I hate being a Black Mage

[RhazeCain]

Reason 1: Unfriendly to lag - As a black mage, or any castor class (in-theory), the only cast-canceling status more detrimental then Silence and Paralyze is a sketchy connection. My dps will severely suffer when participating in a crowded FATE. This is because my character is actually executing the skill long before the cooldown on my screen is finished, often resulting in recasting to fail, sometimes twice in a row. Because of this, I may even lose the chance of switching from umbral ice stacks to astral fire or vice versa.

Every class hurts from lag. You should be able to get a decent enough computer & connection to have problems like this in only a very few cases (Odin, Behemoth, Svara, etc).

Reason 2: Situational Skills - In example, Freeze. Despite looking through different forums and black mage guides it doesn't make sense to me. There are other skills similar to that; skills that should be used in special situations, and proper execution of these skills would, in theory, paint someone as a viable black mage user. I have a hunch that such skills would only be used in end-game, which, for me, is a terribly far journey (I'm also a bit jealous of players who have 3-4 levelcap classes already).

I suppose BLM do have a larger than average group of useless or nearly useless abilities. Freeze, Apocatastasis, Aetherial Manipulation, Surecast, etc. I'd take a few good ones and some useless ones over all mediocre abilities though.

Reason 3: Sleeping enemies don't stand out - Needless to say, sleep is a very powerful skill. However, I don't know how to stop people from waking enemies up. I guess its important for tanks to use aoe to pull groups of mobs, but when the pull fails and the healer dies, we all die. The effective time for sleep gets cut in half everytime it gets used on the same enemy, and therefore it becomes a moot effort trying to recast sleep when the healer is getting attacked by enemies that are separated from the pull. Then again, this could be a result of a lack of coordination, but I've never been a tactical person.

Making sleep more visible might not be bad. However, this really all comes down to player decisions. A sleeping mob takes zero damage (unless DoT was applied before sleep), so if you don't actually need sleep to stay alive it's probably better not to sleep at all. Powerful when you do need it though.

Reason 4: Shares the same close range weakness as healers - In situations where tanks aren't available, such as underpopulated fates, I often get destroyed by bosses since I cannot move whilst attacking. I often scream in silence when I see dragoons and monks mocking bosses when they just laugh in their face as they swipe them while skipping merrily away from a massive area attack. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the closer range dps classes do more damage then the castor dps types?

Monks and Dragoons also can't attack (well, minus 1 weak ability maybe) while kiting. Bard is the one who can really maintain full damage output while moving -- and that's why Devs have commented that they will be nerfed. Typically, caster DPS types will do more damage: 1) area effects are more frequent closer to the enemy, 2) melee are required to travel to the enemy before they can begin DPS, 3) melee has abilities that require being directly behind/beside enemy to get full value. Devs have also commented that melee is due for some improvements (details unknown).

Reason 5: AoE Attacks are not meant for solo play - If you do not have at least 2 tanks in the area or in your party, area of effect attacks is the worst thing you can do as a black mage since you cannot move while attacking, and higher level mobs are capable of canceling your casting. I think this class has the best AoE ability (not sure), but at any rate its not the smartest thing to do by yourself, at least, in my experience.

It's kind of true that AoE aren't meant for solo play. However, in group play they are at times FAR more important than single target. And BLM is pretty much king of area attacks.

I started out as tank and chose BLM as DPS spec after seeing all in action. Haven't regretted it at all.

[Bahd_Monkey]

For Sleep - I always ask the tank to number enemies, if they aren't. So I know which ones to sleep.
If other players are going nuts with AOEs, I ask them to stop because they are waking enemies that I slept.
If the players can't follow these two directions then I'll just let them die, leave the dungeon and find a better group to play with.

[Daeva]

If your tank is hitting everything then you probably should be using fire II and blizzard II to aoe the enemies down instead of trying to sleep them given that he/she is any good at tanking. I found dungeon leveling to be better than fate leveling just because I couldnt perform well in fates (not being able to see enemies) but you have to put up with dps wait times.
If you are fairly geared you'll probably out dps most everyone and draw aggro with a couple crits if you aren't careful in fights where you don't have to move around very much and we are very good at killing adds most of the time.

Freeze right now is absolutely terrible and only seems semi useful in Garuda Hm to freeze her feathers but theyll just move once hit.

[T0rin]

/edit
i'm used to mages with 30+ skills i have to actvly use, i miss that! T_T

Try summoner then, it's got more than 4 buttons to press.

[johnbeck1000]

I love being a BLM, but I've got a set group of friends a play with. If I dungeon grind with randoms it can be a little frustrating but I adjust my style of play with the Tanks style. If other players are waking my sleeping enemies I kindly ask them to stop, if they dont then I stop sleeping them....I rarely ever use my AoE attacks while in dungeons but they aren't useless when soloing. just my two cents

[Techro]

1) Everyone has lag issues. .
2)Freeze and Lethargy feel and sound a lot like PVP skills. They are just thinking ahead. Also Lethargy on a boss to slow his auto-attacks is a good idea.
3)You can mark the enemies to help your mates out but, there will always be people that cant understand the concept. Patience is a virtue.
4)Mages can not tank, but they sure can kite. <<hey look a use for freeze : 0. If you dont like kiting dont play ranged classes. : )
5)AoE is not meant for solo play, never was, these are abilities to be used while in a party. You have to be careful when you are soloing BLM. You can blow one target up no problem, once you start linking it becomes an issue but with practice and blizzardII you will see that this can also be done by kiting slowing. I.E 2-3 TARGETS - Lethargy on one target, walk away, sleep other target, blow up the one in front of you, move on to the next one that is slowed, asleep for last. gotta be quick on your toes (fingers).

[thegodthatwas]

Really? Black Mage is a four button class? Have you played it?

Your right. To be a BLM it's four buttons and a lot of prayers. To be a Black Mage you have to have situational awareness, a more than basic understanding of tactics, and the ability to USE whats at your disposal in the right order / appropriate times for highest damage. Anyone (BLM) can kill something. Only a Black Mage can Nuke them. :P

[Alkimi]

Freeze and Lethargy are kinda useless, but the other skills are pretty good.

I'd disagree about Lethargy being useless, it works on a lot of things you wouldn't expect it to. Also once you get to Turn 5 Lethargy can quite literally be a life saver on the Dreadknights.

Freeze yes though, I don't think anyone's found a worthwhile use for it. Some have mentioned Garuda's feathers but you're probably better off just using a well timed Flare on them.

[PessimiStick]

Really? Black Mage is a four button class? Have you played it?

Your right. To be a BLM it's four buttons and a lot of prayers. To be a Black Mage you have to have situational awareness, a more than basic understanding of tactics, and the ability to USE whats at your disposal in the right order / appropriate times for highest damage. Anyone (BLM) can kill something. Only a Black Mage can Nuke them. :P

BLM is probably the second easiest class to play after BRD. It's not really difficult.

[Devaking55]

Sleep is only a crutch and should only be used when your tank is really really really bad, otherwise why not increase your chance for thundercloud procs and spread thunder II to each mob in a pull?