I commend everyone that mains Black Mage.

[Kacho_Nacho]

My hat also goes off to all Black Mage mains. I got it to 60, but found it too frustrating to maintain Enochian and dodge as much as the game requires you to do so.

Mine too!

I'm still a thaumaturge and have already decided that I'm going to treat Enochian as icing on the cake and not the end all be all of my rotation once I hit 60. It's the only way I'll be able to enjoy the class. Maintaining super precise rotations in a chaotic environment that force you to move does not sound like a recipe for fun. It sounds like a recipe for stress and burnout.

I rather just simplify everything and enjoy my character.

[Seiryuukishi]

I am personally leveling my Black Mage now. I find it comical that, given I used to main the job, I have kind of lost touch with it. I main White Mage/Dragoon now and have Summoner as well as Dark Knight on standby with Monk, Machinist and Ninja to 60 but do not use them often. I want to be able to enjoy Black Mage again like I once did and look forward to when I can. Ultimately everyone has a preference and we as human beings tend to reflect that in gaming too. Who knows, I may wind up maining Black Mage again, lol!

[myahele]

I've gotten used to it and quite enjoy the challenge in maintaining enochian, but it really is annoying that refreshing enochian will reduce it the length by 5s while all the other jobs with similar timers don't.

[Kerii]

I've gotten used to it and quite enjoy the challenge in maintaining enochian, but it really is annoying that refreshing enochian will reduce it the length by 5s while all the other jobs with similar timers don't.

Other jobs don't have infinite MP/TP by just doing their standard rotation. Enochian provides a diminishing return that forces us to hold it for as close to 60 seconds as possible.

[Korbash]

Heavensward has forced me to abandon my BLM and play my Bard most of the time.

[Canadane]

It's my preferred DPS class. If I'm not on WAR or SCH, it's BLM.
These three jobs I feel are the best tuned ones after experiencing all of them to 60.

[Vele]

Black Mage is really a memorization Job. We memorize rotations, we memorize where to stand and when to move, we memorize how best to use procs in loads of situations, and then if we're lucky we don't die. I've always enjoyed the job even back when it was, "The most boring job in the game", but I can also understand why people are annoyed and frustrated with it.

Seconding this. Eventually you'll learn small tricks that will let you stand still more, and what aoes you can take. Remember you have manawall and manaward so you can mitigate some damage if you want to stay in an aoe to keep casting, and if you have to move to a safe spot in a hurry, aetherial manipulation may be your best friend. In a raid setting your group might even handle mechanics a certain way just to accommodate you (like you bait the middle drill in a6s during brawler's orb phase, or in a7s a healer will do the caster jail in your place).

It's tough, and inevitably some fights will suck more on blm than any other job (I'm looking at you, Sephirot EX), but I think big numbers and setting things on fire are very satisfying.

[ToasterMan]

I used to main Black Mage but then I got sick of playing with a handicap so I switched to White Mage and never looked back.

[Nestama]

I'm happy with how BLM is now. As Kerii said, BLM was a pretty boring (and easy) Job at level 50. Most of the time I was watching the battlefield and not really looking at my hotbar. Having almost 1000 Spell Speed makes Enochian very easy to manage. Faster casts are always good.

I'll admit that Neverreap almost made my drop my BLM baby completely. That dungeon was... oh lord was it not good. Bismarck EX was a close second, but after discovering the two safe spots during the 'tornado phase,' I didn't mind it.

[Ulfhade]

I love black mage, its my favorite job, hands down. Its kinda funny really, especially since I hated thaumaturge when I was leveling it. Getting it to 26 was such a pain when I mained conjurer/white mage.

Its kind of fun to figure out where you can move and when that last second to finish your cast before avoiding the various aoes. And knowing when to use Manaward/Manawall is super fun.

I never minded the enochain addition, dunno why. I guess it just clicks with me.

And that damage is so nice! There is a reason why I like to joke that I'm the OT when I run dungeons and trials. My goal is to always push my damage to a higher level. I just made a new record today actually, 19k! I could cry tears of joy.