BLU for Duty Finder and Raids! Show your support!

[BillyKaplan]

People complained about BLU being designed for solo in a MMORPG...
Now people complain about us having options not to stricly have to play solo?

Because no one picks up a job to run FATEs and outdated content. And you rely on the good will of others while you're at it.

field monsters

And then there's the Shiva ex bow skill. From the very beginning this "solo experience" job was dependent on other people because when capped at 50, you likely can't run Shiva Ex alone the once, let alone the numerous times required until RNG is kind to you and you actually learn it.

Being "mostly designed for solo play" doesn't mean "strictly designed for solo play".

I don't see any "mostly" in here. This feels like they're already semi backpedaling, honestly.

playing in party

I don't even really have much of a point here other than to point out how ridiculous this is so far.

[jon041065]

That's not the main reason why BLU cannot join the rest of the cast. It's because it is simply not designed like the rest of the cast. Being OP or not isn't really the point (it's just part of it, in the sense that BLU isn't balanced like regular job).

It does look like they were working on making it a full job before changing their mind. I already thought it sounded close and now it looks like it was even closer than I thought. BLU being too OP/broken was one of the reasons given by SE to not allow the job into all content and it's starting to look like that isn't the case. We don't know for sure though.

It seems less of a ordeal to make BLU into a full job with the info we got now than it did before. They just need to have their minds changed. I'm even more sure now that it can be done AND still have the side content still be there.

Keep in mind that they said the power of skills for BLU isn't calculated out of your weapon damage like other jobs. So, we actually have no idea how powerful these skill will actually be under real play. We didn't see Yoshida's gear. So far,we only know that Shiva's Ice Bow will be a 90s cooldown skill that has a high potency. Maybe it's just an oGCD like Fleche/Contre Sixte.

I agree with this. We don't know for sure how strong some of these moves will be or if BLU will just be OP because of a few spells. Either way, things could be changed in the future.

[Shougun]

That's not the main reason why BLU cannot join the rest of the cast. It's because it is simply not designed like the rest of the cast. Being OP or not isn't really the point (it's just part of it, in the sense that BLU isn't balanced like regular job).

Never said it was an achievement. Just that overworld content can be done in solo, which goes in line with BLU design focus.
Since overworld content is solo friendly, and that BLU has a strong gameplay revolving around overworld content, it's fair to say that BLU was designed for solo play. But this doesn't mean that you can't party up, since that's also part of what's possible in overworld content.

That sounds horrible lol, I mean if Blue Mage was designed so you could enjoy casual overworld solo. I can do that casually on any job... :P. Obviously we have a strong (and easily obtainable) wait and see, so we'll see there. I was thinking SE's version of Blue Mage sounded fun because of the OP element, if "casual balanced open world content" is the sole selling point then I'd lose all interest in it.

In the thread I've been asking for SE's (what I assumed, and may very well still be) OP version for solo/party finder and then a tame version for duty finder/current content.

So? There's a bunch of content where new comers have to ask for help. Just make friends or join a FC that is willing to help you out. It isn't -that- hard. Especially since people have been talking about "but this is a MMORPG!" so much.

Except we're seeing a whole system (trust) designed so people don't have to wait because most people don't like waiting for a group, myself strongly included. I suppose you can say so for yourself, but that also sounds awful if that's what will happen (wait and see yes I know lol).

Keep in mind that they said the power of skills for BLU isn't calculated out of your weapon damage like other jobs. So, we actually have no idea how powerful these skill will actually be under real play. We didn't see Yoshida's gear. So far,we only know that Shiva's Ice Bow will be a 90s cooldown skill that has a high potency. Maybe it's just an oGCD like Fleche/Contre Sixte.

100% fair, it's totally possible that the bow can be awesome but they just weren't (gear) prepared for it - or even temporarily nerfed it just so they could show it a few times. Get yourself proper gear and it slaps around stuff as if its 1,500 potency.. Oh okay that's better.

If it was 90 second, oGCD, 200 potency spell then my eyes are going to roll really slow like though lol. But I agree that it's possible that there are many compontents we didn't see. For example once you get mighty guard it might be something where your solo ability just increases 10 fold, but before that somethings are a bit harder.

[BillyKaplan]

So I've gone over the reddit translations.

1. You will, yes, will need a rotation. Like any other run of the mill job. Not so much for optimized gameplay (though we all know those will be found within a week of BLU's release), but because of resource management (which is, again, very similar to other run of the mill jobs that have resources they're meant to drain, like PLD or BLM)
2. You will, yes, will need a party to the point they're putting together rules and regulations for BLU party play.
3. Quests will not be locked behind level, but behind enemy skills you've obtained. Which arguably are implicitly level locked depending on content the skill is learned form (unsync nonwithstanding ofc)

All of these sound very, very close to suggestions brought up as to how BLU can be integrated into the main game. This both gives me hope that with time they'll commit and go all the way with it by letting BLU into the rest of the game, but at the same time also frustrates me even more because it sounds like most if not all of the tech needed to let BLU play regularly is already there.

[Fyce]

Because no one picks up a job to run FATEs and outdated content. And you rely on the good will of others while you're at it.

They explicitely said that FATEs wouldn't give you much EXP, and that you will be better off killing regular enemies for EXP. If you pick BLU and go do FATEs for leveling, you're doing it wrong, according to today's liveletter.
Edit: Some clarification on this: the experience given by the FATE itself isn't the main drawing point. FATEs will still be relevant because of the enemies that appear. So, supposedly, you might want to do the FATEs that spawns the most enemies. The FATE's exp is only a bonus.

And then there's the Shiva ex bow skill. From the very beginning this "solo experience" job was dependent on other people because when capped at 50, you likely can't run Shiva Ex alone the once, let alone the numerous times required until RNG is kind to you and you actually learn it.


I don't see any "mostly" in here. This feels like they're already semi backpedaling, honestly.

I'm taking it as "not suited for regular party play like we had in the game for 5 years now,because it's absolutly not balanced for that, but that doesn't mean that you can't party up with some other people. Besides, here, have some skills that you'll learn in instances."

That'd be a bit long for a powerpoint slide though.

I don't even really have much of a point here other than to point out how ridiculous this is so far.

I too can play the screenshot game:

Notice the smiley face on "By forming parties and untertaking instanced duties". And notice how they didn't say "By defeating enemies in public areas while playing exclusively solo" next to the big smile face.
They never completly ruled out party play. But don't worry, I'm used to people only seeing what they want to see while completly ignoring proofs that contradict their statements. Even when the proofs comes from the very same source they are using.

[BillyKaplan]

They never completly ruled out party play.

Which leads to the question of why lock it in the first place? That's the point that doesn't add up here.

But don't worry, I'm used to people only seeing what they want to see while completly ignoring proofs that contradict their statements. Even when the proofs comes from the very same source they are using.

I have a tiny violin to play for you, if you wanna

[Fyce]

Which leads to the question of why lock it in the first place? That's the point that doesn't add up here.

Have you missed the obvious point that it is absolutly not balanced for regular party play? They allow it in PF because in PF no one cares and everyone can make their own rules, especially about Lv.1-50 content. But DF is another story.
That's the downside for having a job with a crazy set of skills and balance. (Edit: do note that "crazy" doesn't mean "OP".)

I have a tiny violin to play for you, if you wanna

Sorry, I disabled the sound from perform, it was annoying more than anything.

[BillyKaplan]

Have you missed the obvious point that it is absolutly not balanced for regular party play? They allow it in PF because in PF no one cares and everyone can make their own rules, especially about Lv.1-50 content. But DF is another story.
That's the downside for having a job with a crazy set of skills and balance.

And you're missing the point that it was their choice to leave it balanced like that, and from what we saw of the skills they're already either gated by cooldown, or by potency "nerfs" - which is, again, things people have suggested as design compromises to allow BLU into regular play.
So no, I don't see the point to this, unless it is meant as a beta stage. But if it was, they could've at least had been upfront about it and that would've quelled a lot if not all of the backlash. But no, right now it seems like it's caught in limbo for no particular reason.

[Vahlnir]

Have you missed the obvious point that it is absolutly not balanced for regular party play? They allow it in PF because in PF no one cares and everyone can make their own rules, especially about Lv.1-50 content. But DF is another story.
That's the downside for having a job with a crazy set of skills and balance. (Edit: do note that "crazy" doesn't mean "OP".)

Sorry, I disabled the sound from perform, it was annoying more than anything.

My take on this is, BLU is potentially being put into "beta" so to speak since they are implementing it in stages. This would allow them to balance it over time with all the necessary skills for regular group play.

[Fyce]

And you're missing the point that it was their choice to leave it balanced like that, and from what we saw of the skills they're already either gated by cooldown, or by potency "nerfs" - which is, again, things people have suggested as design compromises to allow BLU into regular play.
So no, I don't see the point to this, unless it is meant as a beta stage. But if it was, they could've at least had been upfront about it and that would've quelled a lot if not all of the backlash. But no, right now it seems like it's caught in limbo for no particular reason.

Exactly, it was their creative choice to let BLU have a crazy set of skills and an out of wack balance. Which is quite fitting for a Blue Mage. They've always been quite... eccentric.

By the way, they were pretty upfront about their feeling on that job four years ago already. If you thought that it was going to be a "regular job" when they precisely stated the opposite, well, I don't know what to tell you.
And it's not "caught in limbo", it's simply a new type of jobs. I don't know what's so unfathomable about that.

My take on this is, BLU is potentially being put into "beta" so to speak since they are implementing it in stages. This would allow them to balance it over time with all the necessary skills for regular group play.

Never happening. Well, I get the "never say never", but that'd be way too much work. 49 skills, 24 slots, that's 63,205,303,218,876 possible outcomes that have to be balanced (and that will increase over time exponentially as they introduce new skills). You cannot realistically do that without dumbing it down so that multiple skills basically do the same thing, or are made completly irrelevant to the point of player never actually playing them. That'd be quite sad.

The most "realistic" approach would be to do a completly separate "regular job BLU" dedicated to DF and raiding. But that's basically designing and balancing a whole new job. So, not happening until a while... if it ever happen.