How do you feel about the BLM 4.2 adjustments?

[Bernkastelx]

Um smn just got some instant casts on ruin iv and ruin iii during dreadwyrm trance and mp cost reduction which was much needed on a class like that. They still haven't fixed how clunky derpmut is and using some of your pet cds in rapid succession.

[HaroldSaxon]

Levelling is a good place to figure out good and bad QoL before you even get to endgame. It's everyone's training mode, too, so making adjustments to make that period smoother never hurts. The Transpose change benefits that period immensely as well as making Enochian easier to maintain during invul phases like GC Omega.

Hell, it's the reason so many SMNs screamed (Myself included) when SB released. The majority of them were used to the HW rotation and SB killed it immediately. I've wound up back on SMN again but I'm still not happy with it. Purely due to three things: Numbers too high, QoL absolutely needed, and Aetherflow Lockouts.

As for BLM's other buffs, these were the only realistic changes that could be made without benefiting the 2.0 rotation more than the 3.0 one (though arguably the Aetherial Manip change benefits 2.0 more cause of no clipping). The only other options available that are neutral were increasing AF and Enochian.

I don't disagree - its why a lot of BLM's screamed when SB released too. My point however is that stuff like that is something you can live with (and transpose is not an issue at that point). Stuff that affects end game is more important in my opinion and is the major reason why Black Mage is the worst DPS.

There were plenty of changes that could be done. Blizzard IV needed more power to it. Fire 4 needs a larger buff than the one it will get (I would be very surprised if its more than 20 given that SAM isn't receiving changes). Umbral Ice mana costs need changing. Enochian needs reworking. Thundercloud procs need a stacking mechanic. All of this has been detailed in some of the threads on BLM on the front page of this forum section.

Um smn just got some instant casts on ruin iv and ruin iii during dreadwyrm trance and mp cost reduction which was much needed on a class like that. They still haven't fixed how clunky derpmut is and using some of your pet cds in rapid succession.

SMN had several skills that either had major changes or were completely reworked. That was what Black Mages were asking for. I can put up with the clunkiness of current Black Mage if its performance wasn't the second worst for Raid DPS.

You can see on my character page that BLM is one of my many 70s. I guess you're not very familiar with this game, so apologies for treating you as though you were.

Using Transpose during leveling actually helps before you get B3/F3 to up your dps. It's not ground-breaking, but it helps quite a bit, as you max MP in Umbral before you can transpose back to Astral right now. Actually is an improvement for lower-level BLM.

You called significant improvements to pre-70 play for BLM irrelevant, despite the fact that they're not. I suppose off-topic is the wrong word, but you're trying to shut down conversation using "this doesn't matter at 70" - which I never claimed it was. This is a thread discussing the changes, not the changes at 70.

Just because you are level 70 doesn't mean you have paid attention while levelling or that you know what you are doing. Do you have any experience with endgame raiding.

You don't need a reduction in the transpose timer when levelling because your fire phase is not short enough so that you are waiting to use it. It does not affect the low level rotation.

I said they are irrelevant to the problems of the class. Please read my posts next time. And every other thread on the front page about Black Mages while you are at it. If you want to complain about low level changes, take a look at mana costs in Umbral Ice - you've got Black Mage to level 70 so surely you know about that one, right? Especially before you get Foul.

[zuzu-bq]

To those that are defending that the QoL is justified because it helps people leveling the job: SE stated that balancement of the jobs outside of levelcap wouldn't be priority. They Advertised these BLM changes for a while and put them as the priority of that section of the Live Letter. Which means they think this is here to help people at level cap. Which is mostly ridiculous, because these changes barely change anything about the job's fluidity.

[jstamos]

Just because you are level 70 doesn't mean you have paid attention while levelling or that you know what you are doing. Do you have any experience with endgame raiding.

Ah okay you really don't get that this isn't a discussion exclusively about endgame. Apologies! I'll keep my replies to relevant participants in this discussion going forward.

[HaroldSaxon]

Ah okay you really don't get that this isn't a discussion exclusively about endgame. Apologies! I'll keep my replies to relevant participants in this discussion going forward.

And you don't get that these changes were nothing to do with the leveling and also make no difference to leveling. If you want to bring up levelling issues, then great, go right ahead. But at least make sure you know what you are talking about before you say incorrect things.

[Grimoire-M]

Machinist is the weakest of the big 4. It essentially suffers from the same problems the other caster DPS have when compared to SMN, but it has enough synergy and damage to justify its slot over them. I've played a little of the class, and while its utility and damage is lacking compared to BRD, what it does have is really good. To be honest, BRD is the most swingy class I've ever seen. I would like it if SE tweaked their numbers to flatten the extra damage it gets from procs while buffing Heavy Show & Empyreal Arrow just to even out the variance.

To be honest, It's kinda paradoxical that SE would make the changes to SMN that they did as well as fixing the NIN/WAR slashing debuff issue in 4.0 and NOT fix DRG/BRD/MCH's positions as the Big 4 in the process.

[zuzu-bq]

Ah okay you really don't get that this isn't a discussion exclusively about endgame. Apologies! I'll keep my replies to relevant participants in this discussion going forward.

If a job isn't liked in endgame scenario by any means. Players will reflect this behavior in any other content. Harold has been constantly bringing things to the table about the job. Though he applies his line of tought on raids and endgame, most of his arguments also apply to any other combat PvE content.

[Grimoire-M]

Um smn just got some instant casts on ruin iv and ruin iii during dreadwyrm trance and mp cost reduction which was much needed on a class like that. They still haven't fixed how clunky derpmut is and using some of your pet cds in rapid succession.

We didn't need DWT to become our mobility cooldown when we already have a filler spell that does the same thing. DWT in HW was essentially the same thing as Bahamut is now: Our most important cooldown, that we feed everything else into. I don't get why the lockouts were done at all. I get the Aetherflow cooldown adjustments in light of them, and why DWT was given mobility in the form of Ruin III, but I don't get why it was done in the first place. Why not integrate Bahamut into DWT itself and work with the way players were already using him in HW? It doesn't make any sense to me.