Do you think the devs intended multi-flare blm?

[Rufalus]

Just wondering what people think about the outbreak of black mages across eorzea using flare multiple times in quick succession.

I wonder if the developers had this kind of rotation in mind; it does such huge damage compared to other dps roles that it has pushed the popularity of BLM far above everything else, at least on my data center I expect to see at least one BLM in all high level dungeons 95% of the time.

Beyond the multi-target damage being greatly overpowered compared to all other dps roles, it also draws such huge enmity which rivals tanks, at least paladin anyway. I was just in a Halatali run on my paladin where I used flash twice on a mob, followed by a basic combo, followed by flash twice more. Immediately after the 4th flash, the enemies ran to the black mage.

I didn't think it was even possible that they could do more enmity than me while flashing; I was already forced to spam flash more than normal and it still was not enough. Yes I was in shield oath and with i96 gear level. Keeping enmity was never a problem before the mass outbreak of i95+ blm spamming flare we have now. It's changed the game.

[Musashidon]

it's because you combo'd if you have a blm that is gonna spam flare you gotta spam flash>flare at least for me i have never lost to a blm who flares.

now also you can only do 2 flares (at full power) in a row after that you are doing ice flares which are pathetic in damage i was doing some sr's and had a blm do 5 flares, 2 full power aka fire 3 flare convert swift cast flare then transpose flare blizard flare transpose flare. which the last 3 did 1/3rd the damage of 1 of the full power ones, while the monsters still died fast it would have been easier to just double flare fire 2 them.

[Nekodar]

And to think, BLM's are complaining that they are gimped compared to other classes, begging for tweaks to make them "more viable"...

[Behb]

Even if they want to change this the classical AOE rotation is close to the multi flare ... so it won't change much.
The blm in question should pop Quelling strike before doing this, especially if the tank is a PLD/or not used to it.

And dev want to buff blm, not nerf it, they are not so useful in Coil 2.

[Arrak]

If your BLM is AOEing spam flash until you're OOM or comfortable on threat, then build mana back with riot blade.

[whoopeeragon]

The only way you can do multi-flare is through convert/potions, which really only allows a maximum of 3 full-powered Flares in a row (excluding when you have a BRD playing Ballad....when they should be playing Foe Requiem). And that happens every 3 (I think Convert is 180sec recast?) minutes.

Of course, BLM is king of AoE, which, for speedruns, is pretty much putting them at top of the desired DPS slots.

But in all honesty, I think there's nothing wrong with it. Usually in a pack of mobs which are being AoE-ed, I won't even bother with using a basic combo, just spam Flash/Overpower/whatever AoE you have until you run out of MP/TP. And the double/triple Flare is, as I said, limited by cooldowns. Not to mention the BLM also has a period of time after Flare where they are unable to use spells until they recover sufficient mana.

Right now, AoE probably BLM's only asset apart from being ranged, because in movement-high battles which are aplenty in end-game content, BLM's dmg falls off quite some bit. They are probably the most movement-restricted job in the game, so for all those end-game fights with AoEs against solo targettable bosses? Yea, BLM got the coup' from king to peasant.

[Ooshima]

I believe that BLM didn't use quelling strikes.

There's a lot of idiot BLMs that just go raging strikes and flare the shit out of everything without the tank gaining sufficient enmity. It's not just BLM only. As a BRD I also possess the burst that could rip off a very geared tank if I wanted to.

I don't think currently there's any issues. With proper communication and timing, as a PLD in Brayflox HM speedrun I've seen PLD and WAR alike that could old a i100+ with i110 weapon BLM's triple flares. BLMs should know that flares generates lots of enmity, and generally BLM does generate lots of enmity with the fire3 procs. And thus they are granted access to one enmity management tool which is Quelling Strikes, but some BLM just don't bother to use it..

[Billzey]

I think you are overestimating BLM's DPS. They may be best at AoE damage, but the entire speed of the run depends on both trash+boss kills. Any DRG/BRD should have no trouble pulling higher DPS than BLM over the entire run. In fact, my fastest runs have always been with DRG + BRD.

[Mirili]

You can do an endless chain of flares if you can time it correctly. Using Flare around 2 seconds after you get a mana tic from Umbral Ice (Transpose) makes it so you receive a tic of MP after the flare goes off. That might be what he's referring to. Quelling Strikes would probably help in this situation, but you obviously can't have it up every time you need to AoE. Or even most times.

And BLMs want buffs to their "viability" anywhere there's high-movement fights, or need heavy single target damage. So, basically anything that isn't clearing Brayflox trash.

[Recaldy]

They were expecting fights using melee DPS but look what happened? >_>