Black mage changes are probably my breaking point with this game

[Aysin]

They're leaving because they enjoy real life or WoW more and now have nothing holding them back from real life or WoW. It has nothing to do with the "flaws with this game".

It will be pretty funny when you see black mage become a commonly played job that has healthy levels of engagement in PF after these changes though. It was proven to be a failed concept just by the fact that it only had minority level engagement despite having such a strong and desirable fantasy. Why would anyone take a pre-7.2 BLM over a SMN/RDM/PCT in PF?

The fact that you said this just tells me you have no idea what you are talking about, SMN/BLM/RDM had approximately the same play rate, PCT had 3 times more play than the next highest - SMN. The answer is quite simple, it was wickedly overpowered. There are also some other contributing factors such as it being a new job, with slightly easier playstyle. Given that viper was the most popular job in all content aside from ultimate. But proven time and time again people will choose what they think is best for the situation and the insane amount of damage is hard to argue with.

Also if you assume people are leaving this game for WoW that proves this game isn't offering something in which WoW does. And that can be both a good and bad thing, but should not be a sole focus.

[HikariKurosawa]

Even assuming all jobs had equal impact, BLM pre-7.2 would have a lower pickrate because it is way harder to achieve that impact with and way more work. Statistically that makes BLM an unreliable pick for PF.

The stats below PCT are irrelevant, because anyone who wasn't picking PCT as their caster was playing very off-meta. Statistically irrelevant thing to bring up.

But again, like I said, if nothing changed other than the game being perfectly balanced for all dps, BLM would have had a far lower pickrate because they are just harder to achieve that impact with. It was inevitable that they were going to change it, and it's foolish to think otherwise. Especially when it is related to a job fantasy as amazing as BLM is. Every other caster is corny in comparison to BLM thematically.

[Rithy255]

Even assuming all jobs had equal impact, BLM pre-7.2 would have a lower pickrate because it is way harder to achieve that impact with and way more work. Statistically that makes BLM an unreliable pick for PF.

The stats below PCT are irrelevant, because anyone who wasn't picking PCT as their caster was playing very off-meta. Statistically irrelevant thing to bring up.

But again, like I said, if nothing changed other than the game being perfectly balanced for all dps, BLM would have had a far lower pickrate because they are just harder to achieve that impact with. It was inevitable that they were going to change it, and it's foolish to think otherwise. Especially when it is related to a job fantasy as amazing as BLM is. Every other caster is corny in comparison to BLM thematically.

BLM was meant to be designed to be harder to achieve with the reward of good damage. Almost like the game rewarded you for playing a class that required a tiny amount of skill.

Looking at it BLM Had a close pick rate then red mage in endwalker something you seem to want to avoid, I don't know where you get black mage is a low pick rate class outside of 7.0-7.1 which was mostly because it was very underpowered compared to pictomancer.

I doubt Black mage would have this super low pick rate your speaking about if it was actually performing well in fights, but everyone's meant to take your word for it i suppose.

[Aysin]

Even assuming all jobs had equal impact, BLM pre-7.2 would have a lower pickrate because it is way harder to achieve that impact with and way more work. Statistically that makes BLM an unreliable pick for PF.

The stats below PCT are irrelevant, because anyone who wasn't picking PCT as their caster was playing very off-meta. Statistically irrelevant thing to bring up.

But again, like I said, if nothing changed other than the game being perfectly balanced for all dps, BLM would have had a far lower pickrate because they are just harder to achieve that impact with. It was inevitable that they were going to change it, and it's foolish to think otherwise. Especially when it is related to a job fantasy as amazing as BLM is. Every other caster is corny in comparison to BLM thematically.

How do you, yourself bring up the other casters in their play rate in 1 post, then subsequently ask to ignore it in another? Also not once have I asked for BLM to get buffed, nor do I care if it is super strong, my entire argument on BLM is it's playstyle, and feel of playing coinciding with what used to be it's identity. We all know no matter what role it is, which job it is, if it does a lot more damage it will be played more by default. At the moment, that is PCT, last expac was SMN since it did competitive damage along side it's raise and ease of use. And usually the latest released job adds to popularity and that's how the most popular jobs usually operate.

Now in order to answer your question of why would people pick the other "off meta" jobs? Well it's now down to personal preference. I played BLM in the first tier and never looked back, I never cared about PCT. The ones who played SMN and RDM in this same tier also operated the same, whether they played a preferred play style or a preferred job based on themes and identity. You can easily alter play rates of the low 3 casters by increasing their power but that's not the discussion we are having at all because if play rate was the issue they would have already buffed SMN and RDM and MCH too. So clearly play rate is not the priority right now.

And in order to touch upon the "PF reliability" of other 3 casters. Generally the lowest point of BLM was still higher than the lowest point of RDM and SMN. So in terms of standard reliability in regards to power. BLM in the caster slot should still be the 2nd choice, based off from your own arguments and points you made in previous posts.

Hence I am concluding once again you don't know what you are arguing for and in fact do not know what you are talking about.

[PercibelTheren]

I don't play BLM myself (I dabbled in Endwalker and found it a lot of fun, but my brain is way too smooth) but I don't get these changes. Isn't figuring out how to optimize it in fast fights with a lot of movement the whole point of skill expression for Black Mage? Not to mention, you have a LOT of instant casts, you have better mobility than half the other casters. And honestly, I wouldn't mind tailoring our static's raid strats around BLM. We already default to melee uptime, why not also try for BLM uptime? Why not let BLM pretend to be a melee? Would it be optimal? Hell no. Would it be viable? Probably!

[HikariKurosawa]

I don't play BLM myself (I dabbled in Endwalker and found it a lot of fun, but my brain is way too smooth) but I don't get these changes. Isn't figuring out how to optimize it in fast fights with a lot of movement the whole point of skill expression for Black Mage? Not to mention, you have a LOT of instant casts, you have better mobility than half the other casters. And honestly, I wouldn't mind tailoring our static's raid strats around BLM. We already default to melee uptime, why not also try for BLM uptime? Why not let BLM pretend to be a melee? Would it be optimal? Hell no. Would it be viable? Probably!

You still have to do all of this, the only difference is the level of punishment. People who play the job proficiently will have better uptime and more dps throughput, peopl who don't will just not fall out of enochian. That's all there is to the changes. Everything else plays the same aside from faster casting.

The optimization of the job is still there, and it is still a complex job with a lot to juggle. It's just less punishing. People are blowing the changes way out of proportion because they want to feel special for playing BLM. MMO player ego is one of the funniest most ironic things in the gaming industry.

[Rithy255]

You still have to do all of this, the only difference is the level of punishment. People who play the job proficiently will have better uptime and more dps throughput, peopl who don't will just not fall out of enochian. That's all there is to the changes. Everything else plays the same aside from faster casting.

The optimization of the job is still there, and it is still a complex job with a lot to juggle. It's just less punishing. People are blowing the changes way out of proportion because they want to feel special for playing BLM. MMO player ego is one of the funniest most ironic things in the gaming industry.

What are you exactly "optimizing" on new black mage? what exactly is "complex" about the job anymore, what do you have to juggle? do you actually mean anything you say?

[Azurarok]

The least they could've kept was the cast time > recast aspect that made using instant casts have the trade-off. I don't know why even that's not allowed

[HikariKurosawa]

What are you exactly "optimizing" on new black mage? what exactly is "complex" about the job anymore, what do you have to juggle? do you actually mean anything you say?

Here, watch this video made by someone who is actually dedicated to the job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq33x00i7B8

There is still tons of optimization and non-standard exists still. Watching that video, for me it's still a very complicated job with a lot of nuance. Reddit told you to be upset about the changes and that it was doomsday for BLM, but maybe learn to think for yourself and not throw a fit before exploring what the changes actually do for the job.

I doubt you can think for yourself though, so that's a big ask. There is a reason why I have to manually get the forums to show me every post you make.

[Rithy255]

Here, watch this video made by someone who is actually dedicated to the job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq33x00i7B8

There is still tons of optimization and non-standard exists still. Watching that video, for me it's still a very complicated job with a lot of nuance. Reddit told you to be upset about the changes and that it was doomsday for BLM, but maybe learn to think for yourself and not throw a fit before exploring what the changes actually do for the job.

I doubt you can think for yourself though, so that's a big ask. There is a reason why I have to manually get the forums to show me every post you make.

So theirs a wacky opener? cool I guess, something to remember then never have to really change on the fly. Theirs slight opener Optimization, if this is complicated with a lot of nuance to you, then I dread to know what's a normal standard easy job.

What I personally enjoyed about black mage wasn't anything to do with opener's or actual rotation it was Movement Optimization, things like triple cast being a damage gain but also a mobility tool had some interesting conflicts, it also made learning fights on black mage a lot different to any other job, I loved the longer cast times because it actually felt like I was casting powerful spells instead of small fire spells, which itself played into fights well because black mage was all about using your mobility tools at the right time.

I don't care that much that astral fire timer is gone, I mean I'd prefer to have it but I would still enjoy the job, You don't exactly know my reasons for liking black mage over then assuming reddit made me want to cry about it on the forums or something.

Though I can think for myself I don't always just agree with standard forum or reddit opinions, I just don't tend to be condescending about it I don't see any reason to look down on different opinions. Maybe just maybe one day you will understand people like different aspects about the game and it's naive to act like some sort of gospel for the silent majority.