it would be nice if leveling was less exploitable

[Evogolist]

Where did SE advertise it for its "soloness" as opposed to advertising it as a limited job with special solo content that can only be done by the job (Masked Carnival)? They did warn players from the start that they would need to group up with other players to learn the most powerful abilities.

That's taken from the fan festival live letter. Unless the local team translated it wrong, they pretty much stated right there that it was designed for solo play.

[Jojoya]

That's taken from the fan festival live letter. Unless the local team translated it wrong, they pretty much stated right there that it was designed for solo play.

Which it is. Designed for the Masked Carnival, which is solo play.

Not suited for parties? I'd argue that possibly. It has some use in parties depending on your willingness to ditch the weak 1000 Needles spam and use the ability combos that are more powerful once you get past 38. Considering most people seem to want to only spam 1000 Needles, then I agree it's not suitable for parties.

I think where the translation is flawed is saying "While blue mages can learn abilities while in parties" instead of "While blue mages will need to learn some abilities in parties".

[Penthea]

It appears some people are misinterpreting this image.

1: "Designed for solo play" does not mean "you should only solo" or "you can solo everything". If we were to apply this to standard classes the image would say "designed for group play" but we all know this doesn't mean you should only ever play in groups if you're playing a standard class.

The end-game content for blu is The Masked Carnivale, which is solo content. This is the solo play blu is designed for. The end-game content for standard classes are raids, which is the group content they're designed for.

Just because something is designed with a specific task in mind does not mean that's the only thing it can or should do.

2: "Not suited for parties" does not mean "you should only solo" or "you should only play with other blu players". It means that while blu is classed as a dps, it does not fit into the trinity system the standard classes are designed for.

Blu is a jack of all trades but master of none. It has a lot of utility and high damage potential, but past the point of cheesing out 1k needles, a standard dps class does more reliable damage. It has one strong heal but it can't compete with a healer's varied toolkit and it has no res. It can tank but it's not as durable or efficient at aggro building as a real tank.

On top of the above, blu does not learn abilities by lvling up which means the effectiveness of one blu player to another can wildly vary. If you have a lvl 50 standard class in lvl 50 group content, you know that the player has access to the necessary abilities to complete it. Not the case with blu. Having a blu in the party can mean having to carry a dead weight, or having a very useful team mate.

[Lastelli]

Blu is a jack of all trades but master of none.

Doesn't "jack of all trades" mean "pretty good at everything"?

Maybe I'm still missing the most important spells, but right now it looks like BLU is just a terrible dps, a terrible tank and a underwhelming healer. Frankly, it cannot even be compared to other jobs because of how underpowered it is. Its sole reason of existence is the masked carnival, using it for anything else is just a waste of time. It might be fun if you're doing it with friends while chatting on discord, but what isn't?

I wasn't expecting much and I'm still disappointed. The masked carnival is a decent minigame, but I really don't think that alone can make a job relevant, no matter if they label it a limited job.
Also, lvl 70 players carring BLUs in instanced content to help them learn their spells gotta be one of the most absurd things I've ever witnessed in a videogame. I really hope this wasn't their intention from the beginning, because it's just bad design.

[Penthea]

Doesn't "jack of all trades" mean "pretty good at everything"?

Maybe I'm still missing the most important spells, but right now it looks like BLU is just a terrible dps, a terrible tank and a underwhelming healer. Frankly, it cannot even be compared to other jobs because of how underpowered it is.

It can actually far outpace standard dps classes in pure damage on trash, but on bosses it is often lacking. White Wind can be crazy strong as it heals equal to your own hp, but the flip side is that can also mean it's very weak. The lack of a res and a low cd cleanse can be an issue. I found it okay as a tank in 4 man content, but I suspect it won't be very good in hm and ex trials.

I personally found with blu that the skill and experience of the player has some serious impact on the class. There is no rotation. There is no fixed way to play it. I have met some blus who thought spamming 1k needles would get them through everything (spoiler: it doesn't) and they forced the rest of the party to work a lot harder, and I met other blus who were prepared to use any spell if the appropriate situation arose and they were a dream to play with. The difference between these two kinds of players is astounding at high lvl.

With that being said there are some serious holes in blu, even when you consider it's a jack of all trades class. But this could very well be due to the current low lvl cap. It could be a very different story when you can get it to 60 or 70.

Its sole reason of existence is the masked carnival, using it for anything else is just a waste of time. It might be fun if you're doing it with friends while chatting on discord, but what isn't?

I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong because liking something is a matter of opinion. I have had great fun doing The Masked Carnivale on my own. I find blu itself to be a nice change of pace from the rest of the game.

Also, lvl 70 players carring BLUs in instanced content to help them learn their spells gotta be one of the most absurd things I've ever witnessed in a videogame. I really hope this wasn't their intention from the beginning, because it's just bad design.

This one is somewhat a matter of choice. You don't need to have lvl 70 players to help you, but the other side of it is it can be very difficult to get help from someone who isn't lvl 70, given that's the current max lvl. The lack of lvl sync when you do instances as blu is very annoying. It would be great if you could get help from your lvl 70 buddies, but when you're in the instance you have the choice of all being lvl 50. Not everyone enjoys getting boosted and it sucks that right now this is the only option for most players who want skills from some lvl 50 content.

[Jijifli]

[IMG]1: "Designed for solo play" does not mean "you should only solo" or "you can solo everything". If we were to apply this to standard classes the image would say "designed for group play" but we all know this doesn't mean you should only ever play in groups if you're playing a standard class.

The end-game content for blu is The Masked Carnivale, which is solo content. This is the solo play blu is designed for. The end-game content for standard classes are raids, which is the group content they're designed for.

Just because something is designed with a specific task in mind does not mean that's the only thing it can or should do.

Classes that come out that are normal do not tell us they're "designed for group content," which showed BLU was meant to be different. And of course we didn't say "You SHOULD only solo" because that's not the point. For a class "Designed for solo play" I'd expect it to get its piece on its own.

I'm keeping the carnival opinion out since I actually haven't done that part of the content. It wouldn't be a fair opinion as I'd only be able to work off of word of mouth. However, I will focus on the "designed with a specific task in mind" part of this. Yes, it can work off of more than its original intended design, and it probably should, but focusing again on, "Designed for solo play," part. It does not feel like, to me, it did a good job being designed for solo play. For something to do more than it can originally do, it should be good at doing at what it originally did. Imagine if WAR did more dps, but couldn't keep threat anymore, at all, for whatever reason. Would you call it a tank anymore? It's still classified as a tank, doing, let's just say for funsies, a BLM's damage output, but it's not doing the job of a tank very well.

That's how I feel here. It's a class meant for solo play that isn't doing that solo play very well, outside of ONE piece of content.

2: "Not suited for parties" does not mean "you should only solo" or "you should only play with other blu players". It means that while blu is classed as a dps, it does not fit into the trinity system the standard classes are designed for.

Blu is a jack of all trades but master of none. It has a lot of utility and high damage potential, but past the point of cheesing out 1k needles, a standard dps class does more reliable damage. It has one strong heal but it can't compete with a healer's varied toolkit and it has no res. It can tank but it's not as durable or efficient at aggro building as a real tank.

Which my statement is also pointed out here. For a class that, in the picture, states it's designed around solo play, it's not very good at doing that outside of carnival and the gimmick spells.

On top of the above, blu does not learn abilities by lvling up which means the effectiveness of one blu player to another can wildly vary. If you have a lvl 50 standard class in lvl 50 group content, you know that the player has access to the necessary abilities to complete it. Not the case with blu. Having a blu in the party can mean having to carry a dead weight, or having a very useful team mate.

Actually, you can't KNOW either way. I've had plenty of cases of players who were lacking their skills. In fact, I even ended up in a 60 dungeon on an alt with BLM forgetting to do any of my HW quests, removing almost half of my damage output. The difference is that, while I'm able to just do a quest for a skill, I have to go farm nightmare in Garuda EX because it's apparently more common than this spell.

When a mount I never even knew was a thing, and have most of the other ponies anyways, is more likely to drop than obtaining a spell that, outside of carnival, is worse than Ifrit's version anyways, there's a flaw in design of how common this spell is.

Also:




Both these images, also from the producer's letter on revealing BLU, show the BLU in Shiva and Garuda. In Shiva case, having the spell sure, but in both cases, ALONE. I wonder where people got the idea we could solo these?

[Penthea]

Classes that come out that are normal do not tell us they're "designed for group content," which showed BLU was meant to be different. And of course we didn't say "You SHOULD only solo" because that's not the point. For a class "Designed for solo play" I'd expect it to get its piece on its own.

The "you should solo" comment was mostly aimed at those who were using that blu info image as a way to legitimise the use of the job swap xp exploit. Which is funny in itself because the mobs they're killing can be soloed by blu anyway.

"Designed for solo play," part. It does not feel like, to me, it did a good job being designed for solo play.

In what context? If you mean instances, then sure it's not viable for solo play there unless you out lvl the content by a lot. But in the open world it can be super strong. I have killed mobs 10 lvls above me with ease as blu.

However I did find out you can two-man a lot of level appropriate instance content as 2x blu, that you simply could not do with any other dps pairings. While this of course isn't soloing, it's still noteworthy.

For something to do more than it can originally do, it should be good at doing at what it originally did.

What do you mean by this? This is blu's first appearance in the game. It didn't originally do anything else than what it does now.

Both these images, also from the producer's letter on revealing BLU, show the BLU in Shiva and Garuda. In Shiva case, having the spell sure, but in both cases, ALONE. I wonder where people got the idea we could solo these?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think every time SE showcased a new class they showed the class doing combat on its own.

[Kaonis]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think every time SE showcased a new class they showed the class doing combat on its own.

Even if that is the case, we all knew the other jobs were able to play in raids, dungeons, and all other content for combat classes. They didn't have a presentation describing DRK, AST, SAM, or RDM as "Not being suitable for parties" "Can't queue in DF" and "Designed for solo play" accompanied with a video showing off their abilities while solo.

We very clearly knew those new jobs were like others in the types of content they could do. Expectations were clearly understood what they would be and be able to do.

[Penthea]

Even if that is the case, we all knew the other jobs were able to play in raids, dungeons, and all other content for combat classes. They didn't have a presentation describing DRK, AST, SAM, or RDM as "Not being suitable for parties" "Can't queue in DF" and "Designed for solo play" accompanied with a video showing off their abilities while solo.

We very clearly knew those new jobs were like others in the types of content they could do. Expectations were clearly understood what they would be and be able to do.

I totally get what you're saying, I'm just pointing out that showcasing a new class doing combat on its own isn't a new thing at all. As far as I recall it's how SE presented them every time.

What I mean is the clips of fighting the primals alone shouldn't be enough to automatically assume you can solo everything as blu, but when coupled with phrasing such as "designed for solo play" then yes, I can see how altogether it can be misleading.

That said I personally assumed you couldn't solo ex trials...as you would have to be crazy powerful to. Maybe hard modes at a stretch.

[Jijifli]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think every time SE showcased a new class they showed the class doing combat on its own.

I looked up the reveal for HW and SB classes. DRK smacked a basic mob. AST healed itself and hit nothing. MCH shot a basic mob. RDM styled on, but attacked, a basic mob. SAM got a full on cinematic trailer for it, but at most, cut some normal dudes down.

Meanwhile, BLU's reveal, it SOLO'S SHIVA.

Yes, they show combat on their own. I didn't deny that. BLU's the only one being shown to solo group content in its reveal trailer.