After those early levels the damage is just plain bad. It doesn't change much after level 60. Other DD jobs get multi-hit weaponskills that can hit four digits and will overall provide higher DPS, BLU just cannot keep up. Even when healing, BLU isn't the first or even second choice as it can't Refresh or Haste the rest of the party, and that's if the party leader considers BLU for a healing role in the first place.

I can't speak much about damage from 41-60 (was always an awkward set of levels on retail anyway tbh) but damage at 75 seems about what I remember. The main problems BLU faces here are the same problem every 1 handed DD faces in a number of events, such as dyna and merits, where the mobs are a higher level than what they were on retail.

BLU is a jack of all trades job which also has some solo ability, it's unrealistic to expect to keep up with dedicated DD jobs, especially 2 handed DD jobs on a server that uses the 2007 2 hand patch (even MNK struggles ). Do your damage, support with stuns, heals, skillchains, frightful roar, etc.

Point being the job simply doesn't do anything in an exp party another job won't do better, a lot better, most parties just don't want a BLU unless there's nothing else seeking. You can't haste or refresh other players, so a RDM or WHM are preferred for healing/support, if BLU is even considered for a healing role in the first place. Damage is well below that of other DDs, so you're not too useful there, I think its a lot worse than what it should be on retail but obviously I'm not bringing any numbers to the table. Even landing debuffs seems harder than it should be, they don't stick consistently enough without using staves, which resets your TP.

I don't expect BLU to keep up entirely with heavy DD jobs but as-is its just abysmally bad in comparison, I don't think its performing as it should relative to retail during the same era.

I know nas has alot of other updates he is work on but i hope he does not forget us blue mages i am about unlock it and on retail i loved the job and pray it gets better on here.

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The only spell at 75 that I've bumped into that might be a little weaker than what I remember is vertical cleave, if you think there are other weaker spells, then bring some numbers. What gear/food/buffs for each spell, what target? What're you comparing it to?

BLU was never a top tier job, so don't expect to beat out dedicated DDs. Play the job for fun, its versatility (and hope events that cater to that stop being jokes, like omega), lowman/solo content, and whatever niche you can figure out(like closing SC from a distance with SACA CB). You will spend a lot of money/time to push it closer to other jobs.

Blame SE, Learn your spell mods, pray for af, and have fun. Also look for me in game, I want to set up some BLU burns

Its just bad in exp parties. If its not going to at least be comparable to another job that fills a similar role in an exp party, why would you invite the Blue Mage?

I have pretty good melee gear at ~62, SH+1, Sallet, PCC, 62 RSE boots, Tiphia Sting, V.Belt/Life Belt, etc., using sushi, and SA CA spells like Death Scissors will be doing maybe 450 to IT exp mobs at the corresponding camps while other DDs are hitting anywhere from 600-1200 multi-hit WS two or three times as often as I can use Chain Affinity and are much better DPS in general. And on top of that, BLU needs constant refresh or it has to sit out, sometimes for multiple fights, to rest, and clear mind reportedly doesn't work correctly. I understand its not supposed to keep up with heavy DDs entirely, I played it on retail to 75 and later to 99/119, but its just so laughably far behind other DDs here that the job simply isn't worth inviting to your party when those other jobs are seeking. A SAM or DRK with middling gear is still going to crap all over my numbers and be better for the party, and I don't think the debuffs and versatility necessarily make up for it because, ideally, the mob isn't going to be there long enough for the BLU spending 30 seconds to cast debuffs to be worth the loss of damage while casting or MP spent.

The spells just don't do any damage either. Something like Mandibular Bite or Sickle Slash will do maybe 100 damage to an IT mob for 40-50 MP, that's just crap. If you pump the modifiers over accuracy, the spells miss too often. I'm honestly not seeing a significant difference relative to how the job performed before these recent changes at higher levels, I just see the proper log message in place of 0 damage when spells miss now. Physical spells generally do negligible damage instead of missing most of the time, not a huge improvement in my opinion. Yes, you can open skillchains for other DDs for much higher SC damage at the end, but again the overall damage you're doing is far below what pretty much any other job would be doing, and, let's be honest, the best parties aren't bothering with skillchains in the first place, they're melting mobs before you'd even have time to make one. Sure, I could open with a 150 damage spell for a RNG who closes with a 900 Sidewinder into an 1100 SC, but that's only once every two minutes and may get the RNG killed whereas any other DD could potentially be hitting their own 900+ WS twice as often and deal more damage overall.

BLU also just doesn't fit into the "ideal" party setup, you usually want something like RDM/BRD/COR/DD/DD/DD, that's usually what hits 20k+/hr and BLU just doesn't fit there. And I understand you're not getting an ideal setup most of the time, but I don't know how many more 6k/hr parties killing crabs I can slog through. It stopped being fun a while ago.

Why are you casting spells like Mandibular Bite without Sneak Attack? Those spells were never good without SA. What are your gear sets for each spell (yes you should have gearsets for different spells)? I've seen BLUs here do better than 450 w/ SA CA Death Scissors, what's your gear set for that & your tp when you use it?

The complaints about needing refresh, parties killing fast for debuffs/not doing SC's, not being part of the "optimal" heavy DD set up (wish we had imps & MP Drainkissable colibri at least...), and heavy DDs tossing out epeen numbers more often than your CA timer is... how BLU worked. You can take your post and find it rephrased almost a decade ago in various posts about job tier lists. I would just solo or lowman with friends before jumping into a 6k slogfest personally.

My gear is fine, BIS or close to it (stuff like NQ Sniper's instead of +1 because I'm cheap) I macro in appropriate stat modifiers for SA CA spells. I know BLU wasn't a great DD in exp parties on retail, I played it to 75 and then to 99/119, but it just feels a lot weaker than it should be here, at least in exp parties 50+. I don't have any hard numbers to contribute unfortunately, just what I can remember from recent exp parties, and would welcome any that shed more light on this situation, even if they suggest I'm wrong. I just want BLU to be fun again.

Did a level 60 exp party a few weeks ago on blu/thf for the first time since the adjustments.
These were above average but not by much, after hitting level 62, while previously they were more consistent in the 6-700s. Keep in mind while I do have sword merits(which everyone wanting to play blu should do before playing blu, sorry new ppls ) and some stat merits, I did not have optimal gear for level60. Also note, Chaos roll would be doing nothing for blue magic anymore.


I wasn't thinking about taking a bunch of screens, I just wanted to feel it out a bit. Haven't been to a party under sync since that one but I plan to and I'll take more ss.

As someone who loved spending hours in the boonies letting mobs whiff on me for TP and then use every TP move but the one I wanted on retail I appreciate all the testing you guys do on this job. I will live vicariously for now as I do not think I can go through that struggle again so new to the server haha. BLU is still strong in my heart though.