BLM itemization in 5.4 is a problem.

[oblivion238]

Honestly I think this is a way to indirectly nerf the job since as it stands, after the smn nerf, it's the higher rdps caster by a not insignificant margin, at least according to fflogs data. The lower vit won't be a problem: -5 vit points won't kill you and BLM is the only caster with a self defensive skill that can be effectively and easily used during an enounter. So at the end of the day, it's just a very slight relative damage nerf to bring it closer to the other two casters I suppose. The devs probably thought it was the best way to do it. I agree that the amount of tomestones you have to spend for the sps bis is a bit excessive though.

-5 vit is pretty huge in hc ultimate prog though.

[lulunami]

The most spell speed achievable with the Edenmorn Black Mage weapon is around 3200 with HQ Zefir food. That means you have to start with the Blizzard III opener, which is slightly less optimal compared to the 3600 spell speed Fire III JP opener. I am not sure choosing the lower VIT weapon is advisable for Ultimate considering Lalafell already have lower VIT than other races. Lalafell are the coolest looking Black Mages though.

[ItMe]

I am not sure choosing the lower VIT weapon is advisable for Ultimate considering Lalafell already have lower VIT than other races.

Wait, do racial stats matter all of a sudden?
I thought our numbers had gotten so big the few point differences between the races were unimportant.
Are they relevant just for BLM? Or are there more situations where +/- 5 points actually makes or breaks your character?

[oblivion238]

Wait, do racial stats matter all of a sudden?
I thought our numbers had gotten so big the few point differences between the races were unimportant.
Are they relevant just for BLM? Or are there more situations where +/- 5 points actually makes or breaks your character?

A world prog group is not going to want someone to be missing a small amount of hp, and potentially dying to something as a result.
Same reason some people choose to meld tenacity/det for prog. The small difference can occasionally make or break it, and when you're world progging, you aren't gonna want to break it.

[ItMe]

A world prog group [...]

Oh! Ok, so it's not something normal people need to worry about.

[Lastelli]

-5 vit is pretty huge in hc ultimate prog though.

Is it? It should be around 100 hp if I'm not wrong...considering the actual pool of 120k+ hp for casters, I can't really see it being a relevant factor even for ultimate prog. It's kinda relevant for healers, but we're losing almost 40 vit because of the crafted ring.

Anyway, blm can always choose the eden weap bis, it's almost identical to the sps bis damage wise...assuming the 100 hp loss scares their party so much.

[Xenitan]

Oh! Ok, so it's not something normal people need to worry about.

If you're worried about 'normal people' then I'd recommend just getting your ilvl as high as it will go and not caring any more. If you have any arbitrary gear set and luck with crits, you'll do better than people who run average. Go forth.

You can arbitrarily define any subset of people in this game who won't care about a particular issue if you believe the presence of such people eradicates any meaning for an issue to be fixed. I'd be shocked if there were more Triple Triad players than people who do Ultimate raiding, for example. Yet we still, somehow, get cards every patch.

The issue is: traditionally the raid weapon has been BiS and in instances where it hasn't, we have historical precedent where SE will change the stats to make it BiS, see: Diamond Weapons in Stormblood.

Right now, for Black Mages (and Black Mages only) it is not BiS. This is exceptionally problematic for content beyond the current raid tier. However, beyond just the weapon, it's also endemic to caster itemization overall.

[CKNovel]

-5 vit is pretty huge in hc ultimate prog though.

I know the calculations behind the vitality stat is a bit tricky, but if you use a vitality potion (12 vitality), you'll get around 265 Max HP.

1 vitality should be around 22 Max HP.

5 vitality should be 110 Max HP so a net 0.08% increase.

On the opposite if HP Materia were still a thing, one slot should give around 40 vitality, considering Vitality VI gave 25 vitality. 40 vitality should be around 880 Max HP. Per slots. Which would be a 10k HP increase on left side alone.

5 vitality is a drop in a lake, if your healers need that 110 Max HP, you may want to remap your group mitigation.

[ItMe]

You can arbitrarily define any subset of people in this game who won't care about a particular issue if you believe the presence of such people eradicates any meaning for an issue to be fixed. I'd be shocked if there were more Triple Triad players than people who do Ultimate raiding, for example. Yet we still, somehow, get cards every patch.

I'm not saying the itemization is or isn't a problem.
I'm saying "oh, ok. We don't need to worry about +/-5 Vit if not worlds first progging. So I don't need to phantasia from a Lala to be a viable BLM. Phew..."

[oblivion238]

I know the calculations behind the vitality stat is a bit tricky, but if you use a vitality potion (12 vitality), you'll get around 265 Max HP.

1 vitality should be around 22 Max HP.

5 vitality should be 110 Max HP so a net 0.08% increase.

On the opposite if HP Materia were still a thing, one slot should give around 40 vitality, considering Vitality VI gave 25 vitality. 40 vitality should be around 880 Max HP. Per slots. Which would be a 10k HP increase on left side alone.

5 vitality is a drop in a lake, if your healers need that 110 Max HP, you may want to remap your group mitigation.

When you're world progging yes you need the 110 max hp. Having the small amount of extra health can let you survive and see further into a fight, which is huge, and also gives a bit of extra room for when the healers have not planned out the fight yet.