A few questions for the BLM mains/enjoyers

Please don't take Scathe away. When doing FATEs with other players (especially at low levels), it is really nice having an instant-cast spell that will hit my target before someone else kills it. I also like having a button to click during dungeon pulls while moving. This spell is not obsolete.

I thought the main point of Sharpcast was to give you Firestarter procs when you need to move, especially since you typically use your Firestarter procs as you get them. Am I wrong? I feel like saying "your only real option is using Sharpcast to hold onto a Thundercloud proc" ignores the fact that mechanics exist.

I like the idea of holding up to three charges of Firestarter and Thundercloud, and I would find it helpful to have indicators for them on the job gauge.

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Originally Posted by Zatoh

Please don't take Scathe away. When doing FATEs with other players (especially at low levels), it is really nice having an instant-cast spell that will hit my target before someone else kills it. I also like having a button to click during dungeon pulls while moving. This spell is not obsolete.

I thought the main point of Sharpcast was to give you Firestarter procs when you need to move, especially since you typically use your Firestarter procs as you get them. Am I wrong? I feel like saying "your only real option is using Sharpcast to hold onto a Thundercloud proc" ignores the fact that mechanics exist.

I like the idea of holding up to three charges of Firestarter and Thundercloud, and I would find it helpful to have indicators for them on the job gauge.

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One aspect of higher end optimisation is using sharpcast for a fire 3 proc and then holding that proc throughout your ice phase so you can use paradox ice [instant cast] to weave transpose and then use the f3 proc under af1 for higher potency. There are more nuanced options than just this one but it is a key aspect of optimized blm play.

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Originally Posted by Zatoh

Please don't take Scathe away. When doing FATEs with other players (especially at low levels), it is really nice having an instant-cast spell that will hit my target before someone else kills it. I also like having a button to click during dungeon pulls while moving. This spell is not obsolete.

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I agree that Scathe being the exact same spell that it was 10 years ago doesn't feel great, but I cannot emphasize how much I agree with THIS kind of sentiment right here.

Scathe HAS its uses, and they may be closer to niche than not-niche but they are still gains. If you're not using scathe in dungeons as an execute (last button before a mob dies when you otherwise couldn't get another full cast off), or just before boss downtime as the same, then you are missing optimization. Hopefully though it goes without saying that fights are situational, and if you have something like a xeno or a firestarter or thundercloud (or even transpose > ice paradox), then those should be prioritized at those levels given the scenario, but I use scathe literally every day like this, and everyone probably should.


I don't think scathe really needs fixed that badly (or more accurately, I don't think it deserves to be high on the priority list of things to be addressed for the class), but if I were to fix it, I would probably make the double potency thing just be passive in astral fire instead of 20% chance thing, and reduce its MP cost to 400 like Thunder, so using a single scathe in a fire phase if you REALLY needed to would not cost you a Fire IV from a standard rotation MP perspective. HOWEVER, I understand them being hesitant to give ANY buff to scathe, because they don't want scathe mages either (otherwise I might suggest the six-sided star treatment).

Something I'd like to see added to all damage-over-time spell descriptions is their potency if kept for the full duration. This is extra true for BLM because the single-target and multi-target thunder DoTs have different potencies and do not stack with each other. This is also extra true due to how Thundercloud works. Answering the question of "will using my Thundercloud proc do more damage than casting Fire?" should not require me to do a math problem and somehow glean the tribal knowledge that DoTs hit every three seconds. (I would also need to somehow know the size of my Astral Fire boost.)

Relatedly, it would be nice if the descriptions of fire spells included their potencies with Astral Fire 1, 2, and 3. I think one of the reasons people find Black Mage difficult to learn, and also one of the reasons there are ice mages, is that this information is not easily-accessible. Reading the spell descriptions, it looks like Blizzard and Fire have the same potency.

The total DOT potency I think would be iffy because server ticks determines that sometimes, and then invuln mechanics happen, so might be disingenuous, though I agree that there should be a more sanctioned and straightforward way that the player learns about how DOT ticks really work in game.

I never really thought about listing a "total potency" for skills based on Astral Fire though now that you're saying it out loud it doesn't seem like a bad idea... perhaps SE thinks it has something to do with "researching" your class from a fantasy perspective, maybe. Which feels ok I suppose but I'm not married to it (again, fantasy/lore should NEVER be prioritized over accessibility/user experience).

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Originally Posted by Llugen

The total DOT potency I think would be iffy

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An estimate would work well enough, and I think calling it an "estimated total potency" would be acceptable. I am glad we have potencies at all for helping compare actions, but the provided potencies for DoTs are not particularly useful without further context (and honestly make DoTs look terrible to the casual observer, despite the opposite being true).

For anything that deals damage or heals over time, why not simply something like:

Potency: 75 every 3s
Duration: 21s

I would like to see an increase to the aoe range of our aoe's. 5 yalms is just too small. In a group of trash mobs with a couple of big guys, I usually can't get all the mobs in the blast range. WHM holy is 8 yalms, please make blm's the same.

Only time Mao uses Scathe anymores is when Hunts Trains get so big that Mao needs use insta-cast spell to tag A-Rank before it dies.

With the recent buffs I think BLM is ideal shape. The main problems with FFXIV combat have nothing to do with the job for me. I see lots of problems with many other jobs and the combat in general.