CDC build and BLU Melee Build and spell sets suggestions

[Annahya]

None of this is meant as combative, it is merely conversational. As text and the internet often blurs tone, I wanted to specify before anyone took it differently than it was intended.

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Up to 12% in rings, 5% back, 5% neck, 4% body/waist, 30% PDT and 22% MDT in a single macro. Yep, defensive swaps are for Windower users only.

I think my statement was taken out of context. I did not say "swaps are only for Windower users." I was speaking to the other poster's assertion that it was unrealistic to make swaps while "spamming delta thrust in VW and you can swap ur set in time to not get hit? its just not realistic."

I am aware of how fast a person has to use gearswap macros, as I don't use Spellcast; but the tone of this quoted statement implies that he does not believe fast swaps can be done. As such, I was pointing out that the fact that Spellcast exists makes inhuman amounts of gearswapping realistic, thereby making him incorrect. Citing the third party software shortcuts any need to even address anecdotal evidence of who does what - Spellcast's existence negates any ability to argue on this point. Perhaps I should have been more clear on this, however.

I've never seen Delta Thrust's plague effect land on any NM of consequence. It's a very MP-efficient spell and also useful when farming fodder mobs (hello Dynamis), but sadly not useful on NMs.

Can I get some, any evidence Delta Thrust's plague actually sticks on relevant NMs?

Plague does not stick on NMs in any capacity from any source.

I never said one would cast Delta Thrust strictly because of the additional effect. I was supporting the many people who champion the use of the spell, by clearly spelling out the spell's capabilities to someone who appeared not to fully comprehend its value.

(As an aside, I would like to challenge notions of relevancy and consequence as it relates to the discussion - what you are doing at the time is relevant to you, or you wouldn't be there and anything that helps what you are doing is of consequence. While some may accuse me of "playing with semantics" here, I would say that doing so is just poor critical thinking. It would be better to argue against using Delta Thrust for its plague effect - and in that case, I would agree. But, back to the point...)

Am I arguing that Delta Thrust will stick plague on Tier III Voidwatch NMs? No. I am not arguing it will stick on anything. I am stating that the spell has that effect, which is icing on an already attractive cake.

Also, I am happy to see this pointed out:

You made the jump to Delta Thrust spam out of nowhere...

As for Delta Thrust spam, I saw no one mention the words "spam", "Delta", or "Thrust" in the same post until you came along. "Spamming" Delta Thrust is idiotic in a setting such as Voidwatch.

I am fairly certain quite a few of his responses were directed at me, and my statements regarding the ubiquity of casting Delta Thrust was not intended as an assertion regarding the frequency of its use. Thank you, Prothscar and Nightfyre, for pointing this out.

Blue Mage does not receive Fast Cast I and II, we receive Fast Cast .5 and Fast Cast I. While 15 isn't half of our available points, it is 25% of our total available set points being spent on one trait with two of the spells being largely useless in any situation, and the other two only being useful when you're solo or require the extra -40 ACC of Auroral Drape over a normal Blind spell, (30 v. Kurayami), to maintain a capped evade rate.

I understand the choice of terms you use, as the Fast Cast that Blue Mages acquire is not equitable to that provided to, say, Red Mages. However, for conversational purposes, calling them I and II is functional, as this is all obviously within the context of "provided by Blue Mage Job Traits," so I think the distinction is essentially unnecessary. I chose I and II because I was trying to stick with the terminology used on the Blue Gartr wiki entry for Blue Mage Job Traits, in the interest of clarity.

Also, I was not stating, in my post, that one should set Fast Cast, merely that it is inaccurate to state that it costs half of our set points to do so. I felt this was pretty clear in my initial post, but perhaps it was not. Also, I will admit that, as with any situational discussion, I included a caveat that Fast Cast might outweigh some of the traits that were being weighed against it, but even in so doing I offered that in at least one of those situations (as an example) one would be better served just subbing RDM.

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But, again, I want to stress that none of that was intended to come across as fighting about it. I just wanted to clarify, as I know I can very fairly verbose.

Have fun, all!
~Anna

[Edit: Removed a "First," from the beginning of a sentence that was a legacy of a previous structure. It may have caused some confusion regarding tone, so I took it out.]

[Nightfyre]

I think my statement was taken out of context.

Mmm, I don't think so. Let me quote the sentence that best exemplifies what I took issue with:

So, as much as it irritates me to say: you are unfortunately incorrect by calling it unrealistic (at least for PC players).

As I showed, you can negate 30% of all damage taken (assuming plain 5/5 Shellra V as a baseline for MDT, more with any enhancements) with a single standard macro. That's realistic for everyone, not just PC users. There was no reason to mention Spellcast at all and doing so was in fact counterproductive because that + the quoted text implies that those who don't use it can't realistically use defensive swaps effectively, which is simply untrue.

First, I never said one would cast Delta Thrust strictly because of the additional effect. I was supporting the many people who champion the use of the spell, by clearly spelling out the spell's capabilities to someone who appeared not to fully comprehend its value.

Delta Thrust, aside from its amazing cost-to-damage ratio, also has a chance to stick the mob with a debuff. I don't know why one wouldn't use Delta Thrust on everything, including NMs, breakfast bagels, the dancefloor, and so on.

I assumed that you had enough experience and understanding of BLU mechanics to know that physical spell damage, especially the damage of spells that neither have an attack bonus nor the ability to crit, will take a nosedive on high level/def targets and thus could only infer that you were using Delta Thrust on such NMs for the Plague effect given that it would otherwise be quite useless in that situation. I apologize and assure you I will not make that mistake again.

[Annahya]

As I showed, you can negate 30% of all damage taken (assuming plain 5/5 Shellra V as a baseline for MDT, more with any enhancements) with a single standard macro. That's realistic for everyone, not just PC users. There was no reason to mention Spellcast at all and doing so was in fact counterproductive because that + the quoted text implies that those who don't use it can't realistically use defensive swaps effectively, which is simply untrue.

This shows, rather pointedly, that you did take my statement out of context, however. To take a statement that begins with "so," without considering it against what came before it, is evidence as such. Even the qualification regarding "at least for PC players" is a contextual nod to the example I gave; one that is stripped of its relevance by separating it from the previous statements.

My statement spoke to the ability for people to use third-party macros/programs to do a great deal in the span of casting a spell, with relative ease should they be on a PC, so much so that it negates the ability to consider the timing "unrealistic." Your comments about a standard macro support my position that it is incorrect to state that it is unrealistic; but my cutting straight to the chase was not counter-productive. Your statement was a more concise counter to the person who made the original comment, but doing so does not show that it is counter-productive, nor does it invalidate its function as a conversational device.

My statement doesn't address anything about the capabilities of those without Spellcast, either - it merely states that because Spellcast exists, one cannot state that inhumanly fast gearswapping is unrealistic, because Spellcast makes it real. That is all. What I am guilty of, in the initial post regarding Spellcast, is my inability to restrain the disgust I feel for its use - and while it does bother me that I suffered from such lack of restraint, it in no way created the implication, in my words, that it was required to do so.

I entirely agree that one can defend oneself with standard macros, but defending oneself was not the crux of my statement.

I assumed that you had enough experience and understanding of BLU mechanics to know that physical spell damage, especially the damage of spells that neither have an attack bonus nor the ability to crit, will take a nosedive on high level/def targets and thus could only infer that you were using Delta Thrust on such NMs for the Plague effect given that it would otherwise be quite useless in that situation. I apologize and assure you I will not make that mistake again.

I hope I am mistaken in reading combative tone into this - it reads as though you are insulting me for clarifying my position in a way that used your quotes to thank you, and make a general obsevation about "consequence."

"To someone who" wasn't a reference to anyone but the one who said "i understand delta thrust is a good spell but i dont understand how people can act like they use it anywhere but xping and then say its worth wasting half your set points on fast cast."

And in my initial post, like others also said, I commented that combining this into one sentence was confusing, so I was addressing the points separately. "I understand delta thrust is a good spell but i dont understand how people can act like they use it anywhere but xping" influenced my comment of "clearly spelling out the spell's capabilities to someone who appeared not to fully comprehend its value." To wit, "why would you use it on anything but exp?" "Because it has great damage-to-cost ratio, and can debuff the monster."

Hopefully that clarifies any confusion.
~Anna

[Edit: I went back and removed the "First," from the beginning of a sentence you quoted. This was a legacy from a previous structure that I had not caught in the proofread, and I feared it may have cause some confusion regarding tone, subjects, etc. - the initial post also bears a note regarding the edit. I apologize if that was part of the confusion.]

[Nightfyre]

superfluous

Indeed. Perhaps a better venue for a superfluous anti-windower comment would be due next time, if that is indeed all it was. I'm sure you can understand my confusing it for a post intending to convey useful information in a thread created with the express intent of doing so.

And in my initial post, like others also said, I commented that combining this into one sentence was confusing, so I was addressing the points separately. "I understand delta thrust is a good spell but i dont understand how people can act like they use it anywhere but xping" influenced my comment of "clearly spelling out the spell's capabilities to someone who appeared not to fully comprehend its value." To wit, "why would you use it on anything but exp?" "Because it has great damage-to-cost ratio, and can debuff the monster."

Hopefully that clarifies any confusion.

Allow me to clarify for you then.

why would you use it on anything but exp?

This is the question.

Because it has great damage-to-cost ratio, and can debuff the monster.

This would be a reasonable answer, but that's not how you framed it initially.

I don't know why one wouldn't use Delta Thrust on everything

Perhaps less verbosity is in order in favor of better initial word choice if your intent is truly to clarify rather than retcon. Otherwise, carry on.