Black Mage Revamp

[Sadana]

Ack!
/10notsureaboutthis

Well... from squinting at the slides some more, the rotations themselves look just like what we use now, but we would have the option to use blizzard or thunder instead of fire as our big damage move. And what refills mp as well as the dot is changed accordingly.

And if we go into each 'elemental stance' for certain fights like primals, then the damage would be higher...

[Duelle]

Ack!
/10notsureaboutthis

Well... from squinting at the slides some more, the rotations themselves look just like what we use now, but we would have the option to use blizzard or thunder instead of fire as our big damage move. And what refills mp as well as the dot is changed accordingly.

That's what it looks like. Existing spells trading places to make your main nuke different, your DoT different and so on. A little wasteful if you ask me.

I think some existing BLMs will resist the changes, but anyone who's played a 'REAL' Black Mage from previous games knows what they're missing out on.

You mean "spam thunder because that's the strongest nuke in the game on everything but token mobs that absorb thunder"? Or the FFXI "real" BLMs that were basically 5/5 Thunder or Ice potency and gave the middle finger to every other element?

[Krr]

You mean "spam thunder because that's the strongest nuke in the game on everything but token mobs that absorb thunder"? Or the FFXI "real" BLMs that were basically 5/5 Thunder or Ice potency and gave the middle finger to every other element?

I'm excited to play a real black mage, auto-attacking for the majority of encounters because I need to rest at an inn to refresh my spell slots and I want to make sure I still have Haste and Saber ready for the endboss of the dungeon.

[ChazNatlo]

I'm excited to play a real black mage, auto-attacking for the majority of encounters because I need to rest at an inn to refresh my spell slots and I want to make sure I still have Haste and Saber ready for the endboss of the dungeon.

I'm not quite as real a blackmage as you, but I do remember double casting flares all day, casting Aspir to replenish mana, then going back to double cast flares. Occasionally I'd cast an elemental spell if the enemy was really really weak to it.

[Krr]

I'm not quite as real a blackmage as you, but I do remember double casting flares all day, casting Aspir to replenish mana, then going back to double cast flares. Occasionally I'd cast an elemental spell if the enemy was really really weak to it.

I just hope that when we become real black mages in FFXIV that they make sure to add Pumice Pieces or something similar in the expansion. It'd suck if one of my ultimate spells, Doomsday, was unviable to use because it wiped my party when cast, so I at least need the option to tediously farm a chocobo minigame to make it viable.

[Jennika]

That's what it looks like. Existing spells trading places to make your main nuke different, your DoT different and so on. A little wasteful if you ask me.
You mean "spam thunder because that's the strongest nuke in the game on everything but token mobs that absorb thunder"? Or the FFXI "real" BLMs that were basically 5/5 Thunder or Ice potency and gave the middle finger to every other element?

That's how they designed the game, it wasn't our fault that they made thunder and ice the strongest lol. Who remembers BLM weekend?

[Duelle]

That's how they designed the game, it wasn't our fault that they made thunder and ice the strongest.

Which thus makes this call for "real" black mages pointless and idiotic. The job as it stands is actually one of the best-designed casters I've ever seen and managed to implement spells BLM is known for while maintaining a very fluid combat model. At least in my case it surpassed all expectations I had for the job. It's just annoying to see people think that it's not a "real" BLM or an appropriate representation of the job simply because it doesn't have a bloated spellbook or some other nonsense.

[Lemuria]

You mean "spam thunder because that's the strongest nuke in the game on everything but token mobs that absorb thunder"? Or the FFXI "real" BLMs that were basically 5/5 Thunder or Ice potency and gave the middle finger to every other element?

That's largely down to how the potency's were stronger on ice and thunder spells. If you were to equalize their damage, there would be a better balance towards using the right elements rather than favouring one spell over the others.

Even in XI the 'other elements' as you put it got plenty of use as you were progressing. Besides, if you wanted to be pedantic ice was literally the best spell because it's an 'INT' based element and a lot of casting gear which strengthened it also boosted this vital stat, not to mention ice was the main weakness of most XP mobs.

I was thinking more FFX or earlier games where enemies could absorb certain elements and were weaker to others. It encouraged more tactical play rather than spamming your strongest attacks. Right now, playing Black Mage is a no-brainer. You use the same rotation on everything. The same could be said of all jobs really, but a Black Mage should be the master of elemental damage not a pyro in disguise.

[QiLymePye]

At first I thought that BLM was cool...but after playing BLM, its really just a ranged dps that uses magic instead of arrows. This game has a ton of room fro improvement, and they need to improve a lot with the job classes. Just like how i don't agree with how PLD work in this game, so to do I disagree with how they made BLM. I mean BLM are supposed to be bad ass. Now what I would suggest is maybe just having something similar to Crono Cross maybe, and change everybodies skills to have an element that adds to the field. IDK. it needs something because as of right now, BLm is really just a BRD with cool looking arrows.