Mages: SMN vs. BLM vs. RDM

[Kaiten_kenbu]

Flashy:
1. BLM
2. SMN
3. RDM

Mobility:
1. SMN
2. RDM
3. BLM

Difficulty:
1. BLM (Easiest)
2. RDM
3. SMN (Hardest)

[Frizze]

Flashy:
1. BLM
2. SMN
3. RDM

Ive seen Vermilion Scourge almost cause a wipe because it blinded all the players(players, not characters) in melee range. So RDM does have a little flash to it.

[Osmond]

Best to worst:

1. SMN's utility is very useful to the group. DoTs..won't lose dps. Contagion great for healers and BLM/RDM for extra DPS. Devotion for extra DPS and healing for the group. Radiant Shield is good for extra dps for melee/ranged on the target.

2. BLM....their burst DPS is great if mastered.

3. RDM Embolden is ok, but horrible for mage DPS and healing DPS. Would be nice if SE makes you keep your mana build even if you ko'd...the same w/ SMN's dreadwyrm aether stacks.

The 3 jobs are good in their own right, but would choose that helps the group the most.

[Tikeio]

Flashy:
1. BLM
2. SMN
3. RDM

Mobility:
1. SMN
2. RDM
3. BLM

Difficulty:
1. BLM (Easiest)
2. RDM
3. SMN (Hardest)

RDM is easier than BLM (in content that matters).

[Sawamura]

All 3 job is good and decent balance.
Only problem remain is who make Party finder. XD

[Kaiten_kenbu]

RDM is easier than BLM (in content that matters).

BLM is still the easiest to pick up imo.

End game rotation is basically:

Blizz III > Enochian > Blizz IV > Fire III > Fire IV

All other skills are just to increase efficiency of DPS delivery.

No procs to pay attention to, no party buffs to use.

Lay down Ley Lines and be a turret.

[Shiroe]

Flashy:
1. BLM
2. SMN
3. RDM

Mobility:
1. SMN
2. RDM
3. BLM

Difficulty:
1. BLM (Easiest)
2. RDM
3. SMN (Hardest)

Flashy:

1 Rdm
2 Blm
3 Smn
(Blm fire IVare kind boring, foul not much prettier, whlie Rdm moves and animations are great and beautiful like a rose; Smn's ak morn & co are not really great animated and dont occure often)


Mobility:

1 Smn
2 Rdm (close to Smn)
3 blm (by far least mobile all dps)

Difficulty in dungeos, hardest 1st:

1 Smn
2 Rdn
3 Blm

Difficulty in (savage / ultimate) raids & (ex) trials, hardest 1st:

1 Blm (hardest of all dps in real raids)
2 Smn (unneeded difficult with pet management, but Blm still by far the hardset)
3 Rdm (overall not difficult to use, one of the easiest)

Utility:

1 Rdm
2 Smn
3 Blm

Dps, once fully mastered:

1 Blm
2 Smn
3 Rdm

Dps, when still learning the class or learning the fight:

1 smn
2 Rdm (Rdm can even ome out top in new fights or when learning the class)
3 Blm (Blm tend to die more too, till a fight is learnt; .. and new Blm have more trouble keeping uptime than new Smn or new Rdm)

[Bourne_Endeavor]

BLM is still the easiest to pick up imo.

End game rotation is basically:

Blizz III > Enochian > Blizz IV > Fire III > Fire IV

All other skills are just to increase efficiency of DPS delivery.

No procs to pay attention to, no party buffs to use.

Lay down Ley Lines and be a turret.

Yes, however if you aren't utilizing those skills properly, you're just a bad SMN with zero utility. Meanwhile, RDM borders on brain dead simple at the basic level. It's incredibly easy to pull decent numbers on it while following a bare bones rotation. Naturally, there is more to it as you optimize, but even then, RDM remains relatively easy. BLM... does not.

Of course, this is all subjective.

[Kaiten_kenbu]

Yes, however if you aren't utilizing those skills properly, you're just a bad SMN with zero utility. Meanwhile, RDM borders on brain dead simple at the basic level. It's incredibly easy to pull decent numbers on it while following a bare bones rotation. Naturally, there is more to it as you optimize, but even then, RDM remains relatively easy. BLM... does not.

Of course, this is all subjective.

Well, BLM rotation is very dry and specific.

BLM has always been about self, nothing else matters. You don't offer anything else to the party or raid besides DPS.

I'm not a min/maxer or worried about DPS screwups, but when a BLM screws up his/her rotation, the DPS drop is noticeable. At least with other casters, they cover up the drop with party buffs.

And the party buffs add another dimension to the other casters rotations, which BLM never has to worry about.

[zuzu-bq]

BLM is actually stronger than SMN at the moment (specifically post 4.4 changes) given proper uptime by bosses. On top of that, parties running SMN+BLM have been showing on speed competition.

BLM does have to worry about party buffs provided by other players, properly pushing GCDs in a way you fit as much Fire IV you can, holding Thundercloud when you know a buff is coming up and using Firestarter/Cloud to fit in as the last gcd when otherwise a cast wouldn't. While also worring how to Addle, Apoc and Mana Shift without clipping since any GCD delay can cause a damage loss to the job.

As for "covering up with buffs" isn't really a thing, if you screw up and buffs desync you did a screw up just as big if not worse, plus you depend on party members not screwing up themselves. The least organized a party is, the weaker party buffs become. RDM even has selfish embolden timings for when party comp isn't majorly physical or the players just are bad enough (or have comparatively bad gear enough) that the self buff is stronger than the party one.

In the end, no job is all about self, thanks to SE moving a lot of non-damage utility into role actions. Pick up what you have the most fun with unless you're doing speedruns really. Well, the extra raise does shave off a lot of prog time too.