Is there any reason to play BLM over RDM now days?

[LunarEmerald]

With the 4.05 changes Black Mages deal significantly more dps. They're pretty much the samurai of casters now.

[NovaLevossida]

I play blm just because I enjoy it. I don't want to face roll my rotation. I hate the play what you enjoy trope, because if what you enjoy costs you raid spots, or just efficiency it sucks. BUT I just don't enjoy playing rdm

Basically this. I tried RDM and didn't find it all that fun. BLM just needs to be the magical SAM equivalent due to the same reasoning they used for SAM's DPS. It's not currently sitting nearly as high as it should be, so it's hard to justify a BLM over a RDM when it doesn't bring the damage to compensate the lack of utility.

[Vexander]

Play what you Enjoy.

That said, I'm all for BLM getting a few additional things to increase its value in a raid. A magical version of Embolden would be perfect, increasing the party's magical DPS, deteriorating every 4 seconds by 5% for 20 seconds. Feels like Embolden was something RDM would've gotten from BLM more than WHM, and that they modified it to suit a land where mages were increasingly rare, so it bolstered their more physical oriented comrades.

I also feel like, if BLMs are going to be -THE- turret class, then they need a talent that reduces maximum damage a BLM can take from AOE attacks to 10% of their HP. So 10 AOEs = Dead BLM, 1 AOE = BLM at 90% HP.

[IllyriaKnotfred]

Snip

If anything its SMN that needs that damage utility. I play BLM to do damage. I don't want more utility.

[RyeMinx]

Before the 4.05 patch, I would say RDM, there DPS was on par with BLM on a dummy, and better during heavy movement phases. Plus they were just easier.

After 4.05 patch. BLM for raw damage. RDM for sustained damage plus ease of use, and raising for progression. SMN for nostalgia of coils and blocking your friends view.

[Kabooa]

Black mages don't need to be that brain dead.

Magical Embolden should belong to the Summoner (Wide Reaching Party Buffs are generally the realm of Summons, with White/Black mages providing specific support in games without defaulted All options)

[Gwaeron89]

People straight out refuse to take blm into savage content, period. I tried my fc and few other frendly fc's and its always thesame answer- rdm only.
I just enjoy playing it via pf (where half of the groups ignore blm too) because nothing more is left for this class. Good job Yoshi.

http://i.imgur.com/jgluMyi.jpg
Very useless class indeed.

[waifugenerator]

Every job is viable and BLM will outperform (in terms of raw DPS) either caster if played correctly. Raid buffs don't matter all that much in the long run, unless you're going for speed skills or are on the bleeding edge of progression. So just play whichever one you enjoy playing, don't listen to people saying a Job is useless just because it's not in the CURRENT meta

[kenventa]

For the challenge. Yoshida said it himself, the savage is taxing to BLMs due to their limited mobility hence they made a few adjustments in 4.05. I have yet to see it myself but i feel that BLM has higher potential to deal more damage than RDM if played properly. RDM has lower ceiling compared to BLM. And its easier to play.

But i mained RDM now since new static needs the utility, otherwise i would have sticked to BLM.

[Tiops]

Yes, a very important one: if you have more fun.

Any person that block BLM/SMN/whatever from their team is ignorant. Every Job is viable. There's a guy streaming O4S at the moment, second part of the fight, playing as MCH.