BLU (Tank Concept) Lore of the Azure

[Mikey_R]

This is going to be a short one, but it seems you misunderstand the enmity problem. All tanks have a single target enmity combo which does decent damage, they aren't the strongest combo the tank has, however, the damage is still fine for the odd time you need it. Your enmity rotation has alot of AoEs and is weak. Noone would use it as that small amount of damage would not be worth it for the enmity. To put it into perspective, After flashing, PLD can spam a 110 potency attack, DRK goes between Abyssal Drain at 120 and Quietus at 160 (210 under Dark Arts), Warrior has Overpower at 130 potency with access to steel cyclone and decimate at 200 and 280 potency when they have enough gauge. As a comparison, PLD single target enmity combo is 150 > 210 > 270, much higher than yours plus, how easy is it to break out of the rotation to use an enmity combo in the first place? Tanks cannot be locked behind long combo chains that break as soon as they need some enmity, whether it's an overenthusiastic DPS or suddenly, boss adds etc.

The next thing I want to point out, you have 2 combos, one does MP and one does HP, Blue Magic uses MP (I'm assuming anyway). Hopefully you see the issue I'm seeing. The MP restoration is locked behind your tank stance, which no tank wants to be in if they can help it. If you say well, you won't run into MP problems even in rage, then I question, what is the point of the MP restoration in the first place? PLD has it so they can burn through it all in their Holy Spirit phase, DRK burns though even more though Dark Arts spam, however, both have ways to regenerate their MP in both tank and dps stances. It's counter intuitive to have the resource management locked behind a specific stance.

Last point I'm going to make, can you swap stances on demand, or is it locked behind using Goblin Punch (which is then locked behind Clautraphlare). that's a long time you have to wait to switch stances if you suddenly need it. Add onto that, how does that then affect your stacks, do you keep them, do you have to build them up again, if you can swap on the fly, what happens if you are mid one combo, say a serenity combo and swap to rage, would you have to start again, does it just swap what you can do etc.

The more I read, the more I think this could make a decent DPS rotation, 2 stances, one burns MP, the other restores it, lose the HP regen, add some damage and speed buffs, once you complete each combo and switch, you get a 'charge', get X amount, you can unleash a strong attack. It just doesn't seem like you understand why tanks are built as they are. Looking at your profile, you only have Red Mage at 70, which is probably why this does lean more towards a DPS rotation than a tanking skillset. Keep levelling those tanks, learn how they work, how each ability is used and ideally, you would need to use it in some harder content, sigma story is a good start, the alliance raids and if you really feel like it, the ex primals and savage. Get into the mind of a tank, improve that knowledge and have a better foundation to start.

EDIT:

So, I've just seen your new post with different combos, will add here.

First, still too complicated. You have the same start, but, dependant on your sync rate, you use different finishers, way too much to keep track of, maybe even for a DPS. You also have enmity moves on all combos, that's a big no. No tank will use an enmity combo for DPS, basing this off level 70. Reason being, as an off tank, you shouldn't need to generate enmity, which can be detrimental. You will sneak up on the MT and eventually have a choice, take enmity or slow yourself down, neither of which is desired. There is a reason they made enmity combos undesirable to use for damage and even changed one of PLDs combo strings to accommodate that (Royal Authority used to combo off of savage blade, if you were wondering).

I also don't see the point in 3 stances. I understand you are trying to make a balanced one, however you will see either rage, or blue. Serenity sees too much loss for too little gain to use it over blue even in defensive situations.

[PatronasCharm]

This is going to be a short one, but it seems you misunderstand the enmity problem. All tanks have a single target enmity combo which does decent damage, they aren't the strongest combo the tank has, however, the damage is still fine for the odd time you need it. Your enmity rotation has alot of AoEs and is weak. Noone would use it as that small amount of damage would not be worth it for the enmity. To put it into perspective, After flashing, PLD can spam a 110 potency attack, DRK goes between Abyssal Drain at 120 and Quietus at 160 (210 under Dark Arts), Warrior has Overpower at 130 potency with access to steel cyclone and decimate at 200 and 280 potency when they have enough gauge. As a comparison, PLD single target enmity combo is 150 > 210 > 270, much higher than yours plus, how easy is it to break out of the rotation to use an enmity combo in the first place? Tanks cannot be locked behind long combo chains that break as soon as they need some enmity, whether it's an overenthusiastic DPS or suddenly, boss adds etc.

The next thing I want to point out, you have 2 combos, one does MP and one does HP, Blue Magic uses MP (I'm assuming anyway). Hopefully you see the issue I'm seeing. The MP restoration is locked behind your tank stance, which no tank wants to be in if they can help it. If you say well, you won't run into MP problems even in rage, then I question, what is the point of the MP restoration in the first place? PLD has it so they can burn through it all in their Holy Spirit phase, DRK burns though even more though Dark Arts spam, however, both have ways to regenerate their MP in both tank and dps stances. It's counter intuitive to have the resource management locked behind a specific stance.

Last point I'm going to make, can you swap stances on demand, or is it locked behind using Goblin Punch (which is then locked behind Clautraphlare). that's a long time you have to wait to switch stances if you suddenly need it. Add onto that, how does that then affect your stacks, do you keep them, do you have to build them up again, if you can swap on the fly, what happens if you are mid one combo, say a serenity combo and swap to rage, would you have to start again, does it just swap what you can do etc.

The more I read, the more I think this could make a decent DPS rotation, 2 stances, one burns MP, the other restores it, lose the HP regen, add some damage and speed buffs, once you complete each combo and switch, you get a 'charge', get X amount, you can unleash a strong attack. It just doesn't seem like you understand why tanks are built as they are. Looking at your profile, you only have Red Mage at 70, which is probably why this does lean more towards a DPS rotation than a tanking skillset. Keep levelling those tanks, learn how they work, how each ability is used and ideally, you would need to use it in some harder content, sigma story is a good start, the alliance raids and if you really feel like it, the ex primals and savage. Get into the mind of a tank, improve that knowledge and have a better foundation to start.

EDIT:

So, I've just seen your new post with different combos, will add here.

First, still too complicated. You have the same start, but, dependant on your sync rate, you use different finishers, way too much to keep track of, maybe even for a DPS. You also have enmity moves on all combos, that's a big no. No tank will use an enmity combo for DPS, basing this off level 70. Reason being, as an off tank, you shouldn't need to generate enmity, which can be detrimental. You will sneak up on the MT and eventually have a choice, take enmity or slow yourself down, neither of which is desired. There is a reason they made enmity combos undesirable to use for damage and even changed one of PLDs combo strings to accommodate that (Royal Authority used to combo off of savage blade, if you were wondering).

I also don't see the point in 3 stances. I understand you are trying to make a balanced one, however you will see either rage, or blue. Serenity sees too much loss for too little gain to use it over blue even in defensive situations.

Phew~ !! Okay, so I did quite a few changes after reading some feedback and yours; here's some brief explanations and the changes:

They don't really have 3 stances, the Blue Mage Default without "Rage / Serenity" just benefits from the Correlation Tome Synchronization. Sort of like Shield Oath on PLD, get some Enmity, Shield Oath off, and begin rotations etc.

• So you can play like this: Serenity >> Build Up Enmity >> Guard-Off >> Default or go into Rage, DPS a bit, then Guard-Off, Default again do an Enmity Combo, etc.

• *Goblin Punch is now the Blue Mage's "Stun" ability

1. *Thorgen is their Shield Lob / Unmend * So pretty much, the Blue Mage opens with Thorgen

• Serenity Combo is now their Enmity Stance / Tank Stance (Did some adjustments to greater decrease the DPS output)

• Manachannel: Increases Mana Shield activation rate and grants a period of MP Regeneration

• Magic Hammer can now be casted with MP restoration Combo and restores MP to total damage dealt. This is be their Syphon Strike / Riot Blade combo
  
• MP Combo: Clautraphlare >> Upward, Downward Break >> Stardivider (10% MP Restore) >> Magic Hammer (15% MP Restore)

[Regular Ol' Blue Mage]

So pretty much utilizing the Blue Mage (Default Mode) is the best thing to do after "Guard-Off," "Guard-Off" Removes the stance inflicting AoE damage and lets the Blue Mage either stick to Blue stance, then use the Enmity Combo, or shift to a new stance (Rage / Serenity).

• *The purpose behind the stances are for their Guard-Off Buff; either give Party Members a damage mitigation with Serenity, or give them an attack bonus; of course both share a 120s GCD so it can't be taken advantage of.

Changed the following:

• Rage Stance now has Magic Hammer for MP Absorption
• Serennity Stance now has Lifebreak for HP Absoprtion

Enmity:

[Thorgen 120 >> Screech 80 (AoE) >> 1,000 Needles 260 (AoE) >> Acid 120 (AoE)] Would be the Blue Mage's equivalent to: The PLD / DRK/ WAR flashing, PLD can spam a 110 potency attack, DRK goes between Abyssal Drain at 120 and Quietus at 160 (210 under Dark Arts), Warrior has Overpower at 130 potency with access to steel cyclone and decimate at 200 and 280 potency when they have enough gauge etc. [I'll adjust potencies to better equate to the other Tanks overall potencies]


I'll go into the concept and continue to polish it up as I continue to play with the Tanks throughout my playthrough in the coming weeks.

Again, thank you so much for your thorough observations and feedback =D