BLU at later levels

[LadyPeorth]

As it stands now, I'm passing into one of the many rights of passage for all jobs...the Dunes. I have all my spells, pretty good gear, but while I was perusing the AH, something peeked my interest.

What stats should I invest in?

BLU has RDM-esque stats, but is clearly ment to be in the battle. Will this mean I favor more towards mage gear for higher MP? Or towards melee gear for better sword swings? So far, I'm kinda leaning the melee path (I figure most of BLUs best techniques are melee ranged or based off melee type stats). Does anyone have a clue on what would be best? A mix of attack and MP? Accuracy and Attack with a pinch of MP? +hMP? Scorpion Harness or Vermillion cloak? Decisions decisions...

[IamNate]

Re: BLU at later levels

Personally, I'm avoiding parties as much as possible at the moment. I'm playing for fun and expierences rather than for speed, learn what certain spells work best against what kind of monsters is alot easier when you do it yourself. I might be inclined to join similiar set up parties, like with multiple Blue mages in it. Reason is, well, in my case it kinda has to do with 1. Never played a Mage'ish job, I did pld, but it was just a meat shield. 2. I dont want to see blue turn into another RDM, which was supposed to be melee/magic power, but turned into long range, lesser whm / blm type of job, with Refresh comming out of the butt. It appears that everything Blue has, aside from a few little exceptions, is close range necassary magic. They are definatly front liners, so with that in mind, you'll want to make sure that if and you will likely get hit, you cant take the punishment. Stack too much on regular mage gear, your going to make yourself into paper, not good.

But with me, since I am going on a solo route for as long as I possibly can. I've been loading myself in various things that sort of even out melee power and magic efficency, such as MP boosting. I havent figured out whether INT or MND is a big factor into Blue Magic, as so much I think TP is the main factor, so meleeing is definatly necassary. When you compare Harness to Verm, it would depend on the situation a bit, or how you intend to play it. I personally would go for the Verm cloak even for solo'ing, less need to heal for mp. But you might want to do a Harness for the evasion and accuracy, I cant say. Its more a matter of expierences and preferances right now, seeing what works best for your own style of play. Relying too much on what other people do, while isnt bad, isnt overly necassary when trying to make yourself optimal in the game. If you continue to do that, your always moving in the shadow of someone else, no matter how strong you get later on.

[Jarre]

Re: BLU at later levels

I was in a party with a Blu last night in the jungle he was lvl 28. most of his attacks were blu magic spells i.e. bludgen, dive beak, foot kick, cacoon etc. he only spent about 30% of the fight actually meleeing. I would go for about 60% mp gear and the rest attack/evasion gear, he said his role was mainly a mage type dd, so yes more like a rdm but with less meleeing, but still close to the mob not standing at a distance. Some of his abilities were quite effective against mandys and smithies. He also subbed ninja, all in all a great job.

One thing I did notice was that with subbing nin, its going to make Blu one of the best job combinations to go with, very strong dd but you couldn't tank with it.

[Eohmer]

Re: BLU at later levels

Gah... two day's ago, I saw a lvl 52 BLU in Diabolos.

I wonder how many abilities he's missing.... >.<

[Balfree]

Re: BLU at later levels

I'm thinking Accuracy to hit mobs even if youre doing poor damage, this assures TP gain at a steady pace, with A- in sword, you will probably get as much TP as any other sword wielder would, wonder how much natural Dex/Acc the BLU has... in any case it might be wise to boost that a bit.

And then there's MP and whatever stat boosts your Blue Magic Accuracy/Damage...

[LadyPeorth]

Re: BLU at later levels

That's the thing. BLU's physical magic is based off the weapon you wield, both accuracy and attack. Not sure if that's with Chain Affinity only...but swapping in a stronger weapon seemed to improve the damage of my spells by leaps and bounds.

[Khidir]

Re: BLU at later levels

i heard from alla that there are 3 lv58 blu running around trying to look for af quests which SE hasnt put in yet...

back to subject

since there are a lot of good physical attacks at low lvs ie bludgeon helldive etc i say increasing the modifiers on those im guessing str or use dex to increase accuracy of bludgeon

i wish i could test it and give more in depth but i would base the stat increasing on what the best blu abilities are availiable from 10-20 and carrying some mp regen items wouldnt hurt since its the first mage class in a exp pt that needs tp

Has anyone tried sandspin you get at lv 1 from worms? i like the animation is it powerful? i want to get on ; ;

[Spazz]

Re: BLU at later levels

OK, time for my little bit of thought process here...

At for the stats to build up, you need to figure out what kind of BLU are you? If your pure magic and melee isnt importat... Go MP gear. Are you more physical spells or magical spells? then go STR for physical and INT for magical. It all depends on what you want to accomplish. At Lv38 Im decked out in as much STR as possible... full Taru RSE, STR rings, etc. but that is because Im all about my physical spells and melee. I use the spells equiped to help with my DEX so I can deck my gear out in STR.

As for the "physical spells are based on your weapon" is for a lack of better words, false. Its all STR based. About 7 BLUs on Midgardsormr had this same thought so we tested it one night... damage from your physical spells only decreased when you too away STR gear or spells from your list. Taking off the weapon didnt do anything except made my taru look silly.

Khidir, As for lower lvl spells like Sandspin... they are nice looking and they do help in higher lvls still. As for damage, since Sandspin isnt really set towards damage, it doesnt stand out like Bludgeon or anything of those spells. But it does an average of about 20-30 damage for me everytime I use it. I will still use it on some monsters because of the accuracy down effect it has.

Please remember folks that everyone is different. Since Blue Mage can be pretty much every role in a party, it all depends on the player to make the choice of what to focus on. I was in a party last night who got pissed because I was meleeing and thought BLUs where replacement BLMs that should stay in the back lol. I had to explain it to him that BLUs are great with a sword and that was just one kind of BLU. He and I talked all night about BLU even after the party was over. See... People may not understand a BLUs role. So please ask your party what they want you to do. If they say "Deal as much damage as possible", then reset your spell list to fit your needs. If your party says "I need you to enfeeble and backup heal." Then do it. Dont argue over it.... one everyone realizes how versitile this job is, it will be smooth sailing. We beginning BLUs are setting an example for our servers on what we can do. Lets not dissapoint them.

[Darkhound]

Re: BLU at later levels

Mmmmmmm so you say that your pysical attacks and pysical magic does alto of damage thanks to +STR.... i want to try that out and i will keep subbing war or nin see how it goes.

[Khidir]

Re: BLU at later levels

My plan for blu when i get it is

/ mnk or war to 50
/nin 50-75
trying to be melee oriented not sure how mage subs work for invites anyone know? then ill change it

[Darkhound]

Re: BLU at later levels

I tink i will go with war untill i can use utsussemi... and see how it works for me!

[Yoko]

Re: BLU at later levels

/war si good to add to dmg, and you can voke if the nin needs to cast utsu and all, /nin is nice if you dont have to help with the vokes, and you have shadows for when you'll get hate, /mage is nice if you have to backup heal or want more mp ( or divine seal/ele seal), like Spazz said, its all a matter of preference, and of what your party wants you to do. Ive had countless tells of people saying kudos for me accepting to sub whm when people ask you to, so be flexible people, make us proud =)

[Zyph]

Re: BLU at later levels

Curious as to what makes you say they have stats like a RDM... When my highest Stats are STR DEX VIT MND as an elvaan.. It looks more like melee stats to me.

[Spazz]

Re: BLU at later levels

RDM has a mid rang INT, MND and STR at lower lvls... then their STR fades out etc.... thus making them nothing but "back row casters". BLUs have the same MP pool as RDMs so its to that extent that BLU is like RDM. Then again you are elvaan so your have naturally high melee stats.

As for subbing mage jobs... I sub RDM when I seek parties. When I get an invite I ask my role (damage, heal, nuke, etc.) and pending what they say I change accordingly. Like I said... im Lv37 doing it by this method... so obviously it works.

[Hyrist]

Re: BLU at later levels

I sub red mage primarily to my blue mage, mainly because the two classes balance out very well in stats and makes it possible for changing gear in the long run, however I plan on leveling multiple subjobs to assist with this job, as the possitblities are pretty much limitless.

As far as Gear, I am going to bring primarially Accuracy, Strenght, and MP gear, and bring food for MP and Mage Stats. This will help me be as virstitle in any situation that may come up while I am in the middle of a party.

Of course I also plan on asking what they want of me as they invite me, but as I am only level 11 at this point, I have yet to put my flag up.