BLM Buffs Inc!

[Yumi_umi]

@ song
If blm could teleport anywhere then wouldn't they become a rift walkerrrrr? Lol

[Kenji1134]

So any news on BLM buffs?
Yoshi?
Throw us a bone please? =)

[rex1976]

my guess is some form of levitation ability that just stays up(like shield oath or vengence). allowing casting while moving without breaking ff/mmo traditions. this however won't fix the gap between blm and smn. pre 2.2 there was a small gap between blm/smn single target dps. that gap is growing with each upgrade... pre 2.2 elite blm would push 250ish while elite smn would push 270ish. currently blm are pushing low 300's while smn are pushing low to mid 400's keeping pace with melee. bard and blm are both being left in the dust. we need sustained damage not more zerge abilities. stacking procs won't have any effect on your sustained dps. our zerge is fine as it is.

[Kenji1134]

You mean like "Float"?

IDK about SMN doing 400+ on ST fights. Fights where they can multi-dot sure, but not ST fights.

Aside from adding something to address the mobility issue, it seems like BLM needs a slight overall damage boost.
Maybe bring AF3's bonus up from 180% to 200%.
Allow Firestarter AND Thundercloud to stack to 2.
and uh...
UNDO THE UI3 NERF!!!

Put a damn recast on Flare, and UNDO THE TIMING NERF that makes the rotation feel excessively clunky!
Hell, that "fix" alone knocked about 5% off every BLM's dps.

[Sleigh]

You mean like "Float"?

IDK about SMN doing 400+ on ST fights. Fights where they can multi-dot sure, but not ST fights.

Aside from adding something to address the mobility issue, it seems like BLM needs a slight overall damage boost.
Maybe bring AF3's bonus up from 180% to 200%.
Allow Firestarter AND Thundercloud to stack to 2.
and uh...
UNDO THE UI3 NERF!!!

Put a damn recast on Flare, and UNDO THE TIMING NERF that makes the rotation feel excessively clunky!
Hell, that "fix" alone knocked about 5% off every BLM's dps.

In a stand-still fight with i110 weapon and i100 average gear it's very possible to go past 400 as SMN. Our i115 weapon SMN can get up to 430~ ST DPS, so there's that. It of course doesn't translate to real fights perfectly but it doesn't lose too much.

Haven't tried BLM in i110. If/when I get i115 weapon the gap will be much clearer at this gear level though I'm 90% sure there is still quite a gap in ST DPS between BLM and SMN.

[Zencurse]

So any news on BLM buffs?
Yoshi?
Throw us a bone please? =)

Well when they last buffed classes, they essentially buffed straight numbers and buff durations. Which inadvertently increased Monk dps by more than I believe they were anticipating (the SS requirement for the straight dps rotation was reduced, allowing them to stack det/crit). So likely they'll just give a potency buff to some of our abilities, perhaps revert the mana regen in UI back to its original state. This would essentially be the Black Mage analogue to the Monk/Dragoon changes made back in 2.1

[Tempting]

Even though everyone hates on PvP, I still hope some of the "buffs" have BLM PvP in mind.
Because my god are we terrible compared to all classes.

And a lot of reasons BLM PvP is terrible is because of same reason we lacking in PvE. That is the mobility and visual interruption range.
If you think its bad in PvE, imagine PvP because people KNOW your casting so obviously walk behind a wall or behind your character to avoid you ever casting.

[Yukio]

Give Scathe a boost...
1. A little more consistent damage - better that it does ~400 all the time than mostly doing ~200 and once in a blue moon crit for ~800
2. Have it refresh the active Astral Fire/Umbral Ice stack by ~3 seconds OR a flat damage increase for a short duration
3. Shorten the cast time slightly on Thunder spells so there is enough time for Thunder II + Scathe during Umbral Ice rotation (or just make us go with Thunder I + Scathe)

Alternatively, add a DoT with Fire III or Blizzard III so there is a consistent DPS boost that doesn't break even while we are moving.

They should also fix a personal pet peeve of mine... if a mob dies or move out of LOS while casting, please just interrupt the cast immediately so I get 1 second of my life back.

[NyneAlexander]

my guess is some form of levitation ability that just stays up(like shield oath or vengence). allowing casting while moving without breaking ff/mmo traditions. this however won't fix the gap between blm and smn. pre 2.2 there was a small gap between blm/smn single target dps. that gap is growing with each upgrade... pre 2.2 elite blm would push 250ish while elite smn would push 270ish. currently blm are pushing low 300's while smn are pushing low to mid 400's keeping pace with melee. bard and blm are both being left in the dust. we need sustained damage not more zerge abilities. stacking procs won't have any effect on your sustained dps. our zerge is fine as it is.

So I heard y'all wanna float...

[Kenji1134]

So after multiple runs of T6 on BLM... finding a group that runs on EST time can be surprising difficult on some servers, I have come to the simple, undeniable conclusion that SMN is simply FAR superior to BLM for T6... But why?
*And why do I bring this up in the buffs thread?*

SMN is superior in this fight not only due to it's dot nature, 3 dots and Garuda... aka flying glorified dot, but because you CAN actually maintain nearly full dps for any number of short movement phases... How? Ruin 2.

As a SMN, you need to stand for 2 dots, can cast Bio on the move, and when you need to move, you can replace Ruin w/ Ruin 2.
The catch is that Ruin 2 costs nearly twice as much as Ruin, justifying it as a "higher cost mobility damaging spell". Now somebody please come in an say "Well BLM gets that via Scathe, and you can Swiftcast things on the move too!"
This is true... but Swiftcast has a 60s CD, and we need to move every 20-25 seconds. And Scathe does maybe 1/3 of our normal dps... Scathe makes us pay in damage, instead of mana, which could use a change.

Here is my suggestion.
Change Scathe to function in the following manner:
Instant Cast
Regular GCD recast time
Base mana cost of 479 (1.5x the cost of Fire 1)
- 150 Base Potency -
*Now the fun part*
Is affected by Astral Fire in the same way as other Fire spells. (AF3 = 1.8x damage, 2x mana cost)
Is not affected by Umbral Ice (lowest mana cost is 479, lowest potency is 150)
Refreshes currently active Umbral Ice or Astral Fire stack. (Note: It does not add any stacks, it just resets the duration to 10 seconds)

What will this accomplish?
Well in AF3, it'll do the same damage as Fire 1, but its instant, cant proc Firestarter, and you can only do 3 of them before you need to switch back into UI to recharge. Its a higher mana cost, less rewarding, mobile DPS MAINTENANCE tool.
In UI3, it'll do the same net damage as Blizzard 1, instant, 4.5x the mana cost, so you dont want to use it before switching into AF3, meaning you still want to STOP before you switch to the fire cycle. Again, higher cost, limited use in rotation, but mobile!
And lastly, if you are about to have your stack drop, again, due to having to run around, or you have to be devoured to get rid of Honeyglazed, etc, you can quickly throw this new Scathe to refresh your stacks.

"But wont this break pvp???"
I kinda doubt it.
This would allow a BLM to run around and deliver a total of 810 potency before having to stop and start recharging. Versus a total of 1350 potency for a typical 5 fires, plus firstarter procs. Thats a pretty big loss.

"But then they can just run around and spam Scathe under UI3 forever!"
Okay, so 150 potency per gcd, with no added effects. Its like a bard kinda chasing you, but without autoattacks, and extra crits, and dots, and everything else... Not too sure how its threatening... Hell, maybe SE can slap the same code that's on bard abilities onto this new Scathe. The farther you are from your target, the less damage Scathe does. So if you want to "properly" PVP as a BLM... aside from Sleep spam... you must either stand and cast, or you can pretend to be a lousy bard and chase people spamming a weak instant Scathe at them... *menacing pvp black mage*