I commend everyone that mains Black Mage.

[Soul_Mythrim]

Currently blm is rewarding in terms of pure potential damage output, but it requires a ton of effort knowing and adapting your rotation to each run. It can be a pain having to keep track of the timers of multiple buffs, while memorizing the general pattern of boss fights so you don't blow raging strikes only for the boss to become invulnerable or spam aoes at you

[Evangela]

I hate this job. It's too complicated. Their fire and ice mechanics are annoying and confusing. And Ninja can use more black magics with more elemental.

I love BLM in PvP though, especially when I see them running around alone, I love them so much.

[Mikita]

BLM is my second job and I find it very fun. Picking your spot is pretty important to keep your rotation going and keep your damage output up.

Especially on bosses with big AoE attacks, it's better not to be near anyone else, thus minimizing the chance of your getting caught in range of an attack and having to move.

The only job I play more than BLM is WHM, and I find it so frustrating being in a party of BLMs who are scattered all over the arena out of healing range, attempting to avoid attacks. But I understand their feelings, so I just have to laugh and do my best to adjust. ^^

[Dumbledoremd]

I just got Black Mage to 60 and holy crap I never had a more annoying time trying to do anything in a game before. It's like they design a job where you have to remain still and have the right timing to keep being able to use fire IV but design the bosses where you have to be constantly moving and become untargetable.
So for everyone that knows how to put up with it and do it correctly you have more patience than me and are way beter than I am.

My patience is growing thin im almost at the point of switching to smn enoc and lay lines need to change or go in 4.0 also square needs to stop listening to the cry baby pvpers and and nerfing blm cc in pvp

[Nestama]

What are your issues with Enochian and Ley Lines?

[Dumbledoremd]

In fights you need to move alot its hard keeping enoc up and lay lines is an aoe magnet

[Nestama]

Unless the AoE is guaranteed to kill you, just take the hit (I've even had a healer tell me this was okay. They didn't mind). As for Enochian... this is something you'll need to get used to (and I'm not sure what more SE can do to make it easier to manage. Before, Enochian was a nightmare to keep up due to Astral/Umbral lasting 10 seconds instead of 12. Enochian on release was also annoying, since the buff would not refresh to 30 if you still had it up and used Enochian again).

Bosses that jump off screen for X amount of time are the worst, though. Especially when it's for 12-15 seconds (Forgall takes around 12-15 seconds to summon his minions).

[Dumbledoremd]

Thats the thing heals piss and moan for getting hit or tank crys not enough dps

[Zfz]

I basically ditched my BLM in 3.0 as soon as I had a taste of the frustration at Lv 60 and went back to my PLD.

The BLM rotation isn't difficult, most people probably could get very near optimal results on dummy tests. But in reality the application of that rotation is extremely difficult due to encounter design.

I wished there was a mechanism like Aetherflow stacks to let the BLM lengthen Enochian. The stacks can be used to add 10 seconds to Enochian, or it could be used to guarantee a crit on the next spell or something. People who really manage things well or got lucky will be able to crit a lot more, while others will still be able to perform "properly" keeping Enochian up but will crit less, hence rewarding those who are more skilled.

My impression from BLM in 3.0 was 70% frustration and 30% fun. I was looking for the a job that delivered straight-forward thrill of big numbers in the BLM, I was one expansion too late to the party I guess.

[Dumbledoremd]

Unless the AoE is guaranteed to kill you, just take the hit (I've even had a healer tell me this was okay. They didn't mind). As for Enochian... this is something you'll need to get used to (and I'm not sure what more SE can do to make it easier to manage. Before, Enochian was a nightmare to keep up due to Astral/Umbral lasting 10 seconds instead of 12. Enochian on release was also annoying, since the buff would not refresh to 30 if you still had it up and used Enochian again).

Bosses that jump off screen for X amount of time are the worst, though. Especially when it's for 12-15 seconds (Forgall takes around 12-15 seconds to summon his minions).

Thats the other problem with blm