Dear SE, BLM is great, but please consider the following

[Shiroe]

1) needs a slight single target potency increase
blm should be like sam, no utility but big dps, and not only on raids with adds or long standstill phases

2) losing astral / enochian (and losing the foul build up) when under astral ice and using fire 1 (like with sharpcast) is crazy and pointless,
why does the fire astral then "cancel" the ice astral, and astral ice (& enochian) falls of completely?

3) using B4 should be a single target gain
(dunno if it actually is now, but if it's not or so minor, it's not worth the risk to cast; than it needs to be fixed;
which comes back to Nr 1, maybe a slight potency increase could fix that)

4) the last second of enochian is very tight, also due to server lags, could be a bit more flexible (but either I've kind of gotten used to it, or it has received some slight fix)

5) the range of aetherial manipulation (& between the lines) could be increased to 30y, just sometimes it's annoying when a party member moves out of range by a tick

[Ventok]

Couldn't SE just buff BM by nerfing RM? Just get rid of the Rez like they did to SMN and we are in...

Uh, hate to burst your bubble there, but SMN still has its rez.

[NoctusT]

At the OP. Only changes I really agree with is the AM changes and the surecast fix. Triple cast is so good right now. No idea why you want to change that. We have 4 insta casts ATM and BLM feels so much more mobile now than before. I have no idea what you mean by MP issues though since they fixed it with the recent changes.

Also regarding thunder your proposal would just make it OP. While I'd love to do more damage it doesn't feel right.

I do think the same for concert, though I like the idea of changing convert to 90 secs more than I like the idea of buffing thunder

[Finkledoodoo]

Uh, hate to burst your bubble there, but SMN still has its rez.

Oops, lol. I don't know where I got that from then. There must be so many complaints going around that I can't keep them straight... Screw it, if everybody else has a rez, give us one too then...

[Shiroe]

turn thunder III (dots) into a slight magic vulnerability buff, giving Blm a slight utility.., atleast with other casters and healers.., makkng smn & blm a valid combo too again...., with rdm ofc too
(than nerf the thunder potency a tick, so it evens it out.. or let there still be an overall slight increase of blm dps, by a tick)

[Shiroe]

t3 dots give magic vulnerability... let there still be an overall slight increase of blm dps, by a tick')

by a good tick' (since it will buff rdm and smn, might as well let itbuff blm too, so don't nerf t3 much or at all, if t3 dots would receive a slight magic vulnerability)..

physical dps have enough buff possibilities already..

[Stormblessed9000]

No, the trade off is about 5-10% less damage and no access to raid recovery. The encounters in Omega are thankfully not heavily movement based like, Titan EX, or other contemporary "Black Mage nightmares", but at the same time, the damage disparity is not so large that Red Mage isn't just an overall better choice anyways.

People are not perfect, and people will make mistakes, and the Black mage's only answer is "Hit the thing harder" while the red mage loses one GCD to bring the person back into the fold.

And again, is gaining 5-10% damage worth giving up that safety? I'd argue it's a subjective viewpoint, but I'd imagine most people not on farm status would argue no.

Again, you're arguing damage vs raid recovery. Also, remember that you have two healers with access to instant rez every minute so it's not like the raid doesn't have recovery options. With the proposed 'void raise' at a 2min cooldown it will only be 5 instant rez per 2 minutes instead of 4.

Ultimately though, what you seem to want is a complete paradigm shift in the way SE balance classes, which is both very unlikely and not necessary even necessary.

[Super_Smiley]

Here is some dream changes I would like for Black Mage that would make it perfect in my opinion.

Thunder 3 and 4 MP reduction
Fire IV MP reduction
Scathe potency increased to 150
Firestarter Proc and Thundercloud Proc now last 15 seconds

Now I rather have one or the other for these last two listed.

Fire IV and Blizzard IV potency has been increased to 280.
or
Umbral Hearts gives you a buff to any Fire Spell.

Black Mage is already great in my opinion but, these are just changes I wouldn't mind seeing in the future.

[Jigokunoreizasan]

[Kabooa]

Again, you're arguing damage vs raid recovery. Also, remember that you have two healers with access to instant rez every minute so it's not like the raid doesn't have recovery options. With the proposed 'void raise' at a 2min cooldown it will only be 5 instant rez per 2 minutes instead of 4.

Ultimately though, what you seem to want is a complete paradigm shift in the way SE balance classes, which is both very unlikely and not necessary even necessary.

What I personally want is more technical combat.

in regards to what we have now, it is simply a concerning statement to give another caster Raising capability, and superior raising capability at that. Cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose.

Two years from now, when Rainbow Mage comes out, and it turns out they can not only Raise, but also put defensive buffs on allies while maintaining comparable damage to Red Mages, I'll just scratch my head and keep on trucking with my Blam.