Astral Fire/Umbral Ice timers are actually bad mechanics at a meta level.

[Taranok]

blm core change suggestions never sit well with me, I love the job as is, a few spells you don't use in end game don't break it and neither does a timer mechanic that punishes bad timing
mainly the unused spells are there for learning the basics as a beginner blm and sync down in roulettes or helping friends/something related

Well, now the BLM changes are out. The class was nerfed in all content before endwalker due to ley lines changes, despair was nerfed, the class would punish bad timing regardless of the AF/UI timers existing so that point is moot.

This is the worst BLM has looked since Heavensward itself with its absolutely garbage implementation of Enochian.

The thing is, the core rotation can be preserved, but its foundation is awful at the moment. Absolutely awful. And now the devs have made even more reasons to basically never touch the class in any Ultimate content with this new slate of nerfs combined with the generally high skill floor. The changes I want to the class are primarily skill floor related while also removing aspects of its old design to clean up the class. Things like Firestarter and Thundercloud were fun back in ARR, but never really sat well with the timer-induced anxiety of AF/UI. Hell, even Thunder 3 is only barely worth using due to its generally low potency compared to just throwing more fire 4s out. Thundercloud is the entire reason that spell even has a purpose in the rotation.

The class needs a rethink. It doesn't need its core gutted, but AF/UI timers are not part of the core, they're structural components and little else. They shape the core but aren't necessary to shaping it, which by their removal would drop out the skill floor, barely change the skill ceiling, and open up the class to massive, better changes in the future when the devs can implement real mechanics or interesting buttons than: "Terrible procs are guaranteed to proc" or "I can now instantly xenoglossy on opener."