Black Mage Sanctuary - A Guide to DPS

[HaroldSaxon]

Don't worry, you missed the 20% Fire 2 nerf and the 7% Fire IV nerf (potencies). We also lose Raging Strikes. Foul looks interesting and nice as well as Umbral Hearts, but it doesn't make up for what we've lost.

AOE Thunder is nice, but it overwrites the Single target thunder, does less potency per tick (by 25% - which is fair) but also procs thundercloud much less. You need to hit it on 10 enemies to get the same thundercloud rate as Single target Thunder III.

Based on the information we know, BLM is likely not going to be competitive at all. No DPS utility. 0 Reason to bring it. Maybe they will buff BLM WD by a large amount, or change things between now and then, and I really hope they do - but I lost faith in SE after they let Casters get into the state they were in during Midas mid patch and then Creator.

[Alkimi]

Don't worry, you missed the 20% Fire 2 nerf and the 7% Fire IV nerf (potencies). We also lose Raging Strikes. Foul looks interesting and nice as well as Umbral Hearts, but it doesn't make up for what we've lost.

I'm not really that concerned about Fire 2. I can't see it being used that often now that you can multi-cast Flare with the new Umbral Hearts mechanic. Maybe they considered it too strong at lower levels (which it kinda is).

My main concern is their max MP which seems an awkward amount.

As it stands (please correct me if I'm wrong) to get 6 Fire 4s every cycle you have to wait for a mana tick, and for Fowl you have to either sacrifice a F4 for it or only use it during Umbral Ice phase. Making all spells free to cast under Umbral Ice would alleviate the server side mana tick problem but I dunno if they would go that far.

[HaroldSaxon]

I'm not really that concerned about Fire 2. I can't see it being used that often now that you can multi-cast Flare with the new Umbral Hearts mechanic. Maybe they considered it too strong at lower levels (which it kinda is).

My main concern is their max MP which seems an awkward amount.

As it stands (please correct me if I'm wrong) to get 6 Fire 4s every cycle you have to wait for a mana tick, and for Fowl you have to either sacrifice a F4 for it or only use it during Umbral Ice phase. Making all spells free to cast under Umbral Ice would alleviate the server side mana tick problem but I dunno if they would go that far.

Yeah, there are some interesting things you can do with Flare - especially given its heavy AOE buff. But in a raid setting, its fairly unrealistic.

From what i've been told, yes you need to wait for a mana tick (although it may be possible to use Fowl in Umbral ice without waiting). I haven't mapped it out yet. I do agree that casts should not have mana costs in Umbral Ice for the reasons you said.

[Thela]

Yeah, there are some interesting things you can do with Flare - especially given its heavy AOE buff. But in a raid setting, its fairly unrealistic.

From what i've been told, yes you need to wait for a mana tick (although it may be possible to use Fowl in Umbral ice without waiting). I haven't mapped it out yet. I do agree that casts should not have mana costs in Umbral Ice for the reasons you said.

Obviously you would use Foul in Umbral Ice, since it doesn't gain any benefits from Astral Fire, would be silly to cast it in Astral Fire.

I think ppl are overreacting (as usual) from the potency nerfs, Yes F2 & F4 was nerfed by 20 potency, and Raging Strikes was removed, but when you look at the complete package it should be somewhat on par or even higher than on live right now. Also keep in mind that MOST dps jobs had potency reductions, its not only BLM, the sky isn't falling just yet.

[Frizze]

Also keep in mind that MOST dps jobs had potency reductions, its not only BLM, the sky isn't falling just yet.

This. Id be much more concerned if we were the only class that showed potency reductions from the media tour. That doesnt mean im not at all concerned(love my big numbers), just that im keeping a level head for now.