[Antithesis]

Made thread as to not further derail the Accomplishment thread at the request of others.

Here is a little analysis of Blue Mage sub job and how it compares to the other most popular mage sub job, White Mage. This is to give other Corsair an insight into the Blue Mage sub job and how switching between White Mage and Blue Mage subs for different events can optimize your performance. Feel free to discuss anything else here as you wish.

Blue Mage

• Gives you access to Magic Attack Bonus I for Quick Draw
• Moderate MP Pool
• User gains a wide variety of spells to use including a Cure III equivalent and an AoE healing spell that is more potent than a regular Curaga from White Mage sub but not as strong as Curaga II
• Various Job Traits accessible by setting certain spells such as Auto - Regen, Resist Sleep, etc
• Gives access to the Sword weapon skill Vorpal Blade
• Cocoon can make for a great defensive spell. Metallic Body makes for a moderate Stoneskin but much weaker than White Mage Stoneskin
• Can effectively "semi - blink" out certain spells
• Sheep Song and Soporific can land with a surprisingly high rate on lower to even certain higher end monsters
• Head Butt's Stun can also land with some frequency on many lower to mid tier monsters

White Mage

• Gives access to many many defensive spells
• Bar spells and -na spells can help tremdously
• Erase is a must on certain monsters
• Access to out - of - party Cure and defensive spells
• Raise and Reraise come with the spell list
• More effect Stoneskin and Blink
• Magic Defense Bonus I and II can help lower Magical damage taken
• Larger MP Pool

So effectively, Blue Mage acts like a psuedo - Red Mage sub job but add more versatility to the job. White Mage makes it so that you can become the best support Corsair as can be.

[Kaparu]

Perhaps I'm just being short-sighted, but I don't see why any situation really calls for Bard-mode.

Ixion, Khimaira, Cerberus, Tiamat, King Behemoth, Dynamis, Limbus, and Nyzul are all either extremely controllable, or so merit-esque that I can't imagine why you would want to drift away from your damage capabilities. I'll concede to the fact that you might be better off just being a buff-monkey with a curative arsenal against something like Fafnir, and that I have absolutely no idea how a Corsair operates in Salvage(its been a while, but THF/COR was always more than sufficient), but other than that, the usefulness eludes me.

EDIT: For clarity's sake, I'm referring to, instead of taking the hybrid route, simply going to something like Ixion as /RNG, and Tiamat as /BLM.

[pathwriter]

Antithesis really likes trying to force unusual and inefficient support jobs onto things. I think he still swears by /Scholar for Bard, which I find amusing since the thing I need most out of my support job on Bard is either Utsusemi or Stoneskin/Blink.

[Kaparu]

I've never taken the time to consider whether or not the benefits of /SCH held any ground against alternative subjobs, but I'm fairly certain he only uses it in higher caliber group-oriented work.

[pathwriter]

You mean the sort of situations that might need one to use Erase?

[Kaparu]

Touche

[Antithesis]

Stoneskin and Blink are far to overrated. Especially when used by a Corsair seeing as we dont have anyway to boost MND as much as Bard. As for /SCH, I believe you keep underestimating it's usefulness. Hands down White Mage is a far better support job than Scholar in Salvage and Nyzul Isle. But outside of that and even in small group situations I fail to see how White Mage performs better than Scholar.

[pathwriter]

I wasn't advocating /White Mage for Corsair, anyhow. Matt already covered it.

[Kaparu]

On an unrelated note, why do you still have half-naked Asian women in your signature?

[pathwriter]

Alizee is French, not Asian.

[Kaparu]

My mistake, though, the italicized noun was the more crucial aspect of that question.

[Antithesis]

Matt if I am going to be surrounded by beautiful women the ones in my sig are top priority. Being homo doesnt mean you cant indulge in the beauty of women.

@Path: Keep living in your box. It suits you.

[Kaparu]

If I thought it was out of some deep respect for aesthetics, I wouldn't have called it into question. The latter two are meant to be seductive, and you're gay.

[Antithesis]

Do you have a problem with my fetish for asian women?

[pathwriter]

@Path: Keep living in your box. It suits you.

Now you're just being antagonistic. It's not as though I don't have the jobs leveled, not that I'd need to have them leveled to assess their weaknesses. The strengths offered are marginal to non-existent.

[Kaparu]

You're confused on the meaning of the word 'fetish', that is, unless you're trying to tell me you actually worship Asian women, which I'm fairly certain is not the case.

Regardless, I know what you meant, and again, you're gay, so the likelihood of any erotic stimulation stemming from the aforementioned women is slim.

EDIT: Patrick, was I this annoying when I was still dead-set on heterosexuality way back when?

[Antithesis]

Now you're just being antagonistic. It's not as though I don't have the jobs leveled, not that I'd need to have them leveled to assess their weaknesses. The strengths offered are marginal to non-existent.

Yes but it seems your judgment on the jobs is misplaced. Seeing as how the only Jobs I think you even have a grasp of understanding about are Monk and Bard.

[pathwriter]

And what do you base that claim on, Antithesis? I note that you're not ripping into Matt about this shit, which I assume derives from the fact that you beat off to his picture instead of mine. I mean, if we're going to make baseless accusations about one another, that is. This argument about jobs and the weird argument about your strange obsession with women seem to derive from the same misplaced notion that "different" is somehow equated with "good." Pretty much every sub that is reasonable for Bard (except ToAU jobs because I've not leveled them), I have tried. I've even used Bard/Dark Knight effectively, but I'm not going to run around trying to convince anyone that it's better than the established set.

But, again, I'd like to know why you aren't throwing these same accusations at Kaparu. He says the same things as me, namely, that "cookie-cutter" exists for a reason.

And your sexuality never came up, Matt, so I honestly cannot comment.

[Antithesis]

I'm about as attracted to Kaparu like baby chicks love alligators.

Also I never said different is good. I just made this thread because we were derailing the accomplishment thread and I just decided to make the thread. I've talked to Kaparu about this before I know what he means but Kaparu lives in a world of perfection.

[Kaparu]

You're joking, right?

You and Vince used to imply that I was closeted like it was going out of style. >_>