Quote Originally Posted by Renathras View Post
In most polls and data, BLM is one of the least played, least enjoyed Jobs in the game. It doesn't flow nice, it has a high skill ceiling (which a lot of players dislike), it has a high skill floor (which a lot of players dislike), and it isn't fun for a lot of people.
I think the thing with BLM is that it is extremely apparent to most people whether the job is or isn't for you at a glance. We know it's a low-mobility, slow APM nuke style job either because we're told so by other players, we read that in FFXIV guides, or we gauge that from its aesthetic which is consistent with many other wizard/sorcerer archetypes. People know if that is or isn't for them, so anyone who's not interest in that playstyle is just not going to play BLM and probably isn't going to submit their opinions on it because, why would they? They aren't the market for the job, but the audience that is gets exactly what they're expecting, and while it's challenging to play correctly, it's also extremely rewarding to do so. BLM players take a lot of pride in playing hard fights very well.

Meanwhile, SMN has a couple issues. SMN's gameplay is almost nothing like how it played before, so the audience that was once familiar with and adhered to its playstyle lost that playstyle. The rework was not designed to cater to them. Its trailer was also very bombastic and eye-catching... the longest of all the EW job trailers, and it looked amazing. So it drew in a lot of people who wanted to try it, and likely pulled some amount of people who weren't a fan because the job didn't meet their expectations in practice. Then there's also the argument of convenience. SMN is a 2-for-1 job, making it the prefect job to pick up for melee, tank, and ranged players who want to complete all the role quests. So it makes sense that SMN's playerbase is so much larger, but it also makes sense why not all of that playerbase actually likes or even actively plays SMN. The Census data is quite limited as well in what it will tell you. I count for every job technically on the census, but I really only play a few. That may not be the majority of players, but it goes to show that it doesn't paint the whole picture.