Black Mage Job Spells are disappointing.

[Dartanis]

I think BLM would be fine if Flare either dealt more dmg or didnt consume 100% of our mana. They could always add something like... resets Transpose cd and cause transpose to swap 3 stacks of AF for 3 stacks of UI. This way Flare would have a place in our DPS rotation.

[-Snow]

..
That's another thing, the names of my spells are incredibly boring and sterile. Blizzard 1, Blizzard 2, Blizzard 3. Blizzard 3 is the upgrade to 1 that 2 should have been and 2 should have been a completely different named spell all on it's own. Actually it feels like when going from Blizzard 1 to Blizzard 3 and Fire 1 to Fire 3 I skipped a spell in there in terms of effect. If you insist on using these boring 1, 2, 3 naming conventions then at least use them correctly.

(limit reached again, see next)

You want to know something funny ?

German Spell Names : ,-ra ,-ga
Japanese Spell Names : ,-ra ,-ga
France Spell Names : extra, mega

English Spell Names : ,-II ,-III

I'm not quite sure about France (i think they never used ,-ra ,-ga or ,-ja for FF), but JP and GER are using the Final Fantasy suffix system we all love and know.

English seems to be the only language which uses the old System. Old because only old FF games (FFI,II.. till FFVII) used the numerical system. (Remakes of older games have replaced the numerical system with the suffix system, for example FFVII)

[Reitrenner]

I agree that Flare should definitely function as a "Fire IV" and give us 3 stacks of Astral Fire. This will allow Fire III to have a nice Niche role with firestarter while Flare would actually add something to the Job.

The problem I have to the Job is NONE of our Spells add ANYTHING to our rotation. The Job is a joke. The spells aren't fun, or interesting. You're better off casting Blizzard III than casting flare. You're wasting time casting Flare, hitting convert and then casting blizzard III. Either the spell should function without completely draining our MP, or it should take Fire III's place in our rotation, giving us a new spell to work into our rotation, and allowing Fire III to retain its niche as a supplementary damage nuke while casting Fire I.

This Job is BANAL. It gives THM nothing new to play with.

[Boon]

What if we think of Flare as an AOE/fire rotaion finisher It's big dmg that can be cast for very little mana. In a ranged aoe situation you cast fire III at least until you have full astral stacks and then use flare (maybe with swiftcast) to finish off your mana and enemies, after which you transpose and go about your business.

[Fengor]

You want to know something funny ?

German Spell Names : ,-ra ,-ga
Japanese Spell Names : ,-ra ,-ga
France Spell Names : extra, mega

English Spell Names : ,-II ,-III

I'm not quite sure about France (i think they never used ,-ra ,-ga or ,-ja for FF), but JP and GER are using the Final Fantasy suffix system we all love and know.

English seems to be the only language which uses the old System. Old because only old FF games (FFI,II.. till FFVII) used the numerical system. (Remakes of older games have replaced the numerical system with the suffix system, for example FFVII)

Yeah I remember that lengthy discussion from the beta forums. If I remember right, the localization team told us that we got the boring names because they felt we were too stupid to understand the ra/ga names. (Not in those exact words mind you, but that was essentially the gist of their reasoning; then they went and applied said reasoning incorrectly to the spells.)

[Fistandantilus]

Firestarter should have been a BLM spell. What I would like to see is a new thunder spell which upon thundercloud proc gives the option of using normal proc or holding down the button for a sec to release a thunder aoe .. shock and awe or something. On a side note steer clear of Mallow Vinx if you find yourselves grouped with him .. rolling need on caster gear for his low level alts in level 50 dungeons.

[matu]

The ward spells are not even worth the GCD, and they could easily be merged into one spell and have the duration extended to 1 minute. Apoc and freeze are way too situational, I believe the devs can do better. And btw we are not talking about stats here, every job gets that so it's out of the way, we are talking purely about boring / very situational skills that BLM bring to the table. Seriously look at other jobs and see what they get in terms of skills: they get class-defining, game-changing skills. For example: paladin shield oath / sword oath, warrior defiance...

[Alkimi]

Every BLM abililty has it's use, I just think a lot of people in this thread either haven't done anything difficult or aren't using the job to it's full potential.

Later on a lot of the fights have adds which need to be burned down and Manawall saves your healers a bit of MP (it can also completely negate physical TP moves that would otherwise one-shot), Manaward works with primal "Astral Flow" abilities such as Aerial Blast, Apocastasis I usually stick on w/e healer has lowest HP before the same moves and Aetherial Manipulation can save you if you're late in positioning yourself.

I think BLM would be fine if Flare either dealt more dmg or didnt consume 100% of our mana. They could always add something like... resets Transpose cd and cause transpose to swap 3 stacks of AF for 3 stacks of UI. This way Flare would have a place in our DPS rotation.

If you're not using Flare in your DPS rotation then it's really going to hurt your damage output. It might use all your MP but the minimum cost is low so you use it as your last spell before using Transpose. Stack Flare with Swiftcast whenever it's up as it's a fairly long cast.

Altogether I've had more fun with BLM than any other DPS job.

[Belmore]

I agree with much of what has been said on both sides of the "argument."

I think people are having 2 (or more) different conversations here and we are suffering a little from people talking passed each other. But mostly we are agreement.

My personal feeling is that I love the THM class (I'm level 38). I was leery at first, but it really grows as you level. I love the damage, the cc, the aoe, the fantastic ability to manage endless mana. I love the way the spells look too. It's a great class and BLM primarily takes the things a THM already does and makes them more powerful (mostly through stats, but with a few useful abilities too). I think most of us agree that BLM does NOT in any way "ruin" the THM, or make the class "bad." I do crazy dmg, and can sustain it. It looks and feels cool. But therein lies the issue for me.


Continued......

[Belmore]

The problem (for me at least) is that becoming a Black Mage didn't "feel" as epic as it should. It's one of the iconic FF classes, and even the in-game BLM quest text got me all excited in anticipation for what must be the most amazingly DESTRUCTIVE skills I was about to unlock. Needless to say this is not what happened.

It was a bit of a letdown when I think of the other Jobs. Now I'm not 100% sure what happens when you unlock other jobs, but compared to Summoner at least, the "cool factor" just doesn't compare. Where's the thing my BLM can bust out so everyone KNOWS they're dealing with a BLM here, and not just some chump THM? When I see a Bard sing, a Summoner's Ifrit or Titan, or even a Scholar's Fairy, I KNOW they have their jobs unlocked, and they look and feel nifty. How come I can't cast an awesome BLM spell so that everyone KNOWS I'm a freaking BLM, and I'm not to be trifled with?!?!


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