Quote Originally Posted by Mikey_R View Post
Black Mage only has 8 that they use on a regular basis (9 if you want to count Paradox separately, though it replaces Fire 1 in the rotation):
Fire 1/3/4
Blizzard 3/4
Thunder 3
Despair
Xenoglossy

Yet it is considered one of the best designed jobs in the game. Counting the number of offensive skills does not determine how well a job is liked, it is the kit as a whole that determines that.

While BLM has probably the fewest offensive skills for its single target damage rotation, the beauty of the job comes in using the rest of its kit to keep the job flowing. Triplecast, Swiftcast, Sharpcast all give ways to allow spells to have no cast time, which allows movement, Aetherial Manipulation and Between the Lines when used properly can help the BLM zip around the arena for minimal downtime, Manaward to block damage and continue to cast. All these together, along with Manafont, Ley Lines and Amplify help keep the job flowing and keep up the offensive momentum. You are constantly thinking about how to utilise your abilities to maximise casting time.
Your BLM example is the point OP was making....MNK has nothing to do outside of that small subset of weaponskills because they literally took away oGCD attacks to put them into the new blitz mechanic. Because of that, mnk feels slow despite having a fast GCD and it also feels shallow because there's so little to do between the extremely slow build up of nadis for the final blitz which awkwardly falls in a weird rotation because SE for some reason wants MNK's burst to be outside of burst windows.