Limited Job #2: Beastmaster

[Reinha]

Tackling old raid content with a full part of BLUs is great. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do as BLU that you can't with a standard comp.

Like what? Tackling old content is not something only BLU can do.

[Lambdafish]

Like what? Tackling old content is not something only BLU can do.

But no job can tackle old content the way BLU can. With BLU old content feels fresh. Learning ARR a new way has given the content a new lease of life. Imagine doing a Sophia EX learning party in 2020, that's what BLU managed to do.

[Daemius]

Like what? Tackling old content is not something only BLU can do.

It's not just tackling old content. You have to view it through the lens of doing content specifically with BLU which is hard to do if you haven't actually tired it yourself. It's basically an all new fight. But too many people are caught up on the "limited" aspect of the job or what they wished it could be to give it a fair shake.

[Saix027]

It's not just tackling old content. You have to view it through the lens of doing content specifically with BLU which is hard to do if you haven't actually tired it yourself. It's basically an all new fight. But too many people are caught up on the "limited" aspect of the job or what they wished it could be to give it a fair shake.

I don't see how this is so much more exciting then normal groups, in the end you are a Tank, DD or Healer as Bluemage, spaming one heal or one strong attack like any other class does, there is no mechanic you have to adjust like the arena, you just spam one or two attacks, considering most "mechanics" from the Bluemage not work anyway on most bosses still.

[Ghald]

[Lambdafish]

I don't see how this is so much more exciting then normal groups, in the end you are a Tank, DD or Healer as Bluemage, spaming one heal or one strong attack like any other class does, there is no mechanic you have to adjust like the arena, you just spam one or two attacks, considering most "mechanics" from the Bluemage not work anyway on most bosses still.

Tanking as a BLU feels nothing like the other tanks, it feels like you are a DPS trying to cheese a fight with a broken move. Healing feels like this too. Because both roles are ultimately a DPS, their respective toolkits aren't as strong and the entire dynamic of the group is trying to compensate for this. Something as simple as a tank swap can require group coordination. It's more akin to trying to solo old content or taking 8 PLDs and trying to do old raids synced, it's the same fight done with additional challenges and considerations that make it fresh. Just because aetherial mimicry exists doesn't change that.

To show you what I mean I'll even point out specific examples:

- the only tank mitigation has a cast bar and high MP cost. Tank needs to manage this carefully.
- Tank damage is nonexistant, which is a game changer in a culture of FFlogs and parsers, and means that BLU tanking feels the most like a tank that the role has had in a very long time
- Raise has a cool down so the group needs to coordinate in the event of death
- no oGCD healing, meaning - like the lack of damage on tanks - healers are primarily healing, far more than their regular counterparts. The lack of strong heals also means heavy communication between the tanks and healers when it comes to certain damaging mechanics.

Do you maybe want to elaborate on what you don't like about BLU and why it would be so bad that BST is like it?

[Reinha]

It's more akin to trying to solo old content or taking 8 PLDs and trying to do old raids synced, it's the same fight done with additional challenges and considerations that make it fresh.

That's what I was trying to say. BLU is not the only job which can go to old content or the only job capable of playing with non-standard comps. RDM is a full job with healing ability, solo ability, good dps and a higher level cap, which make it a great job for meme runs and challenges. Tank only runs have been done since ARR. Achievement rewards for doing raids differently have been requested before and they didn't need to be class specific.

It seems like BLU's only purpose is to introduce new ways of playing old content to people who lack the imagination to challenge themselves.

[ReiMakoto]

That's what I was trying to say. BLU is not the only job which can go to old content or the only job capable of playing with non-standard comps. RDM is a full job with healing ability, solo ability, good dps and a higher level cap, which make it a great job for meme runs and challenges. Tank only runs have been done since ARR. Achievement rewards for doing raids differently have been requested before and they didn't need to be class specific.

It seems like BLU's only purpose is to introduce new ways of playing old content to people who lack the imagination to challenge themselves.

There is potential for BLU to be able to do challenge runs where 8 tank runs could not, after heavenward encounter design changed in such a way to make 8 tank runs of savage and such content significantly more difficult/impossible (o3s for example physically cannot be done due to the game mechanic), and a lot of mechanics like 2nd forsaken / grand cross / virus require consistent pre positioning based on role. If BLU's mimicry makes these mechanics target like normal then BLU could do challenge runs where all tank runs dropped off, but thats just to do with mechanics rather than toolset. I still don't think thats a valuable enough niche though for blu because youre essentially just running content as an intended party at that point with just some wonky tactics and situationally overpowered skill.

[Ghald]

Do you maybe want to elaborate on what you don't like about BLU and why it would be so bad that BST is like it?

It's not that I don't like Blue Mage or Beast Master for that matter, it is the concept of Limited Job itself (at least the current iteration). I don't have a solution to it either on how to ballance Blue Mage to make it a regular job.