Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[dasva]

Yeah this idea that being a 2hded DD or a arma cor automatically makes you do more dmg than everyone else in VW is getting pretty annoying. I mean sure maybe in a group of known good players... but in these shouts yeah a good almace rdm could out DD alot of wars I see lol

[transmit]

How do you guys balance DDing and proc'ing in VW? Had a lousy day damagewise on Pil, looking for tips about how to improve things. Could've just been Pil, but generally speaking advice is appreciated.

I equip a group of core spells, things which count for traits, and some utility spells, then try to leave around 15 points free just to sub in proc spells. Means you can keep on fighting with your full DD traits while waiting on proc spells to ready. Also pretend you didnt hear any V proc's.

[Vriska]

I equip a group of core spells, things which count for traits, and some utility spells, then try to leave around 15 points free just to sub in proc spells. Means you can keep on fighting with your full DD traits while waiting on proc spells to ready. Also pretend you didnt hear any V proc's.

I know, right? (Assuming you mean NQ.)
When, besides Rex/Ig-Alima/maybe Kalasutrax are Yellow weaknesses even important, anyway? Genuine question.

Also, on another note. How far through WotG and ToAU could I solo as BLU, do you think? I'm gonna do those two out of sheer boredom, I think.

[The Meat Toilet]

Also, on another note. How far through WotG and ToAU could I solo as BLU, do you think? I'm gonna do those two out of sheer boredom, I think.

As for ToAU, I suspect you could get all the way to Alexander. Alexander itself may well stop you cold with so much magic damage that ignores shadows, although you could kill it's little buddy Raubahn easily in order to find out. There are testimonials of people soloing just about every mission on jobs that aren't as proficient at soloing as Blue Mage.

You might need an evasion build for the fights that involve multiple enemies, or just being level 99 and having Auroral Drape may do the trick. Either way, those will be the only vaguely challenging ones.

There is a greater danger, however, more treacherous than any fight. Waiting until that magical time when midnight falls in Japan, the hikikomori cuddles tightly with his Mami Tomoe love pillow, and FFXI allows you to continue with ToAU missions may only increase your boredom.

[fantasticdan]

I soloed all of toau up to alex at 90 with mediocre to average gear.

[Prothescar]

It's possible to solo Alexander, both prime and mission variety.

[fantasticdan]

How difficult is alex prime to solo, and what's the general strat? How about odin? I've no experience with either.

[Draylo]

Video for reference:



That was back at 90, was my first time so I had a bunch of slip ups. It will be much much easier at 99 with sudden lunge. As for Odin, I haven't tried him yet but I assume he is just as easy with sudden lunge.

[Ibisariot]

Also, on another note. How far through WotG and ToAU could I solo as BLU, do you think? I'm gonna do those two out of sheer boredom, I think.

If you don't have a preference for which nation path/story to follow, I recommend Windurst's. I've recently beaten all three paths if you're primarily interested in just finishing WotG's main mission line, Windurst's the easiest/least annoying one to follow along with. I solo'd every quest except for Howl from the Heavens (protecting four wards that have the HP of a BRD40 Taru against groups of casters...), which I duo'd with a WHM. Even the final two fights were trivial, both taking less than four minutes each.

San d'Oria's is pretty easy, too. I had already gotten a ways into it with a static before that broke, so I'm not sure how you'd do against the Young Behemoth (I think he's somewhere between Behemoth and King Behemoth in terms of difficulty). Only mission I couldn't solo was Blood of Heroes. Lots of orcs and the boss/pet are immune to sleep, plus you need to protect an NPC. This was pre-99, though.

Bastok's was the first path I did way back and I don't recall most of the details. I think the cap was 80 at the time and I was with a static. This may just be because of the lower cap, but I remember it being the more tedious of the three paths, with some trips to Zvahl Keep/Throne Room and an annoying fight or two.

On a side note, I liked the stories of each path in the above order, as well.

As for the main missions, I don't think a BLU99 should have any real trouble until maybe Darkness Descends (third to last battle). You fight along an NPC whom you can't cure with BLU spells and is still a regular old 75ish. The two enemies you fight might be squishy enough to kill where the NPC's health won't be a problem, but it's been so long that I'm not sure. The final two missions are trickier (the penultimate fight may require some reraising), but they're probably doable. You might have luck finding people who want to redo their Moonshade Earring to help with the final fight, too.

[Draylo]

Yeah you could zombie fest the 2nd to last mission BCNM in WOTG, just make sure you die in a safe spot each time. Another quest along the windurst path I remember that was a little difficult was a battle at the Fort KNS against two eyes and one red demon and two regular demons. They hit pretty hard so I dunno if that has changed since most recent cap, might need a mage to duo that. Maybe not though, considering 99, give it a shot I guess.

[dasva]

Yeah you could zombie fest the 2nd to last mission BCNM in WOTG, just make sure you die in a safe spot each time. Another quest along the windurst path I remember that was a little difficult was a battle at the Fort KNS against two eyes and one red demon and two regular demons. They hit pretty hard so I dunno if that has changed since most recent cap, might need a mage to duo that. Maybe not though, considering 99, give it a shot I guess.

They are sleepable and don't hit that hard with pdt and phalanx. Solo'd it on rdm/blm at 85 or 90 just idleing in pdt so wouldn't take much dmg

[jimbobsonofgod]

I'm getting so frustrated with being told to shoot myself in the foot every time I go to a VW

Nothing is worse then having a blu run up to a mob whack away at it, til he eats some shit ass AOE dies, and then cant proc shit because every time he runs in he just dies again.
The best defense against that is to just keep the blu off the mob til procs. That way you're guaranteed the procs as they come up.
Personally I just fucking grin and bear it set like 65% of the proc spells(only proc spells no traits or anything else) and only run in when its blu/sword/occasional sword proc
And the only thing I hear from people that I do VW with is "I wish more blu's played it like you".

[fantasticdan]

I prefer to just nuke between procs as /rdm on most fights. The damage is less of coarse, but it's also more consistent if you have bad luck on procs and need to stay out of range. You also can spam dia for hints, haste yourself/other players, cure outside of party or when spells are on reset, etc. And generally, if you're proccing well enough, you're going to win easily regardless if your blu does any damage at all, where as a blu nuking for constant damage could make the difference if things go sour. Coming /war is a lot of stress, less survivability, harder to proc with, etc. for little reward imo, unless you're just churning out easy fights with an LS group, or fighting something resistant to magic like ig-alima.

[Neisan]

If I can trust the healers or it's lower tier mobs I can go /war handily, anything above I say fuck it /rdm and sit in the back. Most of the times I doubt healers even recognize the blu exists until it's blue magic proc.

[Nightfyre]

I prefer to just nuke between procs as /rdm on most fights. The damage is less of coarse, but it's also more consistent if you have bad luck on procs and need to stay out of range. You also can spam dia for hints, haste yourself/other players, cure outside of party or when spells are on reset, etc. And generally, if you're proccing well enough, you're going to win easily regardless if your blu does any damage at all, where as a blu nuking for constant damage could make the difference if things go sour. Coming /war is a lot of stress, less survivability, harder to proc with, etc. for little reward imo, unless you're just churning out easy fights with an LS group, or fighting something resistant to magic like ig-alima.

It offers some variety and speeds up fights, which is incentive enough for me. DT sets and discretion should save you the vast majority of the time, and that same discretion should also make you aware of the few fights where rapid procs actually matter enough to be your primary focus.

Seriously... stress, survivability, and difficulty procing? All of that is you, not your subjob.

[Prothescar]

The only fights where it's worth it to not focus on DD are Ig-Alima and Botulus Rex. Everything else and it's your own shortcomings that cause you to fail miserably at it. BLU isn't a backline job.

[ronin sparthos]

The only fights where it's worth it to not focus on DD are Ig-Alima and Botulus Rex. Everything else and it's your own shortcomings that cause you to fail miserably at it. BLU isn't a backline job.

Say what you like but it's so easily said only when you're surrounded by people who share your opinions and actually support you.

The typical PUG can barely keep the perceived tanks alive, nevermind you the DD BLU trying to steal thunder from a WAR, MNK or whatever relic DD claims to be the best. You've got potions, DT gear and drinks, buffs to keep you alive but as a BLU you're usually stuck in the mage party and once your support items drop you're most certainly being left to die because the healers don't see you as important. Maybe it's just my server but getting people to cure is a miracle onto itself, nevermind having people cure outside their party or recognize when someone is taking damage.

Legion is going to be fucking hilarious just because of this.

I've beaten many DD just standing back and cycling nukes but I do get where you're coming from regarding the untapped potential of a DD BLU utilized properly but the issue is that you're assuming that most setups care about your damage or your math. People are dumb and things translate out to:

WARs do damage.
MNKs do damage.
BLUs get raped by AOE or take forever to proc.

The same stupid mindset that makes people believe that you need an Ukon to do good damage on WAR and that Emps apparently make you a pro.

[Prothescar]

Ironic part is, BLU is the second most sturdy job in the game next to an Ochain/Aegis PLD. The gap between the two is obviously immense, but still. If the BLU is getting raped by AoEs, the other DDs are getting raped harder.

[fantasticdan]

It offers some variety and speeds up fights, which is incentive enough for me. DT sets and discretion should save you the vast majority of the time, and that same discretion should also make you aware of the few fights where rapid procs actually matter enough to be your primary focus.

Seriously... stress, survivability, and difficulty procing? All of that is you, not your subjob.

It's more difficult to proc when you can only set 0-1 elements at a time yes, can't efficiently get hints, or when you got knocked out from being in range and end up weakened, as opposed to always being able to save fanatics when you need it. The 25% extra fast cast (since you won't care about swapping isador in/out) is also a small bonus, as well as being free to use hq staves to land stupid shit like reaving wind/cold wave/etc, which seem to resist a fair bit even with staff + macc build.

Survivability is certainly lower when you take a preference staying in melee range, I don't see how you could debate that. Of coarse it's not directly your subjob choice that influences this, but that's just semantics. If you're coming /war, you're obviously doing it to melee.

My point was this: if you're proccing well enough that coming /war and focusing almost entirely on melee is preferable, your group would have been fine even if you did 0 damage, all it does is make easy content faster. If whatever you're fighting is actually a challenge to your group, than trying to focus on melee to bump up your own damage a bit, at the expense of the survivability of yourself (and damage you could have done if you end up with bad procs and can't stay in range), and the efficiency/proc speed of your group is just stupid.

Ironic part is, BLU is the second most sturdy job in the game next to an Ochain/Aegis PLD. The gap between the two is obviously immense, but still. If the BLU is getting raped by AoEs, the other DDs are getting raped harder.

With a few defensive spells set sure, but combined with expensive melee traits, that doesn't even leave you room for one element worth of proc spells. Seems impractical to me. Impractical for your group as well if you end up in the whm-less mage party.

[Darkmagi]

My main argument against blu being a "DD" in VW is the fact that their dmg will be insignificant to the overall killspeed of a run. Being in melee range full time due to being a DD will increase your chances of death, better DDs will take preference over a full support/buffer party. I'd rather have a support/nuke blu that has no chance of death than a tiny bit of extra damage that will speed my fight up by an insignificant amount.