Thread: Does anyone else think BLU feels improved from 4.5?

Sure I still have some gripes with it, but overall it doesn't feel as gimped as it did previously. I tried Cruise Chaser and Alexander with a PF party and there were no real hiccups beyond one wipe on the former due to messing up on mechanics. Compared to doing Garuda EX back in 4.5 and seeing the MT struggling to keep aggro with Mighty Guard, this feels like a breath of fresh air.

Even if we might wish for improvement beyond what's there, I hope other people are enjoying it somewhat!

I mean, could hardly be worse could it?

Feels about the same to me.

Mimicry has definitely improved the job's gameplay imo.

Originally Posted by Flay_wind

Debatable. DPS stance does not impact how you play whatsoever, it's just more numbers. Pretend to be a healer is decent and pretend to be a tank is passable, but that's more or less it.

Of course DPS stance doesn't impact how you play since the job is a base DPS lol. Mimicry Tank and Mimicry Healer are the change ups to how the job plays. The added DH and Crit Chance are nice to add some spice to specializing in damage, though.

Most importantly though is the group dynamics that are a bit more possible thanks to Mimicry as well as the expansion of healing and mitigation spells. Going as a full group of 8 you can have people Mimicry specialize to be 2t/2h/4d. This with the incentives to go as a full BLU party have led to an interesting few days so far of full BLU party content.

All of this, in my opinion, is a definite improvement. If you disagree, that's fine, this thread is querying if people have noticed something better about BLU, and my proposal is Mimicry is a big factor in that.

Originally Posted by SaberMaxwell

Of course DPS stance doesn't impact how you play since the job is a base DPS lol. Mimicry Tank and Mimicry Healer are the change ups to how the job plays. The added DH and Crit Chance are nice to add some spice to specializing in damage, though.

Most importantly though is the group dynamics that are a bit more possible thanks to Mimicry as well as the expansion of healing and mitigation spells. Going as a full group of 8 you can have people Mimicry specialize to be 2t/2h/4d. This with the incentives to go as a full BLU party have led to an interesting few days so far of full BLU party content.

All of this, in my opinion, is a definite improvement. If you disagree, that's fine, this thread is querying if people have noticed something better about BLU, and my proposal is Mimicry is a big factor in that.

I think Mimicry is a BIT of an improvement, but there's an issue with the spell itself. Why not make it a stance change? That way changes can be made on the fly.
Healer is fine to me but Tank definitely needs something.

I'm new to the spell. Having only gotten it last night, but I did have a chance to tank and boy did I suck. Had nothing to do with BLU I just haven't gotten used to the skills, but it definitely feels smoother now compared to lvl 50 cap and relying so much on the look and mighty guard. I plan on trying it out more when I get back from work.

I mostly just love the idea and flavor of the spell.
Some weirdo (Martyn) in blue randomly immitating bystanders for kicks. That in itself makes me smile.

Healing and Tanking are awkward in savage content. Even with tank mimicry and Mighty Guard up, Blue Mage takes significant damage from autos such that the healer basically needs to be using Pom Cure every single GCD. You basically have no real tank cooldowns on BLU other than Diamondback, which is virtually required for almost all tank busters (unless you stack Gobskin, Devour, and Bad Breath). They should add a defensive cooldown property to Veil of the Whorl to make it like Vengeance, and add a few more defensive cooldowns as well, including one that permanently buffs Physical Defense/Magic Defense. Even though Mighty Guard+Tank Mimicry grant a high amount of mitigation, the base damage BLU takes is high because of the pathetically low base defense they have as a DoM in caster gear. I think they also need to add a Regen skill.

The biggest flaw of tanking on BLU in savage is tank swapping. It requires the use of Frog Legs which is an AoE provoke with a decent range (8y) and it doesn't have bonus enmity attached to it like a real Provoke either. It makes fights with multiple targets a real pain in the ass.