From post http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...66#post4861766
Regarding this in particular,
"As a result, using this method for leveling would normally be classified as an exploit, but since we were not able to address this promptly despite it being a known issue, we will not be issuing any penalties for players who are leveling in this way. However, since this was not the intended design, we do not recommend engaging in this behavior, and exhort players to level in the normal manner as was intended. "
I would like to ask the developers to re-think this. You're not seeming to grasp the actual problem this exploit causes, which is that the players using the exploit are annihilating entire maps of enemies as soon as they spawn and kill stealing from other players. Now that you won't punish for it, the kill stealing and harassment will get worse.
With how Blue mage is designed to play, the ideal method to level is to cast thousand needles on a mob at least 10 levels above your own that is passive, like a crystal type enemy or something, to one shot it. These exploiters are going around on lv70 archers and red mages and nuking enemies they know other players are trying to kill, and when the player who is trying to level in a legit way asks them to stop kill stealing from them the exploiters laugh and declare SE won't do anything to them, which you've now proven the cheaters to be correct on by refusing to punish for these exploiters who gained at the expense of other players.
This the wrong precedent and message to be sending, because you're telling all the legit players that it's totally okay for these exploiters to have went around kill stealing from us and used an exploit to achieve in a couple hours what normally takes a couple days.
Your job is to ensure a fair rule set and ensure the rules are enforced. It's not harmless behavior, as their actions are impacting other players.
The maps could normally be done with groups of players farming the mobs, but instead it became a free for all and frustrating situation because of these exploiters nuking entire maps while solo.
All you need to do is tell people they will get bans if they keep using the behavior, and issue a blue mage job level and spellbook reset to those who engaged in it already.
By not doing this you're setting a precedent that it's okay for people to engage in an exploit just because it would take you a lot of work to fix it. People will use this situation as an excuse to engage in other exploits they find, and tell others it will be okay because SE will blame themselves so it's fine if they find a glitch that lets people spam LB3 dps limit breaks or whatever because they won't be punished. It's going to happen, because it's already happened with this exploit regarding blue mages. People have been claiming because you didnt fix the level sync bug in Euroka that this exploit will also be okay. You need to take this stuff more seriously.
Also the honest truth is the devs can fix this problem in 5 minutes of coding. All they have to do is make it so you can't switch classes within 5 minutes of killing an enemy. It's not complicated to hotfix. You're not supposed to be able to switch classes while in combat and this exploit bypasses that rule, and everyone who did the exploit knew they were cheating. They should get a softban, they deserve it.