The (Possible) Shape of Black Mage to Come

[ElevatedCosmonaut]

But now the question is more, was this difficulty intended or mistake and how will future content look. Also overarching critic still stands, that EW blm was far more satisfying to play.

Yeah, if a rework were to happen, I would much prefer a reversion to EW's BLM, rather than something more in line with SMN's rework.

We have 7 years of BLM to go off of. Nothing drastic is needed at all.

[Sylvain]

Yeah, if a rework were to happen, I would much prefer a reversion to EW's BLM, rather than something more in line with SMN's rework.

We have 7 years of BLM to go off of. Nothing drastic is needed at all.

Current BLM is actually fairely easy provided you do not chase the top few %.
However, to make it easier two things need to be done (one being many little things)


1 - Rework Flare Star to not require a full fire rotation and have more flexibility on where it is used (so that you do not end up with 3s cast back to back at the end of your rotation)
Beside a complete rework of the spell (which won't go anywhere, it's a capstone ability), things like these can help
- no stack loss in UI
- making only Paradox+Despair giving stack (castable at 3 or 6 stack, no stack loss in UI)
- increasing the max number of stack to 12 (obviously no stack loss in UI)
- refreshing/blocking AF timer

2 - Tuning the numbers on skills which benefit from movement tool. Basically, do not make movement tool a dps upgrade when used while static.
- FireIV, FlareStar and Despair recast matching casting. This would make triple cast and SC not a dps gain anymore.
- Either reworking back thunder, increasing the timer duration or making the DoT duration stack like Repear debuff (up to 45-60s)
- Increasing AFIII buff to fire damage, this would make transpose FireIII not a dps gain anymore. (at least neutral).
- Increasing FIII or possibly turn it into High Fire III while under Firestarter to make it a dps gain to be used under AFIII
- Reduce Xeno glossy damage to make it barely better than regular rotation. This would kill (until 98% perf+) any Xenoglossy stacking for burst window
- if you want to really push it, you can make FireIII cast 0.1s faster and raise recast to 3s to make it like PIC, able to weave the few ogcd we have.

Changes in step "2" would make BLM much more simple as most of the current optimisation would be killed making the current "safe rotation" the new "optimal rotation".

In case people don't see it.

If FireIII is to be used in AF3, that means you have 2 instance of instant refresh. It's really hard to loose AF at this point, you got 30s to cast 7spells.
If Xenoglossy is nerfed (and the rest buffed obviously), then x4-5 xeno on burst doesn't make much sens until you're chasing the very last %. If the difference between someone doing Xeno purely for movement and someone managing to keep all of them for burst window is less than 1%, then you're spending a lot of effort for very little gain. Currently the difference is much bigger.
If Cast and recast are matched, then triple cast / swift cast aren't a dps gain as you gain 0s from using on slow spells (so FireIV, Despair, Flare Star). Basically, using them or not while not moving has 0 incidence on your dps.
If the last line is added, then you can now weave anything between FireIV.
The thunder chang speak from itself, if you can stack thunder duration to up to 60s, then beside doing a long refresh at the end of a 2min burst, which wouldn't be hard since you'd probably be using manafont anyway, you could simply refresh thunder whenever you see fit when the DoT is below 30s...

Doing all of these would keep the current "standard" rotation as is while killing any of the minor optimisation which makes it harder. (transpose, 3xcast on despair+flare, xenostacking in burst) which all contribute to BLM trading mobility for DPS. There would be no more trading (beside a tiny bit with xeno), hence a much easier job.

It would definitely make BLM much easier and therefor most likely popular to the mass. (As the mass seems to enjoy simple jobs)
Now, I do not believe for a split second that any of these changes, beside maybe the thunder one (and FlareStar?), would make most of the current BLM happy.

[OgruMogru]

I really think any kind of major rework is unnecessary. Removal of AF/UI timers would be catastrophic and FlareStar would be -b o r i n g- as a straight insta. We just need a few tiny tweaks imo! I want FlareStar to give B3 proc so I can double transpose 2 weak spells. I think firestarter proc should last a little bit longer. Likewise thunderhead procs - thunder overall is in a bad shape and it's wholly unfun currently - I miss sharpcast and the flexibility of casting thunder as and when I like, but would hate the dot to be outright removed. Spoil me and increase Aetherial Manipulation range whilst we're at it. AoE rotation is absolutely dire. My priority is how Blm feels in raids and despite flarestar "clunk" [hate that word], progging savage as BLM is infinitely more fun than doing that awful dungeon/AoE rotation.

[Azebra]

Spoil me and increase Aetherial Manipulation range whilst we're at it.

Definitely not BLM's biggest issue rn, but this would be such a nice QoL improvement. I like Aetherial Manipulation, its a fun unique twist on gap closers that fits the class, but I seriously cannot count how many times I've tried to last second move out an aoe only for my target to scoot out of range because they don't know my life is hinging on their position

[rewd]

Definitely not BLM's biggest issue rn, but this would be such a nice QoL improvement. I like Aetherial Manipulation, its a fun unique twist on gap closers that fits the class, but I seriously cannot count how many times I've tried to last second move out an aoe only for my target to scoot out of range because they don't know my life is hinging on their position

AM is fun but it is certainly not an 'unique twist'. Regardless, I'd like this change too of course.

[Ramiee]

I do think a good fix would just have despair and paradox give astral soul and having it not fall of in UI. Another good thing would have the monk chakra overcapping system, all of this would make flare star way more flexible and interesting over just making it an instant cast. But really the lazy quick fix would just make flare star an instant cast and if it is touched this would likely be what the Devs do.

[Ferrinus]

Here's something I'd like to see them do: they should make every paired fire and ice spell have identical base stats. This means:

Blizzard IV cast time up to 2.8s (they previously made it faster than Fire IV in a desperate attempt to persuade people not to skip it, but it's unskippable anyway now, so they can restore symmetry). This would be a slight nerf, but it would also mean we have a little more leeway on where to use instant cast oGCDs without losing damage, or at least slightly lower that loss.

Freeze cast time up to 4.0s, Freeze potency up to 240 (30% less for enemies other than the first). This wouldn't fix the current issues with BLM AoE (one way to do this would be to make both Freeze and Flare require AF3/UI3 to cast, rather than AF1+/UI1+) but I'm pretty sure it maths out to switching between the two spells still delivering superior PPS to just spamming Freeze. It could make levels 40-49 a little weird but I think potency buffs to F2/B2 take care of that.

[Zexionn]

As a BLM fanatic, not just in XIV but in other FF's, I personally would be in favour of a REVISION (not a rework) to the mechanics. In other FF's, Black Mages have 3 main identities as far as I am concerned: first, they are master of the elements. Second, they are about choice - using the right spell for the right situation. Thirdly, they are about managing your resources so that you can keep fighting for as long as you possibly can. I'd like all of these identities to be present in FFXIV BLM, however currently we only have the 3rd identity, where instead of MP management, we have proc management. We used to have the 2nd identity also in Endwalker, but Non-standard was at times about alterations to ignore ice magic as much as physically possible, which flies in the face of the first identity. The problem here is that Squennix have backed BLM into a corner - Both the Thunder Dot and Ice magic just feel like "mandatory chores", not something you WANT to cast. Black Mages feel like weird Arcane Arsonists rather than what an FF Black Mage usually is.

Possible ideas for revising this would be to make Astral Souls a mechanic you get access to much earlier, possibly even at level 60, with it acting as a counterpart to Umbral Hearts - You can charge up to 3 Astral Souls, which are consumed to make Ice spells instant cast, with charges of swift/triplecast being consumed first if they're active. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could even have Astral Souls reduce spell recast time too, to make the ice stance even more diametrically opposed to fire, and this would act as a damage buff in a way that doesn't stop ice from feeling distinct to fire. Having resources to expend in UI would make using ice spells feel a little bit better, and would go a way to helping identity 1. Only at level 100, would you get to upgrade to charging 6 astral souls, and Flare Star consuming them all, which feeds back into identity 2, that being choice.

As for Thunder Magic, I think Thunders primary advantage and disadvantage over ice and fire (always being instant cast, and not being spammable) should stick, but I would like to give it a pattern that rewards burst. Applying Thunder DoT's to enemies doesn't reapply it, but rather adds to the DoT's duration (up to a maximum duration cap of course), with a second thunder spell letting you effectively detonate the DoT for burst damage. Charging up the detonate over several GCD's and DoT spells only being available when changing AF/UI stance stops Thunder Magic invalidating everything else, and it plays into the axiom of choice - now you're asking WHEN are you going to apply your Thunder DoT during your current phase, since you're no longer clipping DoTs.

Just a few personal thoughts.

[Ferrinus]

Something I was hoping they'd add to BLM's lightning spells was indeed some ability do detonate or consume existing thunder DoTs for a big burst of damage, but which didn't scale with the remaining DoT timer (or even scaled inversely, so like it'd do a hit based on how much damage had already been inflicted), so you wanted to watch an enemy's dot timer carefully and blow it up right before it elapsed.

[Grimr]

Definitely not BLM's biggest issue rn, but this would be such a nice QoL improvement. I like Aetherial Manipulation, its a fun unique twist on gap closers that fits the class, but I seriously cannot count how many times I've tried to last second move out an aoe only for my target to scoot out of range because they don't know my life is hinging on their position

Frankly i just want a straight teleport like the other classes have. Doesn't matter if its 15 or 20 or w/e.