Black Mage

[blindfoldedkaos]

you do make the best mana battery for everyone else....

also you are usually 2nd or 3rd on the DPS charts for raids and stuff according to FFLogs, so much for lackluster damage....

[Sfia]

you do make the best mana battery for everyone else....

also you are usually 2nd or 3rd on the DPS charts for raids and stuff according to FFLogs, so much for lackluster damage....

In fact, using manashift will very often require a hard gcd clip and it has to be in umbral or you lose 2 fire4 casts in astral. Refresh is a much more powerful mana restoration tool (6000 raidwide MP vs the ~3000 from manashift)

As for the damage, black mages damage is severely lacking. A jobs DPS contribution is comprised of it's personal DPS and the DPS it adds through utilities (such as hypercharge) and BLM doesn't provide nearly enough to match the contributions of other jobs.

Hmmm I don't really agree with you. I play BLM and I don't feel that way at all. I consider my self well balanced and if anything prefer BLM over RDM or SUM ( haven't touched RDM enough in my main account and from what I've seen seems most players get ko'd faster than SUM or BLM ) Hopefully you have tried SUM and RDM to properly gauge their potential. Their will be times where I feel BLM is lacking ( mostly PvP ) other than that it's a solid job over RDM and SUM in almost all other instances. There are a lo of possibilities and that one of the things I love about this game. I know change can be hard for some people, yet it's a new challenge. Try RDM and SUM see it from their perspectives. Right now I too am Trying RDM and so far I really don't like it. yet I will get it to 70 to give it the benefit of the doubt. I'm sorry you feel you can contribute more with any other job, however have you maxed out your potential? DMG wise BLM is still king mage wise.

I have RDM/SMN/BLM bis across my different characters and have used them all a lot in various end game content. My judgements are a reflection of a lot of time put in by myself and a lot of other caster mains who feel similarly.

[ManuelBravo]

I have RDM/SMN/BLM bis across my different characters and have used them all a lot in various end game content. My judgements are a reflection of a lot of time put in by myself and a lot of other caster mains who feel similarly.

As they say experience can vary by play style. ^^ BLM is still over all the best Mage wise so far for me. Maybe over thinking can cause that sense of doubt. Enjoy and play the game the way you want to ^^.

[NoctusT]

Maybe over thinking can cause that sense of doubt.

The reason this was posted and the reason folks put this much thought into it was BECAUSE we love playing BLM.

[Kabooa]

As they say experience can vary by play style. ^^ BLM is still over all the best Mage wise so far for me. Maybe over thinking can cause that sense of doubt. Enjoy and play the game the way you want to ^^.

While this is fine in casual content, when pushing into Savage raids, A Black Mage brings nothing that the other casters don't, and far less than an equally geared, equally skilled Machinist/Bard. And since Machinist / Bard don't overlap each other, you might as well take the machinist / bard.

Pug groups, which a majority of the fun comes from (Since you can only do the raid content once a week otherwise), are starting to actively remove Black Mage from caster slots, and some remove caster slots periods.

[Oshirigami]

Wow, the post limit here is really short. 1000 characters is like 7 tweets.

I do not have experience playing BLM because well, as mentioned, it doesn't have enough damage to make up for its drawbacks.
I want to play it one day, but it's currently unappealing.

But I think there's an extremely simple buff that'd bring BLM up to par: increase damage dealt while in the center square of Ley Lines by another 15%, to 30% total.
This is a 5% total average DPS increase if it's always used off CD and if BLM can stay in that square. Bit higher average DPS increase when timed with other cooldowns.
Ley Lines doesn't seem rewarding enough to me against bosses that really move you around a lot. Granted, it's very easy to stay in it against some bosses, I think that change would reward timing ley lines correctly during a phase where you can stay in it best.

[Kohdo]

I mained BLM from when I started the game in February all the way through ARR and HW content until SB, and have since switched to RDM. OP hit the nail on the head - the unique aspects of BLM have been homogenized across other caster roles, and all BLM now brings to the table is higher damage AOE casts at the cost of longer cast times, and lags painfully behind the incredible utility of a class like RDM.

[TheFanMark]

Why can't we just game in peace and let SE do what they do. Every change made is from some sort of complaint or gripe and ppl neglect to recognize this. OMG BLM his hard buff SMN. OMG now SMN out does BLM, nerf smn. Nerf BRD they hit hard, more support less dps, omg we hit so soft, more buttons more dps. Ppl will never be satisfied

[Llugen]

Why can't we just game in peace and let SE do what they do. Every change made is from some sort of complaint or gripe and ppl neglect to recognize this. OMG BLM his hard buff SMN. OMG now SMN out does BLM, nerf smn. Nerf BRD they hit hard, more support less dps, omg we hit so soft, more buttons more dps. Ppl will never be satisfied

1. Because they repeatedly ask for our feedback and consider it
2. Because when your main job falls out of favor, you either get to switch jobs or quit the game, based on the multiplayer experience
3. Because sometimes the developers of the game, despite rigorous testing/careful planning, can't grasp the implications of balance when put into the hands of millions of players
4. Because we're antsy and want to know what in the world they're going to do to fix the class already (they've already directly said that the class will be getting fixes)

[Kabooa]

1. Because they repeatedly ask for our feedback and consider it
2. Because when your main job falls out of favor, you either get to switch jobs or quit the game, based on the multiplayer experience
3. Because sometimes the developers of the game, despite rigorous testing/careful planning, can't grasp the implications of balance when put into the hands of millions of players
4. Because we're antsy and want to know what in the world they're going to do to fix the class already (they've already directly said that the class will be getting fixes)

5. It's also fun to discuss.