BLM needs some love and RDM needs a nerf

[Blonde_Huntress]

As someone who has played all 3, my thoughts are that if ANY of the magic DPS needs some love it's SMN.

However, even then I don't think any of them are so far gone that they can't be redeemed--all 3 are playable.

BLM should get some CD/damage buffs. It SHOULD be the highest magical damage dealer at the cost of utility.

RDM is just fine where it is, although I personally wouldn't mind a small (like 20 potency) Scatter buff.

SMN Bane should revert back to 3.x. Buff Misama/Bio potency by either extending time or actual damage dealt. Remove the damage scaling on Deathflare.


Just my 2 cents.

[Symon17]

I'm not sure why everyone is so focused on potency buffs/nerfs. Rdm has the lowest damage potential of the casters on a dummy parse. It's right behind smn, and both are a ways behind blm.

I agree blm needs some love, but there's nothing wrong with its damage potential. Any adjustments should focus on better equipping the class to realize that potential on strenuous fights. Just adding more potency on top will throw things way out of balance on turret fights, and knee-jerk nerfing rdm even lower will ensure that it will never have competitive damage, even when played properly.

With harder rotations, blm and smn may also need more time to perform to thier potential, but this doesn't seem like an issue of potency to me.

[ZeroAmano]

As someone who has played all 3, my thoughts are that if ANY of the magic DPS needs some love it's SMN.
However, even then I don't think any of them are so far gone that they can't be redeemed--all 3 are playable.
BLM should get some CD/damage buffs. It SHOULD be the highest magical damage dealer at the cost of utility.
RDM is just fine where it is, although I personally wouldn't mind a small (like 20 potency) Scatter buff.
SMN Bane should revert back to 3.x. Buff Misama/Bio potency by either extending time or actual damage dealt. Remove the damage scaling on Deathflare.
Just my 2 cents.

TBH if you think RDM is just fine where it is then you are completely wrong.
BLM Fire4/Bliz4 pot 260 and RDM valaero/thunder plus proc stone either fire or jolt2 is 300+270 (plus proc is 50% chance)
even BLM have leylines that reduce spell casting time it still DOESN'T match the DPS where the RDM is going.
I think they need to reduce the RDM pot to 240 and 260 level (because the dual casting) then we can talk again or simply reduce the proc chance from 50% to 30%.
Although RDM playstyle is right at it should be that's true.
Also Scatter is good enough as it should be.

[EllieShadeflare]

TBH if you think RDM is just fine where it is then you are completely wrong.
BLM Fire4/Bliz4 pot 260 and RDM valaero/thunder plus proc stone either fire or jolt2 is 300+270 (plus proc is 50% chance)

You... don't understand how Astral Fire works, do you? And I'm guessing you never use Thundercloud?

[PrismaticDaybreak]

TBH if you think RDM is just fine where it is then you are completely wrong.
BLM Fire4/Bliz4 pot 260 and RDM valaero/thunder plus proc stone either fire or jolt2 is 300+270 (plus proc is 50% chance)
even BLM have leylines that reduce spell casting time it still DOESN'T match the DPS where the RDM is going.
I think they need to reduce the RDM pot to 240 and 260 level (because the dual casting) then we can talk again or simply reduce the proc chance from 50% to 30%.
Although RDM playstyle is right at it should be that's true.
Also Scatter is good enough as it should be.

They tried it at 30% while it was still in development, obviously changed since the mana gauge would charge way too slow. Your math is wrong, jolt 2 is only 240 potency. If you think RDM playstyle is fine now, then you cannot change the proc rate of Stone/Fire since then it would slow way down between burst phases. Don't forget BLM also has a constant 5% magic damage buff, if we speak purely in terms of potency, the two Fire 4's fired off in the same time as Jolt 2 and Aero/Thunder ends up at 546, slightly ahead of RDM.

[Symon17]

TBH if you think RDM is just fine where it is then you are completely wrong.
BLM Fire4/Bliz4 pot 260 and RDM valaero/thunder plus proc stone either fire or jolt2 is 300+270 (plus proc is 50% chance)
even BLM have leylines that reduce spell casting time it still DOESN'T match the DPS where the RDM is going.
I think they need to reduce the RDM pot to 240 and 260 level (because the dual casting) then we can talk again or simply reduce the proc chance from 50% to 30%.
Although RDM playstyle is right at it should be that's true.
Also Scatter is good enough as it should be.

It doesn't make sense to pick two random spells from each job's roster and compare potency. A job's potential damage is determined by it's entire kit being used together optimally. Otherwise we could say "Warrior's fell cleave does 500 potency, and it can do it five times in a row! It's not fair to mages! Nerf it!"

[EllieShadeflare]

It doesn't make sense to pick two random spells from each job's roster and compare potency. A job's potential damage is determined by it's entire kit being used together optimally. Otherwise we could say "Warrior's fell cleave does 500 potency, and it can do it five times in a row! It's not fair to mages! Nerf it!"

Techincally, Warrior's Fell Cleave made BLACK MAGE look unfair, due to the way Astral Fire works with potency. You can't trust the potency given by the tooltip, since they're "base" potencies.

Back in HW (and maybe still now), Astral Fire affects damage like this:

1 stack: 40% increased damage (1.4x)
2 stacks: 60% increased damage (1.6x)
3 stacks: 80% increased damage (1.8x)

And old Fire IV was its base potency of 280. This meant our base, bread and butter attack spell was 504 (529after Enochian) potency when all things were said and done, equivalent to an OFF COOLDOWN NUKE.

Fire IV's potency nerf looks a little bad, now at 468 (though technically 491 after you remember Enochian is a thing), but no less formidable. Plenty to catch up with the 570 potency per Dualcast, though we can put out 468 per cast without waiting 2.3-2.5s for recast afterward.

[Symon17]

Techincally, Warrior's Fell Cleave made BLACK MAGE look unfair, due to the way Astral Fire works with potency. You can't trust the potency given by the tooltip, since they're "base" potencies.

Back in HW (and maybe still now), Astral Fire affects damage like this:

1 stack: 40% increased damage (1.4x)
2 stacks: 60% increased damage (1.6x)
3 stacks: 80% increased damage (1.8x)

Oh I know! I used to main BLM. I just thought getting into it would complicate the point.