BLU for Duty Finder and Raids! Show your support!

[Reynhart]

they only told us they will advance the level cap with each patch release. But does it get 10 levels each time or 5? at 10 levels, it would take 3 patch cycles to get caught up. Meaning at 5.2 it would be level 70.

Judging from the last interview, they mentionned an intended first increase up to level 60, so I guess it will be 10 levels each time. However, I don't recall anything about "each patch release".

My guess would be level 60 at 5.1 and level 70 at 5.3...which could still open some very slightly chance of having lvl80 at 5.5, unless they indeed give us a new limited job during 5.5.

[redcurrant18]

An entire expansion cycle before they reach the same level as the other jobs? Ugh...but it would mean that for the eventual 6.0 that it would be caught up by then.

[Elerus]

I like the optimism but . . . I just cannot see BLU being allowed to participate in relevant content. Can you imagine the drama and rage if they accidentally forget to make a boss immune (or there's a bug or exploit) to such-and-such ability and it ends up trivializing a fight? Even if it's discovered relatively quickly the damage will have been done. No, it's a much safer and lazier solution for Square to just keep their level cap below the endgame.

[Reynhart]

Even if it's discovered relatively quickly the damage will have been done. No, it's a much safer and lazier solution for Square to just keep their level cap below the endgame.

BLU is already excluded from matchmaking, so, if you want to cheese a raid boss, you'd have to create a premade and wait for 7 to 23 other people to join you. The potential time you would game on that specific boss probably won't compensate the time you'll spend simply waiting to enter the instance. And frankly, I don't think people really care about dungeons bosses, especially when they run most dungeons for their roulette, so, no BLU allowed again.

As for "relevant" content from a competitive POV, like I said, you can simply exclude BLU from Raid Finder completely. So even if they forget to make a Savage boss or an EX Primal immune to something really important, you will brag that you managed to cheese it 6 months after it was released. Does it really matter at that time ?

[Elerus]

BLU is already excluded from matchmaking, so, if you want to cheese a raid boss, you'd have to create a premade and wait for 7 to 23 other people to join you.

Or . . . a static and/or Linkshells? I'll grant you it's been a while but when "unintended consequences" were discovered in WoW back in the day that's usually how one went about exploiting it. You got your guildmates and friends together and did it. For specific examples I'm thinking of the time Paragon exploited lockouts, for citation please see here:

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/3657282028

Hard to believe that was all the way back in 2011. Still it was not the first (and would not be the last) time. If you have a system like BLU that, according to SE, is designed to "break the mold" then the potential is always there. It's one of the reasons I've favored the solution of having a pre-set selection of spells for Blue Mage if it is allowed in Duty Finder or relevant content. Not only would it be easier to balance but Square can ensure this does not happen and do not have to worry each time they expand the Masked Carnival/solo side of the job. Hypothetical, but it seems the most elegant solution.

[Reynhart]

Or . . . a static and/or Linkshells?

A static ? For a normal raid or a trial ? It'll take more time to just consult everyone to decide a proper planning than running it at your own leisure with any other job, especially if you queue as a tank or healer. As for Linkshells or FC...Forcing a specific rendez vous with 23 people when every one of them could run it with strangers anytime they want, it won't be worth the time. Since BLU can't do the MSQ, everyone will have another level 80 ready to do content anyway.

And again, no content outside of Savage/Ultimate has any relevance so that you had to make sure no one could cheese it, and even then, the main relevance is not made by the game itself but by the playerbase (World first race, fflogs competition, etc...). So, no Raid Finder for BLU. Done.

Frankly, cheesing 6-month old content is as irrelevant as cheesing 3-year old content, which we know BLU will have access to.

[Burningskull]

I'm so split on BLU... On the one hand I don't want to support limited jobs... but I really want a new DPS to level...

[Elerus]

I'm so split on BLU... On the one hand I don't want to support limited jobs... but I really want a new DPS to level...

The real test for Blue Mage, and the thing I HOPE Square will look at (I have reservations) is engagement. Not how many initially pick up the job. This is because, and especially after, delaying it for a week there will be a lot of people who initially pick up the "new job" - it's new content when most have dipped their toes in everything new the patch has to offer. However, once people have hit 50 on the class and completed the Masked Carnival (which I imagine they'll do very quickly) how many will continue to play? A month from now? Two months? Three? It is the first class locked out of the endgame which everyone else can participate in. If it does not have its own staying power then that's a failure on the design front.

[Jkap_Goat]

Very excited for BLU mage, not everything is end game or raids. I'm a very casual player and Blu mage is something very new, fresh, and very different from the other jobs.

[redcurrant18]

Very excited for BLU mage, not everything is end game or raids. I'm a very casual player and Blu mage is something very new, fresh, and very different from the other jobs.

I don't care that much for endgame content or raids either, but Blue Mage should at least be allowed to participate in the main quest. If someone wants to main Blue Mage and do endgame content? The solution is to let them level another job if they want, not force them to use another job when they really want to go through the story as a Blue Mage.