BLM needs a rework because of new content difficulty

[Rithy255]

I'll never understand this line of thought because the implication is that somehow res should be taxed. If res is that big a problem then just remove it from casters outright. PCT should be balanced as a buffing DPS. Simple as. It is not a 'power caster,' it should not be balanced with BLM because BLM is in the greedy DPS category alongside SAM, VPR, and MCH.

Frankly, standard comps should be 1 caster, 1 melee, 1 phys ranged, and 1 whatever the hell you want, with 1 of those 4 being a greedy DPS. The game was a lot better when people brought 2 phys ranged or 2 casters instead of exclusively 2 melee, and trying to pretend PCT should be in the same category as a greedy DPS is just woefully disingenuous to how greedy DPS need to be balanced. PCT is no different than a RPR in my eyes, in terms of how it should be approached for balancing.

A bit of a late reply but I will post my thoughts.

Rez should be taxed, at least I think so, theirs a argument to be said if DT will have "body checks" but even in situations where theirs body checks quick rezzes and having a caster able to rez will always be more valuable in Progression then yes. Also It should be balanced with black mage considering raid buffs, I'm not saying that it should deal similar amounts of damage to BLM but the total dps (including pictos raid buff calculations) should be very similar (Picto should be in similar lines of melees who provide a buff, while BLM Should be in a similar spot to Samurai).

If we had Summoner and Red mage do the same damage as Black Mage or Pictomancer their would be a massive reason to never pick either Black Mage or Picto theirs a clear reason why neither are usually above Black mage, I don't think they should be.

If they want to remove Caster rez I'm more then happy for both to do similar damage (Well Summoner should debatably get more casts per minute if we want to be fully fair), but I'm not aganist or for this, simply I'm just against Red mage having rez and doing similar numbers as Black mage currently, I mostly play Black mage anyway so it doesn't really effect me.

I guess this is walking the tight rope of homogenization where all jobs in a category have to bring very similar things on the table or high end players will be upset about numbers if things aren't changed, while on the other end people will be upset about taking uniqueness theirs always going to be trade offs to keeping rez or taking it away.

[Ferrinus]

I don't think the excog idea is good, since if it refreshes after despair then your Flare Star will make the manafont fire phase a lot tighter (though you could just make FS refresh AF like I mentioned before). It also wouldn't completely solve the drift problem since you'd still want to use it off cooldown.

I think you could easily fix Manafont by just giving it charges. Decreasing the cooldown to 100s just made the drift problem worse - the shorter the cooldown, the more likely you are to lose a use by drifting. 100s only made it easier to align with 2min cooldowns, but that's pointless because Manafont is not something that gives you burst anyway, yet another example of how SE just does not understand how this job actually functions in fights.

Excog manafont would probably want to be paired with an AF refresh on Flare Star. I'm not sure why it would drift, though, since you'd be able to press the button as soon as it lights up without wasting its effect unless the boss goes untargetable for spans that probably drift everyone else's cooldowns, also.

That said, I don't think Manafont cooldown drift is a problem in the first place. Like, if Manafont's cooldown dropped to 80 or 60, that would be a significant buff, but it would still drift because it's never going to line up perfectly with the end of every single astral cycle and will never be worth cutting an astral cycle short to press immediately. Precisely because it's not a burst ability, it doesn't have to be something that you press immediately at fight start and then every other time that Searing Light or whatever pops up on your buff list. It could just get used as convenient, and improve your overall damage to the extent that it's used and you have the opportunity to discharge the resources it generates for you.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Damn if only we had a way to shorten our Fire cycles without issues like Astral Soul depleting on umbral ice or not having the only valuable amount of MP coming from UI3 B4, like with a pseudo ice spell that is instant cast or having your MP regen passively.

It would be great to help us align for Manafont better.

Gee, I wonder if BLM will ever get that. (*sighs in cringe*)

[Realfoxy]

Excog manafont would probably want to be paired with an AF refresh on Flare Star. I'm not sure why it would drift, though, since you'd be able to press the button as soon as it lights up without wasting its effect unless the boss goes untargetable for spans that probably drift everyone else's cooldowns, also.

That said, I don't think Manafont cooldown drift is a problem in the first place. Like, if Manafont's cooldown dropped to 80 or 60, that would be a significant buff, but it would still drift because it's never going to line up perfectly with the end of every single astral cycle and will never be worth cutting an astral cycle short to press immediately. Precisely because it's not a burst ability, it doesn't have to be something that you press immediately at fight start and then every other time that Searing Light or whatever pops up on your buff list. It could just get used as convenient, and improve your overall damage to the extent that it's used and you have the opportunity to discharge the resources it generates for you.

Each use of Manafont lets you cut out a weak B3 and B4 from your rotation. Say that you're at base spell speed and after your normal fire phase you use manafont, that means you'll do 3xF4 PD 3xF4 Desp FS F3P which is 5684 potency (excluding eno) over 28.6 seconds (account for 0.1s caster tax). Say you didn't use manafont, you'd instead use the B3+B4 into standard fire line and then do 6386 potency over 36.2 seconds.

So if you do manafont, you get 36.2 - 28.6 = 7.6 seconds (missing fast F3, B3, and B4 + caster tax) to do cast your normal spells. PPS of the standard line is 176.41 pps, times 7.6 seconds, equals 1340.716 potency. Then 5684 + 1341 - 6386 = 639 potency before eno. So it's more than an entire Despair cast.

I'm not going run down the other comparisons, but DPS wise, Manafont is worth more than TWO uses of Triplecast COMBINED.

Like I said before, you can close your eyes, bleed off all the damage, and play super safe, but given that BLM is a job whose ONLY contribution to the raid is damage and Addle, you should be doing enough DPS to justify your existence.

I don't want SE to be balancing this job around its standard rotation, when the standard rotation is full of all this jank that normal players have to deal with.

[Magikazam]

It just pulls ahead at the top end because its incredibly rigid burst has massive potential if you can align all your buffs properly. A difficult DPS (the spread on the two extremes show BLM and PCT are the two hardest jobs in the extremes) with a very high skill ceiling that is rewarded with top DPS is perfect balance in my mind.

BLM is undertuned 100% but PCT fighting for the top spot with the selfish melees is totally fine balance because while it has utility its ceiling is higher, for the average person who can’t reach the ceiling it will fall about where people expect it to fall- low melee

To me it just sound like you got somewhat of a caster bias and just want both the job to just somewhat outperform the rest. If they just make Both PTC and BLM the best dps, this will just push a double caster meta and I don't see how it better than a double melee meta.

[Supersnow845]

To me it just sound like you got somewhat of a caster bias and just want both the job to just somewhat outperform the rest. If they just make Both PTC and BLM the best dps, this will just push a double caster meta and I don't see how it better than a double melee meta.

Because it only pulls ahead right at the 100tj percentile, otherwise it’s right where people expect it to be- competing with the melee

There is no downside to double caster compared to double melee, they should both be viable. PCT is only overtuned at a percentile almost nobody is ever going to reach

[Galvuu]

To me it just sound like you got somewhat of a caster bias and just want both the job to just somewhat outperform the rest. If they just make Both PTC and BLM the best dps, this will just push a double caster meta and I don't see how it better than a double melee meta.

Picto isn't strictly better than melee right now to begin with. It's more or less tied with RPR/SAM/VPR.
This game has had a huge double-melee bias since mid Stormblood... the moment double caster might compete with double melee for highest damage people pose it as a problem.
Even though, in general, PCT and BLM are harder to execute, so they only match double melee at very high levels of play.

[Shiroe]

Pct IS too strong, as Pct HAS utility.., ofc Blm is too weak too..

[Shiroe]

Blm Thunder needs a BUFF, as it will be used often as a movement filler, .. just double its initial damage for starters (so using if for movement, doesn't always feel bad], than buff Fire 4 (a lot ... lol)

[Shiroe]

take that back, dobt double Thunders initial damage, but add 50% more
(thought High Thunder had lower potency.., but still too often a dps lose for movement)