"No bias" is not something you can simply prove by saying so

You know what I mean, that doesn't look like a no-bias change at all. Even if you don't have any bias in your mind while doing the changes, it's still simply unfair that a player of one certain job can have a much higher volume & extremely more efficient ways to give feedback or even suggestions. BTW BLM is also the only job left in PvE that doesn't need to strictly follow a 120s rotation, what makes it so different?
https://i.imgur.com/6tARY1N.png

BLM was incredibly niche prior to the buffs and stupid easy to kill. Post buffs outside of the LB its still stupid easy to kill them. BLM desperately needed buffs, so no it wasn't a biased update. The problem is the pure solo queue with no chat features means most people just do their own thing and don't coordinate. Prior to the patch most people just ignored BLM because they were not a threat. Post patch people still ignore the free casting BLM, but now its a threat so they just complain instead. Literally anyone with a brain can realize all they need to do is dive the BLM and they will never be a threat.

BLM should have most of its damage moved behind Fire and Ice dmg and duration should be nerfed.

Nerf is incoming, so hold your horse there.

According to the statement, BLM has the lowest usage and win rates across all player categories even after 6.11 patch which leads YoshiP to investigate the problem himself, but the patch was already sent off before they could make adjustments.
It makes a lot of sense considering the amount of buffs BLM recieved in 6.11a.

If that indicates anything, it would be that they made BLM too hard to play, and too weak to even worth the time, which shows that they don’t have any bias whatsoever.
However, YoshiP also said that BLM (after 6.11) has more than enough potential to excel in the hands of skilled PVP combatants.

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Originally Posted by Ransu

BLM was incredibly niche prior to the buffs and stupid easy to kill. Post buffs outside of the LB its still stupid easy to kill them. BLM desperately needed buffs, so no it wasn't a biased update. The problem is the pure solo queue with no chat features means most people just do their own thing and don't coordinate. Prior to the patch most people just ignored BLM because they were not a threat. Post patch people still ignore the free casting BLM, but now its a threat so they just complain instead. Literally anyone with a brain can realize all they need to do is dive the BLM and they will never be a threat.

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This patch brought tears to my eyes though when the WAR in my team used "covering Black Mage" quick chat during team fights, used everything to keep MNK and NIN off me while both healers in my team stick close to me and protect my rear and flank.

People used to completely ignore me, even if im raining down spells on their heads or get constantly jumped on by a pesky MNK or a NIN. Now they are trying to protect me whenever they can....... weird, but a great feeling.

I for one, am glad that the dev team actually bothers to explain their reasoning and tell us what their plans are.

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Originally Posted by Kyu-Momo

I for one, am glad that the dev team actually bothers to explain their reasoning and tell us what their plans are.

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Yeah….for black mage. Where is this communication with healers?

At Op, dude read the whole post before you complain... they are reverting some of the changes...

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Originally Posted by NyneSwordz

At Op, dude read the whole post before you complain... they are reverting some of the changes...

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In 6.15 or 6.18 down the road. Maybe.

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Originally Posted by Lymberey

Nerf is incoming, so hold your horse there.

According to the statement, BLM has the lowest usage and win rates across all player categories even after 6.11 patch which leads YoshiP to investigate the problem himself, but the patch was already sent off before they could make adjustments.
It makes a lot of sense considering the amount of buffs BLM recieved in 6.11a.

If that indicates anything, it would be that they made BLM too hard to play, and too weak to even worth the time, which shows that they don’t have any bias whatsoever.
However, YoshiP also said that BLM (after 6.11) has more than enough potential to excel in the hands of skilled PVP combatants.

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To paraphrase a friend, the BLM changes feel like the decisions were delegated to someone with not much experience dealing with competitive games. If you're aiming for a *balanced* game, you make changes iteratively - changes tend to be small, but frequent. Make a series of small adjustments, evaluate, repeat.

In this case, we know that the 6.11 changes were *probably* not quite enough for BLM. So it needed more. I think they should have pushed through the cast time changes, added the second charge of Paradox, and then waited to see how that affects things. No changes to potency whatsoever. Don't add the Heavy to Night Wing. Don't add DR to the ult. BLM after 6.11 was plenty strong, but it almost certainly had the highest skill floor of any class. Reducing the cast times would substantially lower that floor, which may have been the only change needed. If not, then you can take another step and try boosting potency or adding the DR or whatever and evaluate again.

The BLM changes are all pretty good, the issue is that they happened *all at once* instead of in phases. That makes me think the person behind them may not have a lot of experience in balancing competitive environments.

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Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Yeah….for black mage. Where is this communication with healers?

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In PvP or PvE? They already told us that we should go play ultimates if we want to have actual fun playing healers in PvE :P

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Originally Posted by Ransu

BLM was incredibly niche prior to the buffs and stupid easy to kill. Post buffs outside of the LB its still stupid easy to kill them. BLM desperately needed buffs, so no it wasn't a biased update. The problem is the pure solo queue with no chat features means most people just do their own thing and don't coordinate. Prior to the patch most people just ignored BLM because they were not a threat. Post patch people still ignore the free casting BLM, but now its a threat so they just complain instead. Literally anyone with a brain can realize all they need to do is dive the BLM and they will never be a threat.

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BLM was not niche prior to this patch, they were in a good spot last patch and easily tipped over by this one.

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Originally Posted by Bureda

BLM was not niche prior to this patch, they were in a good spot last patch and easily tipped over by this one.

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Lowest usage and win rates (14% less compared to the highest) were not good indicators of being in a good spot..... and that was even after 6.11 buff.

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Originally Posted by Lymberey

Lowest usage and win rates (14% less compared to the highest) were not good indicators of being in a good spot..... and that was even after 6.11 buff.

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It would depend on the curve, frankly. And *why* it was so much lower. You play a lot of BLM, right? I'm sure we'd both agree that the *why* is that BLM had a very high skill floor - arguably the highest. There's plenty of BLM mains in the top 100 in 6.11, and of course there's a ton now after the over-buffing because it's so easy to faceroll games now.

BLM was HORRIBLE before these buffs. BLM is fine now

BLM was quite good after 6.11. Giving Superflare the ability to ignore LOS was a major QOL and effectiveness boost for them. BLM is currently obviously overpowered - which is why you're seeing so many people in top 100 playing it non-stop, because if you're at least moderately competent at it, its power to carry games is absurd. I very regularly see (skilled) BLMs breaking 1 million damage dealt in 5-6 minute games, *far* ahead of just about everyone else. Particularly on Cloud Nine and Palaistra, where objects to LOS with are few and far between (seriously can we please just remove Cloud Nine until they fix it?)

Cast time reduction and the second Paradox charge are literal game-changers for BLM. Being able to pretty much immediately swap between Ice and Fire is a huge deal, and shorter cast times make them a lot less vulnerable to LOSing than they were before. Then you add in the Burst potency increase, the DR on the LB, the baseline potency increases... it's just way too much all at once.

BLM's biggest issue in 6.11 was that it was a very high skill floor class, relative to all other classes. If you were not a skilled player, you probably fed a lot and didn't get much done. Adding the extra Paradox and reducing cast times is a substantial shift towards lowering that skill floor. But the rest is too much.

If they want to retain the potency increases and other gewgaws BLM got, then they need to change Deep Freeze to be a bind effect, not a stun effect.