Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[Dimmauk]

Well, sadly, attack is pretty useless for BLU. Unless they made Dissev and Frip enhanced by Atk, this isn't really that big of a bonus

/WAR is nice for Campaigning and PvP.

[Meian]

/WAR is nice for Campaigning and PvP.

BLU gets hate so damn easily with one big 3 spell. Wonder if this will be a decent alternative and go for more melee. I was using /DNC for Campaign and now using /PLD for tanking.

Edit: REALLY liking the Fast Cast for Campaign so far. I had to give up Auto-Regen for it though ;;

[Kyte]

Well, sadly, attack is pretty useless for BLU.

Swords - FFXIclopedia, the Final Fantasy XI wiki - Characters, items, jobs, and more

do you use these?

[Damen]

Well, sadly, attack is pretty useless for BLU. Unless they made Dissev and Frip enhanced by Atk, this isn't really that big of a bonus

This makes me so sad. It's pretty much why blue fails in 2x brd merit parties in my opinion. Well that and we only get 10% haste from refueling lol.

[Rocl]

Swords - FFXIclopedia, the Final Fantasy XI wiki - Characters, items, jobs, and more

do you use these?

The idea is Blue Mage's main form of damage comes from Spells, which, as we all know are unaffected by attack. You are not doing any damage worth a damn using solely swords. If you are going to argue a Blue Mage w/ an attack build and not casting spells will out damage your run of the mill Blue Mage using the appropriate spells, then you are retarded.

Attack is an OK stat for Blue Mage. It is not important as a whole lot of other things for Blue Mage. Base attributes play a bigger role for spellcasting, accuracy I'd wager is more important for Blue Mage than most other jobs, etc. etc.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Swords - FFXIclopedia, the Final Fantasy XI wiki - Characters, items, jobs, and more

do you use these?

Of course, but most of the time they don't constitute the majority of my damage. A 15% attack self buff is only about a third as good for BLU as it would be for, say, DRK or something. It's just not great and may not be worth spending the MP and 3/60 seconds, actually. The set point bonus is still good.

[Shassira]

I may be the only blue mage in earth that doesn't play like i'm in a merit party all the time. I don't know about the rest (well, I actualy do, i guess...), but i'm casting Head Butt as soon as the "xyz is no longer stunned" appears, or in some cases, when I predict it's about to appear. I may be about the only blue mage not obsessed about my own damage, which loads Temporal Shift religiously, not to mention Actinic Burst, Roar and whatever else can help criple mobs.

Maybe it's because I only play Blue Mage in small man groups and I take my role as a job that's meant to screw up the mob, more than just do "leet omg" damage. So far it works for me, what I don't understand is why there is such an obsession for being the greatest DD ever, when a Blue Mage can be incredibly unique.

Ofcourse, when a monster is resistant to stun, we are talking about something different. But for low groups where you'd be meleeing, this is relatively rare anyway.

And just so that this doesn't come out as a rant, i'll add some thoughs about Thriumphant Roar and Sub Zero:

Roar: To me, it's a cheap way of getting some extra STR. I can seem to fit it in my normal spell setup (with 50 points, ofcourse) without sacrificing anything important, so I like it. But I don't see me casting this all the time. I'd probably just cast it before a Weapon Skill and that's about it. The way I play it, as stated above, makes it so that my TP gain is lower than a normal melee.

Sub Zero: It needs some testing, but i'm really happy we get a paralyze that's viable to use (cheap MP, compared to Mind Blast and Breath) and, specialy, low casting time. It seems to actualy have a decent proc rate, but i'm waiting for some MND tests. I'll probably try that out, but my MND gear is lacking to make correct tests, sadly. Still, if it's possible to affect the potency of the paralyze, this is a must load spell in my book.

[Dimmauk]

Oh yeah for sure, Ill be setting this spell no matter what. I'll also probably be casting the buff if MP allows me too.

[Kyte]

Of course, but most of the time they don't constitute the majority of my damage. A 15% attack self buff is only about a third as good for BLU as it would be for, say, DRK or something. It's just not great and may not be worth spending the MP and 3/60 seconds, actually. The set point bonus is still good.

Versus merit level and lower monsters, about half your damage is going to be coming from your swords.

Additionally, if you're able to build TP on a NM for Cannonball, this spell will help prevent you from hitting for zero.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Versus merit level and lower monsters, about half your damage is going to be coming from your swords.

I parsed it; it was close to 40% (that includes WSes). That's low enough to make attack an investment that's not particularly worthwhile.

[Ezekial]

triumphant roar

With 14% Haste, Refueling, Fast Cast 1 (From Sub-Zero + Bad Breath)

Recast Time is 1:06 ^^ I imagine you can drop it to 1:00 with Homam Legs and the Fast Cast earring. Pretty nice if you ask me!

[Kyte]

I parsed it; it was close to 40% (that includes WSes). That's low enough to make attack an investment that's not particularly worthwhile.

So you're saying 40% of your damage isn't worthwhile?

[Ultimagi]

The MP spent that could be used casting other spells is not worthwhile.

Edit: This is at best a Diffusion toy before a Samurai|Warrior zerg fight, or for casting before Expiacion Vertical Cleave. Otherwise, set point efficient Strength.

[Seraph]

So you're saying 40% of your damage isn't worthwhile?

I think he is suggesting that a 15% boost to only 40% of his melee damage isn't as impressive as people are making it out to be. More likely an MP efficiency over time issue than anything else.

[Kyte]

Brb, I'm gonna go play with some Uranium because there's only a 40% chance of it giving me cancer

[Maxxthepenguin]

So you're saying 40% of your damage isn't worthwhile?

Wait, so you're saying that if I don't cast this spell, I'm forced to disengage from the mob and only cast spells?

Damn, man.

Remember, this is 1/2 of a Dissev's MP cost and 3 seconds you could be attacking instead of casting during, it's just not worth casting in a merit situation.

[Rocl]

Brb, I'm gonna go play with some Uranium because there's only a 40% chance of it giving me cancer

Don't forget to roar so you'll boost that chance up by like 2%

[Seraph]

Brb, I'm gonna go play with some Uranium because there's only a 40% chance of it giving me cancer

http://www.dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip...rip.sunday.gif

[eva00r]

I parsed it; it was close to 40% (that includes WSes). That's low enough to make attack an investment that's not particularly worthwhile.

That is bird only parse.

On Mamool Ja camp (Nyzul top) your sword + ws will be 60% of your total damage unless you're gimp shit.

Anyway T.Roar isn't worth to maintain fulltime.

[fantasticdan]

That is bird only parse.

On Mamool Ja camp (Nyzul top) your sword + ws will be 60% of your total damage unless you're gimp shit.

Inviting a blu to merit on mamools is gimp shit in the first place.