Black Mage

[EllieShadeflare]

An idea that was proposed in my Free Company would be a way to not only diversify the arsenal of Black Mage, but also improve its DPS by implmenting a burst. I present to you, Convergence (named after the Bravely Default ability of similar name and purpose).

Convergence
Type: Ability
Cast: Instant
Recast: 120s
Range: Self

Prevents the usage of Enochian, and compresses Area of Effect spells into single target spells with the following changes:
Blizzard II: 200 Potency
Fire II: 320 Potency
Freeze: 400 Potency
Thunder IV: 200 Potency + 120 potency over time. Duration: 18s. Does not have a chance of triggering Thundercloud and cannot be refreshed.
Flare: 805 Potency, and ends the effects of Convergence.

In addition, the description to Enhanced Enochian is changed to the following: "Grants the effect of Polyglot upon maintaining Enochian for 30 seconds. Upon the application of Polyglot, decreases the recast of Convergence by 10s. Also improves Enochian's magic damage increase to 10%."

Increasing the damage of BLM to offset its lack of utility should be seen as the best way forward... though, I presume the usefulness of BLM will also showcase itself as we gain more crit and Spell Speed.

[Lelila38]

The raise that I proposed would still be a welcome addition purely to be fair, since every single other DoM has it.

While we're at it, let's give the melee a raise too! If all casters get a raise, they'd be the only dps without one, purely to be fair.

Oh and if we do that, let's give the tanks a raise, so they don't feel left out.

Raises for all!!!



Disclaimer: I was trying to be funny, no offence intended.

[Sylvain]

While I like the spell, I don't see how it would make the BLM arsenal more diversified. To me it is just a hidden "increase your spell rank to V for 20sec" on a ~80sec CD.

While it feels inevitable and I would much prefer that to an actual rank increase (because let's face it, rank increase are cool ' for visual but that's about it in most case)
I really don't see what it would change from a rotation. You'll still go dot, fire as much as u can, ice3, wait for regenerate while doing dot / blizzard, fire 3, fire (5?) as much as u can.
It also doesn't line up very well with leyline CD.

However, one thing I'd love is the removal of fire1. Shooting that fart spark annoys me (just visually)

[Shiroe]

Pls don't go into the give Blm raise debate. It's not good for us doesn't fit our playstyle or our lore.
If you want utility, I'd like to see some magic dmg buff, or a magic resistance debuff.

^ this

make Blm T3 dots give the target a slight magic vulnerability (increasing theyre personal dps a tick..., but also making a parallel 2nd "meta" with 3 casters in it)

[Shiroe]

^ this

make Blm T3 dots give the target a slight magic vulnerability (increasing theyre personal dps a tick..., but also making a parallel 2nd "meta" with 3 casters in it)

increasing the blm dps by 5-7%, and the party magical dps by 2.5-3% (unless another blm are in the party, other blm only buffs himself 5-7% if he uses T3, but does not get buff from other blm)

[Llugen]

If they're going to do a magic vuln up for BLM it should most definitely be on Blizzard IV

Also, for the record, Melee AND ranged DPS don't have Raise, so your point is moot. PLD should get one too, though.

180s recast would NOT be "garbage", you could raise a dead healer, which is significantly better than wiping in a light party and helpful in a full party, so... good work thinking that one through

The proposed Convergence sounds like a LOT of work to implement, which is fine, but that's not something they could do in 4.11, that would have to be for 5.0. Increasing/decreasing timers, potencies, or light re-scripting, on the other hand, is very doable.

@MidnightTundra: I'm confused by your response. If I'm full 340 on SMN but with susano book, then I'm full 340 on BLM too, but with Genji staff. That's the point of my statement; I was much more easily able to be much stronger on SMN even with sub-optimal stats than on BLM. This is a problem.

Gonna say it one more time for dramatic effect: No matter how much they buff any class's pure damage, classes with strong utility (see also: damage) will be favored for party play because that is what they are designed for. Unless BLM is able to do absurdly higher numbers than the contenders, IT WILL STILL BE MORE EFFICIENT TO TAKE THE CONTENDERS.

[Neela]

so you want a 7%+3%+maybe con 10%, devotion 2% and TA 10% to make Blm superior? ^^'

devo, con & trickattack already push Blm - why should Blm get a selfbuff while all other utility are partywide?

[Llugen]

so you want a 7%+3%+maybe con 10%, devotion 2% and TA 10% to make Blm superior? ^^'

devo, con & trickattack already push Blm - why should Blm get a selfbuff while all other utility are partywide?

A Magic Vuln would be a decent compromise at utility/selfishness, because healers and paladins and other magic damage (Raiton) would still benefit. Furthermore, having it apply from Blizzard IV especially would increase incentive to use it as intended no matter other procs/timings. This can also be a detriment if you get a bunch of lucky procs and the timer on it runs out, depending on the duration they would decide to give it.

The minor issue with this is that it unbalances Garuda even further, which she's already pretty much ignored in favor of sicfrit. RIP

[Remedi]

A Magic Vuln would be a decent compromise at utility/selfishness, because healers and paladins and other magic damage (Raiton) would still benefit. Furthermore, having it apply from Blizzard IV especially would increase incentive to use it as intended no matter other procs/timings. This can also be a detriment if you get a bunch of lucky procs and the timer on it runs out, depending on the duration they would decide to give it.

The minor issue with this is that it unbalances Garuda even further, which she's already pretty much ignored in favor of sicfrit. RIP

I think a fix could be ruin mastery proccing only from burning strike/wind blade (at a higher % ofc) and making radiant shield proc only from melee strikes but dunno if that'll be enough

[Llugen]

Currently my SMN friends and I are working on the math/the rotation to cycle between both ifrit and garuda to utilize both, especially since there is no longer any MP dump and resummoning costs almost nothing. But I digress.

I mentioned before that flat potency changes are not only boring, but potentially breaking. without careful thought. A magic vuln could hurt the class as much as it helps, if not done carefully (different timings with procs and such). Another thing I'd like to see is a BLM "meditate" like SAM's but it just holds astral/umbral at 13s and lets the polyglot timer continue ticking.