What I think should change about 3.0 BLM.

**Vateri** · 07-09-2015 05:46 PM

I think removing the -5 second duration mechanic would make most if not all of my problems go away. To balance that out, maybe make Enochian have a 90second cooldown.

**ZephyrusM** · 07-09-2015 06:03 PM

For those that say "more Spell speed will fix it", maybe you haven't noticed that SS no longer lowers cast time at the same rates. In 2.0, 10 SS took .01 seconds off of cast time. It's now 23-24 SS to get that same .01 removed. Meaning that even though I have nearly 100 more SS than I did before with all this new gear, my cast times are slower than they were in 2.0.

Enochian falling off is a 40-50% DPS loss. Period. Not even monks lose that much DPS if they lose Greased Lightning. This is the issue with current BLM: if we follow mechanics we risk getting our DPS cut in half. Surecast is useless against movement interrupts, Swiftcast has too long of a CD to be effective enough to keep the Enochian rotation going. We can't use our DoT without a DPS loss. We can't use or procs without a DPS loss.

**ZephyrusM** · 07-09-2015 06:04 PM

What other job in this game takes a DPS loss because they use a proc? None of them.

There are some major issues with end-game BLM and some very simple fixes to make it better that don't involve changing potencies or giving damage buffs. Having Fire 4 and Blizzard 4 increase the duration of their respective elemental phase ( AF/UI) by 2 seconds would be a major improvement. Making one of the thunder spells an instant cast would also be nice and not break anything.

**Duro** · 07-09-2015 06:30 PM

The changes I would make for the sake of keeping it balanced but keeping the same playstyle would be

Thundercloud procs should be Off GCD so we can actually use them with a firestarter etc..

Enochian should timer should not be reduced by 5 seconds when refreshing, then we would be like monks keeping up GL3 and then using perfect balance(enochian) when bosses disappear at transitions

and to balance these changes Fire 4 should be reduced to around 240 potency which also makes flare relevant again in single target

**Egnasya** · 07-09-2015 06:39 PM

The real question, in my line of thinking at least, is, are BLM even expected to frequently use Enochian and keep it up for longer parts of encounters?

Generally I agree with all of that, I've struggled a lot to get the new abilities under control, I agree that it's "super clunky" and sometimes infuriating. But look at fight design for a moment, there clearly are phases that want you move, others want you to DPS. Ex trials, Alex, all have that. With that in mind, 3.0 ability design might just be, keep it up while you can but don't expect to be able to keep it rolling forever. Losing your buffs and returning to 2.0 rotation might be intended, keeping up burst is seen as a damage increase by developers. This would explain why there is nothing done - everything "works as intended" for SE.

Now I don't say that's my personal opinion. I bite my keyboard everytime buffs runs out too. It's just that, we might simply misunderstand the developer's intention with the current state of BLM.

**HaroldSaxon** · 07-09-2015 06:59 PM

Astral Fire Duration Increase
Thunder 4 - Thundercloud giving extended Enochian by 5 seconds (so that using Thundercloud doesn't punish you)
Allow finish of B4/T4/F4 cast if the cast has started even if Enochian drops off
Fix of the F3-Gap-F4 bug.
Reduction of the Mana cost of F1 to be the same as F4 (so that using F1 instead of F4 doesn't double punish you)
Enochian refresh always fully refreshes Enochian

The base numbers are fine for the most part, theres just a number of huge QoL issues. Or just run another melee and provide more to the raid.

**ZephyrusM** · 07-10-2015 03:14 AM

Originally Posted by Egnasya

The real question, in my line of thinking at least, is, are BLM even expected to frequently use Enochian and keep it up for longer parts of encounters?

Now I don't say that's my personal opinion. I bite my keyboard everytime buffs runs out too. It's just that, we might simply misunderstand the developer's intention with the current state of BLM.

The issue is that not keeping Enochian up 100% of the time costs BLM 40-50% DPS. Using the old spam fire 1 rotation doesn't cut it. You can't meet DPS checks/enrage timers if one of your DPS constantly takes 40-50% DPS loss because they dodge or take part in a mechanic.

**Sleigh** · 07-10-2015 03:38 AM

Originally Posted by ZephyrusM

The issue is that not keeping Enochian up 100% of the time costs BLM 40-50% DPS. Using the old spam fire 1 rotation doesn't cut it. You can't meet DPS checks/enrage timers if one of your DPS constantly takes 40-50% DPS loss because they dodge or take part in a mechanic.

Dropping Enochian is bad but it's not a 40-50% loss, no. I've done full no Enochian parses and I get 1k~ when it's more like 1,150-1,200 with normal Enochian.

**OmegaStrongtan** · 07-10-2015 03:49 AM

If thunder ticks on something AF will last longer, Thundercloud will insta add some seconds
or
Scathe will add to AF timer
or
simple and boring increase AF timer
or
change surecast to: you may cast while running for 15 Seconds. has cruel long cooldown.

As it is now Thunder spells need some overhaul. Right now i only use it for opener, when i derped my main rota and have to use 2.0 rota or have spare time left after B3.

oh and please make Enochian refresh always fully refresh duration.

**Kenji1134** · 07-10-2015 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by Sleigh

Dropping Enochian is bad but it's not a 40-50% loss, no. I've done full no Enochian parses and I get 1k~ when it's more like 1,150-1,200 with normal Enochian.

Shooting myself in the foot here cause I do want BLMs to get some QoL changes to make the timers more forgiving but... Im tempted to agree with this.

Lets see, the old rotation is for example...
240(T1) + 180(B1) + 240*.7*2 (B3 and F3 swapping) + (5*180+2*240)*1.8 = 3240 pot over 11 gcds = 117.82 pot/sec.

A general "lets pretend its a full refresh every time" Enochian rotation may look like...
240*.7*2 (B3 and F3 swapping) + (5*280+180)*1.8 (lets claim we can fit in 5 F4's) + 280(B4) to refresh = 3460 potency, over a total of 25.5s due to the longer cast times of F4 and B4 = 135.69 pot/sec.

So 135.69/117.82 = 15.2%
From a pure math standpoint, not counting the EXTRA dps loss from having to wait for mana ticks or having a buff fall off because the timer ran out, the perfect sustained Enochian rotation is only 15% stronger than the perfect sustained non-Enochian rotation.

So IDK, my BLM is still 59.6ish so I cannot truly speak for how much of a dps gain having F4 will be... but from a math standpoint, if you simply HAVE TO drop Enochian and revert to the old rotation, it is not a 40-50% dps loss... (again my viewpoint may change when I hit 60 and get some better gear)

I think a lot of it is the idea that messing up the Enochian timer hell and losing 40-50% is that when you DO mess it up, you are fundamentally messing up core BLM mechanics because you were desperately trying to maintain Enochian.

Perhaps the solution is the accept BOTH rotations and practice some fluidity in switching between them?
Perhaps if you see that you are forced to move and will be entering a "red zone" in your timers, it may be a good idea to fluidly change back to the old rotation and let Enochian fall off. As opposed to trying to do a last second salvage, failing, and now you have no Enochian, no stacks, and not enough mana to cast a damn thing!

That said, do I think the current state of BLM is good? NO!
BLM when played perfectly CAN be good, some would say very good, but the way the current timer and stack mechanics are set up is SO unforgiving that 1 small mistake, 1 slightly long forced movement phase, and you are SCREWED! And that is wrong.
The timers need to be extended, B4 and F4 should be allowed to finish casting if AF or UI or Enochian fall off, and maybe the personal effects of these spells should be frontloaded, applied at the start of the cast, not when the cast lands AND deals damage (hello invulnerable boss).
But we should not completely shun the old rotation. If you honestly see that you are in a situation where trying to maintain the Enochian rotation may very well cause you to lose all your stacks and end up in a sorry state, then just switch back to the old rotation until Enochian refreshes. It is better to fluidly change rotations and do 15% less damage, than fail to salvage Enochian and quite likely end up doing 40-50% less damage.

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