Let us cast more spells on our party members

[Olor]

Blu has some pretty great buffs. Considering the fact that we aren't really wanted in any cutting edge content these days, has any thought been given to letting blu mages cast some more of our buffs on party members?

Things like nature's meditation or memento mori or saline coat could have at least situational use in party play. Diffusion is on way too long of a timer to help tempt folks to invite us to stuff.

I doubt it would solve all our problems but it might make us a little more attractive for a party slot.

[Tennotsukai]

I would like to see something done with diffusion. They could make it target alliances or make it have a shorter (edit) recast. Of course, they could always make our buffs last longer and just keep diffusion as is :)

[Kafrein]

I really think an ability that extends buff duration would be useful. Infusion, Fusion Affinity, idk. I mean Blue Mage has buffs because we're supposed to be ~versatile~ but I think the balancing restrictions on them make it too impractical for elitist end-game content where no one wants to take any risks or experiment, etc. Diffusion affecting Alliances seems like something we should already have to be honest. Perhaps rather than making it so we can cast self-buffs on other people, just give us some new spells that are AoE buffs?

I mean Animating Wail is an AoE technique when used by Qutrub, it never made any sense to me why our version was not. Just seems like an unnecessary 'balance' that we don't need anymore, especially in the way the game is now. Maybe if Animating Wail was made aoe we could start diffusing more interesting spells...

[Tennotsukai]

I really think an ability that extends buff duration would be useful. Infusion, Fusion Affinity, idk. I mean Blue Mage has buffs because we're supposed to be ~versatile~ but I think the balancing restrictions on them make it too impractical for elitist end-game content where no one wants to take any risks or experiment, etc. Diffusion affecting Alliances seems like something we should already have to be honest. Perhaps rather than making it so we can cast self-buffs on other people, just give us some new spells that are AoE buffs?

I mean Animating Wail is an AoE technique when used by Qutrub, it never made any sense to me why our version was not. Just seems like an unnecessary 'balance' that we don't need anymore, especially in the way the game is now. Maybe if Animating Wail was made aoe we could start diffusing more interesting spells...

but i really like how animating wail is now...

[Renaissance2K]

I'd be happy with seeing Diffusion's recast timer cut to only five minutes, or having it double buff duration before merits.

[Damane]

I'd be happy with seeing Diffusion's recast timer cut to only five minutes, or having it double buff duration before merits.

i'd rather see its recast down cut down to like 3 min, Dispels from mobs happen, and applying more then 1 buff would be nice :X

[Renaissance2K]

Something similar to how Summoner buffs are handled might be nice, too. Each buff has a base duration that can be lengthened by increasing your Blue Magic skill over the cap for the current level.

[Tennotsukai]

Something similar to how Summoner buffs are handled might be nice, too. Each buff has a base duration that can be lengthened by increasing your Blue Magic skill over the cap for the current level.

I would like to see Blu magic skill affect buffs more than what they currently do.

[Camate]

Greetings,

Blue mage was designed with the concept of possessing magic that can be used to enhance yourself to be more proficient in battle, which is why there are a lot of self-target enhancement spells when it comes to blue magic.

In the future there is definitely a possibility that blue magic spells that can be cast on others are implemented, but fundamentally the enhancing blue magic spells will predominantly be self-target.

[larrymc]

Greetings,

Blue mage was designed with the concept of possessing magic that can be used to enhance yourself to be more proficient in battle, which is why there are a lot of self-target enhancement spells when it comes to blue magic.

In the future there is definitely a possibility that blue magic spells that can be cast on others are implemented, but fundamentally the enhancing blue magic spells will predominantly be self-target.

I wish the duration of many of our self target spells was longer - constantly keeping up these buffs lowers our total DPS and makes many of them not worth while. Battery charge is in the right ballpark for duration.

[Tennotsukai]

I agree with Larry 100%. I would gladly utilize 20 more my for another minute or so.

[Tennotsukai]

Gah, on phone. 20 mp.

[Doombringer]

i think a fair compromise here would be to cut the base recast of diffusion, and making sure it works with most if not all spells.

putting it around 2 minutes would allow you to full time 1 buff without letting you keep a second going. (it would also be a lot less time spent casting compare to single targeting on say, 3 other ppl)

i actually feel like i suggested something similar to this for RDM all so long ago... deja vu...

[Olor]

Greetings,

Blue mage was designed with the concept of possessing magic that can be used to enhance yourself to be more proficient in battle, which is why there are a lot of self-target enhancement spells when it comes to blue magic.

In the future there is definitely a possibility that blue magic spells that can be cast on others are implemented, but fundamentally the enhancing blue magic spells will predominantly be self-target.

Thank you for the answer, it's really appreciated. From your answer am I correct in understanding the development team sees Blue mage as primarily a DD? Otherwise restricting us to self buffs mostly wouldn't make sense.

Given that the development team seems to see blue mage as a DD, would you please consider what Larry said as well:

"I wish the duration of many of our self target spells was longer - constantly keeping up these buffs lowers our total DPS and makes many of them not worth while. Battery charge is in the right ballpark for duration."

I don't use most of our buffs because my already lower than other job damage output is made even lower, especially with how long cast times are on many spells. If Blue Mage is supposed to be a DD rather than a support job, it seems like it would make sense to increase duration of buffs to make us a more effective DD.

Things like feather barrier are almost never useful because they don't last long enough to be worth the loss of swings/MP. 30 seconds is just not long enough to be a useful buff. Given the vision of the job, would it be possible to consider increasing the duration of buffs to be at least 1 minute?

As I am sure you can understand, by the time we even buff up with a few of these spells, many of them would have worn off before a battle even starts. It makes them really pointless. Given the vast gap in DPS between a BLU and other damage dealing jobs such as DRG, MNK, and SAM, we could use a little help.

Also perhaps consider allowing us to use diffusion more often? It would be nice if we could keep at least 1 buff on our party members full time.

[Rwolf]

I am completely ok with self target buffs for the most part on BLU. Diffusion definitely needs to be lowered in recast. Blue magic buffs need an increase in duration. (I just noticed not long ago they ninja buffed the duration of Cocoon/Harden Shell). It can be an increase in MP or better yet, make Blue Magic Skill extend the duration of buffs similar to how Summoning Magic works on Blood Pact: Wards.

[Tennotsukai]

I also wouldn't mind if every spell cast by another mage didn't overwrite our buffs, like cureskin to our magic barrier. Another annoyance is a 3 min haste over my diffused 7.5 min haste. Idk why others cast refresh on me right after I diffuse battery charge, from 8 minutes to 3. Bleh

[Olor]

I also wouldn't mind if every spell cast by another mage didn't overwrite our buffs, like cureskin to our magic barrier. Another annoyance is a 3 min haste over my diffused 7.5 min haste. Idk why others cast refresh on me right after I diffuse battery charge, from 8 minutes to 3. Bleh

You're a little off on timing - I think our haste is only 5 minutes, but yeah, this also annoys me... right after I use my 10 minute ability to cast a 5 minute haste on everyone, people start overwriting it with their 2 minute hastes... grrrrr

[Rwolf]

Haste is 5 minute duration but with Mirage Charuqs +2 Augmented and Diffusion. It adds up to +25% duration on buffs that can be diffused.

[Tennotsukai]

Not to mention grapevine cape :)

[Kafrein]

Yeah I mean, I have no issue with the amount of self-target buffs we have it's more that you kind of have to spend ages casting them and they don't last very long. Although I still don't get why Animating Wail was made self target, it just seems unnecessary.

[tumz]

I don't care about self targeting buffs or not, but having a bunch of situational 1 min buffs just sucks. Most times I just don't have the set points to spend on situational buffs.