When do the training wheels come off?

[Lmcgyver]

MP, there’s my issue...by the time I would use flare I was usually completely out of mp. Yup, I got some practicing to do with trust...

Unlikely. It's far more likely that you used up your Umbral Heart (or hearts, plural; you say you used Freeze multiple times?). One of BLM's level 68 traits reduces the cost of Flare by 1/3rd when under the effect of Umbral Heart, and completely removes the status when cast. As a result, using Freeze once will be sufficient to use two Flares so long as you cast no other Fire spells in Astral Fire - one MP tick under Umbral Ice III is more than sufficient to cover the MP cost.

[AngeliouxRein]

Unlikely. It's far more likely that you used up your Umbral Heart (or hearts, plural; you say you used Freeze multiple times?). One of BLM's level 68 traits reduces the cost of Flare by 1/3rd when under the effect of Umbral Heart, and completely removes the status when cast. As a result, using Freeze once will be sufficient to use two Flares so long as you cast no other Fire spells in Astral Fire - one MP tick under Umbral Ice III is more than sufficient to cover the MP cost.

So it was the hearts? If that’s the case then, then I can only think it would be the fire 4 I would throw in to take out any mobs that were low on health. My rotation was like thunder>fire2>fire2>fire2(and maybe one more)>flare>Thunder(if needed refresh)>freeze >freeze>fire 2. In between that I would throw in foul and random fire 4 on low health mobs. Flare would always be completely grayed out until enough mp would show up. So maybe that was it?

[Lmcgyver]

So it was the hearts? If that’s the case then, then I can only think it would be the fire 4 I would throw in to take out any mobs that were low on health. My rotation was like thunder>fire2>fire2>fire2(and maybe one more)>flare>Thunder(if needed refresh)>freeze >freeze>fire 2. In between that I would throw in foul and random fire 4 on low health mobs. Flare would always be completely grayed out until enough mp would show up. So maybe that was it?

Wait... that makes no sense though. Fire/Blizzard I/II only grant 1 stack, and will outright drop your Astral/Umbral if cast from the other element; a straight Fire II from Umbral Ice would drop your Enochian, preventing Fire IV and Foul, along with dropping your Umbral Hearts. Were you using Transpose or a cast of Fire III to switch to Astral Fire? Assuming you were, that would in any case be three fire spells cast in Astral Fire before your first Flare, using up all your Hearts and thus preventing the use of a second Flare.

[AngeliouxRein]

Wait... that makes no sense though. Fire/Blizzard I/II only grant 1 stack, and will outright drop your Astral/Umbral if cast from the other element; a straight Fire II from Umbral Ice would drop your Enochian, preventing Fire IV and Foul, along with dropping your Umbral Hearts. Were you using Transpose or a cast of Fire III to switch to Astral Fire? Assuming you were, that would in any case be three fire spells cast in Astral Fire before your first Flare, using up all your Hearts and thus preventing the use of a second Flare.

Lol , my bad, I kind of left that out but yeah I would use blizzard 3 and fire 3 to go back and forth.
Didn’t feel the need to add that since I felt it was standard knowledge for BLM lol. Didn’t mean to confuse you.

[Lmcgyver]

Lol , my bad, I kind of left that out but yeah I would use blizzard 3 and fire 3 to go back and forth.
Didn’t feel the need to add that since I felt it was standard knowledge for BLM lol. Didn’t mean to confuse you.

No problem; I thought that might be the case, but when it comes to rotations you can never be sure - it's always better to list it out fully. I can at least confirm now your issue was the Hearts though, as you would have indeed used them through casting 3x Fire II before Flare.
By the way, if you are using Blizzard III for changing to Umbral Ice in your AoE rotation, it's worth noting that Freeze now does the same job as Blizzard III, but better when it hits 3+ targets.

[AngeliouxRein]

No problem; I thought that might be the case, but when it comes to rotations you can never be sure - it's always better to list it out fully. I can at least confirm now your issue was the Hearts though, as you would have indeed used them through casting 3x Fire II before Flare.
By the way, if you are using Blizzard III for changing to Umbral Ice in your AoE rotation, it's worth noting that Freeze now does the same job as Blizzard III, but better when it hits 3+ targets.

YES!! I just discovered that freeze does that. I kept thinking I would lose it if I went straight to freeze. At least now I know why fire 2 is not needed.
I don’t run into a whole lot of black mages so I don’t get chances to see how they do their rotations. Doesn’t help that when I do see them they usually just do single target rotation. But I am happy about the tips you gave and at the same time I have to apologize if I’ve derailing this thread a bit D: