Black Mage

[Xander_Diabolos]

It's quite clear you haven't understood the class yet, so asking for changes based on your knowledge and observations doesn't make sense.
Take your time to level it to max level and play it, low level potencies and dps mean nothing because the leveling phase is a very short one in the grand scheme of things.

You made a lot of statements that are simply false or are ignoring something important.
Nobody transposes after Flare/ Despair because it would clip and you have Aspect Mastery to change to Umbral Ice 3 with Blizzard 3. Transpose is either a tool for downtimes/ between pulls (especially once you get Umbral Soul) or for highly optimized gameplay.

Why Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, Thunder III vs Transpose, Xenoglossy, Blizzard IV, Thunder III?
Are you suggesting instead to cast Xenoglossy during Astral Fire where it isn't boosted?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ying-BLM-wrong

[Gaethan_Tessula]

Why Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, Thunder III vs Transpose, Xenoglossy, Blizzard IV, Thunder III?
Are you suggesting instead to cast Xenoglossy during Astral Fire where it isn't boosted?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ying-BLM-wrong

The optimal time to use Xenoglossy is either within a raid-buff window (every 1-2 minutes) or whenever you need some extra movement or an oGCD weave. The former maximizes damage via sending out a high potency spell when fully buffed by the raid, while the latter prevents losing casts to clipping or movement. Astral Fire or Umbral Ice phase really doesn't factor into it.

If you actually use Blizzard III to go into Ice, you'll get your MP back in 1-2 casts depending on ticks, since 3 stacks of UI fill up your mana much faster than Transpose's 1 or even Transpose -> Ice-Paradox's 2. Thus, Blizzard IV and Ice-Paradox are enough to fill up on mana and return to fire phase. If you go into Astral Fire mode with max MP, you have exactly enough MP to do x6 Fire IV, 1x Fire-Paradox, 1x Thunder III, and 1x Despair. So there's MP enough to refresh Thunder III if you have to during fire phase (more preferably, you'll have a Thundercloud proc to moot the matter further).

Essentially, the thunder and unaspected spells can be used in either phase, and their use is more conditional on upkeeping one's DoT, movement, and maximizing burst under raid buffs than being locked to fire or ice phase. So there's no need to force yourself to remain in ice phase longer using Transpose to fit in Xeno', Foul, or Thunder.

Transpose is only used to either flip to ice between pulls to not lose Enochian, or in some very advanced optimization that requires one to precisely track their MP ticks (so they can weave Transpose after getting a firestarter proc, do Ice-Paradox, and then use the Firestarter to return to fire phase with mana refunded for more Fire IV's). Without precise awareness of ticks, it becomes a DPS loss because of the lost potency from using firestarter Fire 3 in ice phase. After the 6.08 patch changes to discourage the Paradox rotation, the gain for doing it correctly is marginal (< 3%, I think?). Hence most BLM's don't bother with it.

Also, transposing into Ice without a firestarter proc is really bad, since to ready Fire-Paradox you need to leave ice phase with three stacks of umbral ice and three umbral hearts. Transpose plus Ice-Paradox only gets you two stacks of Umbral Ice, either forcing an extraneous Blizzard I cast or not being able to use Fire-Paradox. Both of which are a surefire DPS loss. By contrast, going into ice phase with Blizzard III or High Blizzard II (for AoE) immediately grants the 3 Umbral Ice stacks.

[Hasrat]

Why Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, Thunder III vs Transpose, Xenoglossy, Blizzard IV, Thunder III?

Because you're taking more time to do less damage.

[Seera1024]

Why Blizzard III, Blizzard IV, Thunder III vs Transpose, Xenoglossy, Blizzard IV, Thunder III?
Are you suggesting instead to cast Xenoglossy during Astral Fire where it isn't boosted?

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ying-BLM-wrong

Xenoglossy isn't boosted during Umbral Ice. There's no difference in casting it in Astral Fire or Umbral Ice.

One good place to cast Xenoglossy in Astral Fire is during the second set of Fire IV's if you've got Manafont off cooldown and a Triplecast charge (or Swiftcast). You cast Xenoglossy after your last Fire IV as it's instant, then cast either Triplecast or Swiftcast. Then cast Despair. Cast Manafont immediately after so that the tick for the mana happens during your GCD refresh. Then you get to cast 1 more Fire IV and then a Despair for some extra DPS before switching to Umbral Ice.

Xenoglossy during Astral Fire is also good to use in order to get a Triplecast off without clipping so that you can move and DPS at the same time.