Please reconsider 7.0 BLM changes

[Sjol]

I've wondered how much of a hit SMN would take if they got rid of Raise. Really same question for RDM.

I'm not suggesting that SE do that, but that's got to be a factor in SMN and RDM played numbers.

[Ferrinus]

I think it's good that they're severing MP regeneration from the server tick because I never liked that there was a level of optimization that I couldn't reach without installing a UI addon (and also didn't like that having a high enough spellspeed could give me umbral cycles so short under leylines that it was possible for me to fail to get back to 10000 even after casting Paradox and B4).

In general, one of the things I've always loved about BLM is that every single one of its spells has a place and some circumstance in which it's rewarding to cast. This has been not quiiiite true in some expansions (like B1 is basically for if you've managed to drop out of astral with 0MP left and need to get back into gear as soon as possible, and is otherwise useless) but if at all possible I want all of the spells on my bar to have utility and not be booby prizes that a good player avoids casting if at all possible. So, I'm glad to hear that we'll need to specifically land a certain number of ice spells per umbral cycle to fully reload for our astral cycle; they have cool animations, aesthetically/narratively balance out our fire spells, and generally deserve better than being a punishment for poor play or bad luck.

The dynamicism and variability of BLM come from the interaction of its buff timers and long cast times; even if there's one optimal rotation, there's a million optimal-under-bossfight-conditions lines that players need to concoct on the spot in response to the random and evolving conditions of an actual encounter. I expect that element of BLM gameplay is going to remain even if we need to land X number of ice spells before swapping back to fire mode and even if Thundercloud is no longer randomized or whatever they're doing with it. My hope is that the 6-point fireball bar is something that can maintain its charges even if you drop out of astral without spending it, but even if not, I'm glad to both be free of the vagaries of the mana tick and to have a reason to cast ice spells that isn't just having time to kill and nothing better to do.

[Valence]

It's definitely a difference in tastes. I personally don't play BLM but enjoy the idea of having lesser spells that you'd rather avoid falling back onto when possible, but sometimes you don't exactly have a choice and those are exactly here to be something you can still fall back onto when needed. This has notably been the case for healers (more in the past for sure) where sometimes you have to choose between damage and healing uptime. It's been the case for proc based jobs at times when not getting the rng proc you were after, or not triaging priorities properly, would force you into using lower abilities (for example BRD barrage in SB). The crux of the matter is mostly whether you actually use those spells at times, or not at all, then the design doesn't stand on its own anymore.

[ThorneDynasty]

I would understand going after non-standard, if the particular non-standard would ignore core parts of the kit entirely, but I don't believe that's the case with BLM?

[Kabooa]

The dynamicism and variability of BLM come from the interaction of its buff timers and long cast times; even if there's one optimal rotation, there's a million optimal-under-bossfight-conditions lines that players need to concoct on the spot in response to the random and evolving conditions of an actual encounter. I expect that element of BLM gameplay is going to remain even if we need to land X number of ice spells before swapping back to fire mode and even if Thundercloud is no longer randomized or whatever they're doing with it. My hope is that the 6-point fireball bar is something that can maintain its charges even if you drop out of astral without spending it, but even if not, I'm glad to both be free of the vagaries of the mana tick and to have a reason to cast ice spells that isn't just having time to kill and nothing better to do.

Honestly, if they let us do silly things with the Fire counter, I can see that being a suitable replacement to non-standard. Like if it carries over / refreshes AF on use, you might be able to short one line to skip a Paradox in the next and instead use another F4 in it.

It really depends on how all the numbers flesh out, so while I'm not hopeful, I am waiting for the media tour vids to come out.

[Valence]

Do we know when the media tour NDA lifts exactly?

[Ferrinus]

Honestly, if they let us do silly things with the Fire counter, I can see that being a suitable replacement to non-standard. Like if it carries over / refreshes AF on use, you might be able to short one line to skip a Paradox in the next and instead use another F4 in it.

It really depends on how all the numbers flesh out, so while I'm not hopeful, I am waiting for the media tour vids to come out.

If I have a preliminary complaint about the job actions preview, it's that it feels wrong for us to get a new fire spell without a corresponding new ice spell, even though we do get a new lightning spell at the same time.

Speaking of, I'm really curious as to what the deal with Burst (or whatever it is) is, because it didn't seem to require any kind of special setup or even cast time in the preview. It's possible that it's just High Thunder II with no further fanfare, but the addition of a new lightning spell and the (apparent) removal of Thundercloud surely means something else is going on under the hood of BLM lightning-aspected spells in DT.

[AnotherPerson]

Do we know when the media tour NDA lifts exactly?

Pretty sure either no one knows or can say exactly because it's NDA. Although you can assume within 2 weeks (give or take) after media tour ends, historically that's the usual amount of time given for content creators to make their content.

[Taranok]

If I have a preliminary complaint about the job actions preview, it's that it feels wrong for us to get a new fire spell without a corresponding new ice spell, even though we do get a new lightning spell at the same time.

Speaking of, I'm really curious as to what the deal with Burst (or whatever it is) is, because it didn't seem to require any kind of special setup or even cast time in the preview. It's possible that it's just High Thunder II with no further fanfare, but the addition of a new lightning spell and the (apparent) removal of Thundercloud surely means something else is going on under the hood of BLM lightning-aspected spells in DT.

They're likely worrying about job bloat since the class is extremely bloated right now (just not quite AST/PLD levels, but identical to SAM.) The class has gone so long without a real pruning while still having dead or near-dead skills that it's catching up to them and they only wanted to add 1 actual new skill while working to trim down other skills. There's also a chance the new superflare skill is an in-line skill and not its own button, E.G. used after despair.

Though you're not the only one to comment on procs apparently being removed, and I'm curious where this sentiment came from. Though the thunder skills are almost guaranteed to be a simple in-place graphical upgrade.

The thing I'm extremely curious about, however, is manafont. From the job trailer we know it gives full mana, full umbral hearts, and paradox. But there appeared to be no overcap protection. Which means we can only use it at the end of our current burst, and the skill will be even worse to use than it is now.

Also, I know BLM mains have grown to love the godawful design that is AF/UI timers, but I seriously still wonder why they still exist when nonstandard has been forcibly killed and you never want to do more than 6 fire 4s anyways.

[Ferrinus]

The timers are precisely there to force you into nonstandard play. For instance, because of the unfortunate lineup of a dwindling AF timer and a boss mechanic that forced you to move, you might only cast five Fire IVs or skip your Despair or something.

The neat thing about BLM's current design is that it currently has very few, arguably no, dead skills; Scathe and Blizzard are both extremely marginal, but it's possible to find yourself in situations in which they're your best or only option. It'd be nice to give either a little more utility (e.g. unmodified Blizzard has no cast time under UI, Scathe also recovers HP like Drain used to, or something like that) but while I expect button consolidation to make room for at minimum two new buttons to press (the new thunder spell and the new fireball) the only thing they could possibly remove without breaking any other part of the class would be Scathe. I guess they could remove Sleep from the caster DPS role actions?