BLU for Duty Finder and Raids! Show your support!

[TheHeavenAbyss]

Well, I'm lv10 and I'm bored already. Not saying my opinion is supposed to invalidate this content, but this clearly isn't my kind of content.

What I know is that some arguments made previously in favor of Limited Blue Mage have been kind of dropped. As I though, what they were saying with "identity" was never about the "we have to have all the classic skills in Blue Mage, and they have to be faithful to their classic effect and/or to the mob's version of the attack, and that's why the Blue Mage would be OP in regular content", it was just about "Blue Mage collects skills from monsters, regardless of whether they're the classic Blue Mage skills or not".

There are a few classic skills missing afterall, from what I looked into: Goblin Punch, Matra Magic, Angel Whisper, Frog Song, Blaster, Acid, etc (not saying they might not be added in the future). And the spells are not even exactly the same as the monster version, from what I've heard. It's all about collecting skills from monsters. That's the "identity" part of it. And if that's the case, the excuse of "the spells are too OP to be balanced, or if they are nerfed too much they won't be the same classic spells and it won't be faithful to Blue Mage" doesn't seem to hold much water. Speaking of which, I spent most of my time as Blue spamming Water Cannon, because the other skills I collected seemed mostly useless. Maybe I was playing it wrong. It's most likely. But I still don't feel invested enough to spend much more time doing this, especially when people say that it gets worse when you have to start going into dungeons and Primal EX, so it's a pass for me.

But I'm lucky that I can use my favorite FF classes (Samurai and Dragoon) in regular battle content (and most importantly the MSQ). I can understand that those that had Blue Mage as their favorite feel very discontent now.

[ReiMakoto]

Speaking of which, I spent most of my time as Blue spamming Water Cannon, because the other skills I collected seemed mostly useless. Maybe I was playing it wrong.

Don't worry, you're only slightly playing it wrong, you actually just need to spam 1000 needles for 50 levels.

[MrKimper]

I think I'm able to articulate how I feel about Blue mage better, for me, the first 1-30 levels of Blue mage were fantastic, I loved learning skills and feeling like I had this ever growing arsenal of spells and picking which ones to choose for the next encounter, this was highlighted as I noticed I could actually kill mobs that were 5 or even 10 levels higher than myself. I'd figure out this mini-rotation to cc the enemy to kill them as safely and consistently as possible, it was the most interaction I'd ever had with mobs, and the best part was, I was doing it I was going out there, I was learning the skills and I was smartly using them.

I'd learn a skill, then go back to grinding for levels, learn a skill etc etc, and then I got 1000 needles, and then I started having A LOT of fun until I realized. I wasn't, I don't know whether it was my gear being low or me not optimizing but all of the skills that I came to like just, become useless once I got 1000. It could one or two shot any mob, did better than decent AOE on three or more enemies (More than mind blast or goblin bomb) and was just the best thing.

And then I just stopped having fun, encounters boiled down to, Acorn Blast > 1000 needles > Maybe a bad breath > 1000 needles. I would still use the odd toad oil > self-destruct for fun and spice but, it just felt stale at level 36.

And then I realized, BLU is like, a gacha game, you get these quick fixes of skills early game that feels good, but eventually wears off, where instead with a regular job you have these skills that are given to you and most are these, pieces of a puzzle that you slowly start to put together with a specific purpose to help you do what your role is meant to do best and in the end feels like you've mastered a patterned dance.

I can't say which is objectively better but I love the learning mechanic, can we really not have a regular job on top of it? is it really asking too much?

[Kaonis]

So BLU was every bit as bad as I had worried and yet worse. The only thing I figured they might get right, especially with the implication it was too powerful for parties, was the spells. At 30 I'm really really frustrated by how bad the spells so far are. The few early level spells are mostly useless, and it seems to be able to do any damage you just need to spam 1000 needles. Only the 50 tier stuff looks like they put much thought into it.

I loved BLU in XI and it just blows my mind how much better designed that was compared to this. Getting new spells felt rewarding and the leveling experience was enhanced by the excitement of getting new spells to play with. It's sad that the first 6 spells you can get as BLU in XI eclipse most of the first 20 you can get in XIV.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

With time to play and max the class out with around 31 spells acquired I think its safe to say that while some aspects are fun the limited concept just doesnt work for longevity. The Masked Carnivale is a glorified set of Guildhests with Eureka’s Elemental system, most of your spells underperform regardless of INT scaling be it due to resistances or just the overall potency and the majority of what you acquire is cone/AoE spells that were built solely for the Carnivale in mind. The class itself has potential with the learning mechanic but none of their reasonings as to why the class had to be locked out from regular DF even holds water, hell even their “one shot” Omega excuse doesnt hold up when Primals and most bosses resist one of the few OP spells, Missile. Sadly I predict that the class will quiet down in a week or two from now and the next level cap update will do nothing to address its shortcomings especialy when their excuses for “Limited” hold no weight.

[ChaseNetwork]

To be completely honest, Even with just Water Cannon BLU is about as useful as a proper job.

Edit: Actually, let me reword my thoughts here.

Against content that matters BLU is hilariously useless compared to proper jobs.

In that content, a BLU with only Water Cannon is about as useful as a BLU with 40 spells.

Granted, you can edge out Water Cannon a bit with Glower, Song of Torment, and some Primal spells, but that still leaves BLU weaker than a Lv.50 DPS with 130 gear.
Focusing on DPS, BLU is weaker than it's counterparts
Focusing on Healing, any powerful raid-wide hit will turn your healing potency into garbage.
Focusing on Tanking, you are still squishier than any tank

There's tricks, like Healers and Tanks both running Vit accs, and Healers basically just being OT's, but overall ability is too low across the board.

[TheHeavenAbyss]

The class itself has potential with the learning mechanic but none of their reasonings as to why the class had to be locked out from regular DF even holds water, hell even their “one shot” Omega excuse doesnt hold up when Primals and most bosses resist one of the few OP spells, Missile.

That excuse always seemed odd to me. Like, in most if not all FFs where you have Blue Magic and instant kill abilities, bosses and important mobs are immune anyway. I seriously doubt someone would say "What? I can't one shot a boss?! This isn't a real Blue Mage!" Make instant death spells useless in DF content (maybe just nerfed for mobs). I'd rather have one or two spells "locked out" of DF than the whole thing.

[Reneo]

That excuse always seemed odd to me. Like, in most if not all FFs where you have Blue Magic and instant kill abilities, bosses and important mobs are immune anyway. I seriously doubt someone would say "What? I can't one shot a boss?! This isn't a real Blue Mage!" Make instant death spells useless in DF content (maybe just nerfed for mobs). I'd rather have one or two spells "locked out" of DF than the whole thing.

It's odd to advertise it as a solo job just for it to be underwhelming as it is. It kinda makes you wonder about the whole thing.

[ThirdKeyOfSun]

I still don't entirely know how I feel about the whole thing. I do wish it could be used in more things though. That said I feel to need to drop this one more time because it keeps getting ignored that in their own presentation SE already noted that BLU teaming up/making parties was part of their progression

[zuzu-bq]

I think with the job finally being launched and have experienced how it is to play with it I can finally give a solid opinion about this topic..

I'll simply quote myself from another thread about BLU for matched content.

While BLU's tanking abilities can ruin any regular run of content if a player is clueless or malicious enough, the job itself doesn't break ARR content (RDM's ridiculous potencies break ARR content more than BLU can do it really) so I can't see why it is gutted from random matching on the Duty Finder, specially it all being 4-year old dungeons, raids and trials.