Black Mage Job Changes Wishlist for 4.25 or 4.3

[HaroldSaxon]

I would like to see the following changes to help Black Mage...

The danger of increasing the UI/AF timer is the possibility of skipping F1 in your rotation under Attack Speed buffs (Ley Lines/Arrow).

Transpose? Why? Its already more than enough

Triple Cast - Honestly I hate the job gauge. Its awful. I much prefer them on the buff bar.

Umbral Heart - The issue with this is that it WILL buff one non F4 cast, and would mean your UI phase is completely rigid and you must finish your phase with B4. I think it should be kept to F4/F1 casts.

Manaward - I feel that would be way too strong with the nullification of knockbacks

[HaroldSaxon]

...

The problem with the Sleep changes is that we aren't a burst class and I don't think its the right direction to make us into a burst class given how every other caster is a burst class. Let us be a sustained DPS class that is all about pumping out spells. The Direct Hit scaling - it scales the third worst on us out of all secondary stats and isn't a stat that really fits with BLM's gameplay.

Freeze changes - you only need one Umbral Heart for AOE rotations.

AM - I can totally get that retargetting on the controller can be slow, but unfortunately that's an issue with the interface you are using, not with the skill itself.

Regarding Empower Ley Lines - Again, even if its a direction that SE decide to go down, haste buffs are not preferred for raid wide buffs.

[Acidblood]

AM - I can totally get that retargetting on the controller can be slow, but unfortunately that's an issue with the interface you are using, not with the skill itself.

This is a PS4 game as well; not a lot of choice in interface there... also, and I know some people simply live in savage raids, but FFXIV has a LOT of other content as well, some of which you are forced to do solo; would just be nice if AM was a bit more of a core skill that could be used in any situation.

[HaroldSaxon]

This is a PS4 game as well; not a lot of choice in interface there... also, and I know some people simply live in savage raids, but FFXIV has a LOT of other content as well, some of which you are forced to do solo; would just be nice if AM was a bit more of a core skill that could be used in any situation.

PS4 can use a Keyboard and Mouse to my knowledge.

[thebaaj666]

Thanks for your reply!

AF/UI- I dont see skipping F1 in the rotation as a problem since we have been asking for F4 AF refresh for awhile!

Umbral hearts: we mostly go into fire phase with a firestarter proc anyway which would allow the F4s to get the buff. Regardless, 5% buff to F3 under 3 stacks of astral and enochian is still strong. Dont forget that umbral hearts are spent on flare as well! I think it would be a good way to entice players to use the mechanic as the devs intended instead of skipping B4 under certain circumstances.

The suggested 300 potency on F4 and B4 would go a long way to alleviate this issue too!

Manaward: I dont see the nullification of knockback and 5% shield in a radius from the BLM as overpowered when you have raidwide defensive and offensive buffs on nearly every other class, and the ability has a 2 minute cooldown. It would add some sorely needed utility and synergy to allow BLM to compete for a spot.

[thebaaj666]

I agree with this sentiment. It's odd that AM is completely useless solo. We cannot use it all without a party member. It would be nice if it was a teleport like shikuchi.

[EllieShadeflare]

AF/UI- I dont see skipping F1 in the rotation as a problem since we have been asking for F4 AF refresh for awhile!

Some players have, but doing this would cause the job to become braindead, like the ARR version. Both Heavensward and Stormblood have been adamant about removing some degree of braindeadedness from most classes, while also removing a lot of the issues with the others.

They may as well make Enochian a static timer, and make Blizzard IV refresh said timer under your suggestion.

Umbral hearts: we mostly go into fire phase with a firestarter proc anyway which would allow the F4s to get the buff. Regardless, 5% buff to F3 under 3 stacks of astral and enochian is still strong. Dont forget that umbral hearts are spent on flare as well! I think it would be a good way to entice players to use the mechanic as the devs intended instead of skipping B4 under certain circumstances.

Honestly, I haven't really seen anyone really skip Blizzard IV and its Umbral Hearts ever since the cast time buff. It's usually a bit of a DPS loss, since you'd be losing out on at least two Fire IV casts if you try that. That said, Umbral Hearts should have some level of "helping" to the spells. So long as they only affect spells during Astral Fire, and maintain the ability to reduce the costs by half, it'll be fine.

The suggested 300 potency on F4 and B4 would go a long way to alleviate this issue too!

Please dear Hydaelyn no. There's a lot of people who are trying to advocate for this, and it's honestly the scariest suggestion I've seen because it shows an utter lack of regard for balance (which is funny, because everyone complaining about Warrior's new version of Inner Release + Fell Cleave are essentially stating we should have THAT as a rotation).

Essentially? the practical potency of Fire IV (594) would be a mere 64 less than a fully buffed Fell Cleave (660), minus the confirmed Direct Crits. Combine this with the previous ideas to give Umbral Hearts the ability to buff Fire spells by 5%, then you get a whopping 623. As it already stands, Black Mage is already dealing 555 potency per Fire IV, which is 5 more potency than Verflare... and only about 100 potency less than the base potency of Foul (but just 160 less than a similarly buffed Foul). Honestly, a much more valuable buff would probably making Fire IV GCD, and not require 2.8~ seconds.

Manaward: I dont see the nullification of knockback and 5% shield in a radius from the BLM as overpowered when you have raidwide defensive and offensive buffs on nearly every other class, and the ability has a 2 minute cooldown. It would add some sorely needed utility and synergy to allow BLM to compete for a spot.

BLM already can get a nullification to knockback, though. It's called Surecast, and it's a really useful ability.

[HaroldSaxon]

Thanks for your reply!

AF/UI- I dont see skipping F1 in the rotation as a problem since we have been asking for F4 AF refresh for awhile!

Umbral hearts: we mostly go into fire phase with a firestarter proc anyway which would allow the F4s to get the buff. Regardless, 5% buff to F3 under 3 stacks of astral and enochian is still strong. Dont forget that umbral hearts are spent on flare as well! I think it would be a good way to entice players to use the mechanic as the devs intended instead of skipping B4 under certain circumstances.

The suggested 300 potency on F4 and B4 would go a long way to alleviate this issue too!

Manaward: I dont see the nullification of knockback and 5% shield in a radius from the BLM as overpowered when you have raidwide defensive and offensive buffs on nearly every other class, and the ability has a 2 minute cooldown. It would add some sorely needed utility and synergy to allow BLM to compete for a spot.

F4 AF refresh would be a terrible idea. I personally enjoyed doing F1 skipping at the end of Heavansward, but its something that should be taken into account.

We don't mostly go into fire phase with a firestarter proc at all, and it would still take up a "buff" in your proposed change.

I do like the idea of Manaward and I think the potency changes to F4 and B4 would be about right, but they should strongly test it first.

[thebaaj666]

Thanks for your feedback!

I think the dev idea for BLM is to be a strong sustained DPS which helps to differentiate it from the pack. Therefore, I think the 300 potency for F4/B4 would be acceptable given that BLM damage should make up for it's lack of utility.

It's true that we have access to surecast as well as the other casters, but it competes with other roles skill slots :/ but if we had a raidwide knockback nullifier +minor shield, it would be a niche utility that no other class has, and could give us the spot we need on competitive comps, in my opinion

With the current suggested rotation, I have found that I reliably have a firestarter proc before going into fire phase (in a general rotation). Firestarter doesn't eat a triple cast proc, so I think it would be possible to make the focus trait not eat instant cast abilities as well.

[Kabooa]

I do like the idea of Manaward and I think the potency changes to F4 and B4 would be about right, but they should strongly test it first.

Further potency changes shouldn't be folded into the baseline spells. Additional damage honestly should come from a situational decision. I'm fine with Black mages having mo' damage, but it really should come as the result of a choice we have to make in the chaos of an encounter, not slapped onto F4 again.