Rethinking my choice of BLM Main

[Poponori]

So, I solely played BLM through ARR, half of HW with WHM for the other half, then went through SB with WHM and now starting to get back into BLM again, and between playing it on higher end content (this is the first expansion I've actually attempted EX primals), and reading other people's comments on the job, I'm wondering if I should be considering a different DPS.

One of the things that I've been reading is that really good BLM players need to intimately know the fights, so they can plan they rotation and movement ahead of time, and that's one of my weaknesses in playing, and why I don't do well in a tank role, or as scholar (who's proactive), but decent at WHM (reactive). That said, is that sort of mindset going to be very gimping on a BLM trying to do higher end stuff? Should I consider (and what would you recommend) a different DPS to learn and master? Thanks.

[Dyvid]

Well the same can be said with everything DPS. Your dps is going to be low until you start learning the fights.

[Lelila38]

Been Blm main since launch, been raiding on Blm on Coil, Alexander and now Omega.
It's true, Blm more than any class needs a thorough understanding of the fight. As an example, if you place your Ley Lines you want to be able to spend all or at least most of the duration of it inside (with Between the Lines there's also the possibility of placing them to ease movement, e.g.Susano, but it's still a dps loss). It would be wasted otherwise. The reason for this being that Blm is the least mobile of all jobs. We want to chose our position carefully so we can minimise our movement.
We may have an easy rotation on paper, but it's one of the hardest and most punishing to maintain during actual combat. For me, this is also the reason I love Blm and it feels rewarding to play. For doing it right, we're awarded with high numbers.
Blm has a learning curve. We generally require more practice of an actual fight, to figure out positioning, how to deal with movement and where to avoid it, where to place our cooldowns, what boss attacks to avoid and which to eat (Manawall pls). For savage content it also helps having a static that recognises the strengths and weaknesses of Blm and will help you optimise your movements, for example my Sch will make sure to position himself at a specific place during O2S, so I can use my Aetherial Manipulation to port to him for the next mechanic, thus getting an additional gcd in before having to move.

If you've got your Blm leveled up already, just try getting into ex primals on it and see how it feels for you. But don't decide after just 1 try, keep doing it several times, you'll see improvement with more knowledge of the battle. The more you do a fight the better you will get.

If you'd rather have a more mobile caster, maybe check out Rdm. This class is very flexible and it's easy to get into its playstyle. It also brings some additional utility. Truth be told atm Rdm is even the better choice for many groups, due to its raises, cures and emboldens. If however you decide to stick with Blm, don't let it discourage you if you don't do well on a fight at first, as said before, we need to learn fights more than others.

[Sarynth]

Just want to tack on with what Lelila38 said with the whole blm has to learn fights. I found lakshmi ex to be more easy of the two primals to learn positioning on and do well with blm. As for regular omega i learned the fights on rdm before switching to blm for them (can't speak for savage though). That said blm is very rewarding to play with its potential for big numbers (I'm looking at you 32k fouls) and I've even kept up with a few sam friends.

[Schondetta]

Every class in the game has the same requirement or something similar. Its inherit to a classical mmorpg gaming experience. Your answer just boils down to play what you enjoy. You bought the game and its your experience.tackling these issues is part of the challenge. I can tell you your not alone.I have been playing MMOs since 2004 and never once have I ever mastered anything resembling long a boss battle or rotation. There is simply too much information from the screen and I have to focus either on pressing the right buttons or paying attention to the fight mechanics off interface.

[Kaalia_Stormborn]

Knowing the fight, where you need to be, where to drop ley lines, WHEN to drop ley lines, if you need to save Triple Cast for mechs, or SC....it takes a lot to truly master an end game encounter with a BLM, with any class really, but it always seems BLM has the steepest of learning curves from all accounts I've read over the years. It's exceedingly fragile to keep your rotation perfect since 4.0 as well, so that adds to the basic challenges and have forced BLM players to adopt a pseudo 3.0 rotation to facilitate movement to keep our dps up. If you aren't happy with the class, try something else out and see if it better suits your game style. For me, I've always played a caster or healer, I'm horrific with melee dps, so I gravitated to BLM and have loved every minute of it.

[ShaolinMike]

If your playstyle is more reactive than proactive, you'll likely find RDM much more comfortable. It is by far the most mobile caster, and its rotation doesn't too much care about preparing for mechanics.

[Poponori]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Looks like a couple of you are suggesting RDM, which I'm almost thinking could be a good fit both with more mobility, and it being a black and white magic user lore-wise (and since I've been back and forth between the two, I love both school), so maybe I'll start giving that a try.

[Neela]

If your playstyle is more reactive than proactive, you'll likely find RDM much more comfortable. It is by far the most mobile caster, and its rotation doesn't too much care about preparing for mechanics.

i hate to say this but actually what Mike recommended... if you are more reactive than proactive you should take a cls which is not just mobile but more important a cls which isnt punished by breaking your rota while reacting to marker or aoes... Rdm is the winner in both aspects over nearly all other dds (except Brd/Mch which are similar in mobility/less punishment).

But to be honest I won't give up on your main just because of "what you heard"... give it a try, train & learn than give it another try... if you don't see any learnings try a mobility cls but... don't throw something away before you even tried it yourself. Blms in endgame are strong nowadays... and by strong I mean really strong - and the easiest way is not always the best or most enjoyable one... take the challenge and see how its rewarding you in the end.

[Maero]

Every job needs to really know the fights the only thing is blm if you do not pre-plan your dmg suffers alot, the other dps jobs do not get punished nearly as much.
Blm is satisfying to play but is not really overly rewarding (if that makes sense) Red Mage simply has so much utility and great damage atm