How is BLM in new expansion?

[Ellsian]

- The Astral/Umbral buffs are much too short to be used as baseline requirements in BOTH the casting of Fire IV/Blizzard IV AND for refreshing Enochian. Both our major damage dealer and our buff maintenance are tied into the same 10 second window. This is not enough time to account for the myriad of raid possibilities and results in overly punishing gameplay when those inevitable mechanics occur. It's even more egregious when half of your window is already committed to fulfilling the hard casting of 2 spells and their gcds in order to just refresh Enochian. This alone leaves little other time for any mistakes or mechanics.

- No room for creativity or other spell casts due to the forced restrictiveness of Enochian and Astral/Umbral timers. The way the timers work out, there's an extremely strict cycle in which you can deal damage and maintain your buff. This leaves little to no room for any other spells or utility without risking possible downtime.

[Sleigh]

Stuff

I certainly agree with much of what you said, some things I think maybe you'll think different after longer with 60 BLM perhaps.

That said, the being able to cast B4 and then having it cancel is complete nonsense. Can't tell you how many times I've gone into UI3 with 4s left on the timer because of ONE mechanic that occured late that rotation and I am forced to drop Enochian unless I have Swiftcast. It should be like B3/F3 where the start of the cast dictates the rest of the cast.

[Xenitan]

Thundercloud is also awkward now. Is it even good? It feels worse than just casting Fire now. Fire is a GCD for 180*1.8 = 324 potency that also refreshes Astral Fire and has a 40% chance to give you the ability to- at no mana cost- throw out a 240*1.8=432 potency spell at the cost of a GCD that ALSO refreshes Astral Fire. Thundercloud only brings refreshing thunder to the table and Thunder is probably going to last you until you cast it next anyway.

What do you do when you go Fire 3->Fire IV and then see the Thundercloud proc? Using it immediately means You're looking at 4 seconds left on Astral Fire so you have to Fire afterwards, so it just took Fire IV's slot (you're down 108 potency). Any usage of Thundercloud needs to either 1) Take advantage of the extra DoT ticks or 2) Let you get that Fire IV you replaced in. Which means you're going to spend 3+3+2.5 seconds not casting Fire. Cutting it close.

But if you ignore the proc, is using Thunder during Umbral Ice even good?

[Sleigh]

Thundercloud is also awkward now. Is it even good? It feels worse than just casting Fire now. Fire is a GCD for 180*1.8 = 324 potency that also refreshes Astral Fire and has a 40% chance to give you the ability to- at no mana cost- throw out a 240*1.8=432 potency spell at the cost of a GCD that ALSO refreshes Astral Fire. Thundercloud only brings refreshing thunder to the table and Thunder is probably going to last you until you cast it next anyway.

What do you do when you go Fire 3->Fire IV and then see the Thundercloud proc? Using it immediately means You're looking at 4 seconds left on Astral Fire so you have to Fire afterwards, so it just took Fire IV's slot (you're down 108 potency). Any usage of Thundercloud needs to either 1) Take advantage of the extra DoT ticks or 2) Let you get that Fire IV you replaced in. Which means you're going to spend 3+3+2.5 seconds not casting Fire. Cutting it close.

But if you ignore the proc, is using Thunder during Umbral Ice even good?

Thundercloud can generally only be used in rotation 1 of Enochian, and that doesn't include your opener because most openers are limited to the amount of GCDs you can even do. Rotation 2 you can do a Thundercloud if and usually only if you didn't use a Thunder after B4, which means ... you won't even get a Thundercloud. Rotation 3 you have zero time for procs until Enochian wears off.

Thunder is right now in the category of filler only. You use it for MP ticks, nothing more, and if you have the opportunity to skip using it you should do so.

[Aikaal]

Thunder is right now in the category of filler only. You use it for MP ticks, nothing more, and if you have the opportunity to skip using it you should do so.

Thundercloud can be a nuisance sometimes. When I get a proc and I used B4 and still have a long time and my dot has 8 seconds... I just B1 lol