The Samurai buffs are terrible. (Preliminary Patch Notes)

[Shiroe]

Black Mage doesn't have to compete ...

generaly, brd/mch, drg and nin will remain the most desirable

brd/mch: dps classes with the lowest persobal dps other than rdm

and dtg/nin: 2 if the hardest classes in the game

those classes will always remain the most desirable dps..

but since 4.2, blm have a eay better time in PFs (even if some still prefere smn & rdm, since they buff), and sam was as least desirable than ever (also since the mnk buff) in 4.2

but now, 4.3 expect sam to be as desirable as blm, if not a tick more thanx to slashing debuff in most PFs

sure, if sam wants the drg or nin spot in HC static, might be harder to get in.. but as blm its still hard to get the caster or ranged spot (even if smn and rdm buff are not that great, every one likes buffs and both rdm and smn have rez)

sam and blm will probably be equally(-ish) in 4.3.., just the mnk buff in 4.2 is imo still a bit big, especially when using the "TK" trick

[Bourne_Endeavor]

snip

Actually, Machinist has fallen hard. While still technically meta, Summoner has eclipsed it the top tier speed kills—with Black Mage closely nipping on its heels. This is due to its clunky gameplay, high ping dependency and Hypercharge being lackluster. They cling to their spot almost entirely because NIN/DRG/BRD synergize so well with their rotation.

As for Samurai, the buffs offered are negligible at best. You will scarcely notice unless you're pulling nearly 7,000. At which point... you already had a better chance than most to get into a good group. Slashing, meanwhile, is borderline worthless. No one takes Samurai for Slashing because the odds are exceedingly low you won't have Warrior or Ninja. Furthermore, Slashing is actually a DPS loss on Samurai as it either has to gimps its own rotation by applying it early, thus Midare will miss all raid buffs, or the raid is forced to wait seven GCDs instead of two or three.

[Rivxkobe]

thanx to slashing debuff in most PFs

I laughed out loud when I read this. A WAR or NIN is likely to be in the party. And a WAR will apply it all the time so it doesn't matter if SAM has it.