Is BLM truly simple?

[Adamantium]

Yeah, no. my SMN does 430 on T6 and 400 on T9 including downtime. I have yet to see a BLM pull those numbers. And T7 is pretty obvious since a good SMN will always outdps a BLM on the same level. There are too many adds that can be multi-dotted there. Not to mention your DoTs will be doing damage everytime you get a shriek or voice.

I pull between 430-460 on Turn 6 depending on Foe Requiem uptime and mechanics given to me.
Turn 7 isn't a DPS race unless your group is under-geared this late into the content.
Good BLMs are pulling 450+ on Turn 8 consistently. I think my highest is 470.
Turn 9 is slightly better for SMN due to the last phase, but it's not that big of a difference. I pull 350-360 consistently considering I have to mark divebomb locations and move.

Maybe you just need to find better BLMs.

[BobbinT]

I main BLM since 1.0, and sorta main BRD in ARR (only because I want Gridania to be my home, but won't allow class not belonged to Grid).

Both job are amongst easy one to play compared with others, but I still favor BLM because of the simplicity. Back in 1.0, BLM spell can be combo-ed just like other dps job, but this was removed in ARR and got it even easier.

One other thing I like because of it's minimize movement required, although I still miss the cast-while-moving we once have in 1.0. All you need is to familiarize your spell speed. Certain chain of casting can trigger a spell to be casted faster. One of my favourite is Bliz 3 then Thunder 3, spell casted after this will always benefit one time enhanced spell speed.

One of important spell BLM have is Sleep. On level 36, you will get enhanced trait that lets you do AOE-base sleep. Lethargy's also important for cases like coil turn 5 where you need to slow the add in last half of fight since it can one hit kill.

Mitigation spell like Apocatastasis, Manawall, & Manaward also very useful, but I personally didn't use them very often except for very heavy content based like second coil of Bahamut. BLM strength is in managing their spell while only moving as necessary as you need. I don't even need these on Titan extreme, once you master the fight. lol

Another thing that you need to familiarize with to help ease your survivability is what I call time-proccing. When you're casting, you can start moving when the cast are like 0.5 second from finished. Very useful for fights that requires to dodge alot like Titan. You can even start another cast even before previous cast finished by knowing when to time-proc this.

Overall, BLM is among those relaxed job to play for general content especially like dungeon raiding, but not to be underestimated. If you want, you can max out your DPS capability once you calculate your casting very efficiently. Each successive casting of one element will raise the spell damage until opposite umbral trait resets it.

Oh... and did I forgot to mention that BLM has virtually infinite MP? Just play your Umbral Ice trait right, and you're set! XD

[Nutz]

BLM is a pretty easy class to get used to and do moderately well with. You use a fairly low number of skills regularly and essentially can't run out of mp (though a major screw up could leave you unable to attack for up to 10 seconds). Like others have said, it's a class that can be played in a very simple manner to get by and scales up a lot based on skill and experience. The 'rotation' is simple, the DPS gains are mostly from knowing when to break out of the rotation to do something slightly different, as well as knowing when you'll need to move, doing it pre-emptively (when possible), or negating the attack with manawall/ward.

[OneWingedSora]

Maybe you just need to find better BLMs.

I use BLM and the highest I did on T6 was 424 with one bard that only does foes at the start. And the Highest on T9 was 380. Summoner is still better in all of the T9 phases bar the first one. I guess If you triple flare the add+boss on heavens fall then it's 50/50 but we use mage LB so our BLM can only get one flare off on that part since I just use a Raging strikes+x int pot boosted bane and a spur+rouse buffed enkindle and then immediately LB.

And I never said Turn 7 was a DPS race, I just said Summoner will always outdps BLM there assuming equal skill level, which it does.

[Jican]

For those that are compairing Smn to BLm, just stop. The only things they have in common is the fact they cast, and do damage, otherwise, it's a completely different beast all together. Blm is burst damage, Smn is Damage over Time, with a single burst move that really doesn't hold a candle to a single three astral fire firestarter proc. Smn is also situational, you wouldn't want to a bunch of Smn's in a party during fights that have phases that have a DPS check, you'll lose every time. The only reason Smn push such high numbers is because any half competent at their job Smn will have their dots up at least 85% of the time and a pet that constantly attacks, even if you micro your pet or not.

[OneWingedSora]

For those that are compairing Smn to BLm, just stop. The only things they have in common is the fact they cast, and do damage, otherwise, it's a completely different beast all together. Blm is burst damage, Smn is Damage over Time, with a single burst move that really doesn't hold a candle to a single three astral fire firestarter proc. Smn is also situational, you wouldn't want to a bunch of Smn's in a party during fights that have phases that have a DPS check, you'll lose every time. The only reason Smn push such high numbers is because any half competent at their job Smn will have their dots up at least 85% of the time and a pet that constantly attacks, even if you micro your pet or not.

SMN does good burst though if you have full atherflow stacks.

And no, that's not all there is to SMN. There are many tips a tricks that differentiate a good Summoner from your average one.

[Leonus]

I laugh at the blm mains, that laugh at the melee mains and say melee is easier and then state their reason why (less down time lol).

Mostly because, a statement could also be made about why blm is or playing ranged in general is easier (maybe bar smn)

[Jican]

SMN does good burst though if you have full atherflow stacks.

And no, that's not all there is to SMN. There are many tips a tricks that differentiate a good Summoner from your average one.

Yes, I know, and it's the same with Blm. There are bad, ugly, and great people at all jobs, but they're still different beasts.

[Blueyes]

Speaking from the perspective of a healer who rarely takes up the damage dealer role, Black Mage is definitely one of the easier jobs to pick up. In comparison to Summoner, the other day I decided to play around with it a bit and was quickly overwhelmed. I'm not entirely sure if Bard could be considered better or worse than Black Mage. Bard has a considerably high number of off cool down abilities that need to be managed, but as long as you can do that comfortably the play style becomes quite fluid. I actually find it interesting that you mention Monk as a complicated job. Personally I feel like Monk falls into a steady rotation fairly easily. They require some dancing around to maximize damage output, but the combos themselves aren't particularly complicated.

I notice I didn't actually talk much about Black Mage. To me Black Mage almost plays like a mind game. It is true that Black Mage has somewhat of a reactive nature. You often can't just sit there and do your rotation expecting everything to go fine and dandy. You will have to make heat of the moment decisions. You may look back and ask yourself if you could have or should have reacted differently. I feel like these are things that affect Black Mage more so than any other job which can lead to beginners second guessing themselves a lot. To master Black Mage it not only takes skill and experience, but confidence as well.

[Jican]

I don't disagree that Blm is easy to pick up. I personally don't find any job hard to "pick up" but mastering is a completely different thing. We are absolutely reactive in almost everything we do. Dealing with Firestarter procs during our astral phase, dealing with it at the end, dealing with our thundercloud procs throughout both phases, dealing with WHEN we tick our umbral phase, moving, scathing, AoEing. Everything we do is reactional, even when the rng gods bless us and we can turret our spells without moving, we are always prepairing for the unexpected. I personally find Smn fairly easy to maximize, and as a main Blm, I can't really compair Blm and Smn together because of how differently they play. I'm not knocking anyone else who's views are different IF they have experience in all the fields they are talking about, but I have no patience for people who want to talk crap about a job they don't at LEAST have to 50. Blm and Smn don't even open up till 50, hell, all jobs don't open up until 50.