BLM Buffs Inc!

[Aikaal]

Well, imagine if Aetherial Manipulation was like Freeze, but instant, ogcd, and just required you to click some spot on the ground that you wanted to go to... I really cant see that going smoothly with a controller instead of a mouse.

Exactly, that will never happen. If you want that, you need a mouse over macro and the only condition you need is an ally. You can do that already. Aetherial Manipulation if off GCD already. What you are simply asking if a God spell that allows you to go wherever you want. That will not happen, too OP. Aetherial Manipulation is like Monk's Shoulder Tackle but instead of closing on the boss you close on a nearby ally.

One extra thing that should be mention. BLM need a small adjustment to be pared with other DPS. They don't have to become so good that other classes become obsolete.

[Viridiana]

The more effective solution, imo, would be to simply reduce the cast time on Fire (I think 2.0 seconds would be enough) while leaving the GCD alone. It would prevent proc-loss on Firestarter without increasing burst and have no other effect upon DPS because you're still only getting 1 cast per GCD.

Well, it would also increase DPS based on the number of casts that get canceled within the last .5 seconds to dodge something.

[Shadowzanon]

[QUOTE=Aikaal;2078034snip[/QUOTE]

That is the problem, how i play, mouseovering things mess things up for me or its rather difficult. also you just mentioned the biggest issue with the spell itself. you need an ally to even use it, which well blows this means i cant ever use it in a solo enviorment and it sucks to have a spell that can only be used by being in a group, completely rendered obsolete when not. The targeting like freeze sounds much more ideal than having to actually need a macro with the spell to even make it work effectively. If something is made macro dependent that is bad design. A spell should be effective on its own.

[Aikaal]

It was never intended to be used in solo... People are asking a free teleport, a broken spell to dodge dive bombs in T9. People want that but it's not gonna happen. It always depend on your playstyle I guess for the mouse over :T

[Verne]

Just going to throw it out there that Aetherial Manipulation is a much under-appreciated spell. I don't see a real issue with needing a party member as a target. Even on a controller it is possible to use the D-pad to quickly switch to an ally and hitting the ability, sans macro. Making it a ground target would cause the spell to be a bit awkward to target, negating it's purpose as a fast replacement for movement for some.

I've been getting some good use out of it recently. It's amazing in Leviathan EX, as it instantly stops the sliding from a belly flop (saving you from falling off and getting you casting once again sooner). In Turn 6 & 7 it can be good for when you need to get back to the party (say from a bad Thorn Whip where you had to run far away, or you need to quickly get out of Cursed Shriek's LoS). It can let you get an extra cast off before needing to dodge and move around.

[Versiroth]

They really need to do something with Firestarter procs, Freeze, Surecast and Apoctasatis.

- Firestarter... easy, make it stack 2 times. No more missed Firestarter procs.

- Make Freeze free and grant UI3, but give it a 1 minute CD so it's no too OP. This way, we could work it into our AOE rotation at least once per big pull and might get people away from the current clunky "wait a second after Mana tick" endless Flare rotation. Fire 3-Fire 2-Fire 2-Fire 2-Flare-Convert-Swiftcast-Flare-Freeze-repeat.

- Surecast - Change the trait to "Allows casting while moving". So, for 10 seconds, nothing interrupts you.. including movement. That way, you could cast it when you know Plumes are about to hit (or whatever) and continue casting.

- Apoctastasis - Make it a buff that ups our elemental damage by 20% for 20 seconds. Everyone else has a native DPS boosting ability... why not BLMs?

[AlrikRouge]

I've only been diving into BLM the last recent two months, and it does kind of suck on Titan and other "needing to move" fights.

I like the idea of F3 proc stacks, but only 2. Increase timer to 20 seconds to use both. IMO this would make it so it wasn't so OP having stacks that some think it would. And it would give a nice resolution to that proc that happens on your second to last F1, casting your last F1 that also procs an F3. (Made sense in my head, but still doesn't read right...)

And boost scath potentcy some so it is marginally worthwhile (slightly less than F1, but enough that crit is on par with F3). I do use it on Titan Ex when dogging plums, as it times well with the 2 second dodge, back and forth, without my waiting a significant or detrimental time to get back into my rotation. (Any DPS in those two seconds is better than none IMO) Don't want it too potent without the crit, so then it just replaces F1/F3. But with crit make it so you could get close to F3 potency.

[AspectOfWinter]

BLMs are getting buffed? I wasn't aware that class needed buffs.

All I ever seem to hear about it is how vastly superior it is to SMN and BRD.

[Exstal]

All I ever seem to hear about it is how vastly superior it is to SMN and BRD.

Who was telling you this? They are lying through their teeth.

[Xisin]

Anyone who said that BLM is vastly superior to SMN and BRD have not played with a well played SMN or BRD. BLM is in a awkward place of: Best in game at AOE situations, when there not many aoe situations available... and I don't mean stuff like titans gaol + titan... Off the top of my head aoe places where blms can use flare without convert (and not lose dps otherwise) is Twintania drake phase moogle extreme on little moog spawn, Turn 4, Brayflox hard (lol), Garuda ex plume phase, garuda hard plume spawns, and turn 6 depending on how your group does slimes. that's the only meaningful encounters this patch that present good rationale on using flare w/o swiftcast and convert available.

So based on that blms are: best aoe dps in a game that doesn't do many aoe fights, and probably the 2nd worst to worst single target dps in the game. This is coming from a blm who can sustain 400+ dps (with a bard) for over 7 minutes on turn 8... now keep in mind we get that dps when TURRETING, no movement. On movement fights we can muster about the same to vastly less depending on what happens. The highest dps I personally achieved on titan ex in 2.1 was 307 dps... this of course behind my dragoon, monk and summoner colleagues. Bards are balanced due to the amount of utility they bring to the table combined with how mobile they are, and with all of that they are still very competitive with blm dps single target.

But to simplify Monks and summoners destroy blm single target dps, dragoons do this as well but not quite to the extent that the before mentioned two classes do. Bards are better in the fact they bring a ton more utility, are way more mobile all the while bringing nearly the same dps to the table as a blm. This IMO makes blm the least desirable dps job around when played at the highest level. Those derpy monks you got last night in duty finder last night are not a valid arguments to this.

My suggestions to add to the mix...

Firestarters stacking to 2 would most certainty help (I would really love to see 3 however.)
Apoc needs a rework (it does work on ifrit btw test it yourself... it reduces his breath by around 1k damage.) But I'd love to Apoc become the blm version of dragon kick or disembowel. (a resistance reduction debuff on the mob)
and of course the surecast change so many have recommended.

OR

simply up the potency of all of our spells by a smidge. (maybe 10-15) Movement and casting is a skill to have for sure, but honestly I'd be happy if I were top dps if the fight allowed turrreting (see turn 8) This would give blm a niche in stationary fights, to make up for the lack of aoe encounter available. This would also improve our dps on movement fights by default.