BLM feedback.

[GartredZW]

Welcome to Black Mage. Not the fake black mage that nonstandard worshippers built up as somehow being the real class that was so flexible and freeform because of abusing bad design. The real, core Black Mage. It is a very sloppily designed class

I never used Non-standard, and I enjoyed it a lot more before. It's got some real problems now that weren't there before.
And what do you even mean "the fake black mage"? Are you saying that non-standard never happened? because that's wrong. it was barely ever used, of course. And if you wanted to get the full effectiveness out of it, you needed an MP tick addon. I didn't like the concept, but they didn't need to throw out Ice Paradox, Thundercloud, Sharpcast, and Fire Paradox's cast time to fix it.

But I'm also going to say this, the only reason I'm happy with the state of BLM right now is that, now that the nonstandard wool has been removed from all BLM main's eyes, they can finally see just how rotten the class actually is.

so basically, you're glad that less people are happy with their favorite class because they enjoyed playing in a way you thought was bad, and now they can hate it just as much as you. Real classy. Why do you even have Black Mage set as your main if that's your opinion of it? is it for the damage? maybe that's why you hate non-standard, and would rather see it burn than just choose to not use it like I do.

[Galvuu]

Welcome to Black Mage.

DT BLM has nothing to do with HW or ShB BLM.
Both had their own version of "short fire lines" and Sharpcast to deal with movement.
In fact, in HW, you'd sometimes hold the Enochian ogcd and let the one that was running (usually when the refresh was down to 20s) expire naturally to readjust when you'd re-enable it (since you could go into UI and use Thundercloud in ice to coordinate all this). HW BLM also had a damage steroid, so you'd also do that to setup your buff phase.
ShB had a different version of short fire lines, be it ones using Transpose or skipping Blizzard IV to go for a quadra Fire IV > Despair or penta Fire IV > Despair AF cycle under Ley Lines.
People act like this was some ground-breaking EW tech, but this sort of manipulating the length of your fire lines was present for 6ish years of post-ARR BLM.
SB was the closest to DT, but you incurred no penalty for cutting AF early.
This isn't some "great design problem that's been here all along". This is a new design problem brought on by the crappy DT changes, the Flare Star system, the removal of Sharpcast, etc.
Hell, I remember in HW using Sharpcast for mobility and being able to decide if I wanted to refresh AF early (Fire IV > Fire > Fire IV x3) or late (the opposite order of the aforementioned fire line). You could also "drop" AF after pressing Blizzard III because, as long as the spell went through and you got UI, it didn't matter as Enochian wasn't tied to AF/UI at all.
You're comparing very different realities of the BLM job.

[Ferrinus]

I don't think it's correct to say that Sharpcast was removed, per se, because its practical effects have instead been baked into basically every action it used to modify. Every Thunder cast is instant and free, and Every Paradox casts generates a Firestarter proc, so it's less like Sharpcast was removed and more like Sharpcast was given a 5s cooldown and had its animation cut to zero frames such that it required no instants to weave. We no longer need to choose between F3P and TC because we always have both.

The job's harder because of Flare Star and no ice Paradox, but easier because of auto-Sharpcast and 40s Swiftcast. I also expect that actually being able to pile on the Spellspeed will make a big difference.

[ElevatedCosmonaut]

snip

Well no. The problem with Thunderhead is that it's a 30s proc on a 30s dot, making it very hard not to clip it. The problem with Fire Paradox (Which functions as your AF refresher along with F3P if you want to consider it that for some reason), is that it gives you 2-3 seconds less of AF to work with, since you have to deal with the recast timer.

While more pressure in jobs is alright if it's fun, this type of pressure feels janky, and unintended. I hate it.

[Ferrinus]

Well no. The problem with Thunderhead is that it's a 30s proc on a 30s dot, making it very hard not to clip it. The problem with Fire Paradox (Which functions as your AF refresher along with F3P if you want to consider it that for some reason), is that it gives you 2-3 seconds less of AF to work with, since you have to deal with the recast timer.

While more pressure in jobs is alright if it's fun, this type of pressure feels janky, and unintended. I hate it.

I don't think either of those is exactly true. You get extra Thunderheads from umbral refreshes and of course Manafont gives you a charge, so you only miss seconds of your DoT if you refresh at the top of your astral cycle AND pack too many spells into your astral cycle relative to your spellspeed, both of which can be worked around.

As well, the instant astral paradox isn't really taking away but just moving around temporal slack. It used to be that you had to start casting it after 12~13s of astral, and it would buy you 15s more with a 40% chance of 12~13 on top of that. Now you need to cast it after 14~15s of astral, and it buys you 12~13s more with a guaranteed 12~13 more on top of that if you really need them, and this is discounting use of swift/triple to sneak stuff in right under the deadline.

Now, I think Thunderhead should be removed such that we can cast Thunder whenever we're under astral or umbral, but failing that extending the Thunderhead buff to 40s would probably be good.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Well no. The problem with Thunderhead is that it's a 30s proc on a 30s dot, making it very hard not to clip it. The problem with Fire Paradox (Which functions as your AF refresher along with F3P if you want to consider it that for some reason), is that it gives you 2-3 seconds less of AF to work with, since you have to deal with the recast timer.

While more pressure in jobs is alright if it's fun, this type of pressure feels janky, and unintended. I hate it.

There is also Lv89 and below BLM not having a way to guarantee Firestarter anymore, because Fire I does not guarantee it like Astral Paradox - this sort of matters for Lv70 and Lv80 Ultimates.

[Ferrinus]

There is also Lv89 and below BLM not having a way to guarantee Firestarter anymore, because Fire I does not guarantee it like Astral Paradox - this sort of matters for Lv70 and Lv80 Ultimates.

They should add a trait that comes at the same level that Sharpcast used to be learned at (54?) that guarantees Firestarter on landing Fire 1. If they're worried about an abrupt damage gain during HW leveling dungeons they could make it only happen once per astral cycle.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

They should add a trait that comes at the same level that Sharpcast used to be learned at (54?) that guarantees Firestarter on landing Fire 1. If they're worried about an abrupt damage gain during HW leveling dungeons they could make it only happen once per astral cycle.

I'm of the same mind, yeah. A trait for when Sharpcast was previously learned would do the trick.

[Realfoxy]

Welcome to Black Mage. Not the fake black mage that nonstandard worshippers built up as somehow being the real class that was so flexible and freeform because of abusing bad design. The real, core Black Mage. It is a very sloppily designed class that has design decisions made before ARR even launched still present in it because the devs never bothered to actually fix the damned class. In part because of people constantly saying how much they loved the class because the class was so perfect, even though it relied on effectively turning the class into something it wasn't to achieve this. Look at the class without all the nonstandard exploits. This is Black Mage.

To give you an idea of how bad this class is, I saw the problems it has that people are complaining about right now back in 2021. Here's the thread I made where BLM mains who abused nonstandard claimed the class was perfect and I was crazy.

Personally, I don't like pictomancer. It feels like 5 core ideas roughly thrown together and called a class. It feels rough around the edges and half-baked. BLM is in a bad spot, but at least its idea is coherent, even if BLM's core is literally incompatible with DT, BLM itself is still a coherent rotation that has persisted since HW, and not just: "Random crap, go!" the class.

But I'm also going to say this, the only reason I'm happy with the state of BLM right now is that, now that the nonstandard wool has been removed from all BLM main's eyes, they can finally see just how rotten the class actually is.

I just hope that when this is all said and done, the devs revitalize the turret caster gameplay within their encounter meta. The death of turret caster gameplay will be the single largest example of homogenization the game has ever had if it finally and truly dies.

You know I actually agree with a lot of this. The AF timer is a punishing, skill floor mechanic. Turret caster gameplay is incompatible with Endwalker > Dawntrail fight design.

However, I simply disagree with your solutions. I, and many other black mage players, would prefer a return to the Endwalker style of flexibility and freedom of expression. We would prefer that the job retain the features that make it iconic - like the mastery of the AF timer, and the long F4 casts.

It's clear that you don't like the direction that BLM job design went after HW, so I suggest that you remove your BLM gearset and find another job to play.

PS: There has been nonstandard tech for BLM ever since the introduction of F4. Shortening fire phases has been a key part of the job ever since its inception.

[Rozeee]

I'd like BLM to return to it's 6.4 version.

Any DT additions can be removed and I wouldnt care. All I wanted was potency adjustments and I would happily play BLM for another 3 years.

Why fix what's not broken?