blackmage

[Sinth]

BLM have the highest burst damage in the game, so of course there will be tradeoffs.
I play DRG have my DL + Relic and have a hard time matching DPS output on trash mobs in AK vs. a BLM with Ifrit weapon and ilvl 50-55 gear. And no, I'm not a horrible DRG, I know my rotations, and I'm pretty tight with them. However, when it comes to boss fights, I will definitely end up doing more DPS as the BLM will burn out his mana pool if he tried to keep up in a sustained fight.

Things BLMs are good at:
Blowing up trash mobs really fast
AoE like a boss
Getting 1-shotted by bosses
TONS OF DAMAGE

[Shisou]

BLM have the highest burst damage in the game, so of course there will be tradeoffs.
I play DRG have my DL + Relic and have a hard time matching DPS output on trash mobs in AK vs. a BLM with Ifrit weapon and ilvl 50-55 gear. And no, I'm not a horrible DRG, I know my rotations, and I'm pretty tight with them. However, when it comes to boss fights, I will definitely end up doing more DPS as the BLM will burn out his mana pool if he tried to keep up in a sustained fight.

Things BLMs are good at:
Blowing up trash mobs really fast
AoE like a boss
Getting 1-shotted by bosses
TONS OF DAMAGE

Lol @ the idea that BLM have an MP pool that means a damn thing.

[pitlordd]

What is the best way to raise this stat?

[ChickensEvil]

What is the best way to raise this stat?

That should be the exact same value as Intelligence. Same with Healing Magic Potency = Mind. Attack Power = Strength. Why they list this twice I have no clue. But basically Strength affects your auto-attack damage (why you would be EVER doing this I don't know... but it is technically there). Mind affects any healing spells you have, given we have access to Physic this will tell you how good your heal will be(given our low mind stat and it not being on gear... or at least shouldn't be... this is also practically pointless, since you likely will never cast a heal, unless maybe you are soloing something.)

I don't know what the formula is, but basically is it some combination of Intelligence * Weapon Damage * Skill Potency = How hard your ability hits. I believe some people have either worked out the formulas or at least attempted to, so go look for them if you are interested, but bottom line the more intelligence you have the more damage you will do.

[Tassidaru]

That should be the exact same value as Intelligence. Same with Healing Magic Potency = Mind. Attack Power = Strength. Why they list this twice I have no clue. But basically Strength affects your auto-attack damage (why you would be EVER doing this I don't know... but it is technically there). Mind affects any healing spells you have, given we have access to Physic this will tell you how good your heal will be(given our low mind stat and it not being on gear... or at least shouldn't be... this is also practically pointless, since you likely will never cast a heal, unless maybe you are soloing something.)

I wouldn't be surprised if down the road SE introduces a secondary stat like MAB (Magic Attack Bonus for peeps who didn't play FFXI) so then Magic Attack Potency will be some combination, since DET seems to be about as useful as SATA for RNG/COR
*edit: Then again, Comparing XI to XIV mechanics/formulas, XIV is really, really less complex

[Horg]

/stuff

@Sindri_Myr You really make some interesting, educated, well-thought out points...*sarcasm*...

I play a BLM as my main and we are fine, we definitely suffer when there is a lot of movement but we make up for it since we can ramp back up into our DPS cycle with no issues. Bards aren't too overpowered but I would love to see them get a short cast time on their attacks so they can't just roll through MMO life without any skill required or worries at all. I think Sindri_Myr is an excellent example of the kind of person who is probably forced into the class with no real rotation, or need to stop DPS, or need to think too hard in order to keep up with the rest of us. Not saying all Bards are like that, but I can see a lot of players who fall into Bard because it's easy and still a terrific class.

[PessimiStick]

However, when it comes to boss fights, I will definitely end up doing more DPS as the BLM will burn out his mana pool if he tried to keep up in a sustained fight.

You do realize that BLMs have literally infinite mana, right? For a fight of infinite length, you would be TP starved, and the BLM would still be doing the exact same rotation he was doing 5 seconds into the fight.