No... really?! Although I guess we're getting more spells than any other job, but seriously, SE? Not a single unique trait/JA for Blue Mages? We had better get some badass new set traits from these new spells. Tier I traits don't count for much as it is, unless you're giving us something like Double Attack...
Or perhaps we can wet our beaks with some of these fancy pants new traits?
- Tactical Parry: Grants bonus TP when parrying an attack.
- Skillchain Bonus: Improves skillchain damage
- Fencer: Increases rate of critical hits when wielding with the main hand only. Grants a TP bonus to weapon skills.
- Conserve TP: Occasionally cuts down TP cost of weapon skills.
- Magic Burst Bonus: Improves magic burst damage.
- Resist Amnesia: Gives you a slight resistance against amnesia.
WAR: Ok, so basically, if you don't like Critical Hits, you can power up the shit out of your weapon skills. Neat? But, let's incentivize the whole WAR-tank role with Shield Defense Bonus rofl.
WHM: Clever! Now everyone can get Shell/Protect V, but only merited WHMs get -ra V. Also, Cure VI /panic.
THF: Shut up, SE. Just, shut up. Unless I can give mobs Amnesia with Steal, this is the most retarded JA you have ever come up with.
MNK: Hello, MNK tank. 1 Minute recast, with Haste-capped Shadows and regular Counter means MNK could actually be a viable tank for certain things, perhaps even outside Salvage. Interesting, especially along with Tactical Guard, but I don't see it being revolutionary.
BLM: A JA so you don't miss Stoneskin/Blink from subbing SCH. Might work.
PLD: Whoopy-doo. It'll make Flash generate more enmity once every 10 minutes; that's about all I can see it being useful for. At least they got Shell IV and Phalanx on main now...
DRK: Better Drain/Aspir/Absorb. Aspir II. TP Bonus to Drain Spells. Oh, and Tier 3 Nukes lol...
RNG: Double attack for ranged attacks. Neat, but needless. Good job, SE.
SAM: Cool, but if this and Sekkanoki are mutually exclusive, I don't see this being used much. How often do you have SAMs open Skillchains rather than close them...?
NIN: In theory, with a proper Jutsu build, Innin, and a MAB-granting sub, this could make San spells kind of decent. Let's be frank, though. No one will use this. Tactical Parry sounds like Shield Mastery for Ninjas, though! And wtf is Aisya: Ichi!?
DRG: GRATUITOUS. Like, ok, I know DRG still has somewhat of a bum rep, but this is just silly. It's like Enmity-Penance that jacks your Wyvern's TP.
SMN: Light and Dark Elemental BPs to make up for keeping Carby, Fenny and Diabolos out of the 75-merit blood pacts. Blood Boon sounds kind of awesome--Conserve MP for Blood Pacts.
COR: Boss? No Haste roll yet, but now we have Fast Cast, Double Attack and Store TP. Properly used, it's like a DPS-increase-less March. Add to that a Mazurka-Roll and that a roll of XI means a 10 minute buff duration. Last I checked COR was actually a pretty popular endgame support job, but here's some great leverage against BRD.
BRD: New songs. Minne V is about all I'm interested in. Cannonball goez.
PUP: Magic Mortar. Especially when you're fighting enemies with varying damage-type weaknesses, I can see this being useful.
DNC: Jesus. DNC got the royal treatment this update. New waltzes, waltzes outside of parties, a new step, a new flourish, and, oh look. Dual Wield. Inb4 DNC/SAM for life.
SCH: Um. I'm waiting to see how ground-breakingly useful this JA will be. And rofl, Occult Acumen sounds so useful for the DD SCH... SCH is really going to need some new tricks now that all their old parlor tricks have gone to sub.
BST: New jug pets! Perhaps a replacement for CourierCarrie at last?! Fencer could potentially help out BST/Mage a lot with Primal Rend. Additionally, Stout Servant sounds awesome. A PDT TRAIT for your pet? :D
P.s. thanks, SE. Now I need /DNC and /SAM...
4 comments:
Recently found this blog, and read most of it as a Blue Mage enthusiast.
As for some of the points in this post, mind if I play devil's advocate?
WAR: I think they did a fairly good job here. If the JA increases WSs by a large amount, it may be a lot better to use when pDIF is high. With new mp efficiency on cures probably completely erasing the little need for utsusemi in most parties, the new desire for many, many more tanks, and the boost to tanking and damage when sing a shield, looks like it's great to be a WAR.
WHM: Divine Benison is nice for Esuna, need to wait to see how much HP and Enmity Cure VI generates.
THF: I'm thinking THF may be in heaven with the Crit boost. If it's a % based boost, THF stands to gain a large boost to SA, TA, and SATAWSs.
MNK: yes the perfect counter is godly, as it can almost assure you that Ichi will get off when Ni is down.
BLM: The JA looks like it'd be horrible given the amount of BLM solo work, and the control over mob aggression in larger HNM type fights makes it needless.
PLD: Phalanx, 'nuff said.
DRK: Really depends on if the Nether Void stacks with Absorb-TP, how much it boosts absorption, and how much TP you can get from Occult Acumen.
RNG: Conserve TP, True Shot, and the new Double Shot stand to put RNG back into the desired job list for parties and battlefield type events.
SAM: I believe they mean SC bons and MB bonus when your WS triggers the SC, ths initiating it. They just don't se the same terminology as the players.
DRG: Made out like a bandit. More TP thanks to another jump that also reduces enmity, steal half their pet's tp, and get Conserve TP.
NIN: This one excites me personally because I always wanted to be a magical NIN. Innin + /RDM gives 54 MAB, add in the Relic Head, Elemental staves, and a strong INT/MAB build and the damage generated could be extremely impressive. Thanks to Subtle Blow, it could be the single best form of damage, from a damage to tp ratio point of view, from NIN. With a good enough set, one could probably attain BLM like damage/tp.
And that's all for the moment, grocery shopping to do.
I personally would love to see the NIN/Mage take off, but I just feel like this JA won't change much. Innin isn't exploited nearly enough as it is, and a 3 minute timer isn't fabulous. Additionally, unless Ninjutsu works differently from other offensive magics, even capped Subtle Blow would induce more TP gain/damage compared to a powerful nuke from a BLM. Also, unless SE adds Yon spells, it would require a great deal of meriting and an extremely specialized build to make effective :(...
As for WAR, I'm adamant in my own theory about how it should be rebalanced. Since FF1, WAR's specialty is weapon mastery, not tanking. I really was hoping for a JA that would boost it's manifold combat skills to greatly enhance WAR's versatility as a DD or as a defensive job. Given how WAR is currently played, I would be surprised to see it move toward a tanking role, given how much the playerbase has resisted it in the last 4 years.
I agree with you about the rest though :3 still, Despoil is lame!!
Yo brother, this is Esone (if you remember), just checking in. What have they done to RDM? I haven't played in almost two years now.
Technically nothing, which is why people are bitching about it. But they are getting Tier IV Nukes and Protect V this update. Also /SCH Accession -> All buffs.
That, and. Well... Idk. It's not like RDM isn't a competitive job compared to other mages... <_<
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