Black Mage Job Spells are disappointing.

[-Snow]

flare is one of the strongest spell for blm so you know it does not need a overhaul at all. Pretty much one you low on mp to no longer cast fire you do flare and with Raging Strikes it does even more. So ya i think people here playing blm wrong if they think flare is weak lol.

Damage-wise Flare is pretty strong, but overall it is pretty weak.

Without Convert you HAVE to use Transpose for getting some MP, and Transpose <<<<<< Blizzard III.

Because of Flare you are wasting the 50% cast-time buff for Blizzard III, because you have to use Transpose. You also won't get the 50% cast-time buff for Fire III, because you only get 1 stack of Umbral Ice with Transpose. (And casting Blizzard III now for 3 stacks UI would be a big DPS loss, because you have to wait the whole 3,5 sec cast)

Without Swiftcast you also have to wait 4,0 (!!) sec for Flare.

That's not worth the 40 potency. (Except for AoE)

Flare could need a buff, or atleast a overhaul.

[Nyel]

flare is one of the strongest spell for blm so you know it does not need a overhaul at all. Pretty much one you low on mp to no longer cast fire you do flare and with Raging Strikes it does even more. So ya i think people here playing blm wrong if they think flare is weak lol.

It may be the strongest spell in a BLM repertoire, but it isn't a "great" attack at all.

For the conditions required by Flare right now, they should increase the damage / lower cast time / something else, they really should.

As the guy above my post says.

It is just a Fire 3 with a bit more potency. And for a super-spell like "Flare" tend to be, it's disappointing.

[Jayded]

My 2c is that I enjoy the class, but have not been even a tiny bit excited for new skills leveling past 30. They're boring and add nothing to the playstyle. Temp defensive buffs and other highly situational things definitely nothing job-defining. Very sad.

[Rbstr]

It is just a Fire 3 with a bit more potency. And for a super-spell like "Flare" tend to be, it's disappointing.

Fire 3 with more potency and AOE.
In some respects this is like complaining that Fire 2 doesn't fit in the rotation because it has worse potency and cast time than Fire 1. It's a situational spell.
Got a group of mobs? At the end of your burn phase? Smack 'em all with Flare>convert>bliz3. You could even double up on Flare with one tick of Bliz at that point and transpose out of it, if you really need/want some big, fast AOE damage.

That, of course, doesn't stop me from wanting a something that'd fit into the regular rotation.

[MochaLatte]

I agree, I rarely use any of them...

[Elros]

I've been hoping to find some thread where people had a problem with this class. I have always enjoyed the big devastating attacks of a high level black mage in the FF series and though I do enjoy my blm it feels a bit lacking. I agree with the OP in many aspects. If you look back at when FF14 was originally released, the Thaumaturge had like 4-5 "Ancient magic" spells that seemed to come from FF11; Flare, Freeze, Burst, Flood, and Tornado or Quake (don't remember exactly). When the 'Jobs' patch came out, these spells were reworked thankfully to look more powerful but they cut out Flood and Tornado. And now it seems with the 2.0 overhaul Flare is the only spell that lives up to that Blm name. For me personally Freeze is totally useless and looks dumb compared to the Ice spikes from 1.23. And again, where is Burst?? Where's Tornado and Quake and so on? I hope they fix this and implement these awesome spells in the future patches. Otherwise I am disappoint

[Conradus]

I've been hoping to find some thread where people had a problem with this class. I have always enjoyed the big devastating attacks of a high level black mage in the FF series and though I do enjoy my blm it feels a bit lacking. I agree with the OP in many aspects. If you look back at when FF14 was originally released, the Thaumaturge had like 4-5 "Ancient magic" spells that seemed to come from FF11; Flare, Freeze, Burst, Flood, and Tornado or Quake (don't remember exactly). When the 'Jobs' patch came out, these spells were reworked thankfully to look more powerful but they cut out Flood and Tornado. And now it seems with the 2.0 overhaul Flare is the only spell that lives up to that Blm name. For me personally Freeze is totally useless and looks dumb compared to the Ice spikes from 1.23. And again, where is Burst?? Where's Tornado and Quake and so on? I hope they fix this and implement these awesome spells in the future patches. Otherwise I am disappoint

You've misremembered. When Tornado, Quake, Flood, Flare, Burst and Freeze (yes, both Tornado *and* Quake) first came out, they were *Conjurer* spells. Conjurers commanded the elements, remember? Thaumaturge got Astral and Umbral spells. All six Ancient Magic spells were removed when they refactored the mages to give THM Fire, Ice and Thunder and more clearly defined THM as a damage dealer and CNJ as a healer in Patch 1.20. Then Flare, Freeze and Burst came back with the BLM job in Patch 1.21; Burst was apparently lost in the transition in 2.0. Couldn't tell you why. BLM will not get Tornado, Quake and Flood because Wind, Earth and Water remain CNJ elements--THM and jobs based on THM don't cast spells from those elements.

[Thyrllan]

Fire 3 with more potency and AOE.
In some respects this is like complaining that Fire 2 doesn't fit in the rotation because it has worse potency and cast time than Fire 1. It's a situational spell.
Got a group of mobs? At the end of your burn phase? Smack 'em all with Flare>convert>bliz3. You could even double up on Flare with one tick of Bliz at that point and transpose out of it, if you really need/want some big, fast AOE damage.

That, of course, doesn't stop me from wanting a something that'd fit into the regular rotation.

It's got uses, but it's too situational to use. I don't know if it's mentioned, but we need more oomph in our BLM spells. I love manawall for HM Titan, but it's lame to get mostly defensive CDs for our BLM quests. I'd like to see them add Burst as a BLM ancient magic spell we use regularly on single-target. Also that would be great if we could get the BLM 2-hour from FFXI

[Imoye]

Idk. Having way more fun on my BLM than I ever had on my Bard. Some of the cast times needs to be looked at though.

Bard is the most boring thing I've ever played.

[Sindri_Myr]

Idk. Having way more fun on my BLM than I ever had on my Bard. Some of the cast times needs to be looked at though.

Bard is the most boring thing I've ever played.

What exactly did you like about BLM? Because to me, it's the same as playing Mage in WoW.
Currently playing a Bard, can say im loving it s far... BLM do have some awsome looking spells at 50 though