Dispensers of fiery explosions, light me up... with your ideas for BLM in 5.0

[Tint]

I wouldn't mind if they removed the Thunder spells.

BLM is all about nukes and ressource management, a DoT doesn't fit in very well and I don't think it would be a big loss gameplay wise if it was removed. Also the procc is messing up the rotation more often than not.

Give us more nukes instead o.o/

[Orbus]

I don't want them to remove them, thunder spells have always been a staple spell of black mage, but I do think they should give it a look to make it more reliable against single targets.
SOMETIMES it can be a dps gain, and SOMETIMES its a dps loss, SOMETIMES you have a proc for a mobile cast, and SOMETIMES you don't.
Its damage is scaled so that its only a small gain *if* you get a proc and get the most out of it by using it as a mobile cast or when the dot is about to fall off.
Yeah its definitely a nuke when you got a thundercloud proc to throw, but when you don't it's kind of ehhhh.

[Kalise]

Thunder spells are a weird spot for BLM.

On the one hand, Thunder has been a traditional black magic spell throughout the series, basically with the main element spells of Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Stone and Water. Each one being basically the same thing, just with different elements so as to hit different targets weaknesses. (Though, in XIV, Aero, Stone and Water are considered White Magic)

In XIV's BLM, Thunder has an awkward positioning. Since, it can't be a standard nuke, due to how BLM is all about Astral Fire and Umbral Ice phases. There's no room for Lightning aspected nukes to really make sense when the idea is to use Fire spells in AF and Ice spells in UI. Unless they add a tertiary Penumbral Lightning phase of some description (But again, how would that work if the AF-UI balance is all about spending/generating MP? Maybe reworking Umbral Hearts and adding in Astral Hearts which are used during Penumbral Lightning phase to cast Lightning aspected nukes?)

So a DoT has the most logic behind its inclusion, since you basically toss it out per rotation of UI and it does its thing. The major flaw with the current DoT is how impactful Thundercloud is on its overall damage, where without TCloud, Thunder is a DPS loss to use, while with TCloud it's a DPS gain to use Thunder. Also, while TCloud procs making Thunder spells instant is useful for mobility, it does eat into the theme of BLM wherein you turret up and toss out big heck off spells for a kajillion damage >.>

[Llugen]

At this point I'm just repeating myself, but the biggest design flaw of the class is its emphasis on high damage yet "costing" that damage depending on fight design/movement (coupled with lack of utility to party). Basically, the reason to take the class is damage but yet damage suffers (EVEN when best optimized) where major mechanics are involved. This is super counter-intuitive and I will fight anyone who disagrees. I want our class to be included BECAUSE it makes sense, not IN SPITE OF it making sense or for some highly specialized strat/babying.

The easiest way to do this (as I've already stated in this thread) is to streamline movement/clipping just the tiniest bit more than it is, the best way I think to do this is through reliable procs.

On the subject of "useless" spells, it is true that some spells are less useful than others but that's just exactly how it should be.

Scathe is a great execute and if you're not using it as such you're wrong.
Blizzard II is great for when something is about to die so fast you can't get any other normal casts off on it (Blizzard II into Scathe, if you will)
Fire II is a reasonable gain if you get a really full Umbral phase (say, two Fouls a Thunder IV cloud and Blizzard IV), so use Transpose > Fire II > Flare to wait on the timer to get transpose back up after the second Flare
Sleep would be more useful if SE did something about their no-CC policy in dungeons and designed them more carefully, say, letting the bosses only spawn after the mobs prior have all died. It used to be a great backup plan for when your tank died in dungeons and you were waiting on them running back/raising. It also has its uses in Eureka/BA with sleeping moths after reflect and interrupting Berserk, or getting away from mobs that want to eat you. No you do not have to use Sleep every day, but let's be honest, would you really even want to if you did..?


Freeze... sucks. It always has. Please refer to the quite frankly FABULOUS suggestion (not originally my own but adapted) for a Freeze rework that I REALLY hope they heed.

In 5.0 I would like to see a single target option that utilizes polyglot instead of Foul, that would be pretty nice. By the way Foul is 650 base potency not 600. I would also like to see them do away with the reliance on Fire I to refresh Astral (preferably through a guaranteed Firestarter proc after using all three Umbral Hearts, which would also give a great weave window, js). This would also add another Fire IV to the Astral rotation (and was my original suggestion before they buffed the potency of Fire IV TWICE).

[Jonnycbad]

They said BLM was getting a lot of new skills...I wonder if they're going to revamp BLM entirely so we no longer have 5 different versions of Fire spells/Ice spells. If they make Fire->Fire III ->Fire IV; and Blizzard-> Blizzard III -> Blizzard IV via traits like Broil->Broil II for SCH, then they can remove the whole juggling the different tiers of Fire/Ice spells and include other classic Black Magic spells (Demi, Meltdown, Comet, Maelstrom, Dark) and mix it up instead of just being Fire/Ice mages. Basically downplay/simplify out Astral Fire/Umbral Ice phases so we only use 1 or 2 Fire/Ice spell in either form (rather than using Fire to restore AF duration, spamming Fire IV, using Fire II/Flare for AoE, and using Fire III for firestarter proc and re-entering AF from UI). If they simplify the AF/UI phase, we can have more interesting BLM spells---perhaps we will learn them from Maguses (Magus is the BLM equivalent on The First) and perhaps they developed other spells unknown on The Source?

[Kabooa]

Basically, the reason to take the class is damage but yet damage suffers (EVEN when best optimized) where major mechanics are involved. This is super counter-intuitive and I will fight anyone who disagrees.

This is literally why I find the class so fun to play.

Every other job gets handed their way to deal with mechanics on a platter, and Black Mage has to puzzle it out.

[Lauront]

If the New abilities quote from Yoshida is true, then I'm very excited. Playing the same rotation can get quite stale, and a new twist will make things very interesting. New abilities don't necessarily lead to a more complex rotation, but they usually do have a good correlation, and as evidence we can point to what they did to Bard for Stormblood. They do also have some leeway, in that our job has some veeeery niche if not useless abilities in the form of sleep, blizzard 2 and freeze, which can either be axed, replaced or reworked.

From one of his interviews, a question was asked, or merely an idea was shared, whereby the interviewer was excited to see the eye of Blackmages in the cutscenes flash red in the night, and how that was very symbolic of Blackmage in general. Yoshida responded by showing his interest in that fantasy, and perhaps that could be part of a new ability in the future? Similar in which to Warrior's super state, inner release. Part of the theme for this expansion will be exploring the idea of what it means to be a Warrior of Darkness, and the battle of Dark vs Light will probably be more distinct and prevalent than in any FF14 story told thus far. With that being said, I feel like there's a strong possibility of more 'void-like' magicks coming, and Stormblood's Foul spell was more evidence of that. It was a taste of what further endgame Blackmage spells are going to be like - enormously powerful, impactful and possibly mechanic related (involves polyglot).

Yes, this is exactly what I'd love to see, especially more magic tied to the transition to champion of Darkness. Beats the hell out of mere potency upgrades but I trust the devs to not limit themselves to that.

I'd disagree on Sleep being useless or even that niche, though - it's that way by design in dungeon/raid content, but it's still very useful in most content outside that, including Eureka. As other posters have mentioned, the issue is more to do with their approach on CC in dungeons than anything else. I'd definitely not like to see it removed from the BLM repertoire.

I'd also want to see the job maintain its turret style, even if new spells are added to enhance mobility a bit.

[Zerathor]

The easiest way to do this (as I've already stated in this thread) is to streamline movement/clipping just the tiniest bit more than it is, the best way I think to do this is through reliable procs.

BLM damage output is already pretty valuable, provided the BLM do the one criteria of this job:

[Llugen]

Quite frankly, no. No matter how much you "git gud" and even if you're perfectly optimized, you're losing damage that you otherwise would have had if you didn't have to deal with aforementioned shenanigans.


Even at perfect optimization, you're sub-optimal. It's that simple, and it feelsbad man.

I'm not asking for a massive change, I'm asking for an adjustment to the kit that basically already exists just to be more streamlined (Firestarter and Thundercloud). That's really all that's needed for this issue but it's painfully absent.

[DarkZeroUnit]

so BLM is my main and im having fun with it. tho i wash BLizz III would light up with a free proc like Fire 3 does. i think its cool that foul proc lasts a long time and with other procs last longer.

ley lines is nifty n all but it would be more useful if it moved with us

since our limit break is meteor can we have a smaller non limit break version like comet call it Doomsday!?

manaward is nice n all but can we have a nasty version where the ward breaks it sends half of the damage back and heals us for the other half