The Big Blue Feedback Thread

[ADVSS]

It essentially doubles the damage of a tank, from 30% to 60% of the non-tank BLUs.

Absolutely needed. I'll second the Cactguard request, and boost it to 10% or higher reduction in tank stance or if cast on self. Its really not that great, though a cd buff like that that can be given out, sort of like when tanks can choose a secondary target or self. Should be similar imo. These changes were bare minimum, but needed i think/ Devour was cool idea, but the duration vs cd made it much less desirable even as a tank, this ought to help tanking BLU esp when paired with the buff to mighty guard, As far as guages go, no BLU doesnt need one, neither do half the jobs did either tbf.

[AceofRains]

A quick tidbit about Condensed Libra.

Today it occurred to me that the elemental aspects associated with astral and umbra when using the spell Condensed Libra are not correct. I can’t say if this is intentional or not but I have a reason to rather see it corrected.

The mistake lies in Ice and Thunder. According to the elemental chart, Ice is astrally aligned while Thunder is Umbrally aligned. This is not the case for Condensed Libra, it is rather the opposite. There is the matter of Thaumaturge’s Astral Fire/Umbral Ice mechanic, but according to the elemental charts as well as Ryne’s transformation into Hydaelyn Shiva, Ice should be Astrally aligned, if not the closest element to Light.

But why does this matter? It doesn’t matter a whole lot being that CL is a very mild raid DPS skill, but after fully optimizing my spells with and without Instant Death, I found my self having to choose between Alpine Draft or Electrogenesis as a DPS. At the time it didn’t matter to me, but today when I thought about CL I had a bit of an epiphany. With Fire Agnon and Sonic Boom being Astrally Aligned, it would make sense to me to take Alpine Draft to keep the theme of Astral Spells going. But that choice doesn’t matter- because Electrogenesis is also astral.

It’s a small detail, but i think Condensed Libra should be adjusted for consistency’s sake.

[Seraphor]

A quick tidbit about Condensed Libra.

Today it occurred to me that the elemental aspects associated with astral and umbra when using the spell Condensed Libra are not correct. I can’t say if this is intentional or not but I have a reason to rather see it corrected.

The mistake lies in Ice and Thunder. According to the elemental chart, Ice is astrally aligned while Thunder is Umbrally aligned. This is not the case for Condensed Libra, it is rather the opposite. There is the matter of Thaumaturge’s Astral Fire/Umbral Ice mechanic, but according to the elemental charts as well as Ryne’s transformation into Hydaelyn Shiva, Ice should be Astrally aligned, if not the closest element to Light.

But why does this matter? It doesn’t matter a whole lot being that CL is a very mild raid DPS skill, but after fully optimizing my spells with and without Instant Death, I found my self having to choose between Alpine Draft or Electrogenesis as a DPS. At the time it didn’t matter to me, but today when I thought about CL I had a bit of an epiphany. With Fire Agnon and Sonic Boom being Astrally Aligned, it would make sense to me to take Alpine Draft to keep the theme of Astral Spells going. But that choice doesn’t matter- because Electrogenesis is also astral.

It’s a small detail, but i think Condensed Libra should be adjusted for consistency’s sake.

Umbral is the alignment of Light, not Astral.

Astral is Darkness and high energy states/entropy: Fire, Thunder and Wind.
Umbral is Light and low energy states/stasis: Ice, Earth and Water.

This is consistent throughout the lore, the MSQ (where Urianger explains in Il Mheg that Eorzean understanding of Astral/Umbral was backwards) and all the job skills/spells that reference Astral/Umbral alignment.

[AceofRains]

Umbral is the alignment of Light, not Astral.

Astral is Darkness and high energy states/entropy: Fire, Thunder and Wind.
Umbral is Light and low energy states/stasis: Ice, Earth and Water.

This is consistent throughout the lore, the MSQ (where Urianger explains in Il Mheg that Eorzean understanding of Astral/Umbral was backwards) and all the job skills/spells that reference Astral/Umbral alignment.

No, that is not what Urianger explained. He explained that Light does not always mean Astral, and Dark does not always mean Umbral. Because of the evolutionary rules of the 1st, these concepts were backwards compared to their original understanding by the source. Now that is to say that there is an Astral and Umbral form of every element. But if that’s not really convincing enough for you, please explain the elemental wheel. According to you, Fire and Wind are Umbral aspects as well. Fire, Wind, and Ice belong in the Astral grouping, and Earth, Water, and Thunder belong in the Umbral. Condensed Libra is inconsistent to this- it’s skewed where only Ice and Thunder are not properly grouped regardless of whether it means they are Astral or Umbral..

You know what. Never mind I think I get what you mean, but the chart would make a lot more sense if there was a median showing the divide between high energy and low energy.

[Veloran]

That's a chart from the Source, on the First Umbral is considered "Light" and Astral is considered "Darkness". The top three elements are naturally aspected to Darkness and the bottom three are naturally aspected to Light. So lightning/fire/wind - Darkness/Astral, ice/earth/water - Light/Umbral. Any element can also be forcibly aspected to the opposite pole, but that's their natural aspecting. Ice isn't naturally grouped Astrally/to Darkness and lightning isn't naturally grouped Umbrally/to Light.

Eorzean can be a little awkward to read, but the top and bottoms of the chart are actually labeled Astral and Umbral respectively to indicate this.

[Seraphor]

That's a chart from the source working on the flawed concept that Darkness=Umbral and Light=Astral.
Urianger explains that what the source understood as 'Astral' is actually high energy states/entropy, and is not responsible for Light, but for Darkness, and vice versa.
This is how Umbral aether, responsible for stasis, low-energy states, can be associated with Black Rose (halting individuals aether flows) and Light magic on the first (fixing aether in place, the stagnant empty)
Thus Umbral, closely aligned with Light, is associated with more static, low energy elemental magics, slow flowing Water, rigid Earth, and Ice being the most static of them all.
Astral therefore being associated with higher energy states, fast moving Wind, and intense Fire and shocking Lightning. Higher energy states lead to higher entropy, the aether flows more quickly, it dissipates and what's left behind is darkness, the Void.

The elements aren't aligned by the black/white triangles, in fact those don't make any sense and conflict with all of the other lore in the game. Rather, they're aligned top to bottom.
Top = Wind, Lightning and Fire. It's labelled 'Light' on the flawed source chart, but the correct term would be 'Astral'.
Bottom = Water Ice, and Earth. It's labelled 'Darkness' on the flawed source chart, but the correct term would be 'Umbral'.
The error is that Light and Darkness are interpreted the wrong way around, as Light magic is derived from Umbral aether, not Astral, and vice versa.

I expect the black and white triangles are just to do with elemental resistances. That's the only explanation I can think of for their existence.

[AceofRains]

That's a chart from the source working on the flawed concept that Darkness=Umbral and Light=Astral.
Urianger explains that what the source understood as 'Astral' is actually high energy states/entropy, and is not responsible for Light, but for Darkness, and vice versa.
This is how Umbral aether, responsible for stasis, low-energy states, can be associated with Black Rose (halting individuals aether flows) and Light magic on the first (fixing aether in place, the stagnant empty)
Thus Umbral, closely aligned with Light, is associated with more static, low energy elemental magics, slow flowing Water, rigid Earth, and Ice being the most static of them all.
Astral therefore being associated with higher energy states, fast moving Wind, and intense Fire and shocking Lightning. Higher energy states lead to higher entropy, the aether flows more quickly, it dissipates and what's left behind is darkness, the Void.

The elements aren't aligned by the black/white triangles, in fact those don't make any sense and conflict with all of the other lore in the game. Rather, they're aligned top to bottom.
Top = Wind, Lightning and Fire. It's labelled 'Light' on the flawed source chart, but the correct term would be 'Astral'.
Bottom = Water Ice, and Earth. It's labelled 'Darkness' on the flawed source chart, but the correct term would be 'Umbral'.
The error is that Light and Darkness are interpreted the wrong way around, as Light magic is derived from Umbral aether, not Astral, and vice versa.

I expect the black and white triangles are just to do with elemental resistances. That's the only explanation I can think of for their existence.

I think understand a lot more thank you, but there is one thing. I think Light and Dark are still Light and Dark according to their triangles. It doesn’t mean that Light bends toward Umbral per se. it’s more like Light is 2/3 Astral and 1/3 Umbral, and conversely Darkness is 2/3 Umbral and 1/3 Astral. With Ice and Thunder carry much more weight toward their respective categories. I don’t think the original chart is wrong at all now, in fact it’s even more detail than we realize if we include the aspects of Sun and Moon.

[Seraphor]

I think understand a lot more thank you, but there is one thing. I think Light and Dark are still Light and Dark according to their triangles. It doesn’t mean that Light bends toward Umbral per se. it’s more like Light is 2/3 Astral and 1/3 Umbral, and conversely Darkness is 2/3 Umbral and 1/3 Astral. With Ice and Thunder carry much more weight toward their respective categories. I don’t think the original chart is wrong at all now, in fact it’s even more detail than we realize if we include the aspects of Sun and Moon.

I think, as Urianger explained so there's no reason to doubt just yet, their understanding of Light and Dark on the source was flawed, so this chart can't give us any insight into it.
Light is strongly tied to Umbral and Darkness to Astral, that's the whole shtick of Shadowbringers.

It could be that way back in 1.0 (when the chart was likely drawn) they did have a more nuanced, or less though out, idea for what Astral/Umbral meant, but that idea has clearly changed.

[Leidolf]

Urianger mentioned they had the cause and effect backward, associating things that are more active as being towards Light and things that are more passive towards darkness. The First basis it on nature, with the more passive elements being light and the more active being darkness.

Remember, Light and Darkness aren't elements but poles (Astral Fire and Umbral Ice), so the Source ultimately had them reversed in the sense they had Astral and Umbral upside down. Any element can be aspected to either pole as well, it's just that their default state is within a certain pole.


Edit: On-Topic, I recently created a guide to clearing Brute Justice Savage as a Blue mage here.

The Blue Academy has also released their version of the clearing guide to Bahamut on youtube as well.

[Styrmwyda]

I wish there were more weapon glamour options for BLU.