Black Mage Blizzard II (and other minor suggestions)

[Rilifane]

I'm not saying stand so far that it inconveniences the healer, but you definitely shouldn't be close enough to be doing a spell like Blizzard II. Believe me when I say I know the grievances of a Healer's job when it comes to positioning. I main Healers, not just here but in any MMO I ever play. It doesn't change the issue with Blizzard II though. As you said, out of the attack range of the enemy is where a BLM should be. If you're close enough to do such a short-distance spell, then you are indeed too close to the action for what the Job was actually built to do. I mean even the first several quests of Thaumaturge teach you to keep your distance. lols. To each their own though, if you want to be close enough to have to stop your casting every few seconds to dodge AoEs.

You keep saying that a BLM (or any caster/ phys. ranged for that matter) should stay at range when there is absolutely nothing to gain from it.
As long as you don't stand in aoes you can stand whereever you want and standing closer to the boss/ mobs is in most cases preferable because many aoes are cone-shaped and easier to dodge if you stand closer plus there's usually a "sweet spot" for most mechanics at max melee range where you can safely place your Leylines and dodge both melee and ranged mechanics while staying within them.

The point of casters and physical ranged being able to attack from range isn't that they should stay at range but instead that they can, if a mechanic calls for it.
Can. If, and only if, a mechanic calls for it. Everything past that is unneccessary and generally leads to more problems than staying closer.

If you have to stop casting every few sec, you simply positioned yourself poorly and that has nothing to with standing close or farther away. If you have to frequently stop casting in close range, you're doing something wrong and need to position yourself differently. Escpecially at lower levels, where Blizzard II still has its uses, there next to nothing going on in melee range.
From experience I can tell you that most mechanics are easier to play close to melee range. Only very few, like automatically centered meteors, force you to the outer ring.
Just because it doesn't fit your idea or preference for a caster doesn't mean it's wrong to get closer to the action.

The only thing I'd change about Blizzard II is a slight potency increase so THM/ BLM has a decent AoE rotation at low levels starting at 3+ for both AF and UI.

Leylines... nah, don't touch them. Learning to place your Leylines correctly to get the most out of them is one of the key challenges of BLM and making it easier to use would take that away. The basic rotation is simply while it's more difficult to get the most out of it and your Leylines and that's part of BLM's concept. It's supposed to be easy to learn while hard to optimize.
You get the occasional bad eggs in DF runs that make it harder but that is something all jobs struggle with. Just ask Monks how much fun they have with a tank who enjoys taking the boss for a spin or two. Or Dancers when the started pre-dancing because the tank ran towards the boss only to stop last second and not pull for who knows how long after all.