July 2018 Version Update

Did a count. Out of all the DDs on the list, BLU has the least equipment wearable from Omen (6), and that's counting Ou drops + bodies. Of all of the drops that BLU is on, only one of them is not mage oriented (Ilabrat). Ninja has more than the average-wearable pieces of gear (8), though. The most notable omission for BLU is with Regal Ring. That should have been a no-brainer and it was clearly deliberate.

Can we start talking about how imbalanced RUN is yet? Look at that, double the gear blu got.

1200 hallmarks is the polearm, not gk sadly.

The GK is the event item


Spear is indeed Ambuscade hallmarks

Nah, don’t want SE to nerf what is probably the best tank of just about all situations. Because it’s honestly nice to be able to DD without restrictions lol xD

It can reach DT Levels almost as high as PLD (referring to MAX PLD)
Takes even less Magic Damge than Aegis PLD(?)
Can VERY easily Tank multiple targets while holding actual hate values
And can tank and actually DD at the same time. Literally DT Hybrid > Do tank stuff > Throw a 20-30k Resolution > Rinse and Repeat.


It does have an HP Problem (I think?) but
Properly executed, RUN is probably technically broken
I like it lol

But like I said, I enjoy having a tank class that can let me run wild, so let it do it’s thing

I honestly still can't believe that Lionheart is exclusive to RUN considering how disgustingly broken it is in RUN's hands

This makes me sad, as I normally don't have to disagree with you, but this looks like a classic example of brushing away the concerns of a job you don't play.

The issue with BLU receiving "WSD gear like everyone else" and "RDM only getting 6 WSD", are completely overstated. BLU got 10 WSD on 2 pieces between relic and AF. WSD is not even helpful for anything except SB/Expi.

It is an issue, depending on how you view the problem. Most of the gear given to BLU up to this point was to maximize their effectiveness at doing solo light skillchains with CDC, making their value in groups of 6 people or less essentially irreplacable, whilst being weaker than other DPS options when the number of people and buffs are increased.

But yes, BLU can use their new pieces for Savage Blade using sequence. The issue is this requires you to mainhand sequence, which essentially makes their mythic weapon, AND their Empyrean weapon less useful. It does extend their legs a bit in a zerg, wherein Savage Blade will likely beat CDC when a skillchain can't be closed anyhow.

The issue is this. The thing that BLU excels at is dealing damage in low-buff situations, and they've received very little to aid them to that end in recent updates. The problem isn't that Square hasn't provided them DPS options to keep up with a WAR, the issue is that they haven't even been offered linear upgrades to what they've been using since Reisenjima came out. With the exception of Ilabrat Ring, BiS CDC set essentially hasn't changed at all in 2 years.

Red Mage on the other hand, benefits more from WSC than BLU does, due to Temper II giving them extra hits for Savage Blade quite often, in addition to the fact that while their WSD values are lower, their WSD pieces happen to have very strong STR/MND, in addition to RDM being on Regal Earring for MND, having exclusive access to Regal Gem, which is far superior to Floestone for Savage Blade, as well as Boost STR giving an additional 55 STR. The problem is that all that is beside the fact that RDM has been receiving consistent (and welcome) updates to it's enfeebling arsenal, as well as plenty of gear with magic accuracy, and tons of enhancing skill.

You could argue that RDM has received even less in the way of gear for CDC, but with RDM's pitifully low starting attack, they weren't really going to be able to leverage CDC in the same way that BLU does without alot of help.

While the buffs to RDM are very welcome, I can't help that feel BLU has been rather neglected, with it's BiS CDC options being pretty much the same as always, and it's nuking options pretty much being the same as always. This is more troubling when you consider that the reason that the job has been getting the shaft likely is because of all the complaining, particularly by the smaller JP player base, who are more likely to have an overabundance of BLUs making the job seem better than it really is.

Imagine how ridiculous it would be with any other job though.
Thank you for doing this. It seems clear to me that gear selection for BLU was some kind of soft nerf. In regards to NIN accessories, I think it ranks second to last for inclusion of light weight jobs. Exclusion from Sherida Earring was the thing that stuck out and didn't make sense to me.

Uh, what? Your analysis on RDM DD is pretty much backwards.

Temper II has a smaller effect on Savage Blade, because adding 2 fTP when you're already at like 18+ (counting WSDMG) is a relatively small effect, while it makes a huge impact on CdC since it transfers http://fTP.

Plus, low attack situations (like where RDM often sits) is exactly where crit WSs, like CdC, shine the best, because of how crits affect damage.

Zanmato is featured in the screenshot for July login points - they haven't put it on the website yet (likely soon), but it's in the email sent out announcing the update.

To play devils advocate for a little bit, going all the way back to Sky gear, every endgame scenario favored different jobs over others. While their were abjuration pieces, the Sky God armor are all DD based. Then with Sea/Limbus, they favored mages and heavy DD, and had nothing for light armor DD. Fast forward to more recent scenarios. When Skirmish came out, BLU was on 2 sets, light armor and nuking mage. Then for Alluvion Skirmish, BLU was on 3 sets out of 5, light armor, support mage, and nuking mage.

Don't get me wrong, SE does seem to pick favorites, like SAM, while treating others like the red-headed inbred step-child (MNK). But overall, I feel like it all just follows a cycle.

WSC is referring to what your STR/MND mods do for Savage Blade on hits subsequent to the first that gets the fTP boost. RDM often gets extra hits on Savage Blade, and those extra hits benefit from RDM's new gear having great STR/MND.

Second, I never said temper wasn't useful for CDC, nor did I say that CDC is bad in low buff situations, only that BLU does it better since it can use Berserk and Nature's Meditation, all while having naturally higher attack to begin with. I would appreciate it if you don't put words in my mouth.

So you agreed that NIN also had equal treatment as blu, then it goes back to my original question, how come other jobs like NIN didnt complain the lack of gears NEARLY as much as blu complain in posts above.

I feel that in 2015 era blu got way more dps update than everyone else, such as OP gifts. Playerbase see it as a standard and demand the job got same treatment as 2015 era. if anything I just feel right now the gears that it receives is following the same hybrid job pattern, nor I feel SE intentionally nerf it to oblivion like others make it sound like.


This is just your opinion. Exactly how does war have overwhelming adventage there? I know it can be used but Im not convinced its a hell lot better choice than blu personally.

NIN and BLU has been preferred set-up ror that fight in my ls and it still is. The surviability of such setup and consistency makes it much easier for everyone. We have tried war and run before and still went back to blu and nin.

Also just FYI, nin and blu combo is still 36 min win with a roll only cor in that bc. Unless war can clear that bc in 25 min or less AND have higher consistency, I say job selection is just preference.

And blu is exactly that, it offers a versatile option for people preferring defensive play.



Even if thats the case in omen, Its one content out of many. I personally haven't see the same pattern in subsequent content.



1 or 2 hit ws getting more buff than multi hit ws is a thing for ALL DD job. Its like how 2 years ago we had torc v.s reso debate and now torc avg way higher without doubt. Cdc v.s savage is the same. All multi hit ws is just weaker now.

It applies to every job, and not even a nerf target towards blu.

Be that as it may, it has affected BLU more than it has affected other jobs (other than more prominent and agreed upon failures to adapt like MNK). I can agree that BLU had too much utility immediately following the release of Reisenjima. Now though, with how many poeple have Idris, you no longer need to use BLU in the low-man situations. Generally speaking now you can throw an Idris Geo and Regal Cor + just about any DD. Honestly I prefer it this way, it's more balanced. What I'm trying to point out is the fact that people say that BLU has been left out is not without merit. It has mostly relegated them to Master Trials, which is entirely for bragging rights anyway, and solo content.

Remember when we were discussing update-related content

There went the shout for the first Torque+1

And I could theoretically get to the grocery store in a Ford Escort with a couple flat tires, a boot on one of the good tires, a missing back seat and an 8 track player that plays the same 17 seconds of tom jones, it's not unusual the same way I could in a Lexus.

Doesn't mean you ever should. This also applies to MNK for literally everything.

... it's more like doing the speed limit, vs 5 over...

Exaggeration is half the problem. Clearly 5 over is better.

Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but the new mats used for weapons/necks are buyables.

base necks: 1x Beastmen's Medal, depends on zone
mats (crystals, adaman, ratnaraj): 1x Kindred's Medal, depends on zone
base weapons: 1x Demon's Medal, depends on zone. unlocked for purchase by beating the Wave2 boss.
food mats: ??

Odds are pretty good that the base weapons are bought for 1-3x Demon's Medals based on the pattern above. Due to the NPC menu structure, I'm guessing they get unlocked for purchase by entering/beating Wave3, with several assigned to each zone. Already reported in the Wave3 thread.

...No idea about the food items, other than they are also locked behind Wave3 entry or win. Might be worthwhile if they cost 1x card each or the like?

It's plainly obvious that BLU got on a lot less DD gear in the wake of the "BLU all the things" era. The job balancing strategy was to not nerf BLU, but to buff other jobs. BLU rose to prominence through getting really great WS, insanely broken CP gifts, and a god tier buff with Mighty Guard. People were mad because it really felt like BLU was getting it all.

Yeah, they got left off some DD gear (overall not that amazing AF/Relic reforges, Omen gear, and stuck on mage Su3 armor), to let other jobs catch up (and overtake). And that's perfectly fine. Same thing happened when MNK was the bandwagon DPS for much of the Adoulin era, and they didn't actually nerf MNK so much as they buffed other jobs and made content that wasn't as H2H-friendly. Would BLUs have rather seen a sword WS nerf that a lot of people were clamoring for?

In comparison, it was plainly obvious that some other jobs HAVE received much nicer tools in the 2017-present timeframe. RNG (not an overly popular job in the leadup to Omen) has been consistently getting great gear from Omen/Su3/reforge/Ambuscade, WAR was somewhat in the same boat. Those jobs have become more popular in the past couple years. It comes and goes in cycles, and always will. That's just how this game works.

It's also mainly a problem of vision. Regardless of the cycle, we as a community, tend to completely overestimate the gap between the top DD job, and the runner-ups (or refuse to acknowledge how small that gap truly is). Meanwhile, we completely underestimate the difference between a mediocre played bandwagon job and a career level played DD job in the top half of the DD potential.

In the end, we feel more comfortable with someone playing the bandwagon job at 70% effectiveness than a job technically 5% less effective but played at 99% effective value.

I can't speak for everyone else, but the reason I pointed out what I did about Blue Mage was simply that it got so little in the way of useful upgrades. It's not just that they didn't make them any stronger in WS potential, I really don't care all that much about that to be honest. It's more an issue of that the AoE mana burn gear has hardly changed, you still can't burst on BLU but once every 2 minutes, in order to even do that without getting yourself in trouble you'd have to drop points in convergence which isn't really worth it, all coupled with the fact that not even TP sets have really changed at all. All BLU has gotten is some minor upgrades to cure potency sets and a few more options for DT hybrid sets. And now with how strong RUN is, it's not necessary to bring BLU as your tanky DD anymore, that rug has been pulled from under their feet. I'm not saying it's all bad, and sure, I may disagree with some people that play BLU as their main.

The issue that I have is that it works less like a cycle, and more like a pendulum. They make certain jobs WAY too strong, and in the wake of that, they try to buff the other jobs to catch up. It would actually be more prudent of them to reach out to the player base, (especially those who tested all the game mechanics, figured out how all the DPS variables work, and make spreadsheets and simulators) on the most fruitful way of balancing the jobs.

The fact is, the dev team for this game is small, and even if they are talented at their job, their knowledge and experience on how to balance the jobs is going to pale in comparison to a large group of players that have tested these jobs inside and out. (I'm not talking about myself here, but you know the types about which I'm speaking)

The issue is, they instead opt to try and fix things through making changes that they in their inexperience, think would balance out the jobs, and end up messing with the balance of the whole game. Do you think how strong SMN is was intended? At the same time, they have learned that punishing players for gearing out effective jobs leads to alot of complaining. If they were to punish all the newer players that got SMN leveled so they could beat the content by nerfing blood pacts, that would probably have a net-negative impact on the game as a whole.

So I can and will be cynical of the dev team's attempts to balance the game, which as many people at this point have stated repeatedly, they themselves do not understand.

Not sure why you're bringing up Regal Earring for SB as it doesn't beat Ishvara Earring--let alone Moonshade--according to the DPS spreadsheet.

And Regal Gem only surpasses Floestone in mid- to high Attack situations, which are fairly rare for RDM unless you have a pocket GEO.

Exactly how? The community has different opinion about how a job should work all the time, if they listen who would it be. And most of the time some of the suggestion would just make jobs less unique anyways.

Just personal opinion, I think community is often more biased because their pov about a job is limited to what they do the most.

Just this discussion we have people complained about blu not winning parse against war drk sam in zergs. Had SE listen we will have hybrid jobs on par with DD jobs in terms of dps ceiling.

This applies to all job balance issues. We have people ask for melee rdm buff, curaga 3 access on rdm, cure 5 access on rdm. If se listen we will just have another OP job in game.

The best way to balance job in ffxi, while making all jobs unique enough is to rely on content variety, imo.

SMN is OP, but it cant zerg dyna boss because of mechanics.

Geo bubbles are nerfed in master trials and some ambu.

RNG is used in PW2 fight.

BLU is used in some ambu and MT.

BLM is used on kei, some ambu, one MT... etc.

Rdm is used in ambu, mt etc...

And the list goes on. We have certain content that favors 1 job and another content favors another. We have certain content that drops good gear for some jobs and different content drops good gears for different jobs.

THAT is balance.

And why I feel this entire argument is slightly biased. People used omen af3 and accessory as an evidence to prove SE is trying to nerf blu to oblivion, but in reality its really just one content in entire game. Since dyna I personally dont feel blu being the only job got ***gears. It just seems that way because of 1-2hit ws buff across the board. But thats really not relevant nor target toward specific jobs. it affects other multi hit ws DD as well.

Job hierarchy changes all the time, as long as the gap isnt wide like Pacific ocean its impossible to have every DD job with exactly the same dps AND play different.

If anything I would say SE mostly did a good job balancing the jobs. All the jobs feel very different, on the same time they all get used one way or another. If they could create more mechanics that favor mnk like that white dmg inflation ambu, it would be perfect.

I dont agree that using zerg content performance as the only source to rank jobs. because zerg isnt all we do.

Imo, majority of complaint came from people either want to use all jobs for everything or they demand all jobs get similar power creep all the time. So blu got major buff in 2015 thus they must get the same buff in 2016 and 2017 then 2018?

In reality its more like 2015 > power creep, 2016 and 2017 > stopped, 2018 > same progress as everyone else. Like Anza said, its totally fine.

That is a logical fallacy. You are claiming that just because the game could be more wildly imbalanced, that the current system is 'balanced'. It is functional, not balanced.

The fact that you have multiple jobs that are not used for basically anything, and some that are inferior to most other things is a testament to this. You are looking at the problem through rose colored glasses. If the dev team knew what they were doing, then their update to MNK's boost wouldn't have been as hilarious as it was.

Regal Earring's 10 MND works for WSC, and also works in tandem with AF+3 hands for additional accuracy. The 2% WSD bonus from the earring gets diminishing return when you are already getting 10 WSD from cape, 6 from head, 6 from hands, up to 3 from sword, 4 from ring and, in my case, 9 from WSD Chironic feet. It devalues the 2% WSD to be more or less on par with 10 MND assuming 600 or so combined STR/MND, while offering better accuracy.

As for using Floestone, you are talking a difference of 13 attack for 4 more WSC stat. Even with the attack loss you'd be losing a minuscule amount of damage (about 1%, and that's before considering what you get back from the higher MND). Not to mention, as has been brought up previously in this very thread, low attack situations favor CDC over savage blade. In my case it is a stylistic choice, as I have a REMA BRD mule and Idris GEO to tote around as well. I personally will never be in a low attack situation.

The issue is you are quoting a spreadsheet rather than math to work out which one should be better, in a situation where real world testing would have the differences be so small as to be within a reasonable margin of error.

Yeah, as if other peoples forum opinion on balance is any better.... such as blu parse as much as war drk sam = balance. Theres no way that makes any logical sense at all. THAT is logical fallacy.

Its easy to say "dev isnt doing a good job, dev isnt listening to community", its much harder to come up with a perfect solution. 8 years of reading horrible suggestion on OF from the community, do we need anymore.

There were pages and pages of community suggestion about blu on OF years ago. Now that I think about it, the way SE fix the problem works much better than what was written on OF by the community.



Which job aren't used for anything? In past 2 years I have used every single job in event or pt with them, none of them got invite because of sympathy, all because they contribute one way or another.

I just wrote a novel to explain almost every job has a use in game. The problem is community has narrow pov about contents. Ideas such as endgame = zerg only, master trials isnt real content, thus blu is bad is very biased.

Just because some people only do alliance zerg content, or choose not to do MT, doesn't mean other people choose the same.

For those who do MT or 6 man content, or struggle for consistent win, jobs like blu offers tons of benefits. But its almost always a few vocal minority yelling "only what I do in game counts"

Guys you are being overly optimistic.
There is no way in reality they can afford a work as huge as what would be required to make an ilevel Abyssea for the new Empy armour.

Not unless they decide to charge money for those, in which case I can see it possible because they would receive additional resources.
If we rule this scenario out though, it's just completely unrealistic to expect an Abyssea revamp.

Which means they would be forced to either do a quick revamp of another content that's not related to Abyssea (new Vagary? Vagary v2? Something new like Omen? Whatever else?)