A QoL/Balance Shortlist for DPS (Tanks/Healers only as additional context)

[Shurrikhan]

Alright, so. Black Mage

All that MP fanangling is unneeded with just the "Independent UI tick".

UI/AF 3 do not reduce the GCD, only the cast time. The .625 Second deadzone between phase transitions would mean there's no risk of an MP deadzone.

I've not mentioned any change to the GCD characteristics. The cast time change has merely been increased to a 60% increase in cast speed, up from 50%, for symmetry with the more intuitive stack system suggested.

I'm fine with the MP deadzone being lost. Both the current MP values and the more intuitive formations suggesting here go to great care to avoid it. I believe my version simply reaches that goal more comprehensively.

Making the ice spells better at the expense of making F4 worse is horrible. We minimize Ice spells heavily. We only ever cast the one in UI: B4. Increasing B3's potency is an empty gesture beyond the very first cast. You have listed no changes regarding the damage reduction of Fire and Ice.

In the case that it is removed: We aren't suddenly going to use ice spells. There is no difference in time or cost between the two in spell tiers. Given the choice, we want to cast fire. Fire's bonus would have to be completely removed or reduced to the point of nullification to make it something to consider. Ice and Fire have the same exact cost regarding mobility, so given the choice you never choose Ice.

You will never use more Ice spells than you have to. That was the case and intent, and remains the case and intent. The problem is that the disparity reached breakpoints at which altering your rotation with anything but an earlier Fire cast to maintain AF was inviable. With the disparity decreased, it can now be mathematically worthwhile to tailor your rotation to the circumstances of the fight and your composition, offering Black Mage more flexibility, reduced deviation due to the fights and compositions themselves, and increased skill-gap in perfect performance when playing in more challenging situations (even if skill-gap may now be less obvious among poorer players).

In the case that it stays: ^^^^^^^ Double down.

Moving further towards toolkit imbalance for the sake of toolkit imbalance merely decreases flexibility, options, and upper-level skillgap. It treats performance, where varied by the spells cast rather than solely movement or a lack of unnecessary action delay, only as an absence of punishment, rather than strategy or ingenuity.

I will never use Scathe, stop trying to make me!

You do not need to use Scathe. The option is no more attractive now than previously for any form of proper play. Other means of mobile damage have been buffed just as much as it has. I simply chose not to curb-stomp it further.

Phase lengths look exactly the same. 7 GCDs + FS in fire, 6-9 seconds in Ice.

That is the intent. Nothing is to change about the rotation except that is less punishing to break from ideal rotation, thus granting more rotational options to certain fights to increase higher-level skill-gap and decrease unavoidable deviation.

Black mage turret is reduced for no concrete gain.

Again, the point is to slightly tailor in BLM maximal outputs, which currently make Samurai obsolete outside of one fight or SAM/RDM/NIN/MCH/SCH/AST perfect CD-stacking compositions, while increasing both QoL and available nuance. The point is to reduce BLM by-fight performance deviation.

The UI tick does, however, make Spellspeed a 100% damage gain compared to now though, where it doesn't influence your UI phase at all. It is possible the UI tick will reduce Ice phase further which means more Fire uptime.

I am fine with that. All other secondary stats already had this characteristic and would otherwise outperform it past the first rotational safety breakpoint if they'd been appropriately balanced from the start.

[Kabooa]

I've not mentioned any change to the GCD characteristics. The cast time change has merely been increased to a 60% increase in cast speed, up from 50%, for symmetry with the more intuitive stack system suggested.

I'm fine with the MP deadzone being lost. Both the current MP values and the more intuitive formations suggesting here go to great care to avoid it. I believe my version simply reaches that goal more comprehensively..

My point is that all the MP costs changes are unnecessary with an independent UI tick. The shortlist can be a short list in this regard.

We already tailor the rotation to the current demands. We adjust procs, cooldowns, early phase cutting, B4 skipping, and Leyline placement and timing. We already do these these things. Shifting power from Fire to the Ice spells to doesn't make it more flexible, it only makes our success working around the mechanics less rewarding.

Even in your variant, losing out on 60% bonus damage, even with Ice potencies mirroed for equity, doesn't change the final product in any comparable way to the amount lost. B3's potency increase doesn't matter, because it's cut in half when moving into AF. B4's potency increase is...alright, but if we're talking high pressure movement with unprepared procs or cooldowns, we skip B4 anyways. The intent behind the change doesn't match up with reality.

This could be a really short list without everything in the middle.

"Umbral Ice regenerates MP every .5 seconds"
"Fire 4 Potency reduced to 290".

[Shurrikhan]

Even in your variant, losing out on 60% bonus damage, even with Ice potencies mirrored for equity, doesn't change the final product in any comparable way to the amount lost. B3's potency increase doesn't matter, because it's cut in half when moving into AF. B4's potency increase is...alright, but if we're talking high pressure movement with unprepared procs or cooldowns, we skip B4 anyways. The intent behind the change doesn't match up with reality.

To preface, I don't mean this merely as a defense of what I've written. As you've said, that list could be pared down considerably by leaving the stack system in its current nonsensical state as at least people are used to it as is and nothing about gameplay over level 40 would necessarily change as a result. A shortlist has to do with immediacy available to usage/implementation, not to actually being short -- comparable to a "green-light list" or "final pass list" -- but even I'll admit we could easily go without those changes. They're there because I like intuitive design, and it has little (and, in my opinion, a solely positive) effect on BLM gameplay.

However, what you're saying here is wholly nonsensical. Losing out on potency from just a 100% modifier rather than a 160% or 180% is still 100% of the gap in base potency -- which is a gap in potency. You MUST use Blizzard III, even if as rarely as possible. Optimal play DOES use Blizzard IV. Potency buffs to either will be buffs in themselves.

If I intended merely to nerf Black Mage and call it a day, those two points would sufficient. If I intended to make Speed inferior on Black Mage after having just made it as closely balanced as possible on all others, those two points would be sufficient. But I don't.

As I said before, I don't expect the changes to be all that significant to gameplay (though, again, I do imagine what change there'd be would be beneficial). But, there is no change more easily accomplished than number-tuning, be it to potencies or buff percentiles. In terms of implementation, only one design change contains a significant hurdle -- the unpaired UI tick. I'll admit the changes seem perfectionistic -- they are, since I am -- but I think we can at least agree that there is no benefit to the current wonkiness of the UI/AF systems (save perhaps the 40% first tier on AF, which makes the Fire-obsession more obvious to a narrow band of players who can understand numbers on screen and change accordingly but cannot read tooltips). And its being made intuitive is a mere number entry each for a small span of tables.

[Kabooa]

As I said before, I don't expect the changes to be all that significant to gameplay (though, again, I do imagine what change there'd be would be beneficial). But, there is no change more easily accomplished than number-tuning, be it to potencies or buff percentiles. In terms of implementation, only one design change contains a significant hurdle -- the unpaired UI tick. I'll admit the changes seem perfectionistic -- they are, since I am -- but I think we can at least agree that there is no benefit to the current wonkiness of the UI/AF systems (save perhaps the 40% first tier on AF, which makes the Fire-obsession more obvious to a narrow band of players who can understand numbers on screen and change accordingly but cannot read tooltips). And its being made intuitive is a mere number entry each for a small span of tables.

And I'm saying that other than the much shorter list I just pointed out, the rest of it really has no impact.

You don't have to adjust AF, because we don't make any considerations other than MP cost in regards to our AF/ UI states, which didn't really change.

You don't have to adjust AF to try and curtail Black Mage. You just reduce F4 potency.

You don't have to heavily rework the current MP Schemata. UI ticks does that alone, but then, so does "No mp cost in Ice" that's been brought up here and there.

You don't have to make the AF/UI notches more 'intuitive' because they are already intuitive. 1 is for emergencies, otherwise always be max.

That's what I'm telling you. You don't have to do a majority of this, because two changes nullify the need of the rest. That's it. That's all. Don't make a change for the sake of making a change.

a 3% F4 nerf and a UI tick accomplishes everything your list wants to. It lowers the top end damage, which in turn squishes the damage range closer together, and the UI tick solves every single MP issue.