Quote Originally Posted by Sylvain View Post
Where does this line of thinking end?
Aggro management is too hard, so let's just make tank stance a basic "give aggro when dealing damage" toggle.
Healers having more than two buttons is too hard, so now they just have one spell to spam.
Positionals are too hard for some players, so we just remove them.
Cast times in general are too hard for some players, so we just remove them.
Melee needing to be close to the enemy to deal damage is too hard, so we made their range the same as phys ranged.
Combo actions are too hard.
Random Procs are too hard.
Keeping your GCD rolling at all times is too hard.

Eventually, you're going to have to tell people "Don't like this? well then play something you do like." "Too hard? do you want to put in the effort to make it work, or do you just want to play something without that thing?"
What's my option for that exactly? I don't like new Black Mage as much, so what should I do? Time travel back to Endwalker? I already tried all other jobs, and none of them got close to Black Mage in how fun they are.
Better yet, Maybe I should start using the tactics that so clearly work. "Dragoon is still too hard. I want to play this class, but the combos are too long, and I forget which half I'm in. Also remove the weaving."
How many people actually took a look at Black Mage and said "Well before, it was just way too hard, but now with an instant paradox that throws off the entire timing of the fire phase, it's way better. Now I enjoy it, and will play it more than my previous main."
Because in my experience, It's mostly just non-Black Mage mains who say "yeah, cool changes" then go back to playing what they already liked. Nothing of value was gained.
This expansion especially made these changes even more pointless because they also introduced a brand new easier caster at the same time. Not to mention that if Black Mage was too hard, there were already Red Mage and Summoner before, which are both far easier.

I worded this kind of weirdly, but I don't think easier equates to less fun. I just think that the changes to paradox and thunder are less fun even in spite of the fact that they're easier. I hear so many people who seem to not grasp that something being easier to pull off doesn't make it better or more fun.

You mention that the majority of the playerbase can't interact with a portion of the game as a negative thing, but I'd consider that to be the system working as intended. It's not that they can't play Black Mage, it's just that the skill curve is too intense, and requires too much planning and thought.
I don't blame these people for not wanting to spend the mental energy needed to play Black Mage all the time. Red Mage was my third class leveled this expansion after all. But I can respect when those people find something they can actually do and stay in their own lane. Instead, I'm to believe that there's this huge portion of players that far outnumber the already existing Black Mage enjoyers who cry out that they would love Black Mage if it wasn't Black Mage, and was instead some other similar, but easier and less deep job (including non-standard who most people never did, including myself). And Square ran the numbers to find that they would definitely gain more loyal subscribers and thus more money by changing one cast time, removing Sharpcast, and removing Ice's increased MP ticks.

I'm not even arguing that nothing should change about anything. I just think that changes should make sense and add to the fun of the class and not done haphazardly thrown out there without thinking, or take away gameplay. You won't hear many people complaining about the third Xenoglossy, Retrace, or even new Manafont (especially since you can late-weave it now). Those are good changes.