Black Mage

[TsuKoj]

It feels bad enjoying blm, but knowing the healers prefer you on rdm for prog and everyone prefers you on brd for everything else. I can also feel everyones groans when I ask my group to make a change to play around my positioning.
Blm gets punished twice for being ranged, once with long cast times which puts their uptime on bosses lower than melee on most fights, and again by having their dps reduced compared to their melee counterparts.
I'm apprehensive of 4.2 for blm without any changes/buffs. With blm being the only immobile job after 4.1 with smns getting instant ruin3s in dwt, I'm unsure if the fight designers for deltascape 5-8 will keep in consideration of blms immobility when 4/5 ranged classes have on demand mobility.
I honestly like blms playstyle and rotation atm, it feels very satisfying to do well(95%+ you know where with no brd/nin in pt ) on blm since it shows your mastery of the fight.
However I feel blms need an identity. Either they need to go one way and put their dps up to par and be top dps equal sam (both blm and Sam should probably be even higher post 4.1 buffs to other jobs)so that even though your useless to the group, at least you have personal satisfaction, or give them utility to rival monk/smn so they can actually help the group out a little.

[NovaLevossida]

This is a really big issue. SMNs are already doing as much and more damage than BLM with a combat raise in the kit. They're getting some much needed QoL changes, but it looks like they're getting straight up buffs too. I don't know in what world it makes sense to buff SMN up with how it's already exceeding BLM and not touch BLM at all. And to that end, even SAM isn't that far ahead of SMN. Maybe there will be some surprise job changes in the 4.1 patch notes, but I'm not optimistic. I get the impression no one at SE can really play BLM to begin with from how YoshiP fumbles his BLM openers all the time and BLM launching in 4.0 with such a janky rotation due to MP issues. They're clearly not too afraid of making a caster powerful given the SMN changes coming up.

[Myon88]

Something you need to note is that the impression that SMN is putting out impressive numbers is party due to the fact that radiant shield damage produced by the entire raid is being attributed to the summoner. It would be kind of like if the extra damage done thanks to a ninja's trick attack was added back to the ninja instead of the other 7 people. It's a bit of a grey area as while it is a raidwide buff that requires a party to capitalize on it, it provides raw damage via extra attacks instead of a being stat buff like other job's raid buffs that increase damage indirectly.

I'm not saying they're fine even disregarding radiant shield completely - maybe they're still too high, who knows? But for the sake of fairness, factors like this are important to keep in mind. The moogles that sit on your shoulder and help count your damage aren't very good at counting dots too (maybe because the numbers are too small), and there's a lot of weirdness happening there.

It's easy to get the impression that certain jobs are disproportionately weak or strong if data is interpreted in a certain way, but only SE knows the full story at the end of the day.

[Karshan]

This is a really big issue. SMNs are already doing as much and more damage than BLM with a combat raise in the kit. They're getting some much needed QoL changes, but it looks like they're getting straight up buffs too. I don't know in what world it makes sense to buff SMN up with how it's already exceeding BLM and not touch BLM at all. And to that end, even SAM isn't that far ahead of SMN. Maybe there will be some surprise job changes in the 4.1 patch notes, but I'm not optimistic. I get the impression no one at SE can really play BLM to begin with from how YoshiP fumbles his BLM openers all the time and BLM launching in 4.0 with such a janky rotation due to MP issues. They're clearly not too afraid of making a caster powerful given the SMN changes coming up.

Dw it's mainly QoL and not straight up buffs (we haven't seen potencies either, the changes are just an overview). They don't change the power, just simplified some things.
Right now SMN really only needed QoL cause damage is good, just need to make it easier to acces it (you need to know the fight as well as a BLM cause it's a frikin nuclear power plant control room at times and just like BLM with positionning, it doesn't go well in progress)

But we gain utility, and if fflogs translates devotion the way it does with radiant shield, then yes it will be too much. We can't have a SMN doing the same as the black mage damage wise WITH rez and devotion, that's not balanced.

[PFM]

I have nothing to add, only that it's sorry and amateur that the developers have let it get to this point.

[LittleLamb32]

What if BLM had a skill that "froze" their gauge:

Specifically...

Freeze:
Is now an ability that "freezes" their Gauge.
Recast Time: 45 seconds.
Umbral Ice:
Indefinitely freezes Umbral Ice's timer until a spell that removes Umbral Ice is cast.
Astral Fire:
Temporarily freezes Astral Fire's timer for 7 seconds. Automatically melts if a spell that gives Astral Fire is cast.

Note: It is implied that this allows Polyglot to keep ticking.

Whether or not it should refresh Astral Fire's timer, or keep Polyglot ticking is debatable.

Another angle I took this was when Polyglot's timer is done ticking or perhaps when you cast Foul, immediately reduce Triplecast's recast time by 30 seconds.

Edit: Yes, I realize that this doesn't give them team utility, but instead allows them more reposition time.

Edit 2: Or perhaps give BLM "Twincast"
Twincast:
Borrow the cast time of another ally's spell to cast half of the next spell cast, reducing your cast time by 50%, and the target's cast time the amount reduced. Lasts 15s.
Cooldown: 30s

This would immediately trigger when the target of Twincast begins to cast the spell. This doesn't work on weapon skills, abilities, or anything that has no cast time.

[TsuKoj]

That does nothing for blm. Repositioning is about the loss of casts, for example of a melee/ranged dps moves they can move during the gcd of an ability to lose nothing and at worst it delays a gcd by a second. For blms unless you preplan your triple/swift cast(and assuming it's not on cool down) you lose the time (up to 2ish seconds) by canceling a cast and the time it takes to find finish moving to start a new cast(blm doesn't have a gcd shorter than cast time). Astral/umbral is easy to upkeep with transpose juggling during phase changes.

[Kairi-L]

I'm sorry you feel you can contribute more with any other job, however have you maxed out your potential? DMG wise BLM is still king mage wise.

https://www.fflogs.com/character/id/139895

I would say he maxed out his potential more than you did w

but anyway, this is exactly why job balance and end game raids shouldn't be balanced around casuals.

[NovaUltimatum]

Black Mage has been the job I have stuck with since beta, all through ARR, HW and now SB. I have played it in solo play, casual raid teams, world prog raid teams and even tried bringing it to speed kill teams.
Since ARR, BLM has kept very true to its identity. It stands still and it does damage. It has been given various defensive utilities over it's lifespan but these are minor additions which over time have become completely insignificant.
To get a full understanding of the current state of Black Mage as a functioning job in Stormblood, we need to understand how the game has changed since ARR when I would last say Black Mage was truly in a viable and desired spot.


1. Raid buffs.
This is probably the single most detrimental contributor to my enjoyment of Black Mage, as well as it's viability in end game content. Raid buffs such as trick attack, hypercharge, and foe requiem add strong burst windows to your teams damage. When used correctly, these allow for huge damage spikes which can be capitalized on through smart use of cooldowns and manipulating timers. It creates a layer of complexity and enjoyment when running the same content in the months we have between each raid cycle.

However. Black Mage has ZERO offensive utility. As a job it does not provide to any other team member in a positive way, in fact for many teams who are not at a higher level of play, bringing a Black Mage will cause the team to overcompensate when allowing for the turret class and this can be a hindrance to the teams overall damage.

On top of their lack of offensive utility, they are not able to consistently capitalize on these burst windows provided by other raid members. Due to the RNG nature of the BLM rotation, you cannot reliably plan which GCDs will line up with your teams burst, creating a huge disparity between getting your powerful spells within buffs and getting your weaker phase inside the same window.


2. The powercreep of ranged physical DPS.

Back in ARR, bard was very powerful. It had very high personal DPS while it provided raid dps buffs through foe requiem on top of limitless mobility. However resource management was an issue during this content, and said bard would have to sacrifice it's own damage for the good of the team to allow TP spenders to keep spending and MP spenders to keep spending. This created a solid balance where it's power was gated and not allowed to be overbearing.

HW rolls around and as the expansion progressed, bard and machinist both saw more and more aggressive buffs. Jobs which already provided higher raid dps total contributions than casters (when combining personal damage with hypercharge/foe) as well as having access to resource regeneration tools made them provide more overall damage than both BLM and SMN, which are purely DPS classes. During Heavensward balancing patches, classes started to be almost completely TP independent. Meaning the use of Army's Paeon as a DPS balancing tool became less and less important.

So now we are in Stormblood, and I feel like we are still in Heavensward. Black Mage was released with rotation breaking issues with MP, timers too strict for the gear we had available all in all making the class feel very un-fun to play. While these issues were bandaid fixed (simply by giving more spell speed in the form of reduced cast times on f4/b4) it still didn't hold up because at the same time, ranged physical classes were being buffed as well. Machinist gets personal DPS buffs, while also providing raid utility, and even the already absurdly powerful bard gets buffs in 4.06. And now with 4.1 coming up, machinist is AGAIN being buffed while black mage gets nothing. Another important change that came with Stormblood is the free to cast MP and TP restoring abilities. Now the previously balancing factor is completely gone even further pushing ranged physical DPS ahead in viability.

In previous fights, casters were incentivised through the use of physical damage resistant mob types. The last instance of this being used was in Floor 7 of Alexander Savage, which was a very weak check capable of being dealt with by a healer (and optimally so) as the fastest kill for this turn was with both bard and machinist, in place of a caster.

So if we were to compare bringing a Black Mage and ANY ranged class right now we are trading Manashift, Apocatastasis, and Addle for significantly higher raid DPS contribution, a stronger form of MP sustain through Refresh (6kmp vs 3kmp and it is FREE), personalized forms of mitigation on par with or stronger than Addle (Troubadour and Dismantle), and the ability to do all of these while moving freely for mechanics.


3. Homogenization of the caster role.

Black Mage got the short end of the stick with the role changes in Stormblood. No way to argue it. Apocatastasis being made cross-role removed identity and value from the job. This was previously a small niche which the Black Mage could fill in coordinated teams to provide defensive utility to magic damage tank busters, or spot-apoc a low HP target party member during megaflares. Now that is shared between the other casters, which also provide more valuable contributions themselves. On top of this, the new combined manaward button took away defensive flexibility in the job itself.

Both Summoner and Red Mage have their niche in the raid scene, and out of it. Red Mage is a blind progression godsend with its simple rotation and ability to verraise at will, on top of that it is the forerunner in the oh-so-competitive world of POTD solo runs. Summoner provides very high total raid dps (which is being hugely buffed in patch 4.1) as well as a raise which is valuable for progression. Black mage provides nothing outside of its lackluster damage contribution and slow learning curve for fights due to its turret playstyle.

So after gutting the job of it's personal strengths and buffing other classes that already provided more to the team, Black Mage is left in a spot which is honestly disappointing.
We still struggle with horrible execution of rotation due to forced GCD clipping, in a world where you have such small windows to maintain buffs while executing optimal rotation.

At the end of the day you have to ask yourself why should I bring a Black Mage over any other class to any content. Casual Progression? Hardcore Progression? Speed kills?

"I hate that every time I play the job that I want, I have it in the back of my mind that I'd be contributing more by picking almost anything else" - Blackcat Ofillomen

Wow, OP has actually managed to articulate the underlying feelings I've had as a BLM main. I'm actually quite surprised that YoshiP hasn't recognised these issues given he plays BLM more than the other roles too.

I will add though, that BLM is still the best among all jobs for AoE damage. So it does come in #1 for dungeon spamming in my opinion. However, BLM mains would probably rather it offered more to the table in raid encounters. I was actually curious to see whether Omega would add enough AoE requirements to help BLM (and the other casters to a lesser extent) secure raid balance, but alas they kept to the usual focus of single target dps.

Personally I'd rather the job got personal utility to help balance it rather than numbers tweaks (which vary greatly between players anyway). I know YoshiP mentioned in a live letter he didn't want BLM to have a raise because it wouldn't be lore-friendly. But I don't see why that couldn't be explained with necromancer lore.

[Capn_Goggles]

I've always loved BLM, and I certainly enjoy SB BLM, but I'm inclined to agree that it's another victim to some nasty powercreep. In a vacuum it seems incredibly powerful, like SAM, because it gets big numbers, but its numbers aren't big enough to justify bringing it along in place of the "core" comp, and you have to work a decent amount to get those numbers in the first place. I don't want the job to get easier, but the rewards for mastery should be much greater.