Black Mage

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Originally Posted by Karshan

Dw it's mainly QoL and not straight up buffs (we haven't seen potencies either, the changes are just an overview). They don't change the power, just simplified some things.
Right now SMN really only needed QoL cause damage is good, just need to make it easier to acces it (you need to know the fight as well as a BLM cause it's a frikin nuclear power plant control room at times and just like BLM with positionning, it doesn't go well in progress)

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Turning a single target skill into an AoE skill is absolutely a buff unless they happen to massively nerf the potency, cooldown and/or duration from it's current iteration.

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But we gain utility, and if fflogs translates devotion the way it does with radiant shield, then yes it will be too much. We can't have a SMN doing the same as the black mage damage wise WITH rez and devotion, that's not balanced.

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Whether it's attributed to the SMN or not doesn't matter, what matters is the raid DPS gain.

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Originally Posted by nakaflocka

Turning a single target skill into an AoE skill is absolutely a buff unless they happen to massively nerf the potency, cooldown and/or duration from it\\'s current iteration.


Whether it\\'s attributed to the SMN or not doesn\\'t matter, what matters is the raid DPS gain.

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What skill

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Originally Posted by Jukebox12

What skill

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Devotion is being buffed to be AOE.

I'm just glad someone else said it. I love this class and have zero interest in playing anything else, but I constantly think about how I might be holding back the group despite doing well personally.

But when you complain about BLM you always get people pointing to your personal DPS and saying there's no problem, as seen in this thread. And I can't help but feel like SE thinks the same way, as balance changes seem to mostly target personal performance without considering overall group performance factors.

Increasing personal DPS to the point where it would make up for the rDPS would be extreme and lead to much more complaints from the general player base. So I agree that the answer is to provide some raid contribution to the BLM kit. I personally think that could come in the way of shields instead of buffs. We used to have two personal defensive abilities, a single target party shield, E4E and virus so it would be lore / legacy consistent. Giving us back manawall and making it a reduced potency (10%?) AOE manaward on a decently long CD might be a start.

The problem with this approach is that it could be really helpful for progression, but once it comes to farming / speedrunning we would still be in the same position most likely...

Blizzard 4 needs to become more rewarding to use, so if SE wants to either boost BLM personal dps or BLM added-to-party dps they should start there.

BLM is pretty much my favourite class in terms of theme and aesthetics. I have always been partial to caster DPS with big numbers and FFXIV was no exception. It was the class I started the game with and the first one I brought to lvl 70. I really wanted to make it my permanent main, but the playstyle was so clunky I ended up switching to other classes. It just doesn't feel satisfying to play. I just don't see the benefit of playing a class that is has a tight rotation due to resource management, has low mobility, no utility and only a "little" more DPS than the competition.

The thing is, I have played all-damage, no-utility DPS classes before in other MMOs. The thing I enjoy about all damage no utility classes is the satisfaction of gearing them up to be badass and watching them WRECK things. Regardless if the class is actually overpowered, you at least feel powerful, like your damage output makes a difference. People want you in their parties because you wreck things. People notice the damage you and your class put out. They want you because they know that with you in the party, boss fights are easier because they are significantly shorter. I don't feel that in FFXIV with BLM. BLM is king/queen at AOEing dungeon trash but I don't notice a huge difference when it comes to boss fights compared to other DPS such as Bard, Machinist, Dragoon, Monk, Red Mage, etc.

I agree with the OP, especially in terms of powercreep. When other classes deal almost as much damage as BLMs and offer more utility... what's so special about BLM? The thing I find really sad about the state of BLM is that they're only a godsend in dungeons or content with a lot of trash. I'm extremely happy to see them in dungeons because they will reliably and happily AOE things if you line up at least 3-4 targets for them. It's really fun watching them melt mobs with huge explosions. On the other hand, I've seen BLMs slow down boss fights because of all the movement required and if they screw up their rotation. Good BLMs do exist, but watching the less competent ones is especially painful.

I don't want BLM to get more raid buffs. I just want a caster meta. Casters are pretty dead forever because of the dmg specific buffs. RDm and embolden makes RDM the only caster that has any kind of place. That said, teh meta comp isn't THAT far ahead of other comps. While the NIN/DRG/BRD is pretty much set in stone, the 4th slot is variable. MCH BLM, SAm, and MNK can all fit into that slot and still have roughly the same numbers. The problem is that even though raid DPS is just about the same, personal DPS is lower unless a MCH is in the party. And we all know how much more important people think their personal DPS is, even if raid DPS is the same. They need that purple fflogs. With SMN being buffed, I'm pretty sure it's going to pull ahead of all 4 of those DPS. The only thing that'll need to happen for that meta is for enough good SMNs to show that SMN can do it.

Basically, no, don't give BLM a raid buff. I don't want a raid buff. I want to be big girl DPS like SAM (which we basically are right now).

One of my static's reaction to the live letter
"Oh, we're back to 3.2?" At this point, Im just hoping they add another melee mid patch that gives magic resist debuff. That or they completely remove the piercing debuff. They can distract us with that until they really sit and really think things through.

What I really want is for them to play buff chicken with BLM and SMN liek they did BRD and MCH back in Heavensward:^ )

I don't really care about caster meta. They just have to not be afraid of letting pure DPS jobs like BLM and SAM do absurd amount of damage. They've nothing else to offer, but on top of that the game balancement makes not even their damage to be a defining trait because other jobs bring more damage in form of buffs on top of their peculiarities (MNK's Mantra, NIN's trick, RDM's raise, BRD/MCH's mitigation).

If anything, something BLM brings are dying to Convert usage. :p