When will BLM be buffed?

[Illya]

Yet easily #1for AOE. It's called a trade off but people these days want to be the best at everything.

The only place where AoE is even useful is Brayflox SRs. You aren't AoEing the single bosses of Coil turns.

[Cherie]

I really don't disagree with BLM's should be stronger but...

With 5 dps classes, there will always be one that is last. Right now, I assume that is bard. No big disagreements with bard being last place... They have a "easier" time, SMN is probably 2nd easiest but they don't offer many support abilities. BLM still rule AOE damage last I was told, should they really still be stronger than SMN? I think SMN would disagree, though personally I really don't care. I play bard, I'm last place, I know why I'm last place. SMN and BLM can fight for 3rd and 4th place, I will just sit in 5th place and watch lol. I mean, Mage's Ballad is really nice but, it's kind of like being good at AoE like BLM are, it's pretty situational.

Monk is highest for sure, then drg?...those two make sense for first 2 places since they have higher risk and movement being melee. Then 3rd is SMN I assume, then blackmage and finally bard.

That order doesn't sound unreasonable really. However, I wouldn't mind a few gap closers to make it so that some classes aren't as far in the lead (Monk is super strong atm, but, not that I'd want a nerf, I'd rather other jobs catch up). I mean, why is Monk so much stronger than DRG? Maybe they will give DRG their wyvern pet and it will even out... lol

[wicked-one]

I would truly like some buffs, to make me even more overpowered ^^...

TBH, even in those fight which are considered BLM unfriendly like T6, i never have troubles topping DPS, because in my opinion, main thing of "know your Job" as BLM is, how to move as less as possible while move as much as needed...
or in other words, you have to be a cool badass, taking one step side and let the AoE impact next to you burn you shoelaces.

Im usually second in dps, only beaten by our Bard who is quite overgeared compared to me. Melee is quite good, but looses for example in T7 due to avoiding the circle AoEs, while in this fight, i barely move and casting nearly without break.

And I have to mention, I noticed yesterday, I did wrong assignment, hat +10 on VIT... so let´s see what todays raid will show ^^

[Pacifyer]

I'll repost from another thread to ensure it reaches both devs and community.

I do agree that BLM has its place in the game. But there should be a place for it in endgame (read raids).
Currently there are several problems that make BLM bad for raids:
1. It suffers too much from movement/avoiding mechanics. Interrupting casts midcast without decent filler (scathe is sooo bad)
2. It has totally low single target DPS even if standing still. On a dummy test (which is ideal situation for BLM) one is behind all other classes ~15%
3. There are very few situations where BLM can show his AOE potential.
- Levi - none (maybe 1 swiftcasted flare on 2 adds if tanks stack them)
- T6 - 1 swiftcasted flare for central bulb (once or twice in a fight)
- T7 - none, all mobs are spread out to avoid melee being cleaved
- T8 - Flaring Dreads 2 times
- T9 - none, all mobs are always spread out
- Fore most of these situations SMN is much better to Bane/Enkindle
4. It totally relies on RNG on Firestarter and Thundercloud procs and those procs almost can't serve a purpose to plan on movement.
5. Firestarter and Thundercloud procs overwrite themselves if they are not being used immediately.

What I am proposing to do to counter most of these problems:
- Change both Firestarter and Thundercloud to be a stackable buff like Umbral Ice with 3 stacks.
- Increase probability on Thundercloud procs drastically. 5% is so low that you can't ever expect it to proc in time for anything. Maybe 25-30% could do the trick however it is still so much relying on luck... I expect at least 2 thundercloud procs per fire rotation.
- (optionally) increase probability of Firestarter proc to 50-60%.
- (optionally) increase duration on Firestarter and Thundercloud procs to allow situational usage of them.

As a result we get:
- Increased single target DPS. Imagine us having Thundercloud for Ice phase. There won't be a situation when say add spawns requiring immediate DPS but we are oom and can provide only our downtime fillers for it... With proposed changes I expect ~15% ST DPS increase.
- Being able to plan on movement or bursts having stacked a couple of fire/thunder procs
- We are not overpowering BLM as he still can't stack all these until he stands and hardcasts Fire/Thunder

As to bards being lowest. First - it is not true, especially with DRG in group. Second - they may provide a ton of support improving other classes DPS (sacrificing its own a bit) which is definitely not the case with BLM.

[Velox]

snip

The rule of thumbs in MMOs when it comes to damage output is "the class with the most risk should put out the most damage."

When balancing DPS output in a game like FFXIV there are a few factors you have to take into account as part of your "trade-offs."
1. Raw defensive ability
2. Mobility/Survivability
3. Amount of utility (party buffs/debuffs/cc)
4. Type of combat (ranged vs melee)

The more power you have in 1 area, the more you must sacrifice from the others to create balance. From here we can break down all the FFXIV DPS roles.

MNK                 DRG                BLM             SMN               BRD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low defense         Mid defense        Low defense     Low defense       Low defense
High mobility       High mobility      Low mobility    Mid mobility      High mobility
Low utility         Low utility        Mid utility     Mid utility       High utility
Close-combat        Close-combat       Full-ranged     Full-ranged       Full-ranged

Next we can assign a combat score based on each strength (the lower the number, the weaker the job is with that trait).
NOTE: this is a rough balance scoring that is far from perfect, but is merely meant to illustrate the quantitative/qualitative balancing aspect of MMOs.

Combat score
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1                   2                  1               1                 1
3                   3                  1               2                 3
1                   1                  2               2                 3
1                   1                  2               2                 2

And finally we get totals

Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6                   7                  6               7                 9

So by this we can see that, assuming equally geared and played by equally skilled players, MNK and BLM should have top possible DPS while BRD should be lowest.

DRG have access to the 2nd highest defensive gear in the game next to tanks, it's only logical that they should have a lower DPS output than MNK. SMN have higher mobility than BLM, so it's only logical they should have a lower DPS output than BLM.

[Pacifyer]

TBH, even in those fight which are considered BLM unfriendly like T6, i never have troubles topping DPS...

Im usually second in dps, only beaten by our Bard who is quite overgeared compared to me.

What can I say... Probably your Melee just don't know how to play THEIR class. And bard topping your parse means he never plays songs for your party which I am not sure if it is good.

[Shurrikhan]

So by this we can see that, assuming equally geared and played by equally skilled players, MNK and BLM should have top possible DPS while BRD should be lowest.

DRG have access to the 2nd highest defensive gear in the game next to tanks, it's only logical that they should have a lower DPS output than MNK. SMN have higher mobility than BLM, so it's only logical they should have a lower DPS output than BLM.

However, no one is going to tank with a 2nd highest defensive gear tank with only 3 minor defensive CDs to his name (outside of the occasional Garuda EM party using a Lancer for a brief time). On the other hand, Manawall can allow the BLM to even ignore entire mechanics at times, or else survive what would be sure death to another job, such as bad spits in T6 and even 2 out of 3 (or 6) Divebombs in T5. Apocatastasis (or whatever it's called) can prevent low players from dying to Fireball...
Heck, the first time I saw Hydra solo-tanked, back when we were primarily wearing AF or mixed Darklight / AK gear, it was because our dps was mostly BLMs. We would simply swap in via Aetheric Manipulation and Manawall Triumverate, move out for Dissever, and then back in for the next Trium on rotation whenever the tank or healers ran out of CDs and started hitting sound effects. In Leviathan, you can avoid being slid down the boat by just AMing to another player, or, as long as the rails are still up, negate the blow of a sea serpent landing on you no problem. Whether you choose to call that mobility, utility, or defense, it's still significant. Not as much as instant rezzes, perhaps, but it's still pretty damn good.

And even if this scale were both accurate and the criteria for job scaling, would you really want to have a job that kicks ass only in turret situations? Half the "risk" in any job is simply having to do what you're not niched for. And yet there's no way that a non-turret situation, risk-for-reward, would help (what is presently) a turret-class. ...I'd really like to have them just bring these 'ratings' closer, rather than lining them up according to what they lack.

[Pacifyer]

snip

You are describing very creative play using Manawall etc but we have to remember that BLM's primary role is DPS and currently it lacks pretty much on this side (asides from Brayflox farm). BLM does not buff any party members for DPS so he has to be one of the most potent damage dealers out there.
Remembering that most bosses really mess up all players (both melee and ranged) we can see that impact on BLM is higher than on all other DPS classes. Also have to remind that even in ideal situation BLM's DPS is one of the lowest atm.

[Felis]

SE could give BLM (and WHM) an single target ranged attack skill that is instant and cost TP instead of MP.

[Xenor]

SE could give BLM (and WHM) an single target ranged attack skill that is instant and cost TP instead of MP.

They should never have nerfed Scathe. Make it cost more MP if need be but buff the damage and make it a worthwhile alternative to Fire. Though the main problem with BLM movement is sometimes losing Astral Fire III and having to start your rotation again.