Quote Originally Posted by Taranok View Post
The problem with nonstandard is it's an abuse of class design. And remember, there's nonstandard from a boss jumping and you want to do as much damage as you can (which every class does,) and nonstandard where even normal play is nonstandard, which is exactly what BLM does. Nonstandard didn't exist in SB except for boss optimizations and was barely a whisper for most of ShB. Then EW came in and nonstandard became mandatory. Classes that can't handle content get adjustments, but classes that are 'fine' don't get adjustments. Nonstandard isn't quite 11 wyrmwaves or HW SMN levels of nonsense, but at the end of the day it's bad for a class to be played in a way other than how it was intended, especially when this method causes other people who don't know about nonstandard to suffer.

Which is exactly what happened. How many people have said you can't do TOP without nonstandard? How many recommend it for DSR for later phases especially? How can devs make adjustments the class needs when they see the playerbase handling the issue to the point where they can't even tell the core class has serious issues?
Non-standard existed as long as Black Mage existed. Even in StB there were lines where you skipped Blizzard IV and opted for shorter Fire lines on occasion, especially pre-Blizzard IV buff. ShB with instantcast xenoglossy and Despair also had Blizzard IV skip for the 3-4 Fire iV -> Despair lines. The goal is the same as standard - maximizing Fire IVs, but in a more compact window. Endwalker simply expanded on it with Paradox - essentially a beefed up Blizzard I in Umbral Ice and a juicier Firestarter enabler in Astral Fire. If anything, current Black Mage, minus perhaps MP regeneration (debatable on who you ask), is currently the most well designed version for both the average person wanting to learn the job and wanting to optimize it.

However, as I need to repeat along with the others for the xth time because players including yourself seem to not understand this - it's called non-standard for a reason. If non-standard was actually mandatory, it would be called STANDARD. The fact it is called non-standard should heavily imply that it is an OPTION, not a must and the difference between standard and non-standard is miniscule and basically just a point of optimisation and, as others pointed out, aligning things better in specific phases and cooldowns, not just in ultimates mind you.

Calling the shortening of Fire lines to align cooldowns and aspect shifts better to the flow of a fight an abuse of class design is just incredibly short-sighted; the fact that Black Mage is so free flowing and allows for this is what makes it a BETTER designed job rather than being the 11th dps with a strict rotational gameplan with minimal deviation. Players should be rewarded for creativity in using their kit, not be punished and have their options ripped out for doing something else.