BLM QOL suggestions to make Enochian less punishing

[Acidblood]

Coming from 3.X to 4.06 as a BLM, one thing I've noticed is that it seems significantly harder to keep Enochian up in mechanic heavy fights; especially ones I'm not completely familiar with. Combine this with the extra mechanics now tied to Enochain (namely Umbral Hearts and Foul) and BLM feels more punishing (and as such less fun in certain fights) than ever.

The main issue is that there's just no margin of error any more. With a typical rotation of Fire III > Fire IV * 3 > Fire you only have a very small window in which to get the Fire cast off, or hit the panic button (Transpose)... and if your cast gets interrupted (knockback, target dies or jumps, out of range (thanks Tank!), etc.) there is little, if anything, you can do to recover.

Edit: After getting more used to 4.X BLM, learning some fights better, and getting a bit more Spell Speed, things do feel a little smoother... however, BLM can still feel very punishing (especially compared to SAM) simply for having to move unexpectedly or when interrupted at a bad time.

So what's the solution? Well, a few suggestions would be:

• Edit: Make Scath add 2.5s to AF / UI - A relatively simple change, and it would actually make Scath rather useful for unexpected movement, but still a DPS loss compared to proper pre-positioning and / or use of Swiftcast / Triplecast. PS. Transpose would still be useful, as it doesn't require a target.
• (Re)Make Enochian a separate buff, and have it count down only outside of AF / UI - A bit more complicated, but it would basically be 3.X style, only without being tied specifically to Blizzard IV. Still a potential issue of needing a target to get back into AF / UI in time (depending on Enochians remaining duration).
• Make AF / UI only drop a single stack on timeout - Probably the biggest change, but it would also allow for a big margin of error (13s per stack!), and as such would remove any issues with being interrupted, as you would always at least have time to Transpose. Not sure how it would affect the rotation though; i.e. would Fire IV * 7 (dropping to 2 stacks) be worth it?
• Edit: Bake Enochian into AF / UI - Essentially Enochian becomes a trait that is automatically applied upon entering AF / UI and has no cooldown. Applying Enochain is basically busy work at this point anyway (apart from being prone to fumbling), and with no cooldown the punishment for dropping stacks becomes only the loss of any Umbra Hearts and Foul build-up time, without the purgatory of being stuck at level 50 for X seconds.
• Edit: Reduce Transpose CD to 10s (or lower) - Another simple change that would make Transpose more useful by making the timing (e.g. when move between packs in dungeon) far less tedious.

Thoughts?

[PomPomFlare]

Get more spell speed.

[Legion88]

Usage of Transpose.

It is the intended way to save Eno through those situations and it works.

Back in Heavensward someone said to me: "Playing BLM at a high level is less on the side of knowing your job perfect and doing your rotation but more on the side of knowing the fights in and out, knowing when to switch AF/UI early, when to move and how to prepare. A master of BLM has to know where he has to be at every second in the fight, before the fight even starts."

[Acidblood]

Get more spell speed.

Got some spell speed (far more than I ever had in HW) but it still feels frequently harder / less satisfying to play than it did in 3.X... well, outside of AoE, but then Fire II and Flare both refresh AF (and the new Thunder II \ IV are awesome).

Usage of Transpose.

It is the intended way to save Eno through those situations and it works.

Back in Heavensward someone said to me: "Playing BLM at a high level is less on the side of knowing your job perfect and doing your rotation but more on the side of knowing the fights in and out, knowing when to switch AF/UI early, when to move and how to prepare. A master of BLM has to know where he has to be at every second in the fight, before the fight even starts."

Transpose is definitely getting a workout, and I've taken to cutting my rotation short (e.g. only 2 Fire IV's between Fire's) to give myself an extra margin of safety, but while this works (mostly, bad timing is still a killer), it doesn't really feel good playing this way.

I also absolutely agree with the quote, but that's kind of the problem... as a BLM you are constantly, and potentially severely punished, for not having absolute knowledge of a fight. Which is not to say it should be as totally painless (read: boring) as RDM (Dual Cast lasts 15 seconds! really?), but they could at least make it so BLMs don't have to choose between eating an AoE and being nerfed back to level 50 every 13 seconds*.

* Ok, that's hyperbole, as Swiftcast / Triplecast does give you some options, but I am finding myself watching the timer far more than I ever did in HW when Enochian was a 30/24/20 second buff... and I thought this combat revamp was supposed to be about less UI watching...

[OmegaStrongtan]

It is already very error friendly. You need 2 major derps in 30 seconds to be totally screwed.
Back then in HW days it was way more punishing.

[Acidblood]

It is already very error friendly. You need 2 major derps in 30 seconds to be totally screwed.
Back then in HW days it was way more punishing.

2 major derps??
I'm finding that all I need to do now is miss a single Fire cast (which can easily happen due to the target dying, mechanics, etc.)...
Or accidentally hit Enochain a second before my AF/UI stack drops (ok that one is on me)...
Or accidentally cast Fire / Fire II while still in UI (because Fire III didn't actually 'hit' for some reason, despite the animation going off)...

Meanwhile, back in HW, you could derp any number of times in that 30 seconds (well ~25s) and still make your Enochain refresh; as long as you got 2 casts off, at roughly the right time, per 60~70 second window you did OK. Now you need to get a cast off, with generally tighter timing, at least once every ~12 seconds; that's now 5 to 6 casts you need to get right in that same 60~70 second window... oh, and as I mentioned, you are now even more severely punished due to also losing Umbral Hearts, the Foul build up timer, and an 5% damage :/

[PomPomFlare]

Got some spell speed (far more than I ever had in HW) but it still feels frequently harder / less satisfying to play than it did in 3.X... well, outside of AoE, but then Fire II and Flare both refresh AF (and the new Thunder II \ IV are awesome).

They nerfed spell speed in stormblood so to achieve speed equivalent to 1200 in HW you need about 1800-1900 in SB. The thing though is that you have now 4 free casts every minutes which makes Enochian keeping almost a nobrainer.
Practice on dummy how much Fire IV you can cast in between (you can simulate step stuttering or have buddy next to you for AM for testing) until you get used to it. It can be painful at start but it's a matter of adapting to changes, in fact at 1800 speed it's even more fluid than HW Black Mage.

[OmegaStrongtan]

2 major derps??
I'm finding that all I need to do now is miss a single Fire cast (which can easily happen due to the target dying, mechanics, etc.)...
Or accidentally hit Enochain a second before my AF/UI stack drops (ok that one is on me)...
Or accidentally cast Fire / Fire II while still in UI (because Fire III didn't actually 'hit' for some reason, despite the animation going off)...

1. Swift, ench, start again
2. Place ench where don't accidentally click it
3. OK this one sometimes happens to me as well.

[xNewbx]

They already made Enochian easier to maintain, and less punishing... Any easier and they may as well just make it 100% uptime with no chance of falling off.

[dinnertime]

Honestly Enochian should be removed as an ability and should be remade as a trait for Astral Fire/Umbral Ice.
Transpose's cooldown should be slightly reduced.
Not really related to Enochian but a QoL for BLM regardless, Leylines should automatically change as Between the Lines when Leylines is active.