Disparity at End Game: BLU needs an update.

[Typral]

Hello, I am posting this because it is time to update BLU. They have been left off a lot of gear options for almost 3 years now until miraculously they were added to Malignance (except the earring for some reason.)

I would like to see some upgrades to BLU similar to what RDM has gotten to place it so high up on the desired jobs list these days.

-Equipment that enhances Blue Magic duration and potency

If we had equipment that increased the potency of our Blue Magic, it would open new spell setups with older spells. Some examples would be Infrasonics giving a potent EVA down for an ACC boost, Warm-up giving a good deal of self ACC (or diffusion'd), etc. Possibly a problem for Haste spells but that isn't an issue these days as most setups comprise a BRD or GEO. Additional effects benefiting from the potency of said equipment would also increase our utility in parties for content like Omen, Ambuscade, etc. A decent Plague, Paralyze, Slow, etc would benefit small groups greatly and its already done via other jobs like MNK or RDM. Historically, BLU was given spells to compare to the utility of these jobs and it has fallen far behind what they are currently capable of.

The duration of most of our buff spells barely surpass 1m30s. This is too short when jobs like RDM have self buffs that last over 20 minutes. The BLU is constantly casting buffs spells and it lowers their DPS and leaves them open to damage/interruption in most cases. Juggling 2-4 different buffs these days with these durations is incredibly frustrating (Cocoon, Nat. Meditation, Barrier Tusk being what the majority cast.) Not having to cast them would indirectly increase our damage potential.

An update to BLU so that we ACTUALLY cast Blue Magic, seems like a logical choice to me. Currently BLU end-game consists of getting buffs and spamming a singular WS. In content like Dyna D we don't even use our utility spells and only AOE nuke or spam said WS. BLU has fallen behind in a lot of content in comparison to other DD jobs and even RDM. We have jobs like MNK that clear battles safer and faster than a BLU casting all kinds of defensive spells and debuffs. The job is stuck with older mechanics when everyone else has gone into ridiculous levels of damage and utility.

-Change to our job abilities

We currently use Unbridled Learning for one spell, Mighty Guard. Rarely ever are the others cast unless we have the 1hr up and even then its limited. This design seems really short sighted and maybe it should be reworked to be made so that we have the ability to cast the other spells without having to choose only one.

Abilities like Chain Affinity and Burst Affinity seem really outdated. They would better be served as a stance in my opinion. Something like Convergence is almost entirely useless these days. A lot of the concept of the job seems to still be rooted in 75 cap days. Our Dynamis JSE weapon was almost entirely useless outside of a MACC increase when other jobs got weapons that literally changed the meta.

In closing, I would strongly enjoy if BLU got equipment that enhances our spell casting so that we can close the gap in the disparty at end game. Right now there are jobs putting out ridiculous numbers of DMG buffed up in content like Dyna D and Omen, and it just seems like BLU has been left behind as all these jobs have gotten updates directly or indirectly. While Malignance gear was a big upgrade for BLU, I would like to see some unique equipment that would enhance our gameplay.