[Vildar]

Just got to 58 bluemage, tried to catch up on my spells for auto refresh. Finaly managed to get stinking gas (No CoP access) And i set all the spells needed for auto refresh. But it has left me with virtualy no points left for any other spells, after i set some key ones like head butt and refueling. all i had left was to try sqweez in some dd spells.

Is it worth it to have limited dd and support options for 1mp per tick, or to go with more dd and support options for no refresh atall?

Comments and opinions welcome please :D

[Clever Ninja]

You don't need a whole bunch of DD spells already, and frankly Auto Refresh overtime gives you alot of MP, especially on mobs you cant Aspir. As you level up and can learn other spells like Voracious Trunk it'll become cheaper to set Auto Refresh.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

A BLU is like a balloon. You can deflate quickly or you can deflate less quickly. Since MP is the source of your power, I wouldn't overlook Auto refresh, especially when stacked with things like Sanction or Sigil Refresh. Clear Mind and Auto Refresh are valuble traits to set, I wouldn't overlook them unless you had a lot of people there with Ballad or Refresh there for you.

Also, you're getting really close to the point where its time to stop putting off CoPs. BLU is a great job for CoPs and Sea has some important spells, not to mention some of the CoP mobs along the way as well.

[Vildar]

Have always kept Clear mind on no matter what, reason im asking is because my ls members are ranting at me to put some usefull spells on, instead of wasting the slots for 1mp tick.

And also, havent been able to do coP for a while. Every time we get to organising it, ls leader is always afk/awall etc.

[Armando]

Remember that 1 MP/tick is 20 MP every minute. Weigh the usefulness of that VS what you'll be doing with other spells. That's a free bludgeon, for instance.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Vildar

And also, havent been able to do coP for a while. Every time we get to organising it, ls leader is always afk/awall etc.

If your leader is always AFK or missing when the time comes, he's probably not really that interested in helping you. Most people won't turn away a BLU for a CoP mission, so you should be able to piece together a group.

Never totally rely on your social/endgame LS to get CoPs done, you'll seldom get anywhere. Find the members that are motivated within the LS, find people motivated that aren't in your LS to round out the group and go at it. Its the way I've always gone about it.

And I hate leading things, but I always ended up leading CoP missions anyway. Best way to get em done is to study up and get them done for yourself and LS friends that actually care about doing them.

[Wise Donkey]

Originally Posted by Vildar

awall

Sorry to nitpick, but were you meaning AWOL? It is a military acronym for Away WithOut Leave, but basically means "I don't know where this person is."

Sorry to derail, just thought I would educate for a second.

[Vyuru]

So let's see, at 58 you'll have 35 points and 16 spell slots.

For auto refresh alone you'll need 5 spells at 14 points, leaving you with 21 points free and 11 slots open.

Setting Refueling, Head Butt, Sickle Slash, Magic Fruit, and Mandibular Bite uses another 5 spells and 16 points to set, for a total of 10 spells set and a total SP of 30. Which gives you 5 SP and 6 spell slots open.

I'd probably either set Sheep Song + something else. If I really needed more healing power I'd use Wild Carrot.

You can DD, you can help heal, and you have auto refresh, plus some room to add a spell or two if you want. So long as you are expected to do damage, and maybe toss some cures around, I think this is fine. Not a setup that I'd use if I had to tank or main heal or something else. But I'd find this a perfectly acceptable DD setup.
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Have always kept Clear mind on no matter what, reason im asking is because my ls members are ranting at me to put some usefull spells on, instead of wasting the slots for 1mp tick.

Clear Mind is only useful when you are sitting down resting, and in good parties, the DD should not be resting for very long at all if at all. I'd rather take the auto refresh than the clear mind. If I'm in a ToAU camp, well any camp really, I'd rather toss on some +hmp gear than set spells for clear mind. ToAU camps and sanction makes it so you still lose TP as you rest, so I'd pack a Dark Staff for those occasions.


I forgot mp drainkiss and I may have done the SP costs wrong above, but I have to run so I'll correct it later.
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Ok, so I did do the math right. In which case toss in MP Drainkiss if you're fighting anything with mp, leaves you with 1SP. I've saved my parties countless times with Sheep Song and Soporific, so I'd really like to have one of those set. Since that's the case, I'd be thinking about dropping Mandibular Bite and adding Sheep Song.

Generally speaking, I like having my WS+CASpell, plus a damage spell I cast on it's own inbetween SCs. However Sickle Slash has a 20.5 second recast time. It might be ok just to be casting that by itself every 20.5ish seconds and time it for when you can use the WS+CASpell bit for a self SC+MB.

It's not the way I've played, so I'd want to fiddle with it a bit before saying I'd recommend doing this. The above is more just a random thought I suppose.

But keep this in mind, in 3 very short levels you'll have more SP to do things with, and not very far down the line after that you'll be able to set auto refresh for fewer points as well.

[Vildar]

Originally Posted by Wise Donkey

Sorry to nitpick, but were you meaning AWOL? It is a military acronym for Away WithOut Leave, but basically means "I don't know where this person is."

Sorry to derail, just thought I would educate for a second.

Yea sorry for the misspell. I was unsure of how to actualy spell it.

And Vyuru, that set up is pretty much what i have at the moment. Usualy i put Poison breath and Blank Gaze in there to, as Poison Breath if hit well does some nice damage IMO. And blank gaze is always usefull to have.

[Firewind]

Originally Posted by Vildar

Just got to 58 bluemage, tried to catch up on my spells for auto refresh. Finaly managed to get stinking gas (No CoP access) And i set all the spells needed for auto refresh. But it has left me with virtualy no points left for any other spells, after i set some key ones like head butt and refueling. all i had left was to try squeeze in some dd spells.

Is it worth it to have limited dd and support options for 1mp per tick, or to go with more dd and support options for no refresh atall?

Comments and opinions welcome please :D

I always find that Auto Refresh works best when stacked with other forms of refresh. On it's own Auto Refresh gives back 20MP per minute which isn't really that useful for a BLU unless you have a lot of downtime purely because in the short run you'll be spending MP too quickly for that +20 to make much of a difference. However in the long term you will begin to see the benefits of even having 20MP/minute back.

But stacking Refresh where possible is always beneficial for everyone. If you get Auto Refresh + Sanction + RDM's Refresh you'll be getting back 5MP/tick. That is a whole 100MP/minute back!. Not only do you get your MP back much more quickly but your party will also benefit from thier BLU getting a HUGE chunk of MP back very quickly

Using my WHM as an example I always weigh together what I can get from stacked refresh

/SMN+Noble's+Sanction+Evoker's Roll = 3-8mp/Tick (That is 60-160MP back a minute!) + a ton of MP from the /SMN subjob + AoE buffs make parties happy.

vs

What Light Arts+ Sublimation would save me in total. Total of 254mp for full charge + -10% cost from each White Magic spell + Evoker's + Noble's + Sanction = A hell of a lot in the long term. Not so much in the short term.

Either way I rarely have to rest even against imps thanks to the nicely stacked refresh + Subjob traits and abilities

Either way if you want to go for Auto Refresh then please stack your refresh and either ask the RDM to refresh you or run into Evoker's or Ballad range when the COR or BRD is buffing it will benefit the party a lot in the long term. Also please note that stacked Refresh is vital for MP users in timed events most notable Assault and Nyzul isle. In a lot of timed event you rarely have the time to sit still so having as much stacked refresh as possible will help out the party a lot especially for a BLU, the most demanded job for things like Nyzul.

A lot of BLUs also ignore the importance of Clear Mind. More hMP is vital to all MP users and I see a lot of BLUs neglecting to even carry a Dark Staff . Please don't be one of these BLUs. Especially considering how cheap a lot of +hMP gear is. Seriously if you're too lazy to drop a total of 20-30k on a Dark Staff and Errant Body (That's +15hMP right there) then I'm gonna be too lazy to heal you.

[Vyuru]

And Vyuru, that set up is pretty much what i have at the moment. Usualy i put Poison breath and Blank Gaze in there to, as Poison Breath if hit well does some nice damage IMO. And blank gaze is always usefull to have.

I don't know enough on how the breath spells work to really comment. I know that your HP is a factor, but I don't know if you need to be fully healed or what affects resist rates. It can be very nice, I just don't know how to make the breath spells consistently nice

Blank Gaze I'd be tempted to drop though. It is nice to have a Dispel and all, but you really shouldn't be partying without a Rdm or Brd. It does depend a bit if it's a LS party or a few other situations, but random pickup parties will refuse to go anywhere without one of those two, so Dispel *should* be covered.

It's a little more expensive, but I might recommend using Geist Wall instead. Haven't gotten there yet but I would not want to be standing behind the tank to land Blank Gaze on Eruka. Also, landing Blank Gaze is like trying to land SATA on people sometimes, so Geist Wall helps with the headaches a bit.

A lot of BLUs also ignore the importance of Clear Mind.

Clear Mind is a bit different from +hmp gear. I probably would not recommend setting Clear Mind traits for a Blu except for a few situations. Mostly where you have your DD spells, you've got your healing spells, you've got all the job traits you need, and you've got your support spells and have any extra spell points and slots, then go for clear mind traits.

I do agree with the +hmp gear though. Blue Mages should carry at least a Dark Staff, and I would highly recommend more if they can get their hands on it. However keep in mind that most people invite Blus for melee/spell damage, and the OP is in the TP burn craze levels. He may not get time to rest in which case the auto refresh becomes even more important.

[Vildar]

The Dark staff i admit is a good idea, but at the moment i have been focousing my gil on my Crafted pieces of AF. Just managed to scrape together for the hands. Cost me the most in terms of the crafted AF's.

But once i gather enogh gil again, the dark staff is the first thing i will get. But at the moment having a hard time collecting gil. Most i have had ever is 100k, and i belive that was in my starting out days about 2 years ago. I think i blew all that on the gobbie bag quests to...

But back to the main reason. Having auto refresh is a good idea stacked. Not so much good on its own but goes well with sanction + rdm refresh.

Thats what i have picked up anyway. If i am wrong just let me know.

[Celeal]

My BLU just recently reach the minimum level for Auto Refresh (level 58+), and I have been using it. As the above poster mentioned, it cost a lot of slot and points to able Auto Refresh at that level. With MP Drainkiss, /DNC's Aspir Samba and sanction refresh exp on Lesser Colibri, MP recovery is fast enough without RDM's refresh. However, there isn't much room of the other spells either, so the usage of magic is limited. My spell on Colibri Camp focus on Magic Fruit (or Wild Carrot), Head Butt (spam), Frightful Roar (depends), MP Drainkiss.

[Yellow Mage]

Originally Posted by Vyuru

It's a little more expensive, but I might recommend using Geist Wall instead. Haven't gotten there yet but I would not want to be standing behind the tank to land Blank Gaze on Eruka. Also, landing Blank Gaze is like trying to land SATA on people sometimes, so Geist Wall helps with the headaches a bit.

What I have heard was that Geist Wall sucked absolutely as a Dispel.

[Clever Ninja]

Yea, 20mp/minute doesn't seem like alot, but lets switch that to 1200mp/hour. So those points pretty much grant you this much mp, times however much time you're partying for, granted you don't die. Frankly unless you're getting all shorts of Refresh you don't need a whole ton of DD spells for exp parties anyway, otherwise you'll run out of mp quick.

And unless im healing as BLU, or soloing then I rarely set Clear Mind spells because, as mentioned, most parties you don't have time to rest. If I'm at some old school camp where I'd have time to rest then yea, it'd prolly get set immediately.