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

[Stormblessed9000]

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.

Except homogenization doesn't make more tactical combat, it makes choices matter far less. The fact that people swapped out samurai for monks for world first runs to squeeze out some extra sustain speaks volumes. While the tuning is far from perfect (poor summoners and mechanists), the system overall makes raid composition actually matter.

Also, when people gear up and get more comfortable with fights (and SE does balance tweaks based on the savage data), the extra suitability is going to matter far less and you'll probably see far less red mages and monks and far more black mages and samurai.

[Kabooa]

Except homogenization doesn't make more tactical combat, it makes choices matter far less.

I feel like I need to clarify that when I talk about technical combat, I don't only mean the job system. There's a huge flaw in how they divide up their utilities, but that's a whole other rant.

Technical combat is based primarily on the encounters. All those useless non-damaging skills we get are indicative of a combat system and dungeon design that can be more than a lunch break event or a gauntlet of bosses.

Me saying "I want more technical combat" has nothing to do with the Black Mage raise subject. So, sorry there. It was a non-sequitur.

On the subject of Black mage Raise, I'm indifferent in either case. I'd like something more than "high durmage" since I advocate that anyone in the DPS role should be competitive in that role.

Being the only caster not seriously hurt by Mana Shift is pretty neat, too bad it has to be a long CD to be balanced. Honestly, I could settle for Mana Shift being a BLM only thing, and working a way to make it more potent while being a larger choice to use.

[Stormblessed9000]

snip.

Fair enough. Honestly, if they're going to add more utility to black mage then I'd much rather they expand on the mana battery aspect. Maybe even give them a player health to healer mana skill.

[Shiroe]

personally, the changes Llugen asks for are nice, .. but if all where done, Blm would possibly become too OP (though shortening aetherial manipulation cd would be nice..)

I'd really jzst be just happy with a slight (f4) potency increase, so B4 rota makes sense.., and blm can compete in a all raids with sam, rdm, nin & co

+ a fix too the "lose astral ice when using fire 1" would be appreciated (that feels broken)

[Cynfael]

I would prefer that BLM not be given a resurrection skill. Lore reasons are debatable, but in the end I think BLM should be continue to be tuned in the direction of doing what it already does well. SMN and RDM should retain the utility/party recovery advantage, though balance between those two might need some attention.

Frankly, I also don't want any new form of BLM utility that doesn't weave pretty much directly into my rotation. Part of BLM's appeal to me is that it's a very liberating sort of "selfish" role that has relatively little interaction with others in the party outside of performing certain mechanics or tossing the odd Mana Shift or Apocatastasis. As a healer main, I have to admit that it's nice to have a break from being concerned with everyone else's status or positioning or from having to blow my Swiftcast to promptly scrape a body off the floor.

[Ciderfox]

BLM need to stop crying. Now that properly geared players are taking on savage we are seeing that they are in a good spot. Current dps on savage bosses has them right below SAM and 300-400 dps more than RDM and even more than SMN.

[Remedi]

Tbh I think nerfs might come if the scaling remains as is

[Gwaeron89]

Honestly things like raise should be normalized between casters to not give anyone huge advantageo ver another. Something like cross class ability with no cast time and fixed CD would be good.

[Ciderfox]

Tbh I think nerfs might come if the scaling remains as is

This is why people shouldn't be asking for nerfs or buffs before the first hard content actually hits. BLM logs for Savage are quite good and they are in a good spot right below SAM. Maybe SAM should be brought down just a bit too BLM.

[Ciderfox]

Honestly things like raise should be normalized between casters to not give anyone huge advantageo ver another. Something like cross class ability with no cast time and fixed CD would be good.

Then what would be the point of playing RDM or SMN if BLM could just raise as well while being 300-400 DPS higher than both of them? The higher DPS comes at a lack of utility. Despite what a lot of people are parroting, it seems now that RDM is in a good spot. Middle of the pack dps about 100 more than BRD. Classes like SMN and MCH should be brought up a bit and then it might be balanced.