Barrier Tusk

[Mefuki]

This spell is certainly interesting. Most of us would have perferred it to function like RDM's Phalanx but, giving it a -15% reduction actually can give this spell a unique utility. It seems like you made this with intention of not displacing Phalanx. Which is good because now we have a counter for quick but lower damage (Phalanx) and slower but heavier damage (Barrier Tusk). Having these options is nice.

However, I'd like to ask if you could:

-Lower recast by at least half, to 3~ seconds
-Increase duration to at least 3~ minutes
-Leave the MP cost as it is, at 41MP

It's going to be very difficult to utilize this spell properly without these or similar changes. This can be a big help to our tanking abilities or at least it would be if not for a 6 second casting time and a 1 minute duration for 41 MP. Granted, that MP cost seems alright at first glance but if you have to recast ever minute, it adds up. Every spell's pros and cons have to be properly balenced for it to see sufficent use. As it stands now, I'm afraid that this spell may get relegated to non-use. That it's upkeep cons outweigh it's protective pros.

What do you other Blue Mages think? Should this spell be adjusted? If so, this is the best time to ask for it.

[KayRagnarok]

I think that the duration should be adjusted. 1 minute is too low (even lower than Cocoon/harden shell) and it makes the fighting mechanics very anoying. I think it should last more or less like the normal phalanx spell.

I try it up several times in the test server while fighting against normal mobs and hard NMs, and i should say that the extremly short duration of this spell made me giving up the fun of the fight, because i was every minute spamming the macro of the spell, and that was really breaking the fun of the fight.

In the other hand, the spell is very usefull in almost every fight, so I recommend every Blu to make a macro with this spell, and spamming it every minute when soloing. I can see in this spell a must-have-use.

[Prothscar]

The casting time and duration need to be adjusted, this spell is far too costly to keep up otherwise. You could argue that it's meant only for spikes, but what type of spike damage is going to wait 6 seconds to launch?

I propose a duration of 3 minutes minimum, and a casting time of 3 seconds or less. A 60 second duration and 6 second casting time are just far too high to make this spell worth anything.

Fix it please.

[KayRagnarok]

I agree with Prothscar. The casting time is too high to maintain the spell during a fight that last more than 1 minute, so 6 seconds is just... to high.

3 seconds cast and 3 minutes duration would make the spell more useful, because with the existing duration and cast, this spells is going to be very annoying to use.

[Mightyg]

I agree, I can deal with the casting time, but the duration needs to be a bit longer to justify using it. This is a problem for almost all blu enhancing magic. I think enhancing magic as a rule should last at least 2-3 mins unless it's REALLY potent.

[Mefuki]

The casting time and duration need to be adjusted, this spell is far too costly to keep up otherwise. You could argue that it's meant only for spikes, but what type of spike damage is going to wait 6 seconds to launch?

I propose a duration of 3 minutes minimum, and a casting time of 3 seconds or less. A 60 second duration and 6 second casting time are just far too high to make this spell worth anything.

Fix it please.

This. Well said.

I'm pretty much in agreement with you so maybe I'll change the OP accordingly. I wanted to just present some increase in duration and see if you other Blue Mages felt it was reasonable or not reasonable enough.

Do you think we'd have to see a greater MP cost though for a 3 minute duration?

[Kwate]

The casting time and duration need to be adjusted, this spell is far too costly to keep up otherwise. You could argue that it's meant only for spikes, but what type of spike damage is going to wait 6 seconds to launch?

I propose a duration of 3 minutes minimum, and a casting time of 3 seconds or less. A 60 second duration and 6 second casting time are just far too high to make this spell worth anything.

Fix it please.

^ This....

I'll take a point increase as well as mp increase....

JUST FIX IT!!!

[Prothscar]

No MP increase necessary, it's high enough as is.

[Mefuki]

Wow, I just looked up Phalanx and I think you're right. Phalanx only costs 21 MP. If SE is willing to have it at 21 then there's certainly nothing gamebreaking about 41.

[Ladycandygem]

Maybe duration is one minute because SE is going to give Blu Composure, and they think 3 minutes per cast is long enough.

* crosses fingers in hope *

But I agree, anything less than 3 minutes for enhancing magic that you would want to keep up full time is just annoying.

[Sharnak]

im always wonder y blu buff spell always got unreason short duration even compare to same type of magic. such as shock spike vs
plasma charge. now happen to this magic compare to phalynx. why not just same duration.
or blu concept is anything we get is only weaker. more mp expensive and longer casting time with shorter duration then its will Dev team'blu concept?

[Anakha]

With 1 minute duration, this spell is one of those you use when the battle plan is failing to yourself and you are taking so much damage.

So you will need to cast it as soon as posible to minimize the damage you are taking. Then, with a casting time of 6 seconds, the spell fails this proposit. The spell has the similar utility as Cocoon, but with the difference that this one has a cast time of 1.75 seconds, not 6...

The spell has potential to be a good spell, but right now it lacks potential when one is soloing a long deep battle.

[Yugl]

- Fantod cast time
- 3min Duration

Would prefer a phalanx type effect if this is going to conflict (The idea was unique though, I'll give SE that).

[SpankWustler]

If Barrier Tusk is going to conflict with Phalanx, why not just give Barrier Trusk the casting time and duration of Phalanx?

I don't mind the unique effect, although it's not nearly as strong compared to Phalanx as some bro at SE apparently thinks given the miserable casting time and recast.

[Tashan]

The only thing is, SE genuinely believes that the spells are balanced and to add any positive bonus would need to be balanced with a negative one.

If they lower the casting time they may argue the effectiveness will need to be reduced.

[SpankWustler]

The only thing is, SE genuinely believes that the spells are balanced and to add any positive bonus would need to be balanced with a negative one.

If they lower the casting time they may argue the effectiveness will need to be reduced.

In that case, I believe there's money to be made by dressing up as a ghost and telling the development teams behind FFXI and FFXIV that I will haunt them mercilessly unless they pay me the minimum daily wage every morning to make me go away.

They seem disconnected enough from reality to fall for it, and living in a new country with nothing but free time on my hands would be neat. Maybe I could even get on one of those goofy Japanese morning shows while I was going to "work" with my bed sheet over my head. Maybe Hard Gay would gyrate on me. That would be cool.

[Defiledsickness]

its -15% damage taken so they arent going to let it stay on for your entire fight. you have to manage mp vs spells on blu thats what makes us a unique job. they dont give us something so awesome and make it last forever :P its like cocoon you gotta want it.

i would LOVE an armor piece for Blu that increases spell duration (like rdm AF3) but otherwise c'mon. next you'll ask for an auto-reraise without weakness :P

[Yugl]

Aerns get one, why not!?

[SpankWustler]

its -15% damage taken so they arent going to let it stay on for your entire fight. you have to manage mp vs spells on blu thats what makes us a unique job. they dont give us something so awesome and make it last forever :P its like cocoon you gotta want it.

I can understand if the duration is going to be miserable. You're right about that being Blue Mage's schtick.

Currently, however, the cast time for Barrier Tusk seems to be 10% of the duration. That's nuts.

[Mightyg]

Yeah keeping that up for the cost and duration is not only tedious, but very very hard to justify bothering with.

[Scuro]

lol I'm going to laugh if every BLU on every server has one big strike, where no BLU uses a single new spell coming out. Just to kinda show SE that nerfing Heavy Strike and making Barrier Tusk garbage, is not ok to the community.

[SpankWustler]

They're far from garbage, in fact, compared to Kakka: Ichi and Scarlet Delirium something like Heavy Strike is manna from on high. It's lost it's luster on high-level stuff now that it apparently has a higher accuracy penalty than Sidewinder, but it's still MP-efficient for weak stuff.

As for Barrier Tusk, I'd be perfectly happy with it if it just had a short casting time so I could cast it for emergencies when an additional -7.5~15% damage taken would turn a one-shot attack on my frail Tarutaru frame into a moderately less fatal blow.

When something can be better and perhaps should be better though, it never hurts to ask, even if it's already usable.

[Covenant]

As with most if not ALL blue magic buffs, the casting times are long with short durations. Blue mages are NOT Redmages. They are not meant to be buffing themselves. If anything they are a step or two below Redmages, hence "suffer" for it.

Why?

It's because most if not ALL bluemages are solo casted spells(with Party merit exceptions). A redmage not only has to buff themselves, but are usually buffing other jobs with various spells, nuking, meleen, etc.

Since blue don't waste MP on things like that and only throw out sporatic nukes and heals... SE keeps MP cost up, thereby restrain a blue mages use of their multi-hit physical spells(which are very cheap compared to blue nuke, or BLM and RDM nuke).

[Prothscar]

As with most if not ALL blue magic buffs, the casting times are long with short durations. Blue mages are NOT Redmages. They are not meant to be buffing themselves. If anything they are a step or two below Redmages, hence "suffer" for it.


What in the name of everything that is holy are you on about? Do you have any idea what any of BLU's buffs do? With the exception of Animating Wail/Refueling, Battery Charge and Metallic Body/Diamondhide, RDM cannot replicate any of BLU's buffs, and Animating Wail is certainly more efficient than Haste just because it lasts an extra two minutes, and our Stoneskins are so pitiful that they aren't worth a glance.

As far as "all buffs casting times are long" etc. etc., no, that is not the case. Barrier Tusk is pretty much the first buff we have that takes six seconds to cast, making it effectively unusable. The short durations exist on most of our enhancing magic, yes, and I personally think that a lot of our enhancing spells should be revised to last longer (i.e. Cocoon, Memento Mori, Feather Barrier).

Here's the real difference between RDM and BLU, chief: we can't buff other people (unless you count 20-90 seconds every 10 minutes for the party or Diamondhide), we use our buffs only to enhance ourselves. Why shouldn't the durations be more time efficient?




Why?

It's because most if not ALL bluemages are solo casted spells(with Party merit exceptions). A redmage not only has to buff themselves, but are usually buffing other jobs with various spells, nuking, meleen, etc.

That's because that's RDM's job. BLU's role is not to enhance the party, it's one of the few roles that we can not do (I don't particularly care to, either. RDM does it well enough.) As you said, we only buff ourselves. There's no reason why our buffs should demand such an inefficient upkeep cost in time and, sometimes, MP.



Since blue don't waste MP on things like that and only throw out sporatic nukes and heals... SE keeps MP cost up, thereby restrain a blue mages use of their multi-hit physical spells(which are very cheap compared to blue nuke, or BLM and RDM nuke).

Couple of things here:

1) "Sporadic nukes and heals" - I don't know if you're referring to physical spells as nukes or not, but I'll assume you are. DDing is the only role that BLU does reasonably well, and even then we're a far cry from any sort of real DD job. Those "sporadic" nukes probably aren't so sporadic if you're running with a BLU that doesn't absolutely suck at life. As for heals, we could be a main healer (for one party) but often it's better for us just to fill the role of a support healer for our party. Are you trying to tell me that RDM doesn't have the ability to nuke or heal? If so, I would suggest reworking how you play the job.

2) "thereby restrain a blue mages use of their multi-hit physical spells..." - Why? They aren't particularly powerful, in fact they're quite weak and inefficient on anything that's worth killing and that isn't an XP mob. While they are cheap compared to most of BLU's magical nukes, and cheaper than BLM/RDM nukes, here's the thing: they are subject to far more opportunities at reducing their damage than a magical nuke is. Physical damage has far more variables, one of the most important of which BLU cannot enhance reliably, than magical damage does. Comparing the two is an effort in futility as all it's going to do it make you look foolish.

[Tashan]

As with most if not ALL blue magic buffs, the casting times are long with short durations.

...

Metallic Body: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Coccon: Casting Time - 1.75 Seconds. Duration - 1:30 Minutes.
Refueling: Casting Time - 1.5 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Zephyr Mantle: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Diamondhide: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Feather Barrier: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration 30 Seconds.
Warm-Up: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 3 Minutes.
Amplification: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Triumphant Roar: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Saline Coat: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1 Minute.
Reactor Cool: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 2 Minutes.
Plasma Charge: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1 Minute.
Battery Charge: Casting Time - 5 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Animating Wail: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Regeneration: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Fantod: Casting Time: 0.5 Seconds. Duration 3 Minutes.


Blue mages are NOT Redmages. They are not meant to be buffing themselves.

....

Metallic Body: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Coccon: Casting Time - 1.75 Seconds. Duration - 1:30 Minutes.
Refueling: Casting Time - 1.5 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Zephyr Mantle: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Diamondhide: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Feather Barrier: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration 30 Seconds.
Warm-Up: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 3 Minutes.
Amplification: Casting Time - 7 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Triumphant Roar: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Saline Coat: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1 Minute.
Reactor Cool: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 2 Minutes.
Plasma Charge: Casting Time - 3 Seconds. Duration 1 Minute.
Battery Charge: Casting Time - 5 Seconds. Duration 5 Minutes.
Animating Wail: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration - 5 Minutes.
Regeneration: Casting Time - 2 Seconds. Duration 1:30 Minutes.
Fantod: Casting Time: 0.5 Seconds. Duration 3 Minutes.



It's because most if not ALL bluemages are solo casted spells(with Party merit exceptions). A redmage not only has to buff themselves, but are usually buffing other jobs with various spells, nuking, meleen, etc.


HOWEVER, blue mages are a "HYBRID" job. Like a lot of the other "HYBRID" jobs blue does a lot of other things other than the specific types of damage you mentioned.

...


Since blue don't waste MP on things like that and only throw out sporatic nukes and heals... SE keeps MP cost up, thereby restrain a blue mages use of their multi-hit physical spells(which are very cheap compared to blue nuke, or BLM and RDM nuke).


HOWEVER, blue mages are a "HYBRID" job. Like a lot of the other "HYBRID" jobs blue does a lot of other things other than the specific types of damage you mentioned.

...


THIS IS GAME BALANCE.