it would be nice if leveling was less exploitable

[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?

[Hugowulf]

Oh look another one of these threads. Guess that this job is so boring that people feel the need to complain about someone else getting a limited job capped.

[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.

[Alexandre_Noireau]

Oh look another one of these threads. Guess that this job is so boring that people feel the need to complain about someone else getting a limited job capped.

It kinda is a good measure of how bad implemented some content can be.
If content is good, people share information and usually, more than that, just play the damn thing, since is good and fun, no time to be here.

If content is divisive or bad, we have this. Thread upon thread, and i'm all for them, it shows that the job in its current implementation is at least divisive. I just wish developers are actually assessing data from the forums.

[SomeRandomHuman]

It would be nice if glass dance would drop in less than 100 runs

[Hakuro89]

I'm failing to understand why it's other players' fault you feel wronged. It was an error on the part of the developers, which by the way has been a thing for quite a while.
If someone's going around one shotting things, I really don't care, it's not like they've laid claim to the entire map. It's not a problem caused by people one shotting things, it's a problem cause from a new job dropping with really only one way to level it. So there's going to be a ton of blue mages in every corner of the (ARR) world grinding on overworld mobs. Naturally with finite mob spawns, there's going to be competition.

And what's with the mount complaint, anyway? 'Have to jump on a mount to find mobs'? What?
So you run around the world on foot then?

[Vahlnir]

It would be nice if glass dance would drop in less than 100 runs

Yeah. Making spells a challenge to get is fine. But when the real challenge is not going insane because of insanely low drop rates something is wrong. Very wrong. There's a time and place for RNG. BLU is not the best time or place.