Originally in version 1 thm was a master of astral and umbral magics and cnj was the elementalist. Basically what we have now is thm using umbral and astral magic still but with "fire" and "ice" monikers to make them more Black Magey and fit better within the realm of Final Fantasy.

So basically blm and its abilities are fan service.

If they are not going to have an elemental wheel they should have just stuck with astral(ice)/umbral(fire,lightning) and things like "blood sacrifice" which made it more a dark mage class. But nope, creativity went out the window in favor of branding and strategic gameplay was replaced by the easy button.

After playing this game since v1 beta and see it transform into a super casual, faceroll mmo, however, it doesn't surprise me nor does it give me hope for any actual change.