Sometimes I wonder that myself. Initially, BLU was suppose to be solo content but yet we have to form parties to go into dungeons & extreme trials to obtain skills. For it to be solo content, it wasnt allowed in Squadrons or PotD contents.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hierro
It would take BLU being a full job, even if that would require that everyone else gets similarly open-world interactions, unique acquisition mechanics, and player-controlled skill progressions.
Haven't seen the new skills yet and perhaps they've done something else too but... assuming it's more of the same I have to say I think if it's not readily done solo I wont do it. Blue Mage in terms of gameplay composition/mechanics isn't as interesting or as engaging as I'd hope, particular in compared to jobs as one would expect (imo)- to the point where the most fun I had was only when I was blowing stuff up (like 1k needles or grinding out levels with dragon and ram voice). It's here where I had hoped SE would lead to more of a interweaving combos (Diablo 3 / legendary items, that mad mix mash that was quite a bit of fun) like a tightly wound trading card game sort of building experience (high relationships), that and I felt strongest value of having a job that can't DF would be one that does content solo better then (like being able to do dead content one couldn't normally solo, doing some of the more challenging story content, and throwing hilariously wild challenges like "fight all the ARR savage primal in pairs in one dungeon".. because we can). Of course being a normal job would have been fantastic and optimal too lol, or personally most preferred an advanced job which holds both a unique approach to the game and yet still has DF-able side.
In other words I find difficulty placing a job I was excited for, as it just feels like doing old content slower and in a less engaging way. . . I'm trying to sell myself on this idea but I can't seem to do it. I wish I didn't feel that way either.
Perhaps much later down the road, after many level increases, there might be a huge list of skills that'll parse down into a very nice interweaving set of skills, or a few reworks for relationships (like FFXI Blue Mage had combinations of spells to make passives, and passives on spells already).. but at the moment Blue Mage has left me the feeling its less Blue Mage and more 'But Why' Mage.
I had wanted to wait for their first patch of Blue Mage before really placing Blue Mage but each news update makes that placement feel bleaker than brighter. Luckily I have many jobs in this game I already like, but I still feel sad as this was a job I was excited for and had really wanted to play. Not a final forecast of feelings but at the moment I'm strongly leaning to Blue Mage is a means to an end, where I play Blue Mage only if the ends justify the means- if it gives me something I want then I'll do it, perhaps for the short lived novelty of casting a easily fail-able 1hko spell, but just for those ends. I don't want anyone to feel bad about liking Blue Mage if they do, or the designer if they ever read this (unlikely, if translated it's probably truncated lol), but in terms of feedback I guess I'd say I'm hoping for a lot more than what's currently available and news about the job seems to do the opposite of excitement for me, coming from a place of someone who was excited for the job (before announcement).
FFXIV's not dead, not claiming the end is neigh- still got loads of still I like to do, but just wanted to share my current feeling on it lol (feelings may change with time and patches ;)).
For me the way they have done it thus far is opposite of how it should be.
Right now it feels like you have high acquisition rates for enemies in the field, and low rates for high level enemies within a duty. This doesn't make a lot of sense since a BLU can easily round up loads of enemies out in the world and blow them rather quickly, while doing a duty legitimately takes much more time; level synced you can kill many, many, many regular enemies in the time it takes to complete some of these trials or normal raids.
It makes sense for low level enemies to reliably give their spells to give their actions, but beyond that they should be <20%. On the other hand, if in this new system you defeat bosses legitimately with a synced party, it should give you the action 100% of the time.
I'm of the mind that individually, each spell should have a 20% learn rate. When it comes to party content, add another 10% for up to 4 players (50%). For the remaining 4 slots, add 12.5%, eventually translating to a 100% learn rate if you're a Full Party. At this point, it's just a matter of deciding if you want to wait for other BLUs in PF or just having a friend or someone bored blitz you through dungeons/primals. Running unsynced shouldn't be any sort of demerit, nor should syncing be a bonus, either.
Alternatively, primal spells should have buyable totems in exchange for their unique drops (levin orbs, ice tears, hive wings, etc.). Primal farming was pretty much the only sore spot in the process, where the few requiring the final boss of a dungeon being runner up, as that usually meant 6 minutes of running through the stage just to get your attempt.
At this point they would have to make it a full job or make it insanely OP at soloing content. Otherwise I have no reason to touch it again. It's not worth the headache.
I'll take the near 100%. This means that if you want harder content with guaranteed rewards you take the synced option, and a grind if you want the easy option.
My perfect amount would be 1% unsynced, 25% synced, 75% 8 (or 4 in dungeons) BLU synced though, as there is still no incentive to do 8 BLU parties (though we will see how the BLU log remedies this)
With an all-BLU party?
I don't even see the point of collecting them in an unsynced party, even if the learn rate is 100%.