[Xairos]

It looks like in the shadow of the colossus that is level 99, even SE has no idea what to do with BLU.

The stats on our AF3 are good, but nothing jaw-dropping.

No static stat boosts, but rather more emphasis placed on things like small haste+ and a rather large Blue Magic+.

Maybe i've been doing BLU wrong and just don't know which characteristics are important to us (ie. Sword Skill rather than STR).



(Info obtained from Wiki, Mavi Set +2)

[Angelous]

yeah I know what you mean building 1-2 sets of gear is challenging as for sets are dpsing and back up heals/nuking

[fyreus]

I didn't see much that was too terrible. Just keep homam feet since they're not so fugly and hope no one makes fun of your helmet. So far ilike the feet since they're the weakest blu magical slot and add a really big boost for MBs and stuff like regurge soloing (it's boring but fun when you have haste on lol) so i do tip my hat at them for looing out for those of us who do strange things. The head... i wonder what job security is like these days when someone commits a head item that's rehashed and ugly as sin into the SVN and the art manager KNOWS it's ugly and nearly unsellable. If the body has refresh and double attack and something nuts like...additional blu points lol then i think we came sliding home safe. The hands could have a chunk of haste but i forsee magic damage and conserve MP on those.

[Xairos]

Mostly I was comparing it to the Insanely directed stat boosts of, say, SMN.

Compare the Magus set with its Stat enhancements on top of Blue Magic and skills like Parry and Eva, you would think SE was taking things in that direction.

Spoiler

Magus Attire Set Summary
Defense +129
HP +45
MP +60
STR +3
DEX +3
VIT +3
AGI +3
INT +3
MND +3
Evasion skill +10
Blue Magic skill +15
Enmity -3
Spell interruption rate down 10%
Parrying skill +10
Increases chance to learn blue magic
Enhances monster correlation effects

Magus +1 Set Summary
Defense +134
HP +60
MP +80
STR +8
DEX +10
VIT +5
AGI +5
INT +8
MND +5
Accuracy +3
Evasion skill +10
Blue Magic skill +15
Enmity -5
HP recovered while healing +1
MP recovered while healing +1
Spell interruption rate down 12%
Parrying skill +10
Increases chance to learn blue magic
Enhances monster correlation effects

Mirage Set Summary
Defense +133
HP +37
MP +57
STR +3
DEX +5
VIT +3
AGI +3
INT +3
MND +5
Enmity -4
Accuracy +15
Magic Accuracy +3
Evasion +5
Attack +5
Blue Magic Skill +5
Increases breath damage
Adds "Refresh" effect

Mirage +1 Set summary
Defense +138
HP +42
MP +62
STR +3
DEX +6
VIT +4
AGI +4
INT +4
MND +6
Enmity -5
Accuracy +17
Magic Accuracy +5
Evasion +5
Attack +5
Blue Magic Skill +5
Increases breath damage
Adds "Refresh" effect

But maybe all of the jobs are getting their AF stat tendencies shifted.

[fyreus]

iirc SE stood back and waited to see what we were doing with the job then added stats to AF which they didn't do for the majority basic/advanced jobs in 2003. I like the fact that you can swap out blu parts for nearly best in slot gears from other things (gotta admit that you use AF for nearly every build there is for blu) unlike most other jobs. There are imho 3 useless AFs: af2 feet, af1 legs, and af2 head since there are far better items for cannonball and breath but not diamondhide. Plus it was ugly. now looking at this new gear, i think they took the same approach and split stats amongst parts so we can swap in whatever we want to. Most other AFs have stats you'd like separate all merged sorta like the stats on rdm af2 feet/hands or something. If this follows the pattern, body/hands will be melee/magic but with yigit and teal i wonder what they'll do. It's sorta taboo doing mage body on blu so i predict the fore mentioned.

I'm just glad they're supporting our spells (except for all that agi i aquire with my normal event spell setup of +26agi in haste mode) and have given us new ones to compensate for the upper cap limitations of lv75 and below spells.

*Edit* i realized that blu af may focus on all aspects of the job barring healing/tanking. Head - sword damage, Legs- Spell damage, Feet- magic damage. The body and hands may focus on breath and possibly self buffs of some sort and if breath is up next, then it's on body and should have a huge hp boost which kinda means tanking boost anyway leaving healing or defensive abilities on hands. This is just what i think since looking at other generalist jobs i see similarities.

This post has been edited by fyreus: 13 September 2010 - 09:23 AM

[Kyte]

Xairos, on 12 September 2010 - 12:30 AM, said:

It looks like in the shadow of the colossus that is level 99, even SE has no idea what to do with BLU.

The stats on our AF3 are good, but nothing jaw-dropping.

No static stat boosts, but rather more emphasis placed on things like small haste+ and a rather large Blue Magic+.

Maybe i've been doing BLU wrong and just don't know which characteristics are important to us (ie. Sword Skill rather than STR).



(Info obtained from Wiki, Mavi Set +2)

Are you high? BLU AF3 is amazing.



Absolutely amazing casting legs, in addition to being fantastic for meleeing and Vorpal Blade. Also great for enfeebles



One of the best melee heads in the game. The Enhancing JA stuff is unknown at this point, so I can't really comment fully on that- but keep in mind that you will probably be able to macro it in for JA activation. You could also using it as a multi-hit casting spell if you need more accuracy.



Amazing for magical DD spells, as well as enfeebles. Right now magical DD spells are losing a bit of luster, but I suspect they will add more next time around. They're also fantastic for Sanguine Blade.



BLU itself is multifaceted and the gear they have released has recognized that.

This post has been edited by Kyte: 13 September 2010 - 12:39 PM

[fyreus]

I was partially asleep on that last post. There won't be a really huge stat boost because we're not a simple melee job. You won't see anything like 20str on a single item for blu only because we don't always benefit from it as much as a body peice with skill and evened out stats. Blu magic skill is actually PART of our damage equations and shouldn't be overlooked ever. Secondly, these AFs actually fit many of our play styles. There aren't many blu who even attempt to MB but for those who do or go magic and solo things grav/bind/sleep will get these instantly.

[Xairos]

I agree about the blue magic stat being hugely important; no argument there.

I guess I was expecting more along the lines of +mp and maybe enhances job trait stuff.

But all this is to say I couldn't see how to be impressed by the gear because I was looking for stat buffs like any other dd class. Thanks for clarifying that without suggesting I was a substance abuser.

[Aeonknight]

The reason why you won't see STR +20 from gear, is because that base should be covered already.
Multiple Atma's are god in abyssea (which is the only place where this gear is going to mean anything. We already rape everything outside of it.)

between EE's Atma and Briareus' atma, you're looking at +90 STR, not even including the enhancement effects from the cruor NPC.
You don't need STR anymore. With a decent LS that can kill the older NM's (probably even easier now with the 2nd cap increase) you're at the cap on STR anyway.