Black Mages - Tell Me About Your Job...

[Stormfur]

So I have a character that I was hoping to make a Blue Mage when it came out, but I'm also interested in doing semi end-game stuff (not savage but at least recent dungeons and whatnot).

I'm looking at Black Mage and wondering if I should level it up. I like doing tons of damage and big explosions, but I want to learn a bit about the job itself first. Is it pretty fun to take into level 70 dungeons? Is it fairly straightforward to learn? I'd probably get a job boost for it, but I want to learn more about it first. Why do you love/hate it?

[Squigley]

BLM is all about moving as little as possible and thus requires extensive knowledge of the fights for optimal play. The rotations are very simple. Basic dungeons are easy and fun, you just nuke everything. Raid and ex trials learning phases can be a pain as you spend most of the time dead or doing puny damage.

Many people say black mage is the hardest job of the game and I tend to agree. The feeling when you get everything right is awesome, though!

[LazyTitan87]

Start rotation->AoE death mechanic->Move->Start rotation->AoE death mechanic->Move->Lose enochian->Jump off edge of platform.

I kid, but positioning knowledge is something you'll have to have to make the job more fun. BLM is the most punished by movement out of the casters, but it is fun once you get it down.

The basics of its rotation are:
Maintain Enochian
Maintain your thunder debuff
Use your MP on Fire IVs
Restore your MP in Umbral Ice

Its like playing a pendulum. Largely consistent rotation that is changed more by the fights than anything else. It isn't my favorite caster, but it has its own fun associated with it.

[HiroesX81]

Its really fun especially combining it with Aetherial Manipulation, Casting Foul, triple Flare and fire 4. Makes dungeon runs pretty smooth in my opinion. Mana Wall is great and ive personally found it the most fun in doing expert roulette and Eureka Pagos and Anemos.

[Brightamethyst]

Tell Me About Your Job...

Well, on paper I'm a Captain in the Order of the Twin Adder, but I'm also a ranking member of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and mostly work as a freelance mercenary. I can't tell you much else because a lot of what I do is classified. Sorry.

Is it pretty fun to take into level 70 dungeons? Is it fairly straightforward to learn?

Fun will always be a matter of personal opinion. There's no way to know if you'll like it or not until you try it.

As for how complicated it is, that depends a lot on the level and the situation. Pre-60 it's brain dead simple. Spam fire spells until you're out of MP, switch to ice to refill MP, and repeat. At level 60, Fire 4 comes into play and changes things up a bit, but it's still not that complicated. If you look around you'll find endgame guides with complicated looking rotations and openers, but that's mostly about optimization in high end content. You don't need to memorize and follow all that if you just want to blow stuff up in dungeons and the occasional normal mode raids.

[Stormfur]

Is there like a level 60-70 guide for the job that isn't focused on savage-level rotation?

[Seraphor]

Is there like a level 60-70 guide for the job that isn't focused on savage-level rotation?

Its the same stuff, just not necessarily as strict. I wouldnt even worry about a strict rotation until you're trying to optimise your DPS. Start at the beginning, dont jump to the end.

Personally i find BLM to be a fairly easy and fun job to learn casually. Spend time getting to grips with it before end game, before you even attempt to raid.
Then when you do raid, you only have the fight mechanics to worry about, then its just a matter of knowing where to stand.

[Meta-Flare]

I refused to play it for the longest because it seemed so boring, but once I tried it I really liked it. It is definitely the most fun caster dps to me. That being said it was confusing at first, but once I understood the job it was super simple. I made a thread asking for help and people were super helpful.


http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...need-some-help.

[Zerathor]

It's a fun job in both casual and savage content. The rotation is quite straight forward and flows well after you have all your spells. When done properly, you have immense aoe dps that isn't reliant on cooldowns, and on single target fights you should be ahead of all jobs except samurai in some fights. Mobility will seem like an issue at first, but you get used to slide casting where you need to, as well as utilizing procs/instant casts for repositioning.

Would recommend, but it will take some getting used to if you've never played a turret caster in other games.

[Gaj85]

I have played BLM as my main since 2.0 but over the past two patches I have converted entirely to a RDM. I loved my Black Mage, don't get me wrong, but I got so sick and tired of all the interruptions/movement. I feel like I am able to do more as a Red Mage and enjoy the fights more. I would say try it, it is a great class even if it is quite difficult.