Hmm... no, not really. Tier 5 spells are BLM's highest DPS option at the moment. They do require some support to spam, but it's still our best option.


To crosspost from FFXIAH:
Strengths of BLM:
1) No engage delay for our damage
2) Substantially better unbuffed DPS than a melee
3) Damage can be essentially hate free
4) One of the best sources of AoE damage in the game
5) Manawall (rez cap to 30 JPs prz)

Weaknesses of BLM (most have already been hit):
1) Magic Accuracy is an issue at higher levels. We need magic sushi, or at least elemental magic sushi.

2) Magic damage buffs do kind of suck at the moment. The best we have is Malaise (~2x damage), and it still doesn't really compare to melee Haste (5x damage).

3) We require too many buffs in group content. In group content where we can't afford to take hate, we have to lean on AM. AM has a longish recast time, which means we need high levels of Haste to really sustain our nuking if the monster has any specific elements that it resists. So we not only need magic damage buffs and sources of Refresh, but we also need Haste similar to a melee in order to be damage competitive. If we're doing high-end content, we also need magic accuracy buffs to stay competitive at the moment.

4) The normal macro system doesn't let us take advantage of the 80% fast cast cap or occasionally quickens in any reasonable way, and that's a problem that needs to be fixed. BLM will never be a respectable DD without 80% fast cast (and hopefully occasionally quickens procs).

5) That extra half a second that you have to wait after you move before you can cast again without getting interrupted is actually incredibly limiting for magic jobs in roaming situations. If they eliminated it, BLM would be even more potent in situations like Outer Ra'Kaznar skirmish.

6) I worry about our reliance on Spaekona's Coat +1. Gear becomes obsolete eventually.



In terms of tales of success, I have DDed comparable to SAM in the past but it took a considerable amount of support and was only against iLevel 127 content. I'm certain that it could still get better, but the amount of support that it requires is inefficient as hell. I'd say these adjustments should take place in two stages. The first stage would be introducing a potent Elemental Macc food and giving us some kind of Spaekona's Coat-like job trait that levels up (say 1% at 30, 2% at 60, and 3% at 90). The second stage would be introducing a way for macro users to actually benefit from all that fast cast and occasionally quickens and then balancing magic damage accordingly. They could also fix problem #5 in the second stage if they wanted.