Blue Mage - Force Field - What is it good for? Nothing?!

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Despite Force Field being seemingly very strong, it has a lot of problems.

The skill grants EITHER physical or magical mitigation up to 50%, but we have no control over which one we receive.

Meanwhile, duration is only 10 sec, which means it's not very good for "general" damage mitigation, but is more intended for blocking a predicted incoming attack, such as a tank buster.

Cast time is same as Diamondback, which means we likely need Swiftcast for it. It would be a nice weaker alternative for Diamondback while maintaining mobility. But since we can't choose physical or magical mitigation, taking away Swiftcast for such a skill just to gamble your life away seems silly. Might as well stick to Diamond back for tank busters.

Comparing it to Dragon Force (under Tank Mimicry), which provides a solid 40% damage mitigation against both physical and magical attacks and being 5 sec longer, Force Field seems vastly inferior.

If Force Field is instant-cast, and being slightly longer in duration, then at least we can gamble with it before a tank buster... and if failed getting the right type of mitigation, we immediately Swiftcast Diamondback. But even like this is kind of stupid, because one will need to cast it long before one sees a tank buster cast bar, in order to have enough time for a back-up Swiftcast Diamond back. It's a lot of foresight, but very little reward, as it doesn't really hurt to directly Swiftcast a Diamondback anyway.

All-in-all, I can't find a good use for it despite it "seemingly" being useful. If someone has a good idea of how to utilize this skill, can you please share your insights with me?