They are gutting Black Mage even more in 7.2

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

If timers are going, people need to ask themselves what does Fire I and/or Fire-Paradox serves to do in their kit from that point.

EDIT: It'd be funny NGL if they add a band aid fix that prevents BLM from executing two Flare Stars under one Astral Fire window lmao.

[Supersnow845]

Is paradox even a DPS gain anymore (AF1F3 or otherwise)

Like is their goal making it a holy in white style “low DPS loss movement tool that is a bigger loss if you don’t AF1F3”

[TheDustyOne]

The long cast times and the AF/UI timers were interwoven mechanics to a degree; remove one and you lose an aspect of the other.

No timer gives no pressure to risk just one more Fire IV cast before refreshing with Paradox or Firestarter. Low (or no) cast times reduces that pressure to get that cast out just in time (and in turn also reduces the value that Spell Speed used to provide).

If we start removing mechanics because failing them ends up too punishing, you can very much extend that to many other mechanics. Failing to DPS properly punishes you with enrage, so why not get rid of the enrage timer? Failing to mitigate can kill a tank during a buster, so why not just remove mitigation and reduce damage from bosses to compensate? Not healing can result in the party's dea-- okay you can see where that's already starting to no longer apply with how easy it is to drop healers in a semi-competent party. These are extremes of course, but that's the end result of "removing punishing mechanics". At some point, you have to have pressure to play the content or job at hand.

It's one thing to reduce some punishing aspects in a jobs kit to keep the skill floor low, it's another to remove the punishment entirely.

[Rithy255]

The long cast times and the AF/UI timers were interwoven mechanics to a degree; remove one and you lose an aspect of the other.

No timer gives no pressure to risk just one more Fire IV cast before refreshing with Paradox or Firestarter. Low (or no) cast times reduces that pressure to get that cast out just in time (and in turn also reduces the value that Spell Speed used to provide).

If we start removing mechanics because failing them ends up too punishing, you can very much extend that to many other mechanics. Failing to DPS properly punishes you with enrage, so why not get rid of the enrage timer? Failing to mitigate can kill a tank during a buster, so why not just remove mitigation and reduce damage from bosses to compensate? Not healing can result in the party's dea-- okay you can see where that's already starting to no longer apply with how easy it is to drop healers in a semi-competent party. These are extremes of course, but that's the end result of "removing punishing mechanics". At some point, you have to have pressure to play the content or job at hand.

It's one thing to reduce some punishing aspects in a jobs kit to keep the skill floor low, it's another to remove the punishment entirely.

Problem is removing punishment from jobs is basically what SE has been doing this whole time.

Tanks/healers self explanatory, healers barely have to heal "because it feels bad to be not healed" Tanks don't have aggro management, nor boss positioning because "it feels bad if tank gives you aggro, it feels bad for melee that the tank isn't good at boss positioning"

DPS like ninja got ten chi jin changed because "it feels bad if you need to move", raid buffs became 120s with 20s duration "because it felt bad if they didn't align" they removed cone AOE's "because it feels bad" they removed Dots from jobs like PLD, SMN, MNK because "it felt bad to mess up"

All these changes are because "it feels bad to make mistake and be punished" now we have a job system that hand holds you so much it's harder to not mess up, but in return you feel absolutely nothing for playing your job correctly.

What makes jobs interesting is upsides and downsides, some jobs should be better at certain things then others, you don't just remove those downsides to balance a job (sometimes you can make them less), you make their upsides impactful and useful. Black mage was truly unique in that yes it was hard to play and hard to position compared to other jobs... but having that potential damage was always such a nice upside that made the job feel amazing when played correctly.

Jobs need pain points and ways to shine... otherwise they become bland samey clones of one another.

[NaoSen]

I have not played BLM since early EW so I cant remember how rotations worked at all other than "Pick your spot well because you going to be there a while" being half of the part of the job. I liked PCT in DT because it felt like a more mobile BLM removing the need for intricate encounter knowledge.

From what I am gathering is BLM basically going to be like taking PCT and swapping out the muses for other spells ? If so for someone like me I think "Oh I get to have similar mobility but be more of a caster with a difficulty up ?" and I'd actually go back to looking at BLM which is potentially what SE is trying to do ? I really feel sorry for BLM players if I am right though because that sounds like they may as well just make a new job and leave BLM as it was.

Just trying to understand what 7.2's "Playstyle description" would be for BLM.

[Supersnow845]

I have not played BLM since early EW so I cant remember how rotations worked at all other than "Pick your spot well because you going to be there a while" being half of the part of the job. I liked PCT in DT because it felt like a more mobile BLM removing the need for intricate encounter knowledge.

From what I am gathering is BLM basically going to be like taking PCT and swapping out the muses for other spells ? If so for someone like me I think "Oh I get to have similar mobility but be more of a caster with a difficulty up ?" and I'd actually go back to looking at BLM which is potentially what SE is trying to do ? I really feel sorry for BLM players if I am right though because that sounds like they may as well just make a new job and leave BLM as it was.

Just trying to understand what 7.2's "Playstyle description" would be for BLM.

Less PCT more WHM with no healing

[NaoSen]

Less PCT more WHM with no healing

Do you think SE might be sacrificing current BLM playerbase to create a job that might attract more people then ?

Edit: As well as fall in line with new encounter design requiring more movement.

[Daralii]

I have not played BLM since early EW so I cant remember how rotations worked at all other than "Pick your spot well because you going to be there a while" being half of the part of the job. I liked PCT in DT because it felt like a more mobile BLM removing the need for intricate encounter knowledge.

From what I am gathering is BLM basically going to be like taking PCT and swapping out the muses for other spells ? If so for someone like me I think "Oh I get to have similar mobility but be more of a caster with a difficulty up ?" and I'd actually go back to looking at BLM which is potentially what SE is trying to do ? I really feel sorry for BLM players if I am right though because that sounds like they may as well just make a new job and leave BLM as it was.

Just trying to understand what 7.2's "Playstyle description" would be for BLM.

"Press orange buttons until pink bar is empty, then press blue buttons until pink bar is full. Press purple buttons sometimes."

Do you think SE might be sacrificing current BLM playerbase to create a job that might attract more people then ?

They've tried that multiple times with other jobs and it hasn't worked. Just look at all the AST and MNK reworks that didn't move the needle.

[Supersnow845]

"Press orange buttons until pink bar is empty, then press blue buttons until pink bar is full. Press purple buttons sometimes."

They've tried that multiple times with other jobs and it hasn't worked. Just look at all the AST and MNK reworks that didn't move the needle.

No matter how much destroy AST you will not make WHM mains play anything besides WHM

Square still doesn’t see this

If you look at the movement of the healers in the clears WHM didn’t move to AST, mostly SGE did

[xbahax92]

I dont main BLM, but this scares me other jobs like BRD gonna be hit soon too.
I really dont want to see that happen. Man... that battle designer needs some change of heart desperately.