Thread: Thoughts on BLU in 5.1 Discussion after the craze.

Before I answer, this is purely from what I have seen. I want to be 100% honest as instead of playing it myself I went and watched others and helped a friend get spells instead of doing this myself so take my opinions as I feel they are personally well-informed but to someone else they could be seen as otherwise.

1. I feel only slightly better. But less in an "I'm happy" way and more in an "Some of these changes should have been that way from the start". The party stuff I feel like is backwards. They are designing it like it's meant to be played solo but balancing and aiming it toward party. I wish they'd choose one, is it a balanced class or an unbalanced sandbox?

2. I feel like BLU is a poor example of a limited job system. I feel like I'd need a second to really get a feel for it. in all honesty, I feel like BLU should not be a limited job and they should replace it with a class like Beast Tamer and then the carnival aesthetic makes sense, you're making animals do tricks and stuff and that's a neat little side job (just don't listen to PETA).

3. It is hard to say.

4. The Job. When the abilities do work it has some fun synnergies that are fun. But i wish there were more or that the more status-based ones worked more often. I have no clue what the second question means.

5. Great idea, horrible execution. Morbol mount should have been getting all the spells. Make a unique like "Final Justice" mount for doing the savages.

6. I answered this above. I feel like this class is not fit for this system and a different job should have been the one chosen to test this because this is too popular a job and not unique enough to really show how the limited job system could work.

7. Absolutely not. Not enough content accessible to only it to really encourage play of the class for me, and not enough incentives for me to really want to grab it. On top of that they didn't even go through each of the HW trials and think of a move each could give, imagine if you went to Sephirot and got Ysod or Da'at. You went to Zurvan and got Southern Cross. I also feel like there's a few missed opportunities by not giving BLU Limit Cut from A11 and a couple other Alex fights. On top of that still being locked out of POTD is unacceptable. I'd even take it if there was like a POTD: Path of the Blue Mage thing that you only get if you go in with or as a Blue Mage

8. I've been thinking about this, and yes and no. There is a way to get what I want without stupid op one-shot death spells. BUT it would require still being able to solo content BLU has access to without them.

9. this is kinda a bad question. I know it's more to tell bias but as it stands it doesn't work at all. How would we know? For me it's all about how it's designed. I didn't know I'd play RDM as a job until I played it and now it's one of my favorite classes. Same with Dancer, although to a much lesser extent.

10. PVP I couldn't care less, but I feel like they really could find like 15 or so skills that make the class work in PVP and do that like they do every class so I don't understand why it's excluded. Deep Dungeon and Squadron Missions are straight-up bs. I don't get why it's excluded from those.

1. Do you like BLU now more than before? How do you feel about the job becoming more party orientated?

I felt like I had more fun with it this time around, but I would have liked a solo job to be able to do things more... you know, solo. But I didn't mind the party-focused stuff too much.

2. Are you happy with the limited job system now? Do you feel like BLU is okay as a limited job or do you still want an unlimited one?

Eeeehhhhhh? I feel marginally better about it I guess? But it could just be me having reached the "acceptance" stage of grief. /shrug

3. Based on what BLU has now, are you looking forward to more limited jobs?

Absolutely not. If Beastmaster ever becomes a thing, I hope it's a full job. Please. Please.

4. What do you find most enjoyable, the content or the job? Do you think they are the same thing and do you think it can exist independently of each other?

I really like going into the Open World to get moves, and I wish there was much more of it. I didn't mind running dungeons with it though, especially synced. It was surprisingly fun to go in with different moves and take mobs down in various ways.

5. How do you feel about a rewarded mount being placed on the job as the carrot on the stick for the content?

I feel it was kind of a scummy thing to do, honestly. It's clearly there to pad out the content longer and give the illusion that it's "successful". The "Silence Echo" component is ridiculous. I have yet to see anyone express a desire to go for the mount and I believe as time goes on even less people are going to want to bother with it.
It should have been tied to something else such as spellbook completion.

6. Do you still want an unlimited version of BLU? Would you be willing to have the job completely reworked? Do you want a version that is "unlimited" that can use the duty finder and be at the current cap? Are you willing to give up something so that resources and time can be provided to the Dev team to make that happen (could possibly mean giving up a new job at an expansion)?

I'm not sure anymore to be honest... I would love it to be a normal job, but I still find the act of collecting spells fun. Many of the spells are essentially "re-skins" of each other; same potency, but different elemental aspect. Maybe the devs could make a solid skill set for BLU but have the moves be "glamourable" so it can still have that unique flair.

7. If this is all that BLU gets each expansion, you would be satisfied with it?

I'm hoping this isn't all we're getting for BLU for the rest of Shb, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is, sadly. It would be nice if we got the cap raised to 70 and got one more set of spells to learn before the end of the expansion. Don't ask me why but it would feel better for the cap to be at just 10 levels behind current cap as opposed to 20.

8. Do you think the overpowered tools that BLU has are necessary for what you envision a BLU to be, even if it would to be unlimited?

I'm going to tell you right now that there's absolutely nothing overpowered about BLU. The devs like to nerf it into the ground before you can even say the first syllable of the word. If it's going to be limited like this because it's "overpowered", then actually let it be overpowered. Level 5 Death, for one, is pretty much useless because a) low success rate, b) many enemies resist it, and c) testing to see what mobs it works on is obnoxious due to the long cooldown.

9. Did you play BLU more than if it had been a normal job?

It's hard for me to find reason to in its current state, because you can't do nearly as much content with it as a normal job can.

10. How do you feel about the continued exclusion of BLU from content like Deep Dungeon, PvP, and Squadron Missions?

PVP I understand. Balancing classes for that must be an even bigger nightmare. I don't usually do Squadron Missions so I can't really complain about that, but it would be nice. Deep Dungeons? Now that needs to be a thing, I think. Especially for solo runs. Sounds like that would be a lot of fun.

1. Do you like BLU now more than before? How do you feel about the job becoming more party orientated?

I like BLU more than before primarily due to the new spells, with Aetherial Mimicry being the real game changer. While it's not perfect, Aetherial Mimicry at least allows me to take on any of the roles to some degree.

2. Are you happy with the limited job system now? Do you feel like BLU is okay as a limited job or do you still want an unlimited one?

I still want BLU to be unlimited, and now that Aetherial Mimicry is a thing, with the right rework, BLU could conceivably become a standard job in my opinion.

3. Based on what BLU has now, are you looking forward to more limited jobs?

No. I prefer jobs I can play to max level in all content. I do not like the limitations of a limited job.

4. What do you find most enjoyable, the content or the job? Do you think they are the same thing and do you think it can exist independently of each other?

I like the job and the collection of the spells. I am not really much of a fan of the carnival or the blu log. I do like the BLU job quests/story though.

5. How do you feel about a rewarded mount being placed on the job as the carrot on the stick for the content?

I don't care personally since I don't find the Morbol an aesthetically appealing mount, but I understand that other players might and why they might be upset at all the hoops you have to jump through to get it.

6. Do you still want an unlimited version of BLU? Would you be willing to have the job completely reworked? Do you want a version that is "unlimited" that can use the duty finder and be at the current cap? Are you willing to give up something so that resources and time can be provided to the Dev team to make that happen (could possibly mean giving up a new job at an expansion)?

I would like to see BLU graduate into an unlimited job. I am willing to sacrifice whatever the next Eureka is for it :P

7. If this is all that BLU gets each expansion, you would be satisfied with it?

Satisfied? Not really.. but there's not much I can do about that. The only way for me to be satisfied with BLU is for it to be reworked into an unlimited job.

8. Do you think the overpowered tools that BLU has are necessary for what you envision a BLU to be, even if it would to be unlimited?

BLU has no "overpowered tools" in my opinion. If it did, then maybe I might feel differently about it being limited, but it is mediocre at pretty much everything it does. The only time it felt overpowered was in early levels where spells like White Wind and 1000 Needles could be used to astonishing affect. At 50 and now 60 there's nothing comparable to that.

9. Did you play BLU more than if it had been a normal job?

No.

10. How do you feel about the continued exclusion of BLU from content like Deep Dungeon, PvP, and Squadron Missions?

I am unhappy with the decision.

1. Do you like BLU now more than before? How do you feel about the job becoming more party orientated?

I like it like I like a $500 medical bill more than $1,000... In that sense I still feel disappointed with the direction and decisions based around this 'job'. I am against this job becoming target focused on more party oriented (non-DF/no-echo sync), and had hoped that "if it must be non-DF/real job" that it would be a solo job with the power to solo content I might not have otherwise been able to readily solo (like go slap some savage content solo that might not have been logically do-able, due to some abnormal blue mage skill and power allowing it).

Of course being DF-able would have been an even higher goal than just being a solo-powerhouse (or both, I like both), but party no-echo sync was at the very bottom of the barrel in terms of personal desires.

2. Are you happy with the limited job system now? Do you feel like BLU is okay as a limited job or do you still want an unlimited one?

No. While I think they improved some concepts of Blu from release I am still not pleased with what happened, I would like blue mage to be either regular or advanced (both limited and normal). in terms of it being okay as limited, I think I would have warmed up to the idea of a very powerful interweaving of combinations like organizing your legendary affixs in diablo 3.. which is clearly not what blue is currently.

I do not think the current limited design is ideal, even as a limited concept, for many reasons but one quick one being with how the skills are organized the more enjoyable blue requires you to be in on the hype train release or have hours of low quality blue as you sit and wait for PF / beg for help (as the skills that make you almost as interesting mechanically as a normal job are behind instanced content). Which that I can write that, at least imo, means that the job has serious problems and is not ideally designed even under it's own vision to be limited.

3. Based on what BLU has now, are you looking forward to more limited jobs?

If they go the same no echo sync concept I would, personally, see them as a waste of my time.

That I want to be clear doesn't mean others wont enjoy it, not everything in this game is made for me- but as I had wanted and hoped for blue mage and still believe it could be made in a way interesting at least in "my tastes"- I know that more of what blue mage is currently would be.. even if crudely put "waste of resources" in my eyes. Again not only my eyes are on this game (obviously, but should be said for clarity that I also understand this fact lol)- there are others who will like it, some of them are my friends.

If SE was like we can make 4 limited jobs just like blue mage or 1 normal job I'd choose one normal job without much thought. Now if these other limited jobs are NOT like blue mage, because I don't value how blue mage is limited (I don't value the concept of no-echo synced content), then I might pause and think about it. So it's just that more of how blue mage is designed currently is not valuable content to me personally, and also is disappointing as it had taken a hope/desire and dashed it cross the rocks.. multiple times...

4. What do you find most enjoyable, the content or the job? Do you think they are the same thing and do you think it can exist independently of each other?

Casting an iconic monster spell like thousand needles, though that got boring fast. I think I've a concept that allows blue mage to be a normal job, a solo power house, and also have a challenge in no-echo content... while using a skeleton shared between them such that the job doesn't look like three entirely unrelated concepts. Not that it matters for the job's future but was hoping to share it somewhat soon lol. Tl;dr being a sort of custom dice / deck builder, with the DF portion using a more fixed deck and the non-df portion being customize-able and with little regard to balance (the no echo part using limited's extra features but with a strong tamper on stats, meaning building your custom deck / dice(s) are even more important for success).

5. How do you feel about a rewarded mount being placed on the job as the carrot on the stick for the content?

Well as you said, put there as a carrot- it'll get more people to play it and I'm sure they'll use that data to say it was a success. Though I think that's inflating numbers as if you put a mount behind something else more people would do that too so... /shrug.

6. Do you still want an unlimited version of BLU? Would you be willing to have the job completely reworked? Do you want a version that is "unlimited" that can use the duty finder and be at the current cap? Are you willing to give up something so that resources and time can be provided to the Dev team to make that happen (could possibly mean giving up a new job at an expansion)?

Yes, and I still want a different version of limited too since I'd have valued in order: Blue that can DF, blue that can solo (is solo focused), not called blue but some new named content that is like what we have now, what we have now. Technically at the top of that list would be blue that is both limited and full, an advanced job, but it's easy for me to say I want everything/both lol and of course costly in both money and time for the devs (easy is to want, hard is to make). Though again I do think there are concepts that could maintain the image of blue, huge lists of blue skills, and do all the above of solo power house, no echo challenge, and df, while not drastically increasing development time beyond having to create a real job in the first place.

7. If this is all that BLU gets each expansion, you would be satisfied with it?

I don't appreciate blue as it is currently, blue disappointed and still disappoints me. Though I do think they've improved it for a new audience, one that isn't me, ... and I also think that happy audience could have been satisfied without the cost of blue though.. so I'm happy they're happy but I don't think it had to cost blue to get what they were enjoying created. That said I've other jobs I do like, so it's not like the game is ruined for me. I just don't like how and what they did, how being the poor communication and mixed signals (that slide talking about solo and such), and the what being what blue is currently- I personally think the job deserved more.

8. Do you think the overpowered tools that BLU has are necessary for what you invision a BLU to be, even if it would to be unlimited?

I think you could easily have both in an advanced job format (in that sense of design, getting it onto the paper.. lol, not easy in having to create all those freaking weapons, armor, quests, and careful mathematical balance for DF- which is why I assume they went limited in the first place to dodge that very heavy cost). Death in limited form would be death the spell, and death in DF would be like "kills enemy that is up to 200% your current hp (non-boss), else deals 500 potency and inflicts doom which is a 10% defense debuff- cooldown length based on which effect transpired".

9. Did you play BLU more than if it had been a normal job?

No. I play all jobs, I would have played blue more as a pure fact if it was a real job (as I'd have to level it, and would queue in DF with it). I would have also played blue more if it allowed me to do content I wouldn't normally be able to readily do solo (like some mechanics just are not solo-able, or some players don't have the better solo job's leveled and a limited blue could be easier access to having that available to them).

10. How do you feel about the continued exclusion of BLU from content like Deep Dungeon, PvP, and Squadron Missions?

Like how I feel about the job in general lol. A bit frowny face.

i feel at this point SE should just implement it and allow it to be used in regular content.

1) make set ability loadouts with slight customization
2) all blu spells must be collected in order for it to be used
3) some blu spells would be restricted to overworld content only (ie death, doom, tail screw, missile, launcher, anything that would really trivialize mob encounters in dungeons)

and to actually answer the prompt in the OP

1. Do you like BLU now more than before? How do you feel about the job becoming more party orientated?
there's more substance to it now but it's still incredibly limited

2. Are you happy with the limited job system now? Do you feel like BLU is okay as a limited job or do you still want an unlimited one?
unlimited

3. Based on what BLU has now, are you looking forward to more limited jobs?
NO.

4. What do you find most enjoyable, the content or the job? Do you think they are the same thing and do you think it can exist independently of each other?
the job. a big thing for me when deciding what i play in rpgs is class fantasy.

5. How do you feel about a rewarded mount being placed on the job as the carrot on the stick for the content?
terrible idea. once people get the mount, all the spells and titles, no reason to keep playing it.

6. Do you still want an unlimited version of BLU? Would you be willing to have the job completely reworked? Do you want a version that is "unlimited" that can use the duty finder and be at the current cap? Are you willing to give up something so that resources and time can be provided to the Dev team to make that happen (could possibly mean giving up a new job at an expansion)?
i'd be happy if in 6.0 the only new job was blue mage that could fit in the ranged magical dps, tank, and healer categories.


7. If this is all that BLU gets each expansion, you would be satisfied with it?
no

8. Do you think the overpowered tools that BLU has are necessary for what you invision a BLU to be, even if it would to be unlimited?
no

9. Did you play BLU more than if it had been a normal job?
yes, it's my favorite job in the series

10. How do you feel about the continued exclusion of BLU from content like Deep Dungeon, PvP, and Squadron Missions?
terrible

1. Yeah it's an improvement. Nearly guaranteed spell learning chance for synced content is a huge plus.

2. BLU is okay, but unfortunately super short-lived, because once you've done learning spells, MC and the log, there's very little incentive to do anything.

3. Depends. If it's going to be all limited jobs can participate with each other, then maybe. If every new potential limited job gets its own content, then no.

4. I am not sure if can quite separate the two.

5. I feel like the carrot was not enough. After i got all the spells and most of the log, i tried several Coils groups, they failed spectacularly. That pretty much killed the desire to get the mount and to play as BLU in general.

6. Yes. Unlimited BLU would be fun.

7. No.

8. Their overpowered stuff simply does not work on anything remotely relevant.

9. Not really. A couple weeks and then it's pretty much gone.

10. I feel it's kinda arbitrary. Squadron is literally solo content. PvP can get a set of skills depending on your chosen mimicry. Regarding deep dungeons, BLU can use all the learned spells from level 1. So it will be more powerful at lower levels, but once you hit 60 it will be pretty much like any other job. And if you fear that it will steamroll higher floors, giving some immunities to mobs will make this a non issue.

I don't think I know where my BLU weapon is.