Spell learning has yet to be a problem for me. The most amount of times I have seen a mob use a spell before I learned it was 4. Usually, I learn it the 2nd time I see it used. Getting the mob to use the ability on the other hand has proven to be difficult at times.



I had all my spells 1-8 by level 4. By level 8, I had all my spells up to level 12. I do find it easier to learn a spell from a mob that is DC-EM...mainly because they can take a few more hits before dying, and tend to hit me more often building their TP. Getting them to use the right move is different though ;_;



I very much dislike the decision people have made saying it is purely Random. Of course, they don't say it in a nice way...but rather some smart-ass remark to follow. By saying 'its random' with no proof is just as bad as saying 'it depends on X'...so until there is solid evidence, I won't believe anyone.



I like the idea of a stat having an effect of learning spells. But how does one prove this...other than have a huge amount of people with the exact same stats, except of course the one in question, try to learn a spell. The problem is, once you learn a spell, you can't unlearn it...meaning you cant repeat the test by yourself....hence the large amount of people.



What if the stat that will increase the change of learning a spell is different for each spell? Such as higher INT will help learn magical attack spells, higher AGI will help learn physical attacks, MND affects the learning rate of healing abilities etc. The number of tests needed to figure this out keeps going up...meaning we need more people willing to cooperate...and when i say more, i'm thinking at least over a few hundred for a (still poor) sample set...and my head is starting to hurt O_o



One factor, which has a direct correlation to learning the ability is, naturally, seeing the ability used. To increase the odds of learning a spell, it makes sense to increase the odds that a mob will use the ability. So, if anyone has an idea on how to make a mob use a certain ability within a high percentage...that will help. Take for example...



Feather Storm: The Yagudo will (well for me anyway) will use this attack 100% of the time if you are in the orange-red health-wise. Mainly because the developers think it is funny to have people die slowly and painfully from poison IMO. I know I would code it that way >_>. Otherwise, they will spam {Foot Kick}...probably because its a better spell anyway. I am guessing that there are many other abilities that mobs use when conditions are right.



Pollen: Beating the bees down to a sliver of life often led to Final Sting. Often, for me was 7/7 times I tried. Next bee, I decided to hit once so it still had over 75% of its health. Then, I just stood there as it built TP. Sure enough, it used pollen, and I learned it (first time I actually saw the ability).



These kind of tests are repeatable unlike learning a spell. Meaning, you can continue to fight Yagudo and record how many times it uses feather storm depending on your life total. Higher percentage of the mob using the spell = higher percentage of learning the spell = happy BLU ^_^



Just my thoughts.

These are the things that I have seen not only in myself but also other blue mages.

1. Don't have your back turned when trying to learn an ability.
(the only time I (myself) have learned an ability with my back turned was pollen which is a lvl 1 spell)

2. Finish the mob off with an instant kill after it does its ability you want.
(I have instant killed it with both melee and blue magic, blue magic seems to work better when you are punching it with your fists trying not to kill it until it uses its ability)
(Almost all the time i learned my magic was from the instant kill)

3. DC-EM (to me at my current level) have granted me my magic
(EP has granted me 2 of my blue magic spells although both times it took at least 10 times for them to use it before i learned it)

4. Only 1 blue mage and learn a spell at a time in an all or multiple blue mage party. THIS IS FALSE. I have proven this to be wrong. I pt'ed with another blue and we both learned featherstorm at the same time.

5. Some spells are easier to learn at the level at which you can use them. This means that for some magic there is a higher learning curve than others. For those of you who are blue mages you might have noticed this with cacoon and metalic shell.
(ex. i was 0/12 pre 8 for cacoon and 0/4 metalic shell
i was 1/2 @ lvl 8 for cacoon and 1/3 on metalic shell @ 8
)

As to learning blue magic:

-don't try and learn somethign that is 1000 lvl's higher than what you can use it at, it will take forever to learn as there is a learning curve
(ex. me (lvl 16) learned a lvl 18 spell one first try
someone else (lvl 10) never got it after a lot of tries)

- There may be something said for having the mob facing you and you facing it when it uses its ability you want.
(ex. Healing breeze (me) 1/2 cause I was the one who
a. Had the hate
b. me and the mob were facing eachother
(other pt member was behind it, meaning mob was not facing them)
c. I finished off the mob right after it used healing breeze with blue magic)
d. Be one lucky bastard

And after reading all this if you think i am full of crap well then get your blue higher than mine and then you can tell me i don't know jack. :p

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
(currently lvl 17 blue mage)

A good read. I agree on it but like Milo, I dont have the expansion yet.

One question though. I read the Blue Magic list and it says BLU can learn "Self-Destruct"......

Ummmm.... {Mijin Gakure} anyone? EXP loss included or no?