Blue mage is a waste of potential, change my mind.

What is the hot fix going to do?

Beat the Masked Carnival last night and all I can say is, BLU is massively disappointing. I was not looking forward to it from the start, I saw the train wreck coming. But it still didn't help alleviate the disappointment.

People have already commented on the spells and how ass backwards it is that a job intended more for solo play can't solo a good half their kit. And how its just easier and less frustrating to get a 70 to carry you through the content rather then getting a party of BLU's to attempt it. I tried titan HM once last night in an 8 BLU party; I've never been so happy to get wife agro in my life. Attempting it with 8 BLUs was a freaking nightmare. But beyond the learning, I can't stress how bad the spells BLU does have are. If you don't try and push/get carried for higher level spells as you start up, then you're stuck with things like water cannon being your best damage spell for a solid 25-ish levels. The other early to learn spells are pretty worthless.
-Blood drain would be nice if it restored health, but it only gives you MP which I rarely have MP issues outside very long fights (because BLU damage isn't good).
-Bomb toss is kind of useful at least.
-Faze is just a bomb toss without the damage.
-Ice spikes last a laughably short 15 seconds for just 25 potency a hit.

I could go on, but I think the point is made. If you leveled BLU as intended and slowly acquired the spells available based on level of the mobs you'd have a terribly bad kit and rely on water cannon for all damage outside AoE for a solid 26-ish levels. Beyond the leveling experience BLU's spells are bad. So many spells are near clones of each other, just slightly different AoE shape/size with a possible secondary effect or combo-ish action. A lot of them seem to exist to be elemental copies of each other. Speaking of elements, they are useless outside a few fights in the masked carnival. They seemed to want to have BLU make use of elemental affinities, but it only applies to the mask carnival. And even then only a handful of fights utilize it. It's like they intended BLU to be a sort of elemental mage but only put in half the effort for it to be useful. Even then BLU is lacking a lot of elements, barring the primal ones, but those are an issue in and of themselves. In fact ignoring the primal spells means BLU has no wind elemental damage spells. It feels like they wanted an elemental system but didn't put in the effort to give the right sets of spells and content for it.

Over all the spells, the heart of the job, are very lack luster. Even at endgame and with all but 7 of them obtained I find myself only using a handful in content outside the masked carnival.

Speaking of the masked carnival, there's a number of things you could complain about, but my main gripe is the final fight. For all the theatrics and melodrama that seems to be behind BLU and the carnival, I was really disappointed that the final fight with Azulmagia was just boring. Same music as before, no Azulmagia shouting about defeating you, no special flair. It was just a long boring fight of dodge AoE's and slowly whittle down his health. And also the charybdis. That was the hardest part of the fight because the wind animation kept obscuring my screen making it hard to see the plethora of AoEs that will kill you.

In the end BLU feels like a lot of wasted potential, and conflicting or half-thought out design ideas. Limited jobs, as predicted, are a bad idea. Just make it usable in the other content like normal jobs.

In a random fit of more wasted potential, I just realized you have no spells from Good King Moggle Mog XII, may his splendid Pom remain ever bounciful, Kupo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Whanext

First of all, it is a good thing that SE is trying something new; however, they did not make blue mage right.

As a solo job, 24 out of 49 spells are locked behind dungeons/trials. There is no way or extremely hard to solo them. Even if you can solo it with extremely long time, the spell is also locked behind rng drop. As a solo job, you cannot have fun by just playing solo is a mess.

Either make blue mage super broken to be able to solo everything, or make blue mage into a proper job.

Blue mage is not broken and is also restricted out of duty finder is terrible. You have to rely on other people with lv70 to carry you through defeats the purpose of the concept of solo job. Blue mage has so much potential, but current design is just a waste of time.

---

Change your mind?

How about the fact that you're still playing a preliminary version of BLU, leveled it to 50 in day, they're going to receive plenty of updates, 5.0 is on the horizon, and "waste of potential" is just another way of saying, "it sucks that I can't take this job into normal duties".

If SE made a mistake, it was with relying on RNG once again to keep players busy with this content, and labeling it is a "solo" job when it requires grouping in order to obtain some of the skills. Facilitating the acquisition of skills through grouping is fine, but making it a requirement directly contrasts what they said the job would be pre-launch, and pretty messed up if you ask me.

Exploiting anything the devs oversaw is to not play the job as intended. I would take that into mind before reducing BLU potential to ashes.

I wouldn't mind at all if it was a dungeon/instance class at endgame, but the "get a lv70 to carry you through" gameplay isn't the slightest bit fun. Give Blu some decent skills, a rez and a toolkit instead of a harsly under-tuned tank stance, one heal and tons of the same aoe, and encourage us to group up with other blu's and see what crazy stuff we can pull off.

They could make it so all-Blu groups can absorb crystallized aether from bosses, that could be used as a currency to buy rare totems and a few Blu exclusive minions, a mount and such. Update it every so often and there we go. Better content than roll the dice 70 times afk against Shiva ex.

Maybe it would be better if they made into a legit DPS caster or hybrid that can switch roles depending on what skills they have equipped. The Masked carnival can be changed to a spelling event.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dyvid

Maybe it would be better if they made into a legit DPS caster or hybrid that can switch roles depending on what skills they have equipped. The Masked carnival can be changed to a spelling event.

---

A support dps caster would make most sense with their current kit, as a tank BLU is about as useful as titan egi, and barely classes as a healer with wind and transfusion, its kit already makes sense as a support dps, (Low personal deeps, high utility and raid dps), so if we're so close why not just push that little put further, slap on some skill requirements and let it in the DF

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Change your mind?

How about the fact that you're still playing a preliminary version of BLU, leveled it to 50 in day, they're going to receive plenty of updates, 5.0 is on the horizon, and "waste of potential" is just another way of saying, "it sucks that I can't take this job into normal duties".

---

This isn't a beta test, this isn't some "preview" of a job, this is what Blue Mage is and what it will continue to be, unless it receives a major overhaul, which doesnt sound likely based on what the devs have said about. So 5.0 is around the corner. We get BLU cap raised to 60 and a slew of new abilities, some new fights in the carnivale, then what? It will be in the exact same position as it is now, because that is what the devs have told us will happen.

I've completed the carnivale and have all but 4 abilities (primal drop rate sucks), I have essentially completed the content, and I can comfortably say that it was a massive waste of resources and time that should have been spent on other things. I wish that it could be remade into a fully fledged job in the near future, but I also don't have my head buried in the sand and know it won't happen. FF14 devs are stubborn. This is BLU, and it's here to stay.

While I'm at it, and this is directed at everyone, stop using "this is just a preview/beta, it can get better", because it isn't, it never was.

No need to change your mind, you're right. BLU is a perfect example of missed potential. Why they decided to make their spells so incredibly weak and boring is just mind boggling. Everything is so weak to the point where everyone just uses 1000 needles for everything, and considering there's 48 other spells to mess around with yet none of them are any better, that's pathetic.

It's funny, because they certainly did good with making Pyros actions feel strong, fun to use and unique. Yet BLU have these incredibly boring, weak and redundant spells that are basically bloat to fluff up the job and make it seem like it has more than 2 good spells.

If this is way they're handling limited jobs, I really don't want to see another one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Change your mind?

How about the fact that you're still playing a preliminary version of BLU, leveled it to 50 in day, they're going to receive plenty of updates, 5.0 is on the horizon, and "waste of potential" is just another way of saying, "it sucks that I can't take this job into normal duties".

---

I don't know why you're saying this. If anything, everyone should be encouraged to give their honest opinion on the job so that heading forward it isn't more of the same. In it's current iteration, BLU is a massive disappointment and that needs to reach the ears of SE before further changes are made.

Also are you referring to the EXP exploit with that last sentence? Because while I normally would agree you should play the job normally, the spells they give you as a BLU makes leveling so boring you'd rather just do this. I know I don't consider spamming 1000 needles all day as fun, and there's nothing else in the BLU kit that's as consistently strong so...

I just think, give the job some weapon damage and add that into damage calculation would be pretty solid to overpower this class. That and tweak Moon Flute, it makes no sense that you can recast the skill but not refresh the Waxing Buff. Doesn't it make more sense to have it have to be recasted as part of a rotation, and if you fail to it punishes the user? Why else make it recast-able?

What the point of Azulmagia? Glamour only? So many questions.

I shouldn't be surprised, given massive design bugbears like the housing system and Eureka, but really. Square failed in pretty much every respect with BLU other than like, the spell animations.

Solo? Almost half the spells require group content, which BLU can't solo, and even a full party of BLUs can only barely clear some of them at max level if they can clear them at all, necessitating a non-BLU or a carry.

Limited class to play around with OP or quirky spells? Well first off, most of them don't work on bosses which defeats the entire purpose of making the job limited; at best you can make the trash in a dungeon die slightly quicker than a non-BLU party. Secondly, the spells themselves aren't that unique, with 90% of them simply a variation of "do underwhelming damage". Even in Masked Carnivale, the solo challenge intended for BLU mages, the player has NO INCENTIVE AT ALL to use more than a handful of spells out of 49.

I just don't understand. What was the logic here? People who wanted BLU mage as a full job class got their job shafted into a "Limited Job" system for no reason, and people who actually wanted an OP, solo-oriented "Limited Job" got an absolutely tepid and pointless exercise in frustration. Nobody here is happy with the result. My gosh.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marluxia

I just don't understand. What was the logic here? People who wanted BLU mage as a full job class got their job shafted into a "Limited Job" system for no reason, and people who actually wanted an OP, solo-oriented "Limited Job" got an absolutely tepid and pointless exercise in frustration. Nobody here is happy with the result. My gosh.

---

At level 40 I'm finding BLU to be extremely weak for a "solo" class. At times it feels like damage is nerfed inside dungeons. Going through Haukke manor was mind numbing slow, when as a SMN I was easily able to solo it at 40.

I see no reason why this job could not be used in regular play, Unless overpowered means gimped. Because right now I think BLU would hold a normal party back.

I sometimes wonder if Yoshi and the gang really know what " solo" actually means.

https://i.imgur.com/zhSBO8a.png

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Change your mind?

How about the fact that you're still playing a preliminary version of BLU, leveled it to 50 in day, they're going to receive plenty of updates, 5.0 is on the horizon, and "waste of potential" is just another way of saying, "it sucks that I can't take this job into normal duties".

If SE made a mistake, it was with relying on RNG once again to keep players busy with this content, and labeling it is a "solo" job when it requires grouping in order to obtain some of the skills. Facilitating the acquisition of skills through grouping is fine, but making it a requirement directly contrasts what they said the job would be pre-launch, and pretty messed up if you ask me.

Exploiting anything the devs oversaw is to not play the job as intended. I would take that into mind before reducing BLU potential to ashes.

---

"It'll be better in five more months!"

I don't see why it was released five months early then. I mean don't get me wrong, learning is fun and great and the first couple of levels are classic BLU at it's best but, if you're expecting the next content for this to not just be "30 more floors of the masked carnival" you're being a bit delusional, in the same way that people assumed mighty guard would make BLU a tanking powerhouse, when really it just facilitates more 1000 needles.

New Role: Support Role.
Purple Icon.
1st possible Party finder change: Light party increased to 5, Full party increased to 10.
2nd possible Party finder change: Change 1 DPS slot for a hybrid DPS/Support slot.

Role function: Buffer and Enfeebler with low healing and low DPS. Buffing and Enfeebling increase damage out put of the party.

Change the Blue Mage to Support Role. Give it proper Main weapons. Give them a new set of armor: "Enchanting" suffix, a mix of INT/PIE substats that increase their DMG/Heals with a very low scaling to keep balance.
Scrap the Carnivale. Alter the progression structure. Instead of RNG based drops, give him a a set of goals, it might be to "see" the monster magicks he wants a number of times (your target uses X skill Y times) with a bar filling or just more simple, make it like a hunting log, 10 kills of X gives you Y skill.

Rise the level cap to 70, start the game at 50.
Role in party formations: Heavy debuffing of enemy and buffing of allies (basically 20 of his skills could be this) , low sustained DPS (a few skills here and there) and AoE regens and low single target heals (it should have like 2) remove all idiotic skills (self-destructs and stuff like that)

Adjust duties HP and stats accordingly, a +20% HP for all should do just fine.


A 4th Support Role is very flexible gameplay wise, could be where you can add several other "odd" clases from FF games, and since they can "hybrid" their way into the other 3 roles, we can get support DPS (BLU) or support healers (Chemist) or support melee DPS (dancer?) or support ranged DPS (Gunblade?) or support tanks! (Knight? Viking?)
It would also help with the flexibility of content and builds. It is clear that a job like BLU doesn't fit in our current classes structure. Nor does it fit as a solo job, since i cannot solo anything worth soloing and is obviously not a party job because it sucks.

This is a complete mess, i thought eureka was the greatest waste of developing resources of stormblood, but BLU is racing his way to the top as i level it, by the carnivale, it might reach the diadem levels of wastefulness.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nyvara

I sometimes wonder if Yoshi and the gang really know what " solo" actually means.

---

Considering they say they will "hotfix" something, then do it the next maintenance makes me think they don't know what a lot of what they say is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seraphor

"What's the point in all these gimmicky status effects if they don't work on everything?"

That is precisely the point of the status effects, they don't work on everything, so you have to experiment and work out which ones do work and where. That's one of the things BLU does right..

---

Even so, I still find the restrictions on Level 5 Petrify a tad ridiculous. I'm fine with the "you can't use this effectively on things above your level" - that makes some sense to me (though I still think it having a chance of working on mobs higher level than you would make it feel "OP"). But the fact that it only works on things that have levels in multiples of 5? Kind of silly, and, coupled with the low success rate, it makes the skill relatively worthless in my opinion.

It would be cool if Drill Cannon would actually one-shot something that was petrified. The 420 potency is cool, but you consider the low success rate of Level 5 Petrify, plus the fact that Drill Cannon just removed the effect... either break the skill and allow for a OHKO, or make it do ridiculous damage if it's not going to one-shot.

Some things having immunities is fine. I don't have an issue with that. But when skills have a low success rate, strange level restrictions, and don't even allow for a broken combo action... I question their usefulness.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Change your mind?

How about the fact that you're still playing a preliminary version of BLU, leveled it to 50 in day, they're going to receive plenty of updates, 5.0 is on the horizon and "waste of potential" is just another way of saying, "it sucks that I can't take this job into normal duties".

---

Considering how blatantly NOT OP BLU is, it is a waste of potential in its current iteration. That was the main “reason” the developers gave for why it couldn’t be a proper job that could enter regular duties. But the job is not overpowered; it’s very, very weak and underwhelming. When your best skill almost to cap against 1~2 mobs is just 1,000 Needles and literally nothing else, I take issue with that. Why can’t my other skills be really powerful, too?

If they wanted to keep BLU out of duties, they should have completely broke the job. Especially since they locked half of the skills we currently can learn behind duties (and extreme primals AND Binding Coil, no less!). You can’t solo this content. I can’t go into T1 or T2 for High Voltage on my own and break the content: I have to rely on a level 70 friend to help out. You can’t even do 8 BLUs because the jobs is so weak on its own that it would take F O R E V E R to kill ADS.
Not to mention the lack of both an Esuna and a Raise hinder progress as well. If one BLU dies, you have to instantly wipe because they won’t learn the ability if you happen to get it to drop.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

If SE made a mistake, it was with relying on RNG once again to keep players busy with this content, and labeling it is a "solo" job when it requires grouping in order to obtain some of the skills. Facilitating the acquisition of skills through grouping is fine, but making it a requirement directly contrasts what they said the job would be pre-launch, and pretty messed up if you ask me.

---

At least we can somewhat agree, but I honestly think that it would have been better to make the jobs completely broken in a sense that you could solo the “harder” contents for the abilities they offer (in a productive, timely manner), or just go in with 1 or 2 BLU friends and completely break the fights.

That, and adjust the primal skill drop rates. Hearing that they essentially have the same drop rate as a current primal mount makes me dread having to do them, even with a level 70 friend carrying me through them (which I really don’t like btw, but it’s the most efficient way to get things done).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaonis

Considering they say they will "hotfix" something, then do it the next maintenance makes me think they don't know what a lot of what they say is.

---

Hotfixes don't always mean "while the servers are live". The devs use hotfix as "outside normal planned maintenance" which is a valid definition.


People using this as an example of the devs not having a clue is just rediculous.

The more I think about it, the more I kinda wonder what the intention was for BLU learning instance spells. Did devs not expect us to get a 70 to carry us unsynced? Were we "supposed" to just run BLU parties? I think maybe the answer to that would be most telling towards they type of job it was really meant to be. And, either way, not entirely certain they nailed down anything fun with either option. An unsynced carry is quick and efficient, but not very fun. BLU parties aren't entirely functional and not as OP as anticipated, more of a chore than fun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Hotfixes don't always mean "while the servers are live". The devs use hotfix as "outside normal planned maintenance" which is a valid definition.


People using this as an example of the devs not having a clue is just rediculous.

---

Hotfixes mean: Fixing issues that cannot wait till the regular patching schedule.
It's a software equivalent of "Hot-swapable" - To change during usage.

Hotfixes in almost every single videogame with server services are done server side without the need of stopping the service.

If SE is waiting on their "patch" schedule or "maintenance schedule" to do a hotfix, and they have to stop the service, then is not a hotfix by definition.

---

So yeah, make of that what you want. Maybe SE does things their own way and they use the terminology in a misterious form beyond the life of us mere mortals whos hotfixes are server-side and with the whole system running. At worse, we might have to log back in or download some small packages of new data.

But yeah, the misterious ways of Square-Enix. Praise brother and sisters.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nyvara

I sometimes wonder if Yoshi and the gang really know what " solo" actually means.

---

They probably referred to the special environment, the Masked Carnival, as exclusive 'solo content' for the blue mage, where you puzzle yourself your toolset together to overcome the challenges you face in the arena.

Which isn't technically wrong what they did say. It's the usual interpretation of that which always falls behind.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alexandre_Noireau

Hotfixes mean: Fixing issues that cannot wait till the regular patching schedule.
It's a software equivalent of "Hot-swapable" - To change during usage.

Hotfixes in almost every single videogame with server services are done server side without the need of stopping the service.

If SE is waiting on their "patch" schedule or "maintenance schedule" to do a hotfix, and they have to stop the service, then is not a hotfix by definition.

---

So yeah, make of that what you want. Maybe SE does things their own way and they use the terminology in a misterious form beyond the life of us mere mortals whos hotfixes are server-side and with the whole system running. At worse, we might have to log back in or download some small packages of new data.

But yeah, the misterious ways of Square-Enix. Praise brother and sisters.

---

A hotfix is a software update designed to fix a bug or security hole in a program. Unlike typical version updates, hotfixes are urgently developed and released as soon as possible to limit the effects of the software issue. They are often released between incremental version updates.


There are many definitions of hotfix. Using one tailored to make the devs look bad just makes your point fail.

If you have a disagreement with what they do, better to state that directly than go " Oh, so if they can't even use this term right, they must be completely oblivious to whatever else they are doing."

I was optimistic for BLU. I still think it has a lot of potential.

But you're right.

While I had suspected that the leveling curve for the job was going to be faster than other jobs to 50, it was frankly TOO fast. Even without the exploit or a level 70 friend helping, it only took a few hours to get to 50 using exp boosts, and most of that wasn't even from EXP hunting down skills. Spamming 1000 Needles gets a bit boring after a while. While I do appreciate the drop rate on the skills being not garbage, it's a bit TOO high and it takes out a lot of the fun of hunting them. There's no excitement at finally learning a skill after some mass slaughter. Sure, you don't want it to take forever, but over half my overworld list was obtained in ONE KILL.

I have no problem with the IDEA of hiding some OP skills behind ex primals or hard duties for some joint cooperation, but there are frankly TOO many skills duty locked, including some needed for THE JOB QUESTS. Having to party up should be more optional than mandatory, and even unsynced, BLU frankly is ill equipped to handle duties solo without many of the skills locked behind those duties. Requiring Mind Blast and Glower to even finish the darn story was a HUGE mistake. While I have no problem with the idea of having the community band together for each other's benefit, it's less cooperation and more getting completely carried. Having friends along should be more to make it EASIER, not a practical necessity.

I have no issues with BLU staying as a mostly solo job (and staying locked out matchmaking in DF), but it needs to be VIABLE to actually solo and access the MAJORITY of the job's content without being forced to party up.

It's still got potential; these issues are fixable. I just hope they get addressed sooner rather than later.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

There are many definitions of hotfix. Using one tailored to make the devs look bad just makes your point fail.

If you have a disagreement with what they do, better to state that directly than go " Oh, so if they can't even use this term right, they must be completely oblivious to whatever else they are doing."

---

Im using the one that is the standart use for the industry and the MMORPG genre.

Again, if SE doesn't abide by that, all the power to them. But don't call a hotfix what is not a hotfix.
Is like calling a "hot-swappable" a piece of hardware that needs the PC to be shutdown to be installed, or having to download drivers for a "plug and play" divice.

There are of course more significant nuances to these terminologies, some that escape the domains of you (i presume, might be wrong) and i. But go outside the bubble of FFXIV, and check what the 99% of the developers out there mean by hotfix.
Words are more defined by their common usage than their intended one or their book definitions. Is how languages work.

For the gaming industry and MMORPGs, hotfixe means: Quick, without shutting servers, serverside bug/issue fixes that are out the normal maintenance/patch schedule. Anything else, is not a hotfix.

Once got my Blue Mage ilvl 130 gear called it quits. Notice a lot spells area samething thing just with another name to them. It is long ways from being a solo duty job. You can't even survive Ramuh nm or ex without someone that can raise you. They need to buff this job huge amount if it is going to be a solo duty limited class.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HyoMinPark

A friend and I were duoing (as BLUs) Keeper of the Lake this evening to attempt to get Flame Thrower from the first boss (as opposed to doing all of Brayflox HM), and it took us at least 10 mins to get there, and even longer to actually kill the boss.

---

It took me about that long solo with several deaths while I was checking what works.

And I found out that starting with a Tail Screw and casting Rams Voice to deep-freeze the mobs once they come close, then Tail Screw again and picking off the 1HP mobs was working well.

The boss can easily be Missiled down to low HP and finished off with whatever in less than half a minute.

However, I will admit that the majority of skills and their potencies are...lackluster. They are literally reskins of one another. Some have validity only in the Carnival, and even then there are some that are just inferior to others even there and feel more like punishment if you need to use them.

And yes, Blue Mage really lacks in the single target department. I think this is the big issue with it. Its potencies are actually rather high for what they are...spammable AoE without drop-off. But there is nothing against an individual target. It's like being forced to cast Fire II or Freezing against single target. Hopefully the second batch of skills will fix that issue.

On a different note, I really hope for Angel's Whisper to be the next "healer" spell from Walaquee tokens with its re-raise. That would give suicide skills (and those ARE broken to high heaven and work on everything) a use for solo job if it didn't reset a fight in soloing stuff. Even on trash mobs, having to get back to where you were on the way to boss is just not very fun. Not a problem with a healer. Toad Oil + Bristle + Moon Flute if you have it...and Self-Destruct is pretty sweet. But solo?! Yeah. Maybe on the first pull.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CorbinDallas

While I'm at it, and this is directed at everyone, stop using "this is just a preview/beta, it can get better", because it isn't, it never was.

---

Fine. It sucks ass and will never get better. I will join you in defeatism. Despite the fact that is was introduced at the tail end of an expansion, it is not preliminary, and this is BLU. That being said, by saying that BLU will receive future updates and changes I am not promising or even suggesting that BLU will be turned into a full-fledged job. Which brings me here:

Quote:

---

I wish that it could be remade into a fully fledged job in the near future, but I also don't have my head buried in the sand and know it won't happen. FF14 devs are stubborn. This is BLU, and it's here to stay.

---

Stubborn? If they were stubborn your avatar wouldn't have that fancy BLU mage attire attached to it, would it? I can't fault the devs if those who are bitter about BLU being made a limited job continue to be so. If they're angry about the solo aspect they have my full sympathy.

Ultimately, the end result of your feelings towards BLU after maxing it out is exactly what I've predicted for everyone who won't find enjoyment with BLU outside of normal duties. I'd be more inclined to agree that it's the players who wasted time playing this content, when they know where the road ends as you have implicitly stated; not the devs using resources to bring about a job they initially said would never make it into the game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alexandre_Noireau

New Role: Support Role.
Purple Icon.
1st possible Party finder change: Light party increased to 5, Full party increased to 10.
2nd possible Party finder change: Change 1 DPS slot for a hybrid DPS/Support slot.

Role function: Buffer and Enfeebler with low healing and low DPS. Buffing and Enfeebling increase damage out put of the party.

Change the Blue Mage to Support Role. Give it proper Main weapons. Give them a new set of armor: "Enchanting" suffix, a mix of INT/PIE substats that increase their DMG/Heals with a very low scaling to keep balance.
Scrap the Carnivale. Alter the progression structure. Instead of RNG based drops, give him a a set of goals, it might be to "see" the monster magicks he wants a number of times (your target uses X skill Y times) with a bar filling or just more simple, make it like a hunting log, 10 kills of X gives you Y skill.

Rise the level cap to 70, start the game at 50.
Role in party formations: Heavy debuffing of enemy and buffing of allies (basically 20 of his skills could be this) , low sustained DPS (a few skills here and there) and AoE regens and low single target heals (it should have like 2) remove all idiotic skills (self-destructs and stuff like that)

Adjust duties HP and stats accordingly, a +20% HP for all should do just fine.


A 4th Support Role is very flexible gameplay wise, could be where you can add several other "odd" clases from FF games, and since they can "hybrid" their way into the other 3 roles, we can get support DPS (BLU) or support healers (Chemist) or support melee DPS (dancer?) or support ranged DPS (Gunblade?) or support tanks! (Knight? Viking?)
It would also help with the flexibility of content and builds. It is clear that a job like BLU doesn't fit in our current classes structure. Nor does it fit as a solo job, since i cannot solo anything worth soloing and is obviously not a party job because it sucks.

This is a complete mess, i thought eureka was the greatest waste of developing resources of stormblood, but BLU is racing his way to the top as i level it, by the carnivale, it might reach the diadem levels of wastefulness.

---

Wish I could like this 50 more times!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Havenchild

What the point of Azulmagia? Glamour only? So many questions.

---

All blue mage weapons are just for aesthetic. Don't bother glamoring it, just equip it if you like it. You won't drop item level by putting it on, and since all weapons are level 1 with no stats, you won't be losing anything. So, just like the other two, yes it's just a matter of which pimp cane you want to carry.

As for the original post, yes. Blue Mage is disappointingly weak. I've never been terribly excited about them in any other game, but I thought it could be a fun distraction and was interested in seeing what the job might be like here if it was "too powerful for parties" only to now be wondering what the devs were thinking if they say this is "too powerful"

I've tried running through areas as a geared, level 50 blue mage, and am having more trouble dealing with open world enemies than I did back in the day as an ilv90 black mage. I think blue mage CAN be better and can be what they described, and it's a pretty simple change. Add weapon damage and stats to the blue mage weapons, and increase potencies of blue mage spells. Then the job can at least be even with its other level 50 counterparts.

As far as party content, locking it out of DF when there are so many skills that come from party content? Bad idea.

Lastly as a full fledged job, it would probably be a bit much unless they gave bosses more resistances. Bad Breath sucks as a DOT, but is amazing for it's damage down debuff. Pair that with Peculiar Light, and you'd have a job that becomes the mandatory caster slot for raid content. (Also imagine shirk a blue mage before a tank buster and have the caster eat it with diamondback?)

I do think there's reasons to be cautious about letting it into parties as is, but these could all be addressed by having blue mage spells adjusted in such a way as to have allowed it not to be OP. Remember, it's only even potentially OP because the devs made it so, they could also have made the job differently, but chose not to.

You lost me at "change my mind".

However, BLU could certainly use a few tweaks. I like it, but I also know it isn't perfect.

I stand by the opinion that BLU should've been a tank whose gimmick is based on counter attacks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Whanext

As a solo job, 24 out of 49 spells are locked behind dungeons/trials. There is no way or extremely hard to solo them. Even if you can solo it with extremely long time, the spell is also locked behind rng drop. As a solo job, you cannot have fun by just playing solo is a mess.

---

Sorry to hear that you have trouble doing Tam Tara solo at level 50. Or that it's too hard to cast Doom on some bosses.

Would you like some tips?

130 potency mage
too overpowered for normal play by the way

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fyce

Sorry to hear that you have trouble doing Tam Tara solo at level 50. Or that it's too hard to cast Doom on some bosses.

Would you like some tips?

---

Getting Doom requires that you reach level 50 AND progress the Blue Mage quest line enough to unlock the Masked Carnival AND beat 20 floors of it. Considering Mind Blast is a requirement to get that far, your snark fails. You can't cast Doom on bosses in order to learn Mind Blast.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wereotter

Getting Doom requires that you reach level 50 AND progress the Blue Mage quest line enough to unlock the Masked Carnival AND beat 20 floors of it. Considering Mind Blast is a requirement to get that far, your snark fails. You can't cast Doom on bosses in order to learn Mind Blast.

---

Oh, that's not what I meant, these were two independant statements. You don't actually need Doom to clear Tam Tara NM, a level 16 dungeon, while being at level 50 with your Blue Mage. If you think that I implyed that Doom was necessary to clear Tam Tara, that's wrong. This isn't what I intended to say.

And you, do you want tips to clear Tam Tara normal mode at level 50, without Doom? I can even help you know how to get to Aurum Vale's second boss, which is the hardest content the Blue Mage questline will require you to do... but can still be achieved solo.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fyce

Oh, that's not what I meant, these were two independant statements. You don't actually need Doom to clear Tam Tara NM, a Level 18 dungeon, while being at level 50 with your Blue Mage. If you think that I implyed that Doom was necessary to clear Tam Tara, that's wrong. This isn't what I intended to say.

And you, do you want tips to clear Tam Tara normal mode at level 50, without Doom?

---

you can play semantics about the 1 or 2 spells that technically come from low level dungeons all you want, but it's pretty obvious to anyone that the comment was referring to the level 50 dungeons. don't be facetious.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Fine. It sucks ass and will never get better. I will join you in defeatism. Despite the fact that is was introduced at the tail end of an expansion, it is not preliminary, and this is BLU. That being said, by saying that BLU will receive future updates and changes I am not promising or even suggesting that BLU will be turned into a full-fledged job.

---

And BLU feels, quite-frankly, half-arsed as a result. Even the Masked Carnivale is lackluster. I did 10 of the floors in a half hour. There was very little skill involve in the ones I did: most were just (slow) burns. The one with the towers was an interesting one, but not hard. And I didn’t feel like the job particularly “shined” in this content either. I thought it was supposed to be BLU’s niche, but I felt a bit disappointed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gemina

Stubborn? If they were stubborn your avatar wouldn't have that fancy BLU mage attire attached to it, would it? I can't fault the devs if those who are bitter about BLU being made a limited job continue to be so. If they're angry about the solo aspect they have my full sympathy.

Ultimately, the end result of your feelings towards BLU after maxing it out is exactly what I've predicted for everyone who won't find enjoyment with BLU outside of normal duties. I'd be more inclined to agree that it's the players who wasted time playing this content, when they know where the road ends as you have implicitly stated; not the devs using resources to bring about a job they initially said would never make it into the game.

---

All the “reasons” the developers gave for making BLU a limited job immediately fall apart early on in the leveling process.

“BLU can’t be a proper job because it’s too overpowered!”
— Potency-wise, BLU is very weak—especially with single-target. Up to level 40, you spam 1,000 Needles on anything and everything. Unless you’re pulling 3 or more mobs in a dungeon, there are no better options. Especially for solo. Things like Level 5 Petrify and Tail Screw have low success rates—Level 5 Petrify in and of itself has a ridiculous “can only work on mobs that have levels in multiples of 5” restriction attached to it. Most skills are just reskins of others, and more still are kind of just there for novelty’s sake. I don’t have issues with things having immunities to certain status effects or abilities, but I still can’t get over how useless Level 5 Petrify is—especially since combining it with Drill Cannon doesn’t result in an overpowered, broken OHKO. Just 420 potency as opposed to the default potency, and it removes the petrification debuff.

“BLU can’t be included in group content because then people would get mad they don’t have X skill!”
— BLU requires certain skills to even accept future job quests (two of which are locked behind duties!). Why couldn’t this be applied to it entering duties? And, honestly, most dungeons under level 50 are steamrolled anyways, so it wouldn’t matter too much if BLU didn’t have some of the more niche abilities. Require them to have at least a single-target (Water Cannon can fulfill this), perhaps a DoT (Bad Breath could work as a DoT only, since mobs do have diminishing returns on stuns, silences, and paralysis), a self-buff (Off-Guard or Bristle fulfills this—preferably Off-Guard, though because the fact that Bristle isn’t a proper oGCD kind of annoys me), and a decent AOE ability (Plaincracker is nice), and it would be just like any other job below 50, really.

“BLU is supposed to be a solo job!”
— The most efficient way to get half of your toolkit is to have a level 70 spam the dungeon/trial with you. You can maybe do some of the content solo, but good luck getting through the extreme primals for their skills on your own (as far as I’m aware, they aren’t affected by things like Missle—though ADS is in T1/T2, if I remember correctly). Even with other BLUs, this is ineffective, since their sustain is poor, their single target is poor (1,000 Needles does less at that level than a Water Cannon under Off-Guard+Peculiar Light), and they can’t Raise any BLU that dies in combat (or Esuna things outside of taking off a single DoT with Erase every 90 seconds). And their tank stances gives a whole new definition to DPS penalty, so if you wanted to try and solo something in Mighty Guard, it will take even longer. Honestly, I was hoping I could go in with a friend and duo things with a fair amount of efficiency and brokenness. But I was disappointed.

This isn’t even getting into the fact that BLU can’t utilize the Squadrons — which are solo content — and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if, when it is allowed to hit level 60, if it cannot participate in PotD — which has achievements locked behind solo completion. Heck, it can’t even do the MSQ — this game’s biggest solo content. Is it going to be locked out of future MSQ when its cap is raised to 60? 70? How about 80? At least, currently, the restrictions on Diadem and Eureka make sense (they are level 60 and level 70 content, respectfully), but will BLU continue to be restricted when their level cap is raised?
Oh, right. It can’t do Hall of the Novice, either.


I think the developers could have tried a bit harder, to be honest. I wouldn’t have an issue with it being excluded from “normal duties” if it was as truly broken as they kept claiming it would be—the idea of me wrecking things as a level 50 BLU sounds fun; not going to lie. As it stands now, however, BLU is side-content that I play for an hour or two a night when my friends are online and we can derp around—though I’m not sure how long that will last once we obtain the skills and all complete the Carnivale. It doesn’t feel like it has much staying power for me. I’m hoping future updates will give it more potential, but I have concerns over the developers just treating it as a mini-game with miniscule updates every 6 months or so. I don’t know what update schedule they have planned, though, so I hope that I am wrong and that BLU doesn’t fade into obscurity.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fyce

Oh, that's not what I meant, these were two independant statements. You don't actually need Doom to clear Tam Tara NM, a level 16 dungeon, while being at level 50 with your Blue Mage. If you think that I implyed that Doom was necessary to clear Tam Tara, that's wrong. This isn't what I intended to say.

And you, do you want tips to clear Tam Tara normal mode at level 50, without Doom? I can even help you know how to get to Aurum Vale's second boss, which is the hardest content the Blue Mage questline will require you to do... but can still be achieved solo.

---

Why must you wait until you’re level 50, though? Why couldn’t you have the broken ability to solo Tam-Tara at level? What’s the point of doing it solo at level 50 when you could just go in at level 16 with a level 70 and steamroll? That’s my thought-process on it, anyways.

And this doesn’t even address having to get the skills locked behind the level 50 dungeons, the ARR Extremes, Coil, and Hildebrand’s Trials.

I'm 48/49 spells, the 49th being a masquerade spell for 20 wins. It took hours to get some of the spells and multiple runs of trials and hard mode dungeons with level 70's carrying us because there is no sane way of doing this properly as a blu party. But that's to be expected. In FFXI quite a number of blu spells were locked behind battles that were not soloable and later on as the content progressed you couldn't find anyone willing to take you through some of the instanced battles without paying them gil because of the difficulty and number of people involved. I don't mind that in FFXIV you have to work harder for the 4 star spells, but in comparison to FFXI it's super easy to both level and learn them and it's not even been a week and already people are complaining at only having half the spells.

That said though blu was to, and I quote, "provide a unique solo gameplay experience in which players will learn monster actions and advance through blue mage-specific content". This gives the impression that blue mages are supposed to be able to solo everything to learn monster actions, but we've already determined that is not possible. The only unique solo gameplay experience is the masked carnivale.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fyce

Oh, that's not what I meant, these were two independant statements. You don't actually need Doom to clear Tam Tara NM, a level 16 dungeon, while being at level 50 with your Blue Mage. If you think that I implyed that Doom was necessary to clear Tam Tara, that's wrong. This isn't what I intended to say.

And you, do you want tips to clear Tam Tara normal mode at level 50, without Doom? I can even help you know how to get to Aurum Vale's second boss, which is the hardest content the Blue Mage questline will require you to do... but can still be achieved solo.

---

No thanks, I'll just have my much more useful level 70 friend one shot the mobs with their basic GCD skill that takes absolutely no effort while I hang in the back and spam some fish.

Works like a charm.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 24spencer

you can play semantics about the 1 or 2 spells that technically come from low level dungeons all you want, but it's pretty obvious to anyone that the comment was referring to the level 50 dungeons. don't be facetious.

---

Fyce seems to just be a troll. That or they are truly unable to grasp logic. Either way I've basically ignored them on all these threads of late.