Any chance of an Enochian qol fix?

[Bahd_Monkey]

I've got the new rotation down, but I can't say it's enjoyable to play. Having to constantly check how many seconds remain of AF3 and Enochian really breaks the immersion of boss battles, and makes the new rotation just feel like I'm focused on playing a mini-game of juggling timers, instead of being an awesome mage in epic battles.

That, and having an add die or boss jump off screen before getting a B4 off is really annoying. I think if there was a better way to refresh Enochian, it would make the job more fun, give us a few seconds of movement, and the ability to handle an occasional mechanic.

[Clarkamite]

Snip
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I know what you're saying. The thing with that is once you play around with it a bit more it'll become intuitive just like how 2.x's rotation was. You didn't have to check the timers to know when you were close dropping AF. Same deal here. You will learn when you can and can't squeeze in another cast or when it's better to just refresh a stack or a timer so you can continue on. It is difficult at first but once you get some serious time with it and get some gear with spell speed on it, you'll see it'll become second nature once again.

Although I will say I agree to having a boss jump or an add die as B4 is about to be cast is pretty annoying. But then again it's not like we didn't have the same sort of mechanic going on with 2.x's rotation, its just more pronounced now. That's what I feel like SE did, they further accentuated our strengths and as a result the "weaknesses" feel more pronounced as well.

EDIT: Not to hijack the thread or anything but I just want to know, is anyone else really not understanding what's going on with our new AF like I am? This isn't a new thing for me I've just never said anything about it. I'm not sure what is even going on with our gear right now. Everyone seems to have gotten something that at least falls within their normal realm of style (not without a few complaints here and there) but what exactly is our new gear? None of it even looks like something a mage would wear. Not to me anyways.

[Twailaith]

It's what separates the difference between a mediocre BLM that knows how their job works, and a good BLM that knows how to make their job work to suit the circumstances. And it's not something introduced straight up that makes it a complete jump too, they give you enochain, they give you a spell that refreshes enochian, and a spell to deal more damage during enochian, while keeping other previous mechanics intact (excluding thundercloud on release)

I can't help but agree with the above.

I played BLM from buying the gave and ran it through 2.0 to 3.0 with barely touching the other classes...

I don't think there a single job that has a better learning curve than BLM. Every class quest will teach you something new, and every dungeon or MSQ between will give you juuuust the time necessary to be comfortable with what you have before providing something new to chew on.

For a class that basically reads "Cast fire until mp is low, then cast ice." It embraced it's own simplicity and had a surprissingly fun way of recreating the mechanics from it.

It wasn't until 3.0x: Grind That Gear that I switched to DRK.

Honestly? After a BLM, the DRK was a breeze to manage... You've already been taught exactly how to rotate your abilities, how to keep an eye on MP, how to keep the DoT ticking... You already know intimately what to expect of this and that enemy, when and where AoEs will be thrown, how to prepare for this and that mechanic without wasting cooldowns.


The BLM is all about predicting your enemies, knowing what they'll do and when... A skilled BLM can call out the boss rotation by gut feeling alone and step out of an AoE and start casting before the indicator even lights up... They tend to have good statistics, even in PF, and I think that's because to be good at the BLM, you have to enjoy it, and to enjoy it, you have to be good at it.

Though I suppose the same awareness can be said for WHM... Some of those dudes are outright scary.

Tanks are fun too, but I don't think I'd have had as much fun learning the DRK if I hadn''t mained as a BLM...

[Maero]

Well it is said from countless players that rotation wise blm is not hard (no class is really) but we have to be 100% spot on in terms of knowing the fight and paying attention to timers.
I have no issues with enochian but know that some do, and it really does show dps wise those who left enochian drop early, no other class really sees such a drastic drop in dps.
Enochian does not need fixes at all as far as i am concerned, overtime you will get used to it.

[Kailii]

The problem to me is that it's not very fun to learn. It's stressful and makes BLM feel like an entirely different from from 2.0 to 3.0, which I don't feel is a good thing. I'm not entirely sure most people like it, just most blms who are left like it. It's anecdotal, but none of my friends who mained blm in 2.0 main it now, thanks to Enochian.

I guess in terms of a QoL fix however, would refreshing the cooldown after combat ends be untoward? It's minor compared to how it behaves in boss fights, but doing trash where things don't go at a fast pace, or in something like Diadem, it can be a pain to keep up Enochian in these short duration fights, and then traveling quickly to another. If Enochian would refresh after combat, it'd at least feel like I could use it whenever I needed to.

[Kiara]

I've got the new rotation down, but I can't say it's enjoyable to play. Having to constantly check how many seconds remain of AF3 and Enochian really breaks the immersion of boss battles, and makes the new rotation just feel like I'm focused on playing a mini-game of juggling timers, instead of being an awesome mage in epic battles.

That, and having an add die or boss jump off screen before getting a B4 off is really annoying. I think if there was a better way to refresh Enochian, it would make the job more fun, give us a few seconds of movement, and the ability to handle an occasional mechanic.

The problem to me is that it's not very fun to learn. It's stressful and makes BLM feel like an entirely different from from 2.0 to 3.0, which I don't feel is a good thing. I'm not entirely sure most people like it, just most blms who are left like it. It's anecdotal, but none of my friends who mained blm in 2.0 main it now, thanks to Enochian.

Well said Pale, Kailii. Totally agree.

Of course players can just "get used to it," and "get gud!" and learn each fight's details down to every facet, to make sure you know when to unleash Enochian and go full bore, but

* There's a fundamental FLAW with Enochian's design which is at odds with the fundamental design of Every Major Boss Battle in this game: The Combat Team is hellbent on creating more and more "Gimmicks" and "Team Jump Rope" mechanics, which directly reduce Enochian up time, which cuts BLM DPS.

Every patch is only going to get worse ("Hey, let's throw MORE Ridiculous Dodging / Stacking / Jumping Through Hoops in the next Raid / EX Battle!").

Every new AOE / Gimmick / Dodge / Stack mechanic that gets thrown in is fundamentally at ODDS and a direct interrupt to the Black Mage's highest DPS Loop (Enochian / Fire IV / Blizz IV).

It wastes valuable seconds off of Enochian, and oftentimes on the more hectic fights, it causes you to drop Enochian, forcing the Black Mage to go back to the 2.0 Rotation (far less DPS).

No other job gets penalized as badly for this.

So unless the actual Boss / Combat Design is changing (it's not), expect even MORE ridiculous running / dodging / avoiding AOE madness, which is going to make Enochian management harder and harder.

I know the top BLM will find a way and power through it, but this feels unfair compared to other classes for the penalties we suffer if we're off / late even a bit (dropping Enochian and our DPS plummets).

I hope there's some improvements coming soon and that the Dev Team hears this feedback.

[RiceisNice]

There's a fundamental FLAW with Enochian's design which is at odds with the fundamental design of Every Major Boss Battle in this game: The Combat Team is hellbent on creating more and more "Gimmicks" and "Team Jump Rope" mechanics, which directly reduce Enochian up time, which cuts BLM DPS.

Name them, because as far as I know, these also affect other dps jobs, not just BLM. Esepscially when the boss becomes untargetable. Every job has to deal with that and they have their own way of managing it.

[Atoli]

Name them, because as far as I know, these also affect other dps jobs, not just BLM. Esepscially when the boss becomes untargetable. Every job has to deal with that and they have their own way of managing it.

Other classes usually lose 3-4 GCDs at worst. For BRD, it's the reapplication of 2 DoTs seperately. For NIN, it's 1 lost Ninjutsu if they drop Huton, and so on. I didn't get MNK and DRG to 60 yet, but I doubt they are pretty much out of action for the next 40 seconds if the boss vanishes at a bad time. But BLM is, and that's very..unforgiving.

Like I said before, getting used to Enochian and getting to know the fight are keys to make it work anyway, but I do feel that it's slightly unfair in comparison. Oh, but I don't want things to get "easier" for BLMs! I'd just like it if our effort was a bit more rewarding :3

[RiceisNice]

Like I said before, getting used to Enochian and getting to know the fight are keys to make it work anyway, but I do feel that it's slightly unfair in comparison. Oh, but I don't want things to get "easier" for BLMs! I'd just like it if our effort was a bit more rewarding :3

Your "normal" rotation during enochian is outrageous damage as it is though. A BLM shouldn't be out of the action for the entirty of 30 seconds either for letting enochian fall off. There's no unsung rule that you have to refresh it at the very last 3 seconds, just pull it off enough that you can hit the full minute and refresh it again if the fight allows (and if it doesn't...well 4-5 seconds won't kill you).

MNK is confined to the same burden of maintaining GL3, but they have more abilities that need to be utilized in conjunction with downtime (using tornado kick properly and stacks for FC). DRG is in the same vein of BLM that they have to maintain BotD and use their two new actions in conjunction with gerkisoul. BotD is also on a 1 minute cooldown and they don't have the benefit of hard-refreshing it through using the skill again to reset the timer to 15 seconds. It gives them a 4th combo hit which is both a huge overall dps increase as well as TP effiency.

BRD reapplying DoTs is a huge tp sink so it definitely becomes more detrimental overtime, nor do you want to reapply it too soon or you'll lose out on ticks. Even with SMN they need to follow a fairly pre-set aetherflow usage to ensure maximum gain out of it (getting 2 festers and a TD-contag during derpwyrm trance), not manging that becomes sub optimal and a dps loss.

And lastly,

if the boss vanishes at a bad time. But BLM is, and that's very..unforgiving.

Which again...can apply to any other job, and not just BLM. If you know the boss is gonna vanish (because to my knowledge, no boss will randomly disappear, it's all on a timer or % threshold), you wouldn't invest your rotations or cooldowns into it if you know that it's going to fall off or otherwise be ruined.

[Garotte14]

Drg must maintain BotD, Monk must maintain GL, even ninja's dps is better if they can armor crush instead of wasting a ninjutsu on Huton. The only ppl who don't like 3.0 BLM are the lazy ones who were most likely never even good at the class in the first place. They want a class that requires no thinking, no awareness, no skill so they can sit there and just spam 3 buttons, because that's all you did in 2.0.

Those who were actually exceptional BLMs in 2.0 already knew how to maximize dps by learning the fights inside and out, having awareness, minimizing movement, effective use of manawall, manaward, and aetherial manipulation to optimize your damage output. Nothing has changed. They just added another cooldown to maintain. So I'm sorry, but anytime I see someone complain about BLM, I know it's just someone who was never very good to begin with.