, but I've read it from several sources.

[Urteil]

How potent is White Wind?

[SpankWustler]

How potent is White Wind?

It's only affected by maximum HP and cure potency, as far as anyone can tell. People have gotten 700+ in Abyssea with cruor HP buffs, but I imagine it's a lot less outside. I can't find the post with the exact formula, sadly, or I'd link to that.

Edit: I can be a little more specific. I found it buried somewhere in a topic on BG, probably in the Blue Mage topic although I can't find it again. Lots of useful information in that topic about the new spells, if you feel like digging.

[Korpg]

If I remember right, the cure potential of White Wind is Max HP/7 * Cure Potency with Healing Magic effecting it somewhere in that equation.

[Mayoyama]

Yeah I think that sounds about right from what I remember reading on the FFXIAH forums.... lemme see if I can find the details

EDIT: Still finding the details, but BLUs all around might like to salivate over the numbers Prothescar has managed to get with a full STR build and Heavy Strike (Look down the bottom of the page)

Huge Heavy Strike damage (http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/24929/test-server-findings/11/)

[Mayoyama]

Some info I found on FFXIAH (I take no credit personally for these findings)

*Setting Flying Hips Press, Body Slam, Frypan, and Barrier Tusk gives Max HP Boost II.
*Setting Sudden Lunge, Fantod, Tail Slap, and Sickle Slash gives Store TP II (10 swings with 3 set gave 66 tp, 10 swings with all 4 gave 69).
*Heavy Strike, Acrid Stream, Demoralizing Roar, and Empty Thrash give Triple Attack, but you lose the Double Attack.

Below info is from Prothescar
Heavy Strike 2.25fTP 75% STR Autocrit

Dark Orb is dINT*2, 40% INT, 4.5fTP

Water Bomb dINT*1.5, 20% INT 10% MND, 2fTP

Thunderbolt dINT*2, 30% INT 20% MND, 4fTP

Sudden Lunge seems to be 1.0 fTP and 50% STR 50% AGI.
~1.75 fTP @300 ~ 1.45 @ 150 TP

Phalanx overwrites Barrier Tusk, but Barrier Tusk cannot overwrite Phalanx. (This is with no enhancing skill+)
With Barrier Tusk + Terra's Staff, 1000 needles did 680.
Barrier Tusk + 44% PDT, 1000 needles did 487.
Looks like a 15% reduction that's added after PDT.

[Leonlionheart]

MaxHP/7 :< that sucks, Healing Magic Skill+ gear will probably out perform HP builds. Is it affected by MND at all? I will be super sad if not.

AoE though, and around 120 MP iirc. Me gusta.

[noodles355]

Thunderbolt was ever a much feared and dreaded hnm move? (Not that i'm against giving blu's version a boost).

[Mayoyama]

Thunderbolt was ever a much feared and dreaded hnm move? (Not that i'm against giving blu's version a boost).

Poetic license >.> lol. But I will say at 75 it had the potential to be a real pain if you weren't careful

[Sparthos]

Let's be serious here, the signature move of a Behemoth was KBs Meteor back when few mobs had the spell.

Ecliptic Meteor would have been a more appropriate Unbridled Knowledge spell rather than yet another stun variant coming off an update already giving BLU another stun in Sudden Lunge.

Yeah, yeah 'cliptic Meteor is a rather new TP move only used by the Abyssean variant of Behemoth but it better fits the idea of powerful spells locked off by a JA and it throws back to previous FF Behemoth incarnations.

Behemoths have always been known for their Meteor attacks in Final Fantasy. Well, that and being top tier beasts.

[Urteil]

BLU already has a toybox bigger than most toystores.

[Sparthos]

BLU already has a toybox bigger than most toystores.

Yet it's still a relatively well balanced class.

[Lordscyon]

BLUE MAGE POWER!

[Mayoyama]

So on a more serious note, what do BLUs out there actually think about these new spells?

[noodles355]

I actually would really like to lvl blu, it looks kinda fun. But screw learning all those spells.

[Mefuki]

Heavy Strike: Honestly, I thought our physical spell side was just fine already so, this is just gravy. Auto-crit with a 75% STR mod and carries a Fragmentation skillchain element? I mean, wow, that's going to be fun to play with. Should help with damage on the coming voidwatch monsters. They sound pretty nuts. No complains about this one.

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Water bomb: The main attraction with this is the range paired with that Silence effect. I can see myself using this as great pulling tool on those pesky magic casters that never seem to want to get in range of melee combat. This will probably make it's way into my debuffing spellset, seeing as it's much easier to use then Chaotic Eye. It'd be nice to get a more powerful water nuke but, I suppose we have Regurgitation to fill that role for now and it can do a relatively decent job of it at times.

All in all, no complains here. It has a unique function for us, which is what I'd perfer in all our spells.

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Sudden Lunge: This is going to make a good suppliment for Headbutt, though I doubt it will replace it at this time. However, according to some reports the stun duration on this is excellent, surpassing even that of Thunderbolt. Who knows, we may start using this and Headbutt together to stunlock lesser monsters and the like.

No complains here, though I do think that with as many stuns as we get now and if it's as potent as is being reported, this should probably be the last one we get. That way, we can focus on spells still lacking from our repertoire. (More on that later.)

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White wind: We've been waiting some time for another AoE healing spell and this one should do just fine. Seeing as the formula is (HP\7)*2, I'd be healing 382HP minus any cure potency. Now, Ideally, I'd like this to be equivilent to at least a Curaga III, maybe Curaga III and a half.

I haven't tested how much Curaga III heals for minus cure potency but if it's very simlar to White Wind minus cure potency then, that's plently decent for me. If that's the case, then no complains here. I'm glad SE still remembers that we can fill a number of different roles.

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Barrier Tusk: I think I would have perferred this to be like RDM Phalanx but, nonetheless being able to break the physical and magic damage - cap will be a huge help. It's another unique buff that could have alot of stratigic uses (ex. pairing it with Magic Barrier).

Hmm, now that I think about it, when you consider the possible utility that can be harnessed from this spell, it may in the long run be better that they made it have a different effect from RDM Phalanx. That remains to be seen, perhaps.

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Dark orb: Now this one I'm pretty unsure about. The way I figure it, we already have 2 other single target mid/long range dark element spells. What makes this spell different from Everyone's Grudge? Everyone's Grudge seems like a perfectly good dark nuke. Concerning our magic side, we should be getting long range nuke elements that we don't have yet.

For example, we don't have a decent Earth or Ice nuke (unless you want to count Sandspin and Ice Break and I don't :P) and we don't even have A light nuke. I don't know, maybe this spell will be worth it but it just feels like this is almost an exact copy of a spell we already have.

So, complains here. However, if SE makes this have an interesting property or perhaps is planning on giving Everyone's Grudge a revamp to be different, THEN I have no probelm with this.

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Mortal Ray:Low acc, high mp cost, takes 60 seconds to take effect and it can just plain wear off? Hmm, I understand the obvious nescessity to make this perform less the stellarly, I mean, it's Doom.

But, I don't know, maybe make it so it has higher accuracy based on the number of status ailments on the opponent or maybe have much higher accurracy if the opponent is asleep, that way you can use it to help kill adds you've slept or something while you can focus on the main monster or another add.

I'm just trying to think of a niche use for this. Even if it's useful for one thing in the game, I'd be happy. I just want one reason, one situation where I might think about casting this. I just really don't want another Bad Breath/1000 Needles/Feather Barrier. At the very, very least don't make it be able to wear if you land it.
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Unbridled knowledge spells:

Harden Shell: I can see this being a great spell, both for tanking as well as doing the good old Cannonball tactic. However, seeing as this is 5 minite ability maybe think about increasing the duration to 2 minites? I'd understand if SE didn't want to even do that, seeing as you don't want people having that much defense for too long. Really though, no complains here.

Thunderbolt: This one's tricky. Again, it just comes down to the question of: Where would this fit in a battle? In what build would you use this? You wouldn't use it stun TP moves. Maybe you'd use it to stun magic. Maybe it has very high magic accuracy and can land on monsters that normally resist all of BLU other stuns? It doesn't seem to do that much damage, according to reports, so what is it?

Oh, I think I got a use for it! The stun lasts a fairly long time so...maybe you can use it first to make it easier to line up conal attacks like Benthic Typhoon...? I guess I kind of do have a complain with this one but, I can't really think of a way to fix it.

[SpankWustler]

White wind: We've been waiting some time for another AoE healing spell and this one should do just fine. Seeing as the formula is (HP\7)*2, I'd be healing 382HP minus any cure potency. Now, Ideally, I'd like this to be equivilent to at least a Curaga III, maybe Curaga III and a half.

I haven't tested how much Curaga III heals for minus cure potency but if it's very simlar to White Wind minus cure potency then, that's plently decent for me. If that's the case, then no complains here. I'm glad SE still remembers that we can fill a number of different roles.

380~400 is about right for Curaga III with no cure potency. I think the main issue with using this spell would be bros and bro-ettes surviving for the duration of the cast time, since it will take quite a while compared to a White Mage's Curaga III/IV. Well, I guess the main issue is actually that carrying around a +HP set for just one spell hurts a bro's soul, but inventory issues are old hat for Blue Mage.

It's worth noting that this spell gets a huge boost from Cruor Buffs and the like inside Abyssea, though.

[Mayoyama]

380~400 is about right for Curaga III with no cure potency. I think the main issue with using this spell would be bros and bro-ettes surviving for the duration of the cast time, since it will take quite a while compared to a White Mage's Curaga III/IV. Well, I guess the main issue is actually that carrying around a +HP set for just one spell hurts a bro's soul, but inventory issues are old hat for Blue Mage.

It's worth noting that this spell gets a huge boost from Cruor Buffs and the like inside Abyssea, though.

Any aoe cure that does better than lolhealingbreeze is certainly better than nothing. I can't help but feel though that being a taru BLU I am gonna get screwed over bad on the healing cap coz of my naturally low HP... on the other hand I guess it gives those galka BLU something to cheer about lol.

[Mayoyama]

Harden Shell: I can see this being a great spell, both for tanking as well as doing the good old Cannonball tactic. However, seeing as this is 5 minite ability maybe think about increasing the duration to 2 minites? I'd understand if SE didn't want to even do that, seeing as you don't want people having that much defense for too long. Really though, no complains here.

Yes, I really hope Camate or one of the other hard working (and perhaps a little overworked) com reps can ask the devs to see if some kind of compromise would be possible, like the one I mentioned in my first post (slightly higher mp cost for small increase in duration - to keep things in balance of course :P)

[Mayoyama]

Heavy Strike: Honestly, I thought our physical spell side was just fine already so, this is just gravy. Auto-crit with a 75% STR mod and carries a Fragmentation skillchain element? I mean, wow, that's going to be fun to play with. Should help with damage on the coming voidwatch monsters. They sound pretty nuts. No complains about this one.
...
attacks like Benthic Typhoon. I guess I kind of do have a complain with this one but, I can't really think of a way to fix it.

Trust me, I am not at all disappointed by the spell itself. It's going to be an amazing spell and certainly a staple in any physical spell casting BLU's repetoire. I was merely saying that it is a shame they didnt make its elemental properties more skillchain compatible with BLU's current arsenal of sword ws.

I think all BLU will agree that we would love something other than benthic typhoon (and the outdated verticle cleave) to make darkness skillchains with, and a spell that chains with CdC to make light (so one that has light as a main skillchain element property) would be damn well sweet as.

[Camate]

I see that Vana’diel’s immortals are diligently testing out their new found powers :) Thanks for all the feedback from your testing! Below are some comments regarding what we have received so far.

• Water Bomb
We have confirmed that there is a bug with the spell “Water Bomb” and we are working to fix it.

• Mortal Ray

Mortal Ray doesn’t really land much against enemies the same level and above… I guess because it inflicts Doom so this is to be expected, but could you at least make it a bit more accurate?
The magical accuracy for Mortal Ray has been set low.

On top of the effect of Mortal Ray, the fact that you can defeat enemies while they are asleep with it and also considering that blue mages have a heavy arsenal of sleep methods when compared to other jobs, we wanted this spell to be used while being conscious about the magical accuracy when solo or in parties.

• Sudden Lunge

I’m getting the idea that we can pretty much use Sudden Lunge as a slightly more damaging Head Butt since the MP cost is only 18. This can be equated to our move away from Bludgeon to Delta Thrust. Seems like a good spell to spam on regular monsters.
Just as you have stated, it’s pretty much the same as upgrading Bludgeon to Delta Thrust.

Since the MP cost was set rather low at 18 MP, we are hoping for you to use it similar to Head Butt for its added stun effect.

• Double Attack

Changing the double attack from 10% and upgrading to 5% triple attack is silly.
Is the double attack effect now lowered to 5% due to a bug?
It pains me to tell you this, as I don’t want to be the destroyer of dreams or anything like that, but the double attack trait gained by combination of blue spells isn’t 10% like everyone thinks…it’s actually closer to 7%. (We didn’t change anything FYI)

• White Wind

How can we learn this spell when regular Puks don’t use White Wind?
If you add monsters it won’t be a problem, but if you don’t , are we going to have to get 6 blue mages and do “Shadows of the Mind” or sit in Besiege and wait for Puks?
Have no fear!
We will be placing regular Puks in the field that use White Wind.

[Andrien]

I don't know.. To me White Wind is underwhelming. It might shine a little in abyssea but not outside.

[Return1]

White wind is a dirt cheap curaga 3-4. That's awesome. BLU is the second best healer in the game currently...getting better.

[Sparthos]

White wind is a dirt cheap curaga 3-4. That's awesome. BLU is the second best healer in the game currently...getting better.

This so much.

[Mayoyama]

I see that Vana’diel’s immortals are diligently testing out their new found powers :) Thanks for the all the feedback from your testing! Below are some comments regarding what we have received so far.

Thanks Camate for your (as-always) diligence in responding to these comments. I'm really looking forward to when the dev team can give some responses about:

1) Skillchain element properties of spells allowing them to better skillchain with Chant du Cygne (particularly eyeballing Heavy Strike for this :D)

2) Harden shell duration: is it possible to have duration increased for a bigger mp cost?

3) If there is any way Thunderbolt can be improved to make it feel even worthwhile having to use a 5min-cooldown job ability for

And lastly, would you mind asking the dev team to reconsider the 60 second duration Mortal Ray takes to kill an xp mob, considering I can usually kill it faster by other means. Given its already low m.acc, high mp cost and long recast I dont think it would be too broken to reduce the doom duration to say 30 seconds? Even then.. depending on situation it still would be faster to kill normally lol.

[Mightyg]

Magical Blue Spells still seem underpowered to me. I'd gladly take a dip in the effect of modifiers to get a base damage bonus on them. It's still very hard to get a good result out of magical spells without a lot of heavy gearing, especially with the range, cast time, and mp limitations magical blue spells have. Boost damage and streamline modifiers please.

[Kitkat]

Can't say I can agree with blue spells being underwhelming. I feel that a couple of the newer ones are actually too strong (Heavy strike and Dark orb are pretty strong in the physical and magical department from what I'm seeing). With appropriate gear of course.

I am saddened to hear that DA trait is not similar to War DA trait. This makes me feel that TA will also be weaker than Thf's version which if I recall correctly is only 5% base without merits. Does this mean TA will be equally weaker by only providing 3% TA? I would hope not considering it cost 12 points to set the trait.

[Scuro]

I see that Vana’diel’s immortals are diligently testing out their new found powers :) Thanks for all the feedback from your testing! Below are some comments regarding what we have received so far.

• Double Attack

It pains me to tell you this, as I don’t want to be the destroyer of dreams or anything like that, but the double attack trait gained by combination of blue spells isn’t 10% like everyone thinks…it’s actually closer to 7%. (We didn’t change anything FYI)


WHY IN THE HELL!? We have to equip spells to gain our double attack that we could use for much else, and we get gimped 3%?! Is it just me or does that seems kinda f*cked up? I mean hell why would you give us traits that can only be made into tier 1 ANYWAY! And then gimp them so not only are we operating at tier 1 capability, but we are actually operating lower then that!?

If there was a dislike button I would be spamming the hell out of it right now....

[Ciecle]

White wind is 28.5% of total HP recovered, If you didn't have a breath build(HP+ gear) prior to 75(and have kept it updated to 90/95) now would be a very good time to get it together and try to build one. It is hardly effected by mnd or agi. Cure potency DOES effect it(of course), Healing magic I didnt try, but i can probably assume if it has any effect on white wind, it 'might' be a minimal effect.

[Return1]

So White Wind is an AoE healing breath effect?

[Ciecle]

AoE Healing, not a 'breath', just uses HP as a mod instead of the normal Mnd/healing skill setup that the other healing spells use.

A 'breath' setup uses mainly HP+ gear to increase the damage of the breath spells.(Heat breath = HP/2)

The healing equation for White wind seems to be HPRecover= f(HP*.285)(prior to cure potency)

[Hayward]

One point of concern: Sudden Lunge costs HP for Ladybugs (not sure of the percentage), including Dipper Yuly. Will this be the case for Blue Mages?

[Helel]

One point of concern: Sudden Lunge costs HP for Ladybugs (not sure of the percentage), including Dipper Yuly. Will this be the case for Blue Mages?

Sudden lunge does not sacrifice hp (on the test server anyway).

[Sparthos]

One point of concern: Sudden Lunge costs HP for Ladybugs (not sure of the percentage), including Dipper Yuly. Will this be the case for Blue Mages?

The test server gives a firm no.

[Alhanelem]

The magical accuracy for Mortal Ray has been set low.

On top of the effect of Mortal Ray, the fact that you can defeat enemies while they are asleep with it and also considering that blue mages have a heavy arsenal of sleep methods when compared to other jobs, we wanted this spell to be used while being conscious about the magical accuracy when solo or in parties.I agree the accuracy should be relatively low, but if you set it too low, it won't ever be worth using. Remeber 1000 needles?

[Hayward]

I wonder if there would be any objections to making Mortal Ray's accuracy increase upon a Magic Burst. I am assuming, of course, that it will be a Darkness-based spell. Not to 100%, mind you, but to a percentage that allows a fair chance of Dooming a monster.

[Ciecle]

Mortal Ray acc 'SHOULD' be increased with the effects of magic burst expecially due to the reduction in resistance to the specific elements in a dark SC.

Good luck trying to time it though... lol Remember to have Burst Affinity on.

[Mefuki]

If the functional use of Mortal Ray is as I surmised, then maybe think about giving it an accuracy boost when used on targets that are asleep. Then, you could use it on one add while you deal with another or the main monster, perhaps?

It appears that's what the dev's sort of intended, given Camate's answer.

Edit: Also, maybe reduce the MP cost to around 200? 267 is pretty prohibitive. That's a third of our MP pool, depending on what build you're in of course. It's the same problem that plagues Bad Breath and 1000 Needles (Among other things).

[Ciecle]

a little more information on White wind:

White wind IS affected by Wind weather/day(wind elemental) and by cure potency. It is NOT affected by STR,DEX,VIT,AGI,INT,MND, or CHR, and is not affected at all by Healing magic skill

so the test results have come out to be(for me... if someone who does/hasbeen doing the mathing of FFXI wouldnt mind checking it etc...)

HPReturn = f[(HP*.2856)*d/w bonus*cure potency]

Edit:
Reading a mather's findings, the formula is f(hp/7)*2 * d/w bonus* cure pot.

Nice to see i came very close to the actual formula...

[Kari]

I agree the accuracy should be relatively low, but if you set it too low, it won't ever be worth using. Remeber 1000 needles?

This.
I don't even play Blue Mage, but I know there's not a single monster in the game you can land that doom on that will be worthwhile.
Any monster it can land on, you can kill it normally in less than 60 seconds, and without wasting as much MP/etc.

In short, I don't know why Mortal Ray was decided to be a learnable spell.
It would have to be objectively broken to be useful.
And, otherwise, it's a waste of a spell slot.

[Sparthos]

Dark Orb just comes off as weird to me.

BLU was already working on an AOE line of elemental spells (Water Bomb, Thermal, Leafstorm, Whisker) so I figured with Frozen Mist in the .dats that Orb would fit as the AOE darkness spell. I think I got that confused with Dark Mist anyway.

BLU just got a single-target darkness nuke in Everyone's Grudge and then we get another? Orb makes more sense as an AOE than a redundant single-target spell already available in the game. A single-target light-based nuke is also lacking.

Mortal Ray? Gimmicky. It'll be set for traits and that's about it.

Well, at least Heavy Strike and Sudden Lunge are looking to be sleeper hits.

[Krysten]

i think mortal ray like 1000 needle will onloy be useful during 2hr (which it will almsot always work during) but i dont mind having it learning it gonna be interesting lol.

[Defiledsickness]

we dont need doom for any reason at all. we should get curse. curse would actually be effective on the low level mobs that you can doom (lower hp, CW, grab a new group of mobs...). also it would be reasonable considering Blm armor curses enemies quite easily.

death would be far more reasonable then this horrbile doom spell, but curse would actually benefit us. hope SE will change this worthless spell :P

[Tashan]

It pains me to tell you this, as I don’t want to be the destroyer of dreams or anything like that, but the double attack trait gained by combination of blue spells isn’t 10% like everyone thinks…it’s actually closer to 7%. (We didn’t change anything FYI)

WHAT?!The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

[Sharnak]

This.
I don't even play Blue Mage, but I know there's not a single monster in the game you can land that doom on that will be worthwhile.
Any monster it can land on, you can kill it normally in less than 60 seconds, and without wasting as much MP/etc.

In short, I don't know why Mortal Ray was decided to be a learnable spell.
It would have to be objectively broken to be useful.
And, otherwise, it's a waste of a spell slot.

That is <FACT>. and always happen to "MUST BE ONE GOOD MAGIC FOR BLU" and it's end up just show off magic which when in normal situation , noone "EQUIP" it.
Please Dev.Team to make blue magic you need to think about it's all need to equip to use. it's not just you can use it anytime anywhere. I no need to be a phychic i also can predictable that how Mortal Ray will be, It's will end up same to Bad Breath, 1000 Needles, Jettura. Fact that very some ppl will equip it to real perpose of use (if not count Jettura, that some use it as provoke cuz it's spike hate =w=) If It's <FACT> that any mob that we can land this, we can kill in less than 1 min and less than 276 mp, sleep and try to land this doom and waste mp since it not land is silly ways to choose in no matter path. no count you need to equip it for use also lol

Pls Dev.Team stop think this spell so powerful, it's not and what you say about situation base is very very rare to happen (Since when you want to sleep mob that will need to very lower lv than you and want it stay there and die (since mob same lv or higher is no worht to risk 276mp to just miss land effect), not forget that you can't run out of range form it cuz it's doom effect will were off and you will waste 276 mp for nothing.
so please make example for me what situation that we really need to use it =w=

[Sharnak]

=w= about Double Attack Jobtrial, i just know that SE think BLU get this trial for free so we need to gimp it.
I start no wonder y blu is just good only for mob that not too higher lv.

All job can get their JT for free, just to lv enough, blu need to use their precious point to set up spell to use. and need to waste many just for to set JT which other job will get for free when lv search! So what else i can say to gimp JT else.

If like this stop say want blu to set their spell situation base, it's end up not fact anymore. since many point will end up to set for JT, many will set to use trigger, if that mean to situation. I'm really sad that i was mistake the word flexible blue mage.

I never think BLU need to be top DD of game or so i just want give blu fair play.
See what happen to Tripple attack
Empty Thrash 3 pts, Demoralizing Roar 4pts, Acrid Stream 3 pts, Heavy Strike 2 pts
That totally 15 pts =w=, just for Tripple attack (which form i heard form Double Attack i start wonder we will got gimp version of it also)
and see what we need to equip form it

start form best of it Heavy strike, i no objection for this spell since it's can be one of real useful in many case.

Acrid stream is start to not much use since it's mp cost not par with it dmg, only good since it give MagDef down (MagDef down really not matter to blu or pt nowadays, but ok it's still not bad to equip)

Empty Thrash is just very rare useful for frontal aoe and low dmg thing. I just equip cuz it's low point for DA and still more useful than last champion.

Demoralizing Roar, my worthless champion in this set 20 percent atk down just for 30 sec =w= 30 sec! what is it perpose to use unless you going to eat hundred fist and want do lower dmg you will got (even fact will show that if you going to eat hundred fist and only this Demoralizing Roar is your last chance you will die anyways) and worst is it's 4 point for just that.

Totally 15 point and half of that is for just need to equip to use JT 15 point is even for blu full merit mean 1/4 of all point =w= so, SE really want blu situation base really!?

[SpankWustler]

Mortal Ray

The magical accuracy for Mortal Ray has been set low.

On top of the effect of Mortal Ray, the fact that you can defeat enemies while they are asleep with it and also considering that blue mages have a heavy arsenal of sleep methods when compared to other jobs, we wanted this spell to be used while being conscious about the magical accuracy when solo or in parties.

The extraordinarily low magic accuracy of Mortal Ray would be okay if it wasn't a gaze attack that required 60 seconds to kill a monster at the cost of 276 MP. The MP cost of Mortal Ray would be okay if it wasn't a gaze attack with extraordinarily low magic accuracy that required 60 seconds to kill a monster.

Everyone expected the spell to have drawbacks, and no one expected to use it on Notorious Monsters, but currently the spell is nothing but drawbacks. Even something as simple as making Mortal Ray into a normal conal attack instead of a gaze attack would be very nice.

[Urteil]

Doom + Ascecticsicscscsc gambir?


Maybe.

[Mayoyama]

Doom + Ascecticsicscscsc gambir?
Maybe.

Even still.... as poeple have pointed out... 60 seconds is too long, given that BLU has such a huge arsenal of hard hitting spells that (for about the same amount of mp expended) could probably kill it normally, and faster than the doom effect would

[Nosboh]

Just some info on Mortal Ray. I have tested it quite a bit and anything my level and below I have NOT been resisted once. And on the gaze attack, I have been able to land Mortal Ray with my back towards the monster, so I'm leaning towards the spell to be just like a single target nuke. I will get on and test it some more today to make sure my findings are accurate.

I do agree that the 60 kill timer is a bit long, 10 secs like the mob version would be awesome, however 30 secs would be a lot better.

[Shoko]

I also agree that 30 seconds would be a much better timer for Mortal Rays countdown duration. It would still allow for BLUs to maintain that crowd control aspect of the spell.

[Ank]

with my back towards the monster, so I'm leaning towards the spell to be just like a single target nuke.

Pretty sure blu gazes require the mob to look at you, but not you to look at the mob

[tarolin]

Mortal ray would maybe be set if it had the following changes:
1: 30 second doom countdown on mob
2: single target nuke no gaze (asking a lot but hey why not =P) or even have gaze but small cone area effect.
3: mp down to 200 to cast
4: Lets say if you faced a mob same level with a magic gear and atmas maybe it could hit inleast 40% of the time
however i do agree nm's should be very low accuracy indeed.

Again asking a lot but if we dont ask then they wont make any changes.
Also SE please give us some multi hit Magic based Blu spells that hit good or give good stuff , Magic attacks for blu are hardly used and its a real shame.

[Prothscar]

NMs are currently immune to Mortal Ray, which is completely fine and within the bounds of reason.

[Mefuki]

Well, if all NM's are immune to doom (as it should be), then what's wrong with having it be a little more effective.

[Demonofhunger]

I've been trying to think of a situation to use Mortal Ray in. I mean, the number of monsters that I sleep/nuke is pretty small right now, so Mortal Ray's ability to kill things that are asleep seems to be of minimal use.

Maybe elementals, assuming some high-level non-NM ones will be added? Oozes? MNK or NIN or SMN mobs in Dynamis?

[Scuro]

WHAT?!The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

My thoughts exactly Tash, but it seems like nobody else is noticing just how much BS this is....

[Kwate]

surprised Mortal Ray is getting so much attention.....
I'm just going throw it in the "sh*t bin" along with 1000 needles, bad breath and other epic "Failed" spells.

seriously, while the gimmick of "Doom" is enticing and fun to talk about, who's gonna use it for anything serious?

60 sec countdown
267mp (lets assuming it takes 1-3 casts to land), that's alot of both time and mp wasted

....on the bright side we should be thankful SE isn't forcing us to proc with this.

[SpankWustler]

....on the bright side we should be thankful SE isn't forcing us to proc with this.

It's not a proc yet.

[Shiyo]

Won't it be a proc in voidwatch?

[Mefuki]

That's exactly the point, Kwate. If SE wants to take the time to make an ability or spell, we need to give them feedback about how to retool them in order to make them worth even adding. There shouldn't be any "fail" spells or "fail" abilities for that matter, every one should have a certain form and function that helps one of our many roles. Even if that function is a niche one. Even if we only have a single solitary reason or situation to cast it, that'd be sufficent. Not ideal but, sufficent.

So, the reason Mortal Ray got the most attention in this topic was because it seems that out of all our upcoming spells, Mortal Ray needs the most work and concideration for it to be worth using.

[Kwate]

Won't it be a proc in voidwatch?

^ just killed my buzz....

[Kwate]

That's exactly the point, Kwate. If SE wants to take the time to make an ability or spell, we need to give them feedback about how to retool them in order to make them worth even adding. There shouldn't be any "fail" spells or "fail" abilities for that matter, every one should have a certain form and function that helps one of our many roles. Even if that function is a niche one. Even if we only have a single solitary reason or situation to cast it, that'd be sufficent. Not ideal but, sufficent.

So, the reason Mortal Ray got the most attention in this topic was because it seems that out of all our upcoming spells, Mortal Ray needs the most work and concideration for it to be worth using.

I would like for SE to address the concerns that a number of BLU's expressed over this spell. If they can nerf the ACC on HS because of the perception of it being overpowered....well this spell is extremely "underpowered", "expensive", and very situational at best....

All we can ask for is consistency....this spell needs to be adjusted/modified.

[Neisan_Quetz]

No one who has played previous FF titles could not have seen that this spell was going to be lackluster, it's always been that way. Doom/Death have almost always had a nerfed effect/ accuracy if used by players, and bosses were typically immune to it.

Not saying that it shouldn't be adjusted but this was expected imo.

[Kwate]

No one who has played previous FF titles could not have seen that this spell was going to be lackluster, it's always been that way. Doom/Death have almost always had a nerfect effect/ accuracy if used by players, and bosses were typically immune to it.

Not saying that it shouldn't be adjusted but this was expected imo.

I whole-heartedly agree, my thing is, forget the damn spell...

at this stage in the game where updates are coming to a near close, usefulness > gimmicky.

[Sparthos]

Trade Frozen Mist for Mortal Ray and lets forget someone pitched the idea of Doom in the first place.

Mist is in the .dats already, it could easily be swapped in.

[Leonlionheart]

I whole-heartedly agree, my thing is, forget the damn spell...

at this stage in the game where updates are coming to a near close, usefulness > gimmicky.

Sooooo why are updates coming to a near close?

[Yugl]

Sooooo why are updates coming to a near close?

Might have to do with what Septimus was pointing out with the SMN spell slots being limited.

[Kwate]

Sooooo why are updates coming to a near close?

It's fair to assume BLU won't get any new spells beyond the 99 update....I hope I'm wrong on that, but doubt it.

[Leonlionheart]

I think the issue might be resolved with dropping PS2.

I've been in the .dats a few times and saw the list was limited with working space in between (dats are ordered 1~10,000 or something, and back at 75 after salvage came out there was like 5,000 open spaces?) I'm probably way off on numbers but you get the gist of the idea.

I'm just assuming this, as I have no solid proof, but I assume the reason they can't increase the list is because of PS2 limitations.

[Kwate]

Not sure, but I think it would really help open the game for everyone. With survey being out, I'm pretty damn optimistic.

[Myriads]

It's good to hear that there will be new puks in the field to learn White Wind from.

I'm curious as to if Harden Shell can be learned from the small turtles in Ab-Tarongi, and if there are plans to place any mini-mamoths for Thunderbolt. Nyzul can supply both spells, but getting a team to tag up and knock out 5 floors for a single spell learning chance is asking a lot of friends.

Just curious if there are any plans.

[Elexia]

I see nothing about Barrier Tusk in there so think we can get a longer duration like 5min like Animating Wail and Battery Charge do?

I have a feeling asking for this will end badly...something like "It lasts 5 minutes, but we also reduced it's potency."

[renasci]

I'm inclined to agree with Nerevar, I was quite disappointed to see the 60 sec duration on Barrier Tusk

[Juri_Licious]

Not sure how you can really complain about BLU when you're getting a ton of new moves.

[Prothscar]

Not sure how you can really complain about BLU when you're getting a ton of new moves.

And all but one of them are completely useless.

[Urteil]

And all but one of them are completely useless.

Because you already have everything that's useful. What are we going to start giving BLU chainspell and hundred fists, Cure VI, Thundaja and Samurai Meditate II?

OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE.

[Elexia]

Not sure how you can really complain about BLU when you're getting a ton of new moves.

You've never touched BLU, have you?

[Yugl]

I like how the guy, who cries most about non-DRKs commenting on DRK, turns around and gives comments in all his wisdom as a 90 DRK and LV49 other non-BLU classes.

[Aver]

Because you already have everything that's useful. What are we going to start giving BLU chainspell and hundred fists, Cure VI, Thundaja and Samurai Meditate II?

OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE.

lolemodrk.

[Mightyg]

Naturally this is a blu thread, so we talk about what we want to see improved, so back on topic.

Some thoughts on the recent batch of spells:

Heavy Strike should be unnerfed, increase it's cooldown if you have to balance it.
Barrier Tusk's duration isn't long enough to really justify using it. What's with the extra long casting time and mp cost too?
Dark Orb is ok, but really not great damage, especially compared to the kind of stuff other mage jobs have/got at 95.
Water Bomb isn't bad, but the damage is still not great. It's prettymuch only an enmity tool, and for situations where you want to silence a group of enemies.
Sudden Lunge is good. No complaints
Thunderbolt this is on a 5 min cooldown SE and it's used to stun. Cut the casting time and up the damage at least a little.

[Neisan_Quetz]

EDIT: page late

[Prothscar]

Because you already have everything that's useful. What are we going to start giving BLU chainspell and hundred fists, Cure VI, Thundaja and Samurai Meditate II?

OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE.

Your grasp on what Blue Mage has is, unsurprisingly, wrong.

[Antanias]

It's good to hear that there will be new puks in the field to learn White Wind from.
Puks were added to The Boyahda Tree along with new crabs and crawlers...but they're placed DEEP within.

[Helel]

Fix Heavy Strike now please. It's completely useless at the moment. I can't even land it reliably on dynamis statues.

Edit: Did anyone even test this accuracy nerf over at SE? I'm not talking about the test server, because if they had been paying attention to the test server feedback, the nerf never would have happened in the first place. The accuracy penalty is absolutely insane.

[MDenham]

Puks were added to The Boyahda Tree along with new crabs and crawlers...but they're placed DEEP within.And they're IT to 95s.

I looked at the page for those, saw "level range: 102~105" and was like "well, that's interesting".

[Aver]

And they're IT to 95s.

I looked at the page for those, saw "level range: 102~105" and was like "well, that's interesting".

Oh it's going to be fun learning this tonight, lol.

[Juri_Licious]

Because you already have everything that's useful. What are we going to start giving BLU chainspell and hundred fists, Cure VI, Thundaja and Samurai Meditate II?

OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE.
I hope you're not implying RDM is a step up from BLU.

[Neisan_Quetz]

In terms of buffing which a Whm or Sch could do it is, otherwise no.

[Lordscyon]

it be cool if they created A list of bluemagic spells too buy in ah for people lazy too go hunt for the spell and learn it.

[Kimble]

it be cool if they created A list of bluemagic spells too buy in ah for people lazy too go hunt for the spell and learn it.

Wtf, that COMPLETELY defeats the purpose and lore of blue mage, lol.

[Lordscyon]

Hey i am just a taru with a big dream!

[Saenomo]

Mortal Ray: This spells accuracy is kind of low like everyone says, but you're not using it as was most likely intended. First, grab yourself three tough mobs, like Sandsweepers in Abyssea-Altepa. Then, Mortal Ray the first one using Burst Affinity to more or less make it land if you have Magical Accuracy and Blue Magic Skill merited for the extra boost to land the spell. Next, simply pick your AoE sleep of choice and then pick off mob 2 and 3. As the third mob is killed normally, the first one will drop from Doom effect and you've increased your kill speed by ~45% (3 kills in the time of 2 normal kills minus time to cast mortal ray and sleep).

I'd like to see Mortal Ray have high accuracy and a slightly lower cost, but dropped into Unbridled Knowledge. In exchange, could we have Bloodrake slid out in it's place?

~~~~

Now, can we talk about Pyric Bulwark? It's roughly as effective as a free Utsusemi shadow that will stop the next physical hit. It's right up there with Third Eye, except Third Eye doesn't always wear after the first hit. We can only use this to absorb one hit, and without careful planning, we can't really pick and choose which hit. If it only ate a hit that did at least 100 damage, that might be useful. If it had a time duration like Invincible (not as long of course), that would be very nice. Maybe let it negate one hit and any hit for the rest of that round. ( For example, it blocks a mobs hit, but the mob has Triple Attack and swings two more times. Since it's still the one round, those are negated too before it wears off. It would also mean that it would be useful for just about 3 seconds to fix a small mob linking issue.)

~~~~

In futility, I'd also like some reexamination of 1000 Needles, Bad Breath, and Jettatura. The first one could really use some accuracy to land with, even with capped magic merits, you practically need Azure Lore, Convergence, or Elemental Seal to land 1000 Needles and you've blown through most of your MP to do it. Bad Breath would be awesome if it wasn't nearly as expensive as 1000 Needles and rarely, if ever, landed most of the effects it's capable of. Jettatura is great for a BLU Provoke, but the effect won't help you because it really will never land on anything that actually matters without once again, large amounts of Magic Accuracy as with Elemental Seal.

[Sparthos]

Why would you waste time with Mortal Ray to kill anything? BLU can wreck mobs faster that than worthless spell can countdown doom on a target.

[saevel]

M.Ray's only worth setting for DWIII. Otherwise it's never worth casting.

[SpankWustler]

M.Ray's only worth setting for DWIII. Otherwise it's never worth casting.

The most cynical part of me is pretty sure that the whole reason Mortal Ray exists is that assure that some set points are totally wasted while acquiring Dual Wield III.