BLM Buffs Inc!

[hamsteak]

i'm starting to wonder if this will be an overhaul like warrior, or a straight up buff to damage like monk and dragoon

[Kenji1134]

I just want to know what they plan to do. It has been close to 4 weeks now, give us something.

Here are the 2 big questions.

1. On a standstill dummy fight, will BLM be "competitive" with other dps classes?

This in itself could be (partially) solved by giving BLM its own -10% Magic Resistance Debuff, freeing us from Bards on ST fights, which seems to be most of the current endgame.
I do not expect a perfectly played BLM to beat a perfect played MNK or DRG on a dummy fight. But I would expect to do AT LEAST 85% of their dps, in a perfect situation, WITH a personal -10% Resistance debuff, aka NO BARD.

2. Will the issues of BLM mobility and proc reliance be addressed?

The current endgame theme seems to be "movement and mechanics". Well there are 3 classes that take a significant hit due to movement, MNK, DRG, and BLM. MNK and DRG dps takes a nosedive when they need to move out for a circular aoe. Most other repositioning mechanics can be performed with minimal dps loss.
For a BLM, if you are moving, you are not casting... or you are Scathing... ugh... And if you are not casting, your dps consists of your 35 potency Thunder ticks, amazing.
The solution is: Sprint (still not casting). Aetherial Manipulation (every 30s and still costs about half a gcd at least). Scathe (1/3 of your normal dps output and cuts into your normal rotation). Or sit on a proc, IF you get a proc, and it doesnt expire while you sit on it.

Regarding proc reliance, maybe its time for us to finally move away from this excessive RNG and invisible timing based gameplay.
You cast Fire 1 and hopefully get a Firestarter proc, that you cant use yet because waiting for it to happen is a dps loss.
You keep Thunder up, and once in a while you get a Thundercloud proc... Other times you magically get 3 Thundercloud procs in 20 seconds and your dps goes through the roof... Other times you wonder if the Thundercloud trait is broken cause its been 2 minutes since you got a proc.
And our beloved mana resource... Yeah, not sure exactly when we'll get that back. Could be right now, could be in 3 seconds, dunno. Every cycle comes with a built-in waiting game, unless you are a race that naturally has 251 Piety with a Scholar in the party... cause they said in the beginning that your race wouldnt matter, right?

There are a number of ways to address all of these issues.
- Lower the base mana cost of Fire by about 10, such that a Highlander, who has the lowest Piety of any race, can do any rotation.
- Make Firestarter a stack based mechanic with up to 2 effective procs. Think Warrior's Wrath stacks. Lets call them "Ignition" stacks, you use Fire 1, you get a stack, UP TO FOUR! If you have TWO or more stacks, you can cast Fire 3 instantly and for 0 mana.
- Change Scathe from being an upfront dps loss, via terribly low potency, to an upfront MANA loss, by removing the current trait, and giving Scathe the same potency as Fire 1 when under Astral Fire, and the same potency as Blizzard 1 when under Umbral Ice. Make the mana cost somewhere around 480-500, so its use is prohibitive, and make the mana cost double when you are in Astral Fire, again making it VERY prohibitive.
- Additionally change the trait for Scathe to set the duration of your current elemental stack to 10 sec, so we can refresh our stacks on the move if needed.
- Make the Thunder spells, which are exclusive to THM/BLM, apply the -10% magic damage resistance debuff for 30 seconds regardless of the rank of the spell used. OR, since this would increase SMN's dps as well, make an "elemental resistance debuff", so Foe's Req would still be the superior option for other classes.
- Lastly, DO SOMETHING to make Surecast ACTUALLY USEFUL for its BASE CLASS. The idea of making it just let us cast on the move seems to fall on deaf ears, so here is a simple workaround. Keep the current effect of Surecast so other classes can use it. But change the trait to add a new effect to Surecast: Your next 3 Scathes COST NO MANA.

There, all done. Copy and paste some warrior code, change a potency here and there, subtract 10 from one number, and add a small extra effect.
Now any race of BLM can do any rotation. Firestarters are never wasted, AND are predictable, so you can stock them for bursts, or extended movement, or use them as available. Movement incurs a mana and rotation penalty, though we can bypass it a little with skilled use of Surecast.

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tl;dr - All I want to know is if I should even bother sinking any more gear (and time) into my BLM, or will they still be inferior to SMN, and most other dps, in endgame raid content?

[Exstal]

...wait for the live letter?

Also, BLM should always be inferior to SMN. SMN is a far more skill based class and it's justified that it should be higher DPS. Don't throw in the towel because you refuse to stick with the class you love. There are many groups, even one who posted a video in this sub-forum, using BLM from SCoB: Turns 1-4. Play what you like, not what brings the biggest numbers.

[Kenji1134]

Heh. It'd be nice if they did give us some useful info during the live letter.
I dont remember how long it was between the announcement of the Warrior changes, and them actually posting the preliminary WAR changes, though I dont think there was much difference between what was originally posted and what ended up being implemented.

Either way, it has been almost 4 weeks, some dev reply, at least stating what their overall goals are, or if they at least agree with that the general playerbase believe to be the dire shortcomings of the BLM class are (mobility, proc wasting, overall dps)... would be nice.

[Kuroyasha]

You do realize E3 is right around the corner so-to-speak, as it's in less than a month. I doubt they're going to give away much b4 then, even with the live letter.

[raelgun]

...wait for the live letter?

Also, BLM should always be inferior to SMN. SMN is a far more skill based class and it's justified that it should be higher DPS. Don't throw in the towel because you refuse to stick with the class you love. There are many groups, even one who posted a video in this sub-forum, using BLM from SCoB: Turns 1-4. Play what you like, not what brings the biggest numbers.

this is someone who played affy lock in wow and has WOL rankings, smn in this game isnt more skilled base then blm, the innate damage you do along from just dots which dont require debuffs on mobs like affy has to manage which grants dots more damage on a target, and pets just smacking away on a mob, smn just in this manner already does a lot of damage, smn in this game isnt really skilled based, just this game has a massive pool of unskilled players in general, which is what you are seeing.

[Exstal]

Having played both, it's easier to be a good BLM than it is to be a good SMN. There's less you have to pay attention to on BLM, thus easier to perform on. I don't pull it out of nowhere >_>

[Sleigh]

Having played both, it's easier to be a good BLM than it is to be a good SMN. There's less you have to pay attention to on BLM, thus easier to perform on. I don't pull it out of nowhere >_>

SMN is in general a slightly harder class to play at its core than BLM, when it comes to CD usage, Aetherflow management, pet movement/management, and general rotation. BLM does have its challenges though - much like how DRG has a longer rotation and many more CDs to use than MNK but MNK's core play style is based around GL3 upkeep with its own challenges, BLM is simpler than SMN but is based entirely around mitigating movement's penalties. That being said, I don't agree a harder job should necessarily do more damage than an easier to play one, and I certainly don't agree a harder to play job should just be superior, not in a team oriented game where gearing takes months of loot lock-outs. At the end of the day all the jobs are easy enough with a little research and a couple hours of practice to play 80-100% their capacity.

The big issue right now is, a mediocre SMN who's looked up the initial 20s opener and can keep their DoTs up will out-damage an experienced and/or played perfectly BLM, especially since multi-DoT situations are about a million times more frequent than AoE situations. The gap's large enough in mobile content it's actually tougher and takes more skill, effort, knowledge of the fight to out-damage a SMN as BLM than vice versa, but the tools simply aren't there if the SMN plays competently.

[Kirinichibon]

Thunder 1-3 seem to be the only skills in the game that mostly just overwrite each other. Cure 1-2 would if not for freecure. I would like to see Thunder 1-2 work like Aero 1-2 - one instant cast and one longer cast and stackable. Th3 could be replaced with a debuf that could increase fire and/or thunder damage. If the thunders stacked like this, the proc rate could remain the same.

I would love to see surecast updated to include movement interruptions, but other mages don't really also need to see a buff.

And SMN doesn't take skill to play - it can just be a challenge to learn.

[Zencurse]

snips

You're all missing a point here: difficulty of class gameplay shouldn't affect class performance. How difficult a class is to play should be circumstantial and not telling of which does more dps. If you like playing BLM because you want to focus more on optimizing your movement as a class that dislikes moving rather than focus on the mechanics of your class that has to optimize its rotation/cd management instead you shouldn't be punished for that.

In fact if we're talking purely on what each class brings a BLM should do equal, if not more, than a SMN. Summoners are a powerful class to bring as they are currently the only DPS class that can rez, which allows healers to keep going about their business while the SMN saves the raid. BLM don't have that kind of utility, they can prevent some raid damage to themselves, and cc skills that a SMN can already do better. In this way due to the lesser utility a BLM brings to a raid you COULD argue a BLM should do more to compensate for that...

To which I would argue that utility should also not count towards which class does more dps. Imo all rdps should be about equal and all mdps should be about equal, but bring different utility to discourage class stacking.