Please reconsider an upcoming Black Mage change.

[Taranok]

That's the thing...

The problem is more that movement is so important, they have to kill BLM's core identity to make movement possible. Between that and the timers, they're basically bending over backwards destroying BLM's core identity in the process trying to fix the class. Despair being instant is 100% because people are dropping timers in the fight. They want timer resets to be instant so that you never are edging the timers trying to get a 3s cast off in a 3.5s maybe window. And the class needs more mobility as per their own internal metrics. These are the only reasons why they'd change despair to instant.

Hell, I cleared DSR in BLM before it got buffed. I know how to use the tools, and I was, strictly, an average BLM of all BLMs who cleared that fight. There's dozens of us, DOZENS! (No, seriously, I don't think it ever broke 100 or 150 in any 2 week period and was overwhelmingly the least played class.)

Speaking of, Endwalker BLM was among the least played classes through all of EW. To even pretend BLM was fine in endwalker is basically intentionally blinding yourself to the problems the class had. Essentially being so addicted to something about its core gameplay that you overlook its glaring flaws. My favorite? They allowed hypermeme accidentally because timers were turned from a neat buff that helped define the boom and bust nature in what is functionally a proc mage into a load-bearing wall. The class was never intended to be a highly flexible mage but aligned to a stringent 2m burst cycle, so it's no surprise that any attempts to fix that also broke it further.

Also, just to iterate this point: The problem isn't BLM mobility, because the class is stupidly mobile now with an estimated ~11.5 instant casts per minute, with a standard minute being 24 standard GCDs. The problem is that BLM's core design is direct anathema to modern encounter design, necessitating making the class stupidly mobile.

I wouldn't be surprised if fire 4s become a 1.5 or 2s GCD on a 2.8s recast, alongside flare star getting similar treatment, because it doesn't matter whether you can or cannot handle the flamethrowers in M4S transition, or even that you can slidecast it. The problem is that feels like absolute crap to do because the core of BLM was never running around like a MCH with some restrictions, and forcing it into that playstyle is always going to kill every single caster.

Hell, SMN's rework in EW mostly killed the class because it was turned into an rphys with some cast bars. Its tactile feel is surprisingly similar to what it was in ShB, outside of things like FBT losing the rocker rotation to instead be a 1-button wonder. The class often devolved into a 1-button spam with 4 distinct 'phases.' DWT+DB, FBT setup, FBT+DP, DWT setup.

I'll agree that the leveling experience...

This is a nonsense argument because every class can be reduced to "It's easy if you ignore X!" 100% of BLM's difficulty in the past was finding a way to get 100% uptime on fights that would occasionally tell you to not stand still, but you had enough movement to handle it. 100% of BLM's problems in EW and DT are caused by a combination of "We messed up the design and players are exploiting the flaws," with "We now want casters to play like they have unlimited movement, and have destroyed core caster gameplay to do this."

Having a class that also has a bait and switch is always a serious issue. As you even said, "You don't even need to think about that Enochian timer until you get FireIV at level 60." is a pretty big design flaw of the class and its leveling experience.

Personally, I think the real solution is to make an in-game way to learn how each class works in their fundamental rotation. Something like Hall of the Novice, but for each class.

Teach people how to play better rather than making the game easier to compensate for people who don't know how to play. Remember that if a player wants to improve, nothing can stop them. If a player doesn't want to improve, nothing will help them.

I agree that the game should do a better job teaching players how the class is expected to be play. Not the burst, not optimized openers, but its core rotation. Things like teaching a SAM how to generate stickers and how to spend that. 11/10, fully agree.

Where I draw the line is when the class has such a steep learning curve and a punishment cycle that it starts dragging the class down. Timers are this. The player isn't taught how to do the fire 4 rotation, the timers basically force you to do other things and you fill the space with fire 4s otherwise. Interestingly, the game does tell you this, but at level 100 when you get flare star. The game is weird like this, especially with BLM.

Ironically, there's a lot of things that push the intended rotation, especially in DT. For example, Paradox is more DPS than fire 4. Fire 3 is DPS neutral with fire 4 (at AF3.) You need exactly 6 fire 4s to cast flare star. Despair consumes all mana and is more DPS than fire 4. Blizzard 4 gives you umbral hearts and full mana. Thunder 3 does more damage than fire 4 (but has a DoT component you don't want to clip.)

DT BLM could remove timers and everyone would do the exact same (general) rotation because flare star, paradox, and every other component pushes the intended rotation.

Which actually represents smart design, if the devs could enforce it below level 100 and removed the timers. Since all the mechanics of the class build into each other. Hell, even something as basic as: "Casting more fire 4s increases the damage of despair," would encourage casting more fire 4s to then cast despair. Cap it at 6 fire 4s and boom, problem solved. Take despair, drop it to level 50 and make it aoe. Upgrade into flare at 70 or 72, upgrade flare into flare star at 100 and you have a coherent mechanic that, with a fire 4-like spell at 50 or lower enforces the desired gameplay without needing to leverage bad design to do it.

Though, if that were done, I'd also shorten the AF rotation more and build up the UI rotation, while making thunder more significant than a single dot. I digress.