Spellcasting in PvP

[Dimitrii]

There's a difference between being uninterrupted by attacks and having a chance not to be interrupted by attacks.

Right now, everything that can interrupt a spell cast, does. Every BLM spell that causes big boy damage takes at least a full GCD to cast.

In order to have firestarter or thundercloud, you have to first land fire or thunder.

This is true but the point of my post is that the only reason your firestarter procs have not been nerfed is because of the fact that you are not able to free cast to your hearts content. As I said before 40% activation rate is insanely high for such a potent attack so any increase in your ability to sustain constant casting will inevitably be met with a nerf of this mechanic in some capacity.

Stuff

You're comparing a job who's bulk of damage accumulates over time and across multiple targets to one who can and will kill you in as few as 3 gcd's should they be lucky with their procs. Comparing one job who's debuffs can be removed, who's stacks can be removed, and who's strongest pet ability runs on a 5 min cooldown to one who would sustain potent burst dmg given the ability to free cast with absolutely no way to hinder or mitigate said incoming dmg (short of focalization/skewer which would affect both jobs anyway) lol. If your gonna give me such an asinine comparison then there really is no reason to even respond to this post cause you have no idea as to how lethal blm is unmolested. Not trying to belittle smn as they are undoubtedly kings in accumulating dmg long term but to compare their ability to deal and sustain burst dmg to that of blm is utterly ridiculous. You should probably take your own advice and actually play the job first before commenting.

[StouterTaru]

You're comparing a job who's bulk of damage accumulates over time and across multiple targets to one who can and will kill you in as few as 3 gcd's should they be lucky with their procs.

This is true of every dps in frontlines. The difference is, all you have to do is poke a blm and they do almost no damage to you. Other dps have off GCD attacks.

[Dimitrii]

This is true of every dps in frontlines. The difference is, all you have to do is poke a blm and they do almost no damage to you. Other dps have off GCD attacks.

No this is not true of every dps in frontlines. While it is true that all the dps may be able to burst a target down occasionally, that burst damage potential is still restricted by the recast times attached to the abilities the dps would use to perform said burst (i.e drg's jumps + pvp abilities, smn's enkindle, monk's howling fist + pvp abilities + steel peak, etc). Black mage would literally be the sole exception to this limitation as their burst comes from spells which are on the gcd (firestarter procs from using fire, thundercloud procs from using thunder and flare).

[Kassiekane]

cause you have no idea as to how lethal blm is unmolested...

Equal to a summoner.

[Kassiekane]

...and actually play the job first before commenting.

Challenge completed.

You nor any other non summoner dps will ever reach the total dmg a highly skilled summoner can for the simple fact that no job is capable of compiling damage across multiple targets the way summoner can.

This is exactly my point. Even if a black mage does not get touched for most of the match, their dps ceiling is still lower than a class that can freecast most of its abilities. You are also underestimating how lethal dots can be when you have melees and tanks to worry about, since a summoner can pretty much negate aoe heals while melees deal the killing blow.

You're comparing a job who's bulk of damage accumulates over time and across multiple targets to one who can and will kill you in as few as 3 gcd's should they be lucky with their procs.

No, it took me an average of 7-9 gcd's to get anyone low enough for a kill (melees usually took the finishing blow). Black mage's ST damage is pure RNG, and even with good luck it still isn't some 'blow up the healer' kind of thing, and it shouldn't be, but at the same time it doesn't deserve to be a free kill. How boring is it to play a class in which your only defense is to run away?
Most of that damage came from flare; I continuously used 3-4 flares in a row under raging strikes and did some serious damage across a whole party of adders bubbling a flag.... but no one died. If I just used fire 1/3 for the entirety of the match I wouldn't have gotten that score. Black mage is not the threat you make it out to be.

[Arkenne]

Most of those are a pretty bad ideas on account of them being RNG. You do NOT want interrupt mechanics governed by RNG. Ever. That makes for entirely random matches with random balance. No. What you want is a controllable, skillful method of interrupting. Something that can be directly controlled by the player who's trying to interrupt the cast.
I'd actually like to see exactly what we have now, but with some minor tweaks:
1: Autoattacks no longer interrupt. Ever.

Well, first than nothing, what I posted werent suggestion, but rather asking you guys what is it you were looking for, for clarification's sake.
Seems I hit the nail, looking at your 1st point.

[DenariusJay]

As someone who just recently started playing WHM in frontlines all I can say is I have a new respect for spellcasters in PvP. This shit is no joke and is hell in the cell trying to get anything off without constantly getting interrupted. Also being a Flame on primal, 9/10 your the only healer in group so its inevitable your gonna get the gangbang treatment, which makes healing damn near impossible in some case. They need to figure out a way to cut us some slack without it being OP, I think one more surecast-like spell is needed tbh.

[Dimitrii]

Raging Strikes (off global cooldown) > Fire III (1st gcd) > Fire I (2nd gcd) > Firestarter proc insta fire III > Fire I (3rd gcd) > Firestarter proc insta fire III > target roasted.

Dead in 3 gcd (and even without raging strikes this amount of incoming dmg will likely kill anyone short of a tank)

Can repeat as many times as firestarter proc occurs (which at 40% activation rate is high) with no notable recast time whatsoever unlike the burst the other dps perform. Show me another dps that can potentially perform this type of devastation on successive targets.

My point is not that blm's can do this now cause obviously they cannot. My point is that there is a reason why you are unable to freecast. Firestarter would make you overpowered. So yeah if you wanna cast freely maybe SE can accommodate you so that attacks no longer interrupt you thats fine. Just dont expect to retain your current attack potency cause you will not. You will end up sacrificing one aspect of the job for another. If that tradeoff is fine with you and allows you to enjoy the job better then there is no reason to continue to debate. More power to you and I hope SE takes note of your request. My only problem stems from people asking for changes to a job without considering the consequences those changes would entail should every other aspect of the job remain untouched.

Edit: the "target stays in front conal" aspect of your argument I dont even see the point in. Every job has this restriction in some form whether it be healers and casters needing to have target in LOS, or melees and tanks needing target to be within range of them.

[StouterTaru]

Raging Strikes (off global cooldown) > Fire III (1st gcd) > Fire I (2nd gcd) > Firestarter proc insta fire III > Fire I (3rd gcd) > Firestarter proc insta fire III > target roasted.

Dead in 3 gcd.

Can repeat as many times as firestarter proc occurs (which at 40% activation rate is high) with no notable recast time whatsoever unlike the burst the other dps perform. Show me another dps that can potentially perform this type of devastation on successive targets.

...

Edit: the "target stays in front conal" aspect of your argument I dont even see the point in. Every job has this restriction in some form whether it be healers and casters needing to have target in LOS, or melees and tanks needing target to be within range of them.

Fire III is 1.4x the GCD.

Firestarter procs take about half a second before you can see or use them, no BLM waits a second between casts just in case that firestarter procs. A BLM in turrent mode has an average about 1 firestarter per full mp pool, which is 9-10 GCD on average.

Raging Strikes>Fire3>Fire>Fire3 will not roast any target in frontlines, unless they are in ilvl55 gear, it will get you maybe 2/3 of the HP for a dragoon with their ungodly horrible magic defense.

The difference between melee front conal LoS and BLM is that you have to remain there for over 2 seconds, instead of a fraction of a second.

And still not asking to be able to free cast through damage, just asking that I don't get interrupted by every single little piece of damage. Every dps has at least 2 abilities off GCD that would interrupt if they did zero damage. It's excessive that every single autoattack will 100% cause interruption.

[HitoYuudai]

am I the only one that thinks Dimitrii doesn't have the slightest clue of balancing or just doesn't want casters being able to atleast having a chance against another class?