On BLU endgame roles

Blue Mage is quite a complex job. It's the most complex of the three jobs I have, and the most flexible. Unfortunately, most people do not take full advantage of that flexibility, and there are many BLUs out there who do not do their job justice.



(side note, I don't think BLU is the most complex job in FFXI either... I think Puppetmaster has many more challenges and it a lot more difficult to play well)



Most people (and many BLUs) think of the job as just another DD that should sub NIN and do damage. However, a BLU is much more than another DD. The subjob choice can also change the capabilities of the job significantly. When you think of BLUs, you should consider the following.



Capabilities

- Only job with both dark & light-based Sleeps

- Capable of spike physical damage... that is, no waiting for TP, just spam spells

- Light-based Dispels natively, and with /SCH, dark-based Dispel

- When setup correctly, magical nukes that can match a BLM's Tier IV spells

- Sneak Attack from long range with Cannonball... I guess this might work with Trick Attack too?

- BLU-only enfeebles -- Defense down, Magic defense down, etc.

- BLU-only enhancements -- Magic attack up, magic defense up, AoE Refueling/Cocoon

- Tons of stuns -- 3 physical, 1 magical

- Most MP-efficient cures in the game -- The HP healed/MP spent is significantly better compared to WHMs. With a Scholar sub and Light Arts active, the BLU healing spells are even more efficient as they heal for more.



However, with all these capabilities, there are quite a few things to hold Blue Mages back.

Limitations

- The subjob we choose determines quite a bit about what we can do. If you want a Sneak Attack Cannonball setup, we'll have to come /THF and bring defense food. A healing role requires /WHM or /SCH. Maximum flexibility comes from /SCH. Heavy DDing needs /NIN. Being bait requires /NIN.
- We can't do everything at once. Of course you knew that already :) However, our flexibility does let us change roles as the situation requires... just not as fast as a Scholar can!

- Most of our spells are close range, and many are AoE. This means that in order to Stun, we need to be right next to the mob. 3 out of 4 of our sleep spells are close range AoE, and one is gaze-based. Our magical breath attacks have long cast time and are close range in a cone. We won't be able to nuke a mob being kited.
- We have low endurance. Our spells cost quite a bit of MP to cast, and a good BLU will be casting many spells in order to take on different roles. However, give us too much to do and we will run out of MP without support. We have a few sources of Refresh available to help aleviate this problem.

- Every time we change spells, we have 1 minute of downtime before we can cast any BLU spells again. In reality, it also takes time to actually select the new spells. I have my spells organized more or less by their functionality. Even in the best case, it'll take me 30 seconds to select my spells, and another 60 seconds after that until I'm ready again. Changing tasks in the middle of an event should be communicated to the BLU before hand.

- We CAN do multiple things at once though... while we're limited in the number of spells we can set, we can normally set enough spells to take on multiple roles. I think this is where the BLU job really shines.

- While we're capable of doing multiple tasks, we are not the best at any of them... for example: For DDing, you're better off bringing a SAM. For healing, only a WHM or SCH can handle all the -na spells. For nuking, only a BLM can nuke as hard.



So... one of the big reasons why I rarely use BLU anymore is that the flexibility is rarely needed. BLU in an endgame situation is usually limited to use one role at a time... either DD, another healer, or a nuker. My other jobs can fulfill these dedicated roles better than BLU can and it is generally more satisifying to come as those jobs.



One place where flexibility is needed is Nyzul Isle, and that's the only place I would choose to come BLU over the other two jobs. Dispel, Sleep, Healing & DD all in one job, with the Scholar subjob to help cover -nas, more Sleep, curing and Aspir make BLU/SCH one of the most well equipped jobs for Nyzul.