The Masked Carnivale is Some of the Worst Content in FFXIV

Btw I just did the Goldor trial in MC.

What a surprise it took me a few tries but I managed to beat it. The fact that some people are saying everything was an OHKO are lying. You do have a very small wiggle room for error if you're skilled enough to pull back from the brink of death.

I've made a few mistakes but with persistence and patience you can clear the fight once you know how to solve each mechanic....


Just like with EXs and Savage but you don't see everyone complaining about those. I'd say MC ranks much lower than an EX since like I said, you still have a good margin of error and it's simple to memorize the mechanics anyway.

I google searched "worst ffxiv forum posts" and this was, and I'm not even kidding, the very first result. Truly one of the worst. Masked Carnivale easily in my top 5 favorite types of content. Suggesting something be erased because you don't have the skill or patience to do it is sad and pathetic.

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Originally Posted by WhensMarvel

I google searched "worst ffxiv forum posts" and this was, and I'm not even kidding, the very first result. Truly one of the worst. Masked Carnivale easily in my top 5 favorite types of content. Suggesting something be erased because you don't have the skill or patience to do it is sad and pathetic.

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How is that a surprise when the literal name of the thread contains the word "worst".

If you google "cookie ffxiv forum posts", you might also be shocked the first result is titled "cookie jar"

Or, you might be surprised if you google "motorcycle ffxiv forum posts", the result is about Motorcycles.

Search engines by definition are supposed to find the most recent and/or relevant content related to your search. As this thread is the newest containing the word "worst", it will pop up first. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have wanted to talk about cookies since...2018 :(

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Originally Posted by JamieRose

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NO CHECKPOINTS BETWEEN ACTS!!!

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This is honestly my only complaint. Having to start over is a drag, even savage has checkpoints on the bosses with an extra phase.

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Originally Posted by Khalithar

This is honestly my only complaint. Having to start over is a drag, even savage has checkpoints on the bosses with an extra phase.

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Final Savage bosses having a checkpoint depends on the expansion and current design decision.

In Alexander and 2/3 of Eden there were no checkpoints. Stormblood started the trend, mostly so they could flesh out the boss experience without making ultimate level encounter times - most of the time. E12S was done for the same reason.

Endwalker returned to that design, but from what I can tell this was more done to make the final floor have two distinct boss design philosophies in one fight as they were essentially original XIV bosses rather than a loveletter to fans to make their favourite antagonists an amazing experience. Kefka is definitely of that example.

To go back to BLU - generally MC stages don't come close to combined encounter duration of savage fights and can be sped up heavily. The Acts serve primarily to restore HP MP and CDs and let you take a short breather in between.

I can see why some would like checkpoints but it would honestly make certain fights a complete joke, like Azulmagia for instance.

It would also be incredibly annoying to reset when going for speed thresholds or completely trivialise them

Totally agree with this post , my main issue is tying the blue story behind defeating a MC boss, also dislike the fact that a solo job is required to do group content like raids and such to get spells. IMHO all blue spells should come from the world mobs whether it be fates or ranked bosses or just trash since you can still solo attack even an S rank boss since most don't live long

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Originally Posted by OogaShaka

Totally agree with this post , my main issue is tying the blue story behind defeating a MC boss, also dislike the fact that a solo job is required to do group content like raids and such to get spells. IMHO all blue spells should come from the world mobs whether it be fates or ranked bosses or just trash since you can still solo attack even an S rank boss since most don't live long

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completely disagree with this. Its fun to run content with other blue mages in an <ahem> MMO. Also it makes sense they tied the job storyline with MC since thats the whole point of it. Seriously these kind of complaints and takes are such abysmal and only serve to further degrade the little bit of reward and challenge this piece of content has. Its fleeting for sure, but when we get these updates, its such a great time.

Having the process be so braindead streamlined like you and OP desire for it to be is just going to kill most of the fun of Blue Mage.

Its because of your way of thinking thats the reason why things such as relics have become so trivial and a joke to do. I dislike trying to be this guy, but the more I see these takes the more its very likely to see how parts of this game has been shifted towards the current direction. No wonder veterans have such a stick in their behind about "change" because of the loud players and their awful takes.

I'm posting just to say how insulted I am at the implication that I only took down the blu bosses because I cheated with addons.

I'm not a good player, bottom 10% at best.

I still clear things. It takes me time, but I watch guides, and I practice, and eventually I get enough skill together to do it.

I like having soemthing challenging that I can eventually clear, please don't take it away from me. I'll never be good enough to get into a savage or ultimate group. This is the only hard content I have.

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

I'm posting just to say how insulted I am at the implication that I only took down the blu bosses because I cheated with addons.

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I don't recall accusing anyone of using add-ons.

I have finished MC 32. My opinion on it has not changed. If you enjoy it, good for you. I do not enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

How is that a surprise when the literal name of the thread contains the word "worst".

If you google "cookie ffxiv forum posts", you might also be shocked the first result is titled "cookie jar"

Or, you might be surprised if you google "motorcycle ffxiv forum posts", the result is about Motorcycles.

Search engines by definition are supposed to find the most recent and/or relevant content related to your search. As this thread is the newest containing the word "worst", it will pop up first. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have wanted to talk about cookies since...2018 :(

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https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...91/035/135.png

The reason it was a surprise is because it was both the literal word "worst" and one of the actual worst posts. I know you have to spend all of your time looking for an opportunity to correct someone, so I attached an IRL image of you here.

I know a lot of people on the forum compare the Carnival to puzzles. And some fit that description perfectly. Like #7, 8 and 11. The problem I have with it, is the Act System. I have long since "Solved" Act 1 of Red, Fraught, and Blue. Which took around 5 tries. Only to be repeatedly stomped in the second act. Forcing me to play all the way through Act 1 again. I am many attempts deep on Act 2. (I keep getting 1 shot by a magnetic mechanic that I haven't figured out yet.)
Learning the mechanic isn't the "unfun" part. Its that i have to beat Ol' Red again each time I make a mistake on Act 2. I haven't even hit 50% health on Blue Boi. He is likely to have at least one more mechanic I'll need to solve. Most likely dying several more times in the process. All the while I have to chip away at the first guys health bar for the umpteenth time. Which, to me, is just unfun game design.
So. More accurately, the worst parts of Masked Carnivale are a puzzle. Followed by a even more difficult puzzle. And when you inevitably make a mistake, it immediately ends your current puzzle progress, And makes you resolve the first puzzle again.
The solution seems simple. Give optional checkpoints between the acts. Do it so when you enable them you get a hearty score penalty or make it disable bonus'. Or don't, I'm not Squares Supervisor.

After two years, it’s time to share my thoughts on this topic.
I actually like the idea of the Masked Carnivale — some stages are well-designed and fun. Unfortunately, the rest ruin the experience. The issue isn’t only difficulty, though that’s part of it.

What annoys me most is when a stage forces me to use very specific, otherwise useless spells — ones that just sit in your book until the Carnivale decides they’re suddenly essential. You equip them once, use them once, and forget them again.

That wouldn’t be so bad if you could change spell sets on the spot. But no — Mimicry blocks swapping until it’s disabled, even if the next set includes it. So, when a stage demands a dozen elemental spells, I have to:
turn off Mimicry → change loadout → teleport to Limsa → find a healer → mimic them → teleport back → then finally start the fight. Very convenient.

And on the oter hand the Carnivale disables Basic Instinct — the core Blue Mage spell you literally need for the storyline. It's actually feels like the content was designed with Mighty Guard + Basic Instinct in mind, and removing it seems more like a bug than a rule.

As for elementals — wouldn’t it be great if they mattered outside the Carnivale? Imagine if enemies, like in Expedition 33, actually showed “Resistant” or “Vulnerable.” It’s not hard to implement and would finally give meaning to all those redundant spells, adding a unique Blue Mage layer. Instead, we just spam the fastest, biggest damage spells, and only remember elements exist once we step into the Carnivale.

Now, the difficulty. I’m all for challenging content, but the Carnivale’s “challenge” isn’t about reflexes or creativity — it’s pure memorization. The deeper you go, the worse it gets. You must memorize every skill, order, timing, and position to avoid every AoE. In later stages, any mistake means death. You end up replaying the fight perfectly, second by second, like a tool-assisted speedrun. That’s not engaging — just exhausting. Sure, some enjoy it, but to me it’s like cramming exam answers — equally “fun.”

And finally — locking story progress and essential spells behind this is just absurd. The game clearly dislikes Blue Mages. I’ve cleared job quests for many classes up to 80, and none ever required soloing something that feels like savage-tier content just to advance.

So yes, I agree with everyone saying: “Did it once, never again.” It’s the kind of content you finish, forget, and move on — truly “high-quality” stuff.

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Originally Posted by Roland_Deschain

After two years, it’s time to share my thoughts on this topic.
I actually like the idea of the Masked Carnivale — some stages are well-designed and fun. Unfortunately, the rest ruin the experience. The issue isn’t only difficulty, though that’s part of it.

What annoys me most is when a stage forces me to use very specific, otherwise useless spells — ones that just sit in your book until the Carnivale decides they’re suddenly essential. You equip them once, use them once, and forget them again.

That wouldn’t be so bad if you could change spell sets on the spot. But no — Mimicry blocks swapping until it’s disabled, even if the next set includes it. So, when a stage demands a dozen elemental spells, I have to:
turn off Mimicry → change loadout → teleport to Limsa → find a healer → mimic them → teleport back → then finally start the fight. Very convenient.

And on the oter hand the Carnivale disables Basic Instinct — the core Blue Mage spell you literally need for the storyline. It's actually feels like the content was designed with Mighty Guard + Basic Instinct in mind, and removing it seems more like a bug than a rule.

As for elementals — wouldn’t it be great if they mattered outside the Carnivale? Imagine if enemies, like in Expedition 33, actually showed “Resistant” or “Vulnerable.” It’s not hard to implement and would finally give meaning to all those redundant spells, adding a unique Blue Mage layer. Instead, we just spam the fastest, biggest damage spells, and only remember elements exist once we step into the Carnivale.

Now, the difficulty. I’m all for challenging content, but the Carnivale’s “challenge” isn’t about reflexes or creativity — it’s pure memorization. The deeper you go, the worse it gets. You must memorize every skill, order, timing, and position to avoid every AoE. In later stages, any mistake means death. You end up replaying the fight perfectly, second by second, like a tool-assisted speedrun. That’s not engaging — just exhausting. Sure, some enjoy it, but to me it’s like cramming exam answers — equally “fun.”

And finally — locking story progress and essential spells behind this is just absurd. The game clearly dislikes Blue Mages. I’ve cleared job quests for many classes up to 80, and none ever required soloing something that feels like savage-tier content just to advance.

So yes, I agree with everyone saying: “Did it once, never again.” It’s the kind of content you finish, forget, and move on — truly “high-quality” stuff.

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Why are you surprised that the Blue Mage story and spells are tied to the Blue Mage content?

Much like the OP, this just seems like a skill issue. Keep trying, you can do it!

Bro really necro'd a 2 year old thread to say you gotta play like a TAS to beat the easy later fights in the MC (not true). Bro is complaining about getting 1 shot for mistakes (mostly not true). Bro complains about not being able to use Basic Instinct (it didn't exist when MC was first released). Bro complains about needing to figure out which spells work for which run, but later also complains that there's no creativity involved.

Like dude. At some point you need the self awareness to accept that the issue might not be the content. MC is extremely easy most of the time. Only the capstone challenges will really test you. And this is even more true with all the new spells released over the years. Blue Mage's identity, in all of FF history, has been the guy that gets a ton of obscure, weird spells that you need to find uses for, making it extremely versatile. You complained about needing to do the thing that makes up the essence of BLU.

Dawg, it's you. You're the issue you're having with the content.

I read this thread and all I think is “git gud”
You are one of the responsibles for making this game boring as hell and dumbed down. You want the reward? Work for it. You say you hate ultimates and PvP.. all I can read is skill issue, do other content. Not everything needs to be accessible easily to everyone.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

Why are you surprised that the Blue Mage story and spells are tied to the Blue Mage content?

Much like the OP, this just seems like a skill issue. Keep trying, you can do it!

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I already did that, thanks for the concern.
And no, I’m not surprised that Blue Mage spells and gear are locked behind the job storyline — that’s the case for most classes (except others aren’t restricted in weapons). But let me repeat, in case you missed it: I don’t recall any other job requiring savage-tier content just to progress its story.

The problem isn’t that some things are locked behind the storyline — it’s how hard that content is. A reasonable solution would’ve been to unlock Carnivale stages alongside the questline, but not make them mandatory for progression. You complete quests → unlock new stages → can try them if you want, or just keep doing the quests. Suddenly, no one would be frustrated with the Carnivale, because those who don’t enjoy it simply wouldn’t have to play it.

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Originally Posted by IOwn92FCHouses

Bro really necro'd a 2 year old thread

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Yeah, man, I really necro’d a two-year-old thread — that’s how disappointed I am with Blue Mage’s exclusive content.
And yeah, most Carnivale stages go down in a couple of tries. I often ignored the “intended” mechanics on purpose — brute-forced them with damage, abused Ultravibration, or just tanked through. But that doesn’t mean they’re not annoying. The issue isn’t the difficulty — it’s the design. “Remember that random spell you learned a year ago and never used again? Well, now you need it for this one specific stage. Go find it!”
Is that supposed to be the identity of Blue Mage? Learning a hundred spells, using maybe twenty of them, and pretending the rest finally matter because the Carnivale forces you to? Keep that “identity” to yourself.

And please, don’t call that creativity. Creativity is when you use your tools to find your own solution — not when you’re forced to equip a forgotten spell just to pass.
Learning Tail Swipe solo — no one-shots, no Mimicry — that needed real creativity! I has to perfectly time White Wind, slow the boss to find space to dodge, and still keep DPS because the boss won’t kill himself. Or take the exploding slime stage — I had to get creative to complete it in the shortest possible time, using only wind-element spells to earn the full reward. But even there, that creativity only came from the three optional bonus conditions on the stage — and only because I happened to get that particular challenge rotation.

The Carnivale kills creativity with mandatory gimmicks. Success isn’t about how you use your abilities — it’s about whether you remember which obscure spell the devs decided was “required” this time. That’s not challenge. That’s obligation.


Oh, and yes, I did mean the final stages (I’m pretty sure I wrote that), when I said any mistake is fatal. Dancing among tons of AoEs, each one ready to send you back to the very first act — an unforgettable experience! That’s exactly where I had to memorize the entire fight down to the second, and only then was I able to clear it.

They're puzzles. That's kind of the whole thing around Carnivale and I like it for being a single player side game existing within the MMO.

The problem is that's largely the only thing BLU can do outside some special achievements that are really intimidating to try and specific kinds of farming.

I think you're missing that the whole premise of the carnival is gimmick fights.
You're not meant to power through a fight, you're meant to figure out the gimmick behind that specific fight, that's why bosses can OHKO if you don't do figure out what to do.

A 3 fight act is not longer than a usual trial roulette, but I'd be fine if they were to add them.

idk why we necroed this but Masked Carnivale is some of the best non raiding content this game has lol. Sure, some are a bit long winded, but most of the time failure is a skill issue. comparing it to savage is disingenuous because watching a guide will show you it's genuinely not hard. savage takes hours, often days to prog, esp. with PF, whereas with Masked Carnivale, the only weak link is yourself. You csn prog most fights in under an hour. thanks for playing. if spell acquisition is an issue, idk what to tell y'all: unsync exists and for non-dynamis players, PFing an all BLU party works.

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Originally Posted by 0blivion

if spell acquisition is an issue, idk what to tell y'all: unsync exists and for non-dynamis players, PFing an all BLU party works.

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"Works" yeah if you can manage to get enough people for blue mage farming. A lot of the days there will be none.

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Originally Posted by Aidorouge

Yeah, no kidding. I've been stuck on Stage 29 for years because I'm not a Savage raider, and if I can't beat Stage 29, I very likely can't beat any Stages that come after. Can't get most of the magic from Stormblood and Shadowbringers either, so even learning new spells stopped eventually and my spellbook remains unfinished.

Now all my Blue Mage does is complete its weekly Masked Carnivale (well, 2/3 of it anyway) and 10 FATEs for the week, but even that's only good up through Shadowbringers.

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Stage 29 is relatively annoying if you don't have proper spells. I suggest that you get all high potency spells that can one shot hands instantly as they spawn and you'll win easily. This is the only hard mechanic, after that it's done.

Most of carnival stages can be completed within seconds if you have newest spells. Get moonflute, then do breath of magic and bosses are like instantly done. Get dancing plague spell and moon bleed which are high potency and help a lot. More broken spells you obtained, the easier stages become.

Only hard stage in my opinion is the last one stage 32. To get achievement you need physical spells which deal meager damage and this fight alone can last for 15-20 minutes. It's annoying and there is one mechanic which is pure RNG based so those lightning AOEs can constantly fall on you and then you're done. But once you do it, you get umbrella weapon.

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Originally Posted by Roland_Deschain

Yeah, man, I really necro’d a two-year-old thread — that’s how disappointed I am with Blue Mage’s exclusive content.
And yeah, most Carnivale stages go down in a couple of tries. I often ignored the “intended” mechanics on purpose — brute-forced them with damage, abused Ultravibration, or just tanked through. But that doesn’t mean they’re not annoying. The issue isn’t the difficulty — it’s the design. “Remember that random spell you learned a year ago and never used again? Well, now you need it for this one specific stage. Go find it!”
Is that supposed to be the identity of Blue Mage? Learning a hundred spells, using maybe twenty of them, and pretending the rest finally matter because the Carnivale forces you to? Keep that “identity” to yourself.

And please, don’t call that creativity. Creativity is when you use your tools to find your own solution — not when you’re forced to equip a forgotten spell just to pass.
Learning Tail Swipe solo — no one-shots, no Mimicry — that needed real creativity! I has to perfectly time White Wind, slow the boss to find space to dodge, and still keep DPS because the boss won’t kill himself. Or take the exploding slime stage — I had to get creative to complete it in the shortest possible time, using only wind-element spells to earn the full reward. But even there, that creativity only came from the three optional bonus conditions on the stage — and only because I happened to get that particular challenge rotation.

The Carnivale kills creativity with mandatory gimmicks. Success isn’t about how you use your abilities — it’s about whether you remember which obscure spell the devs decided was “required” this time. That’s not challenge. That’s obligation.


Oh, and yes, I did mean the final stages (I’m pretty sure I wrote that), when I said any mistake is fatal. Dancing among tons of AoEs, each one ready to send you back to the very first act — an unforgettable experience! That’s exactly where I had to memorize the entire fight down to the second, and only then was I able to clear it.

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Lol. Ima ignore the rest of the post because it's all just whining and complaining for the sake of it. I just wanted to comment on complaining about... Learning a fight and being punished hard for mistakes... Is a negative to you. Speaks to who you are as a person. You want the reward without the effort. Without doing what's required for that reward. So you cry for change when it's not handed to you.

Just... Stay out of content you don't like and don't call for change based on your personal character flaw, ok pumpkin? Don't bother responding to me. I don't like to talk to people with your particular character flaw. The one where you break down and go on multi paragraph rants when faced with a little challenge. People like you are why Square feels the need to gut the game more and more each expansion. And it'll bother me for all of time. You're, unfortunately, way too common.

The only change we need is perma bans for thread necros. 2 years is a lot of time, kids. If you think you have a fresh perspective, start a new thread. Not rehash an outdated one.

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Originally Posted by Aidorouge

Yeah, no kidding. I've been stuck on Stage 29 for years because I'm not a Savage raider, and if I can't beat Stage 29, I very likely can't beat any Stages that come after.

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Yeah, that’s exactly right. If stage 30 is actually easier than 29, then stage 31 is at least twice as hard. The second act is pure AoE hell — you have to constantly move along a precisely rehearsed route since many AoEs need to be dodged *before* the boss even starts casting them.

I remember struggling with stage 29 until I realized the boss was quietly applying a deadly debuff — yet another test to see if you have the right spell in your loadout. You also have to take down the hand that drains your mana first. Even then, I only cleared the fight thanks to luck, because even knowing all that, I still wiped on the hand phase several times — the boss just hits like a freight train. When I finally got lucky with crits and managed to burst down the boss and both hands quickly, the rest of the fight was fine, since that phase doesn’t repeat.

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Originally Posted by IOwn92FCHouses

Lol. Ima ignore the rest of the post because it's all just whining and complaining for the sake of it. I just wanted to comment on complaining about... Learning a fight and being punished hard for mistakes... Is a negative to you. Speaks to who you are as a person. You want the reward without the effort. Without doing what's required for that reward. So you cry for change when it's not handed to you.

Just... Stay out of content you don't like and don't call for change based on your personal character flaw, ok pumpkin? Don't bother responding to me. I don't like to talk to people with your particular character flaw. The one where you break down and go on multi paragraph rants when faced with a little challenge. People like you are why Square feels the need to gut the game more and more each expansion. And it'll bother me for all of time. You're, unfortunately, way too common.

The only change we need is perma bans for thread necros. 2 years is a lot of time, kids. If you think you have a fresh perspective, start a new thread. Not rehash an outdated one.

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Lol. You clearly ignored even everything I said earlier, judging by the nonsense you just made up about me. Why even bother writing that text then?
Keep trembling over your precious “rewards” that must be earned through effort. Yeah, a glamour set and a stick with two materia slots — such a prize, truly worth blood and sweat. (That was sarcasm, by the way.)
How did you even survive the fact that every other job gets the same — or even better — rewards just for “talk to a couple of NPCs, kill one mob, and watch three cutscenes”? Counting your gray hairs yet, or have they all fallen out already?

I -loved- the Masked Carnivale. It gave me something to do with my BLU and I liked that the game added at least somewhat complex gimmick fights for solo play. I'm honestly more irritated that they stopped adding more fights to the Carnivale years ago, as with abandoning it they've given me zero reason to play BLU beyond what I already have. Every time they raise the BLU level cap and add more spells I just say "okay but what am I supposed to do with it?" because there is quite literally zero reason to play BLU now. Do they expect me to just steamroll old content with it I've already done? That's really really stupid if so. Why even bother updating BLU if that's all there is for it?

Funny enough this is also my major concern for Beastmaster. It's allegedly launching with unique content too like how BLU had the Carnivale, but my worry is they'll eventually just say "good enough" and abandon that content just like the Carnivale and give me zero reason to level Beastmaster every update since there will simply be nothing to do with it. Limited jobs feel like a massive mistake because the dev team can't even bother giving you regular content to do with them beyond what was added on launch.

I gave up on BLU because they started to attach raids to getting the spells and that really limited the job for me. This forced what was going to be a solo friendly job into a mandatory group job and if you didn’t get the spells on content, it became increasingly difficult. If the devs would add an alternative means of getting spells, I would consider looking at the job again.

I think Masked Carnivale is the better point of Blue Mage; a bunch of solo fights that act as puzzles. The rest of Blue Mage is "hope other people want to do the content with you".

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Originally Posted by JamieRose

I really do not understand who thought that walling content behind an insanely overtuned set of fights was a good idea. I would really think that person should be fired.

Everything wrong with Masked Carnivale

Difficulty is set far too high without ability to adjust it.
A constant stream of OHKOs.
Very little time to react.
One mistake and you go back to start.
Mechanics that are ridiculously hard to read.
Drags on WAY TOO LONG.
NO CHECKPOINTS BETWEEN ACTS!!!

God I hate this content only PVP and Ultimates are worse content than this.

I would not be the least bit sad if it was erased from the game.

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I actually understand where you're coming from. I hate the fact that three TT cards are locked behind the Masked Carnivale. I've done the first 25 fights, and I have yet to complete the next set of five. I'm waiting until the next level cap upgrade to try again because I hate the fact that some of the fights are three acts. It feels like a massive waste of time to have to keep fighting through the first act just to get to the second one again.

I actually really enjoyed the Masked Carnivale at first because it was puzzle based, and I love puzzles. But after the first 12 fights or so, it just becomes "let's throw increasingly harder fights at you" and it stopped being fun to me. But I don't think they should remove it just because you and I don't like it. It should be there for the ones who do. I just wish they'd release the TT cards through alternate NPCs because the TT card mount requires those three cards in order to get it, so if you want the mount, you have to do the Masked Carnivale.

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Originally Posted by IOwn92FCHouses

Lol. Ima ignore the rest of the post because it's all just whining and complaining for the sake of it. I just wanted to comment on complaining about... Learning a fight and being punished hard for mistakes... Is a negative to you. Speaks to who you are as a person. You want the reward without the effort. Without doing what's required for that reward. So you cry for change when it's not handed to you.

Just... Stay out of content you don't like and don't call for change based on your personal character flaw, ok pumpkin? Don't bother responding to me. I don't like to talk to people with your particular character flaw. The one where you break down and go on multi paragraph rants when faced with a little challenge. People like you are why Square feels the need to gut the game more and more each expansion. And it'll bother me for all of time. You're, unfortunately, way too common.

The only change we need is perma bans for thread necros. 2 years is a lot of time, kids. If you think you have a fresh perspective, start a new thread. Not rehash an outdated one.

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Some of us have lives and don't like to waste our time on games. Some difficulty is fine, but with three act fights, if you die in act two or act three, you have to still play through the earlier acts, which is just a massive waste of time. Life's too short, man.

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Originally Posted by Selsix

I -loved- the Masked Carnivale. It gave me something to do with my BLU and I liked that the game added at least somewhat complex gimmick fights for solo play. I'm honestly more irritated that they stopped adding more fights to the Carnivale years ago, as with abandoning it they've given me zero reason to play BLU beyond what I already have. Every time they raise the BLU level cap and add more spells I just say "okay but what am I supposed to do with it?" because there is quite literally zero reason to play BLU now. Do they expect me to just steamroll old content with it I've already done? That's really really stupid if so. Why even bother updating BLU if that's all there is for it?

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For me, Blue Mage became an interesting way to clear old content I had only recently reached. Running dungeons and extreme trials solo — no other job I played could really do that. But now, even at level 80, I realize there’s not much point in going further. His real value lies in joining S-rank hunts and rare boss FATEs, where there are no class restrictions and Blue Mage can truly shine. Yesterday, for example, we did Behemoth FATE, just three of us, and my BLU was the only healer and main DPS all in one.

It honestly feels like the devs themselves don’t know what to do with him — or rather, what *can* be done without breaking the game. Deep Dungeons, for example, seem like perfect content for Blue Mage, yet he’s not allowed there. Same with Eureka, which heavily relies on FATE farming — something Blue Mage excels at — but again, he’s locked out.

That’s also why the Masked Carnivale was such a disappointment for me. As exclusive content for Blue Mage, I expected something far more engaging than simple gimmicky ability-check stages and overcomplicated final fights.

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Originally Posted by Hyperia

I gave up on BLU because they started to attach raids to getting the spells and that really limited the job for me. This forced what was going to be a solo friendly job into a mandatory group job and if you didn’t get the spells on content, it became increasingly difficult. If the devs would add an alternative means of getting spells, I would consider looking at the job again.

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Blue Mage is profy in solo dungeon clearing — you don’t need a party for that. There are a few tricky spells, like Tail Screw or Devour, that are hard (or nearly impossible) to get solo, but in those cases, I just asked for help in my Free Company or the Novice Network — usually some level 100 tank would lend a hand and it was done in no time.

The devs actually add an alternative means of getting dungeon-exclusive spells - it's can also be obtained in the open world thanks to enhanced and fast-respawning mobs — for example, the Cursed Chocobo or the empowered version of Coeurl needed for Basic Instinct. Most of what’s still locked in dungeons are primal spells and a high-level ones, but once you’ve built up a solid spell set for solo dungeons, those aren’t really an issue — just a time investment.

You can find a lot of guides for learning spells, that mentions alternative ways, so definitely check those out if you’re interested in exploring what this class can really do. I used some google-doc finded on reddit, slightly outdated, but still covered most of spells.

It took me like 6 pages to realize it was an old thread. But also because I was puzzled remembering how many stages there were again as I haven't collected any new spells when the lv 80 cap was added.

Though I didn't really focused much on the achievements. I still enjoyed Masked Carnival like it was a "What if you got many retries to do a Bozja duel"