Black Mage

[Sylvain]

Regarding the Burn and Frost idea as new DoT spells

I absolutely do not want DoT on the BLM (beside Thundercloud, but this one is more than a mer DoT)
I want the vast majority of my damage as big numbers. This is why I play BLM
If I want DoT I'll go with SMN or whatever future DoT based job they'll make. (For some reason I'd see TimeMage as an heavy DoT based Job, you know, things goes over "time")

I understand very well that having access to DoT would solve some of BLM issue, notably having dmg ticking while moving, but I'm pretty sure most player rolling BLM do it for the huge number. The more DoT given to BLM, the less hard other skills have to hit to compensate.

People have already proposed a crap ton of solution, ranging from instant FireI etc etc

[Llugen]

Well at the moment, if seeing big numbers is something you're interested in, you're better off playing SMN for direct crit deathflares/enkindle bahamuts, because (as most of BLM's stats points end up getting allocated towards spell speed) BLM has some of the lowest "appearing" damage numbers out of many of the DPS classes.

I've gone full fights with crit rate under 10%. It's depressing.

[Kabooa]

Well at the moment, if seeing big numbers is something you're interested in, you're better off playing SMN for direct crit deathflares/enkindle bahamuts, because (as most of BLM's stats points end up getting allocated towards spell speed) BLM has some of the lowest "appearing" damage numbers out of many of the DPS classes.

I've gone full fights with crit rate under 10%. It's depressing.

Honestly, the stat cap has to get higher before Spellspeed will start overtaking again.

Direct hit is going to scale horribly because you can already get 30-40%, which is pretty close to the point where you won't want to increase it again (As it's a linear gain where crit and spellspeed are both more parabolic). Depending on how high secondaries go, Spellspeed can potentially become the stupidest good stat for us again.

[Sylvain]

snip

yeah but that's one spell per min (but you're right tho)

This is also why we need Fester damage doubled on single target

[mikanana]

I wish they would extend ley lens, and minimize cooldown of Aetheral Manipulation for easy movement

[Ceallach]

This is to reinforce what several of us have been trying to allude to for a while now: that there is no such thing as "raw damage" in FFXIV, particularly in the caster role. So hopefully 4.2 will see better mobility/damage and then later we can hope for/expect greater utility (I'm not getting my hopes up for defensive utility for 4.2).

Could just make Manaward better. Strengthen it, lower its recast, something like that? But if people understand that black mage shouldn't get a Raise variant, people need to stop trying to ask for one and/or implement one. Lore is too important, whether you like it or not, and any argument that tries to make lore not matter is horribly misguided at best. This is an RPG, and one in a long-running series. How would you feel if you got FINAL FANTASY XVI after tons of hype, and it was just a Call of Duty ripoff? Because that's the level of idiocy you're embracing when you ask for black mages to get a Raise variant.

Now, this does not mean I think black mage is fine. I agree there need to be major adjustments. We have three DPS Disciple of Magic jobs, and the only one that offers only damage isn't doing enough damage to be justified next to the other two jobs, which bring both damage and utility. Ideally, either they make it so black mage does significantly more damage and red mage is strengthened to tie with summoner (this way you choose between either damage or one of two types of utility), or they give some form of utility to black mage that makes it comparable to red mage and summoner in terms of viability that is still appropriate to the lore of the series. This is why I suggested something like the Burn and Frost spells, though I realize not everyone wants to manage three damage-over-time effects on a job that's supposed to cast massive explosions. Temper itself doesn't really help the black mage (black mages don't do physical damage), while Embolden does help the red mage using it and the summoner's pet's Devotion, Radiant Shield, and Contagion do help the summoner as well.

The devs did say black mage's issues are going to be addressed in 4.2. We can hope. But if we're going to throw around suggestions, let's at least make them intelligent ones.

[Shiroe]

I wish they would extend ley lens, and minimize cooldown of Aetheral Manipulation for easy movement

this would be nice for mobility..., maybe make LL and BtL use only one button..

other than that mobility QoL, blm could still use either a some dps boost or some "utility" that wont kill blm dps (and isnt rez)

even if extending LL is a slight dps gain

Edit: lowering CD if aetheral manipulation would help a lot, BUT AM also needs a (slight) range increase!!!

[Shiroe]

Could just make Manaward better. Strengthen it, lower its recast, something like that?

give Blm a "special" holmgang/hollowed ground of their own.., allowing them to eat ANY mechanic once every 4 min with out any risk (like not getting a bad debuff or killing dot).., so they can stay still during an aoe once or a certain mechanic; helping with their lack of mobility.. (or so they can stay out of healing range once too if needed and still survive..)

maybe just dont let it work, if they're on top of the agro list, so they cant cheat tank busters/mechanics (but can help "share" tank busters?)

eitherway, like in 2.x, where manaward could really help hard/death mechanics.. blm could use such again..maybe even be use as a "party utility" for mechanics

[Sfia]

Regarding the upcoming 4.2 changes, there are really 3 areas we need to think about.

First is offensive buffs, this can be as simple as potency increases, cast time reductions or spell interactions. Honestly, this needs to be in the changes but it's pretty basic stuff that shouldn't be too in depth, it just needs to meet the benchmark of "does this do enough damage" which we currently do not.

Secondly is QoL changes, maybe some workaround to make weaving our role actions easier or make them more user friendly (why does mana shift cost mp???), these can have very minor end dps effects but won't make or break the jobs balance, just it's flow and feel.

Most importantly though is it's defensive utility, and that will ultimately determine whether or not this job gets played in progression ever again (outside of blackcat) by most caster mains. Currently is has none of this and that really solidifies the job as an underperformer. I was thinking about how to create a defensive identity for this class that isn't just a raise and the power budget needing to be allocated to match this is insane. Throughout Omega prog would you rather have access to Tank LB3 or Raise? Would you rather have refresh+tactitian or Raise? Would you rather have Hallowed Ground or Raise? These are all (in my opinion) things I would give up for the ability to raise while learning a fight, which kinda demonstrates just how powerful a non-raise equivalent skill for BLM would have to be.

[Remedi]

That's why I stand on my ground that raise needs to be removed from the caster role