SHB BLM is the peak of this game's job design

[Ferrinus]

I actually always liked BLM's level 50 design back in HW. In particular, I really appreciated how every single spell they had (besides maybe Thunder 2) had a specific use case, never went obsolete. The progression of the class from level 1 to 40 to 50 was very neatly designed, even if the end result wasn't super difficult to play.

Blackmage plays awesome at high level.

But in level synch it's horrible. You have to learn different rotations for every level-area, you have to keep skills on your hotbar you will only use in level synch (Fire 2, Blizzard 2), then we have Foul wich changes from a single target nuke into an AoE-only nuke. And then all the QoL updates like switching from 0 mana into UI and being able to keep UI between pulls - and being able to stack it to UI3 so you don't have to cast the 4 seconds Fire 3 / Blizzard 3 spells all the time.

Espcially the AoE rotation is a hot mess. It seems like it changes every few levels.

BLM needs a rework to streamline the leveling process, thin out the questionable skills and bring the QoL improvements earlier into the job. But on the other hand BLM is so awesome at high level that a rework could possibly destroy the job...

I think the most important change to make to BLM's low level gameplay is to allow them to practice the Fire vs. Fire 4 balancing act as early as feasible. Like, at level 30 they could learn a skill called "Void Fire" which has deals higher damage than Fire but doesn't refresh AF. At level 60 that spell could upgrade into "Abyss Fire" which is identical to the Fire IV we have now.

[PyurBlue]

Thanks for that edit; i'm already using firestarter to weave swiftcast for despair when swiftcast is up and using firestarters when I need to move unexpectedly, but I wasn't sure if it was worth using those times where swiftcast is on cooldown and everything worked correctly. Do you happen to know if thunderclouds are always worth using if they don't mess up your rotation, or does thunder's DoT need to be under a certain number of seconds left for it to be a DPS gain?

I guess they would only be worth it if they gave you more damage than the average rotation PPS. It turns out that only takes 1 tick of damage from the DoT not to be wasted, so as long as the initial Thunder cast has ticked once, it should be fine to use the proc.

So what I'm getting from this is --

18-34: Fire II spam till empty, Transpose, Blizzard II (or Thunder II after 26) to full, Transpose
35-49: Freeze spam at three or more targets (as the Fire II rotation goes up by 35.9 PPS/target while Freeze is an even 40), Fire III then single-target rotation below (Fire II having arguable use at 2 targets until Firestarter at 42)
50-80: Flare is your new god

... I guess there goes the "Fire II has niche uses" argument for not just upgrading it into Flare, since it's basically mutually exclusive with Freeze.

F2 not fitting into the regular rotation isn't really a niche situation. F2 + Flare did outDPS Flare only for the fire phase at intermediate levels when I worked it out earlier. While single Flare was better overall, that was assuming thunder proc on average of 50% with exactly 100% thunder uptime and instant MP ticks. Opening your AoE rotation, thunder might not proc quickly. Using F2 filler increases the chance that you get a proc to use to cover transpose downtime and gets you more thunder ticks. F2 should also work as a filler when Triplecast is nearly off cooldown and you have an extra Umbral Heart. Because Flare is longer than the GCD not casting until Triple comes off CD is about the same as hard casting instead of waiting. However you could also fill in the last few seconds on Triple with another cast. The best one would be Foul, next a thunder proc, third F2.

That's certainly niche (unless I've made an error somewhere and it's not relevant at all, correct me if so) so I can't blame you for not caring about it, but I don't want to lose anything to button consolidation. The nice thing about a skill being useless is that it can be removed from the hotbar and ignored. I tend to hold onto everything just in case and I like it when something has an odd or situational value.

[Archwizard]

The nice thing about a skill being useless is that it can be removed from the hotbar and ignored.

Unless you do any level-synched content whatsoever -- Roulettes, FATEs, etc. Cases where you don't have access to Flare and are forced to reach back into your spellbook and pull out Fire II again. It's only "useless" after a certain level range, you still have to account for any time you go back into that range.
Just as an experiment I tried macroing Blizzard II onto the same button as Freeze (Freeze having the higher priority) to simulate the same thing, "only cast Blizz2 when I don't have Freeze such as in synched content", and there were random intervals where the macro would just skip right past Freeze and cast Blizzard II. No rhyme or reason to it -- target was selected, but weird timing with the GCD caused it to queue up the bottom spell in the list instead. Yes, I know, just another reason not to use macros, I deleted it and moved on with my life.

Kind of a big reason I advocate combining Fire II with Flare and Blizzard II with Freeze though, since most jobs no longer have to do that kind of thing with their own ranked abilities. Big contributor to button bloat.

Not to mention that with BLM basically playing like a different job every 10 levels, being a bit more forceful with phasing out tools we don't use at level cap can be highly beneficial to both veterans being downsynched and new players learning the job.

[Adventica6]

Peak only if:

1. boss does not do any aoes
2. boss does not leave combat for intermission
3. TA is available
4. Blm has mastered the current fights mechanics so he/she can apply proper dps.

If those are all met then yeah it's fine, but once the boss starts aoeing you down other jobs that can dps while moving will out dps you easily.

[Numenor1379]

Peak only if:

1. boss does not do any aoes
2. boss does not leave combat for intermission
3. TA is available
4. Blm has mastered the current fights mechanics so he/she can apply proper dps.

If those are all met then yeah it's fine, but once the boss starts aoeing you down other jobs that can dps while moving will out dps you easily.

1) Procs, Triplecast, Swiftcast, Xenoglossy, slidecasting, Aetherial Manipulation, Between the Lines.
2) Umbral Soul
3&4) Same for all jobs.

BLM is easily in the best spot it has ever been, with FFLogs showing how powerful the class is. Aside from the very low percentiles BLM is on top of the DPS charts across the board.

[PyurBlue]

Unless you do any level-synched content whatsoever -- Roulettes, FATEs, etc. Cases where you don't have access to Flare and are forced to reach back into your spellbook and pull out Fire II again. It's only "useless" after a certain level range, you still have to account for any time you go back into that range.
Just as an experiment I tried macroing Blizzard II onto the same button as Freeze (Freeze having the higher priority) to simulate the same thing, "only cast Blizz2 when I don't have Freeze such as in synched content", and there were random intervals where the macro would just skip right past Freeze and cast Blizzard II. No rhyme or reason to it -- target was selected, but weird timing with the GCD caused it to queue up the bottom spell in the list instead. Yes, I know, just another reason not to use macros, I deleted it and moved on with my life.

Kind of a big reason I advocate combining Fire II with Flare and Blizzard II with Freeze though, since most jobs no longer have to do that kind of thing with their own ranked abilities. Big contributor to button bloat.

Not to mention that with BLM basically playing like a different job every 10 levels, being a bit more forceful with phasing out tools we don't use at level cap can be highly beneficial to both veterans being downsynched and new players learning the job.

Your reasoning is clear and I don't think it's a bad idea. I just don't want be forced into giving up buttons or control over my skills. If it was an option to have consolidated skills, I'd support that.

Peak only if:

1. boss does not do any aoes
2. boss does not leave combat for intermission
3. TA is available
4. Blm has mastered the current fights mechanics so he/she can apply proper dps.

If those are all met then yeah it's fine, but once the boss starts aoeing you down other jobs that can dps while moving will out dps you easily.

Maybe my perception is skewed by having played the class for so long but I think the difficulty of BLM is overstated. There's nothing stopping a black mage from being top DPS when going into a fight blind. The class is supposed to be a turret but it actually has a fair amount of mobility. More now than ever before in fact. Umbral Soul makes intermissions completely trivial as well.

[Vallhallix]

Still can't make me play it without falling asleep though heh.

[Komaru_Tatoro]

My main beef is with removal of -enmity role actions. Whether in extremes, dungeons or even fates I miss not having them.

we are the first to go after tank dies

[Marianno]

I wish that we still had diversion. I loved manipulating other DPS into attacking the boss when the tank dies and being last on the enmity chart. I could just do my rotation without any cares in the world baring mechanics. Not that enmity is an issue but I just like being last. Now I can't manipulate enmity and that's sort of annoying to me.

[Orbus]

we are the first to go after tank dies

Gotta assert our dominance.