Black Mage

[Remedi]

Would like to point out this from the LL

As for Eureka (name pending), balancing is taking quite some time, so we are aiming for release during or after Patch 4.2. Instead of focusing on upgrading weapons, we are planning for a fun new activity of strengthening the player character themselves. Please stay tuned for more details


Some ppl in reddit think it might involve merit point to spend on skills and traits, but let's not speculate much further or be hysterical about this

[zuzu-bq]

SAM has the same problem though. Actually with SAM is worse, mostly because DRG and NIN are simply too good. But one can argue on a non optimized situation or low level play groups SAM fares well while BLM doesn't.

But yes I agree. While QoL could highly improve the community's view on BLM as a job for progression while the other ranged DPS options are infinitely safer and bring many more useful tools for both progression and farm, all BLM really needs to become good and justify itself in a party is a simple damage boost. Be it by boring potency buffs, Umbral Hearts tweaks or anything else.

[IllyriaKnotfred]

Would like to point out this from the LL

As for Eureka (name pending), balancing is taking quite some time, so we are aiming for release during or after Patch 4.2. Instead of focusing on upgrading weapons, we are planning for a fun new activity of strengthening the player character themselves. Please stay tuned for more details


Some ppl in reddit think it might involve merit point to spend on skills and traits, but let's not speculate much further or be hysterical about this

While sounding fun in concept, I cant see how they would manage to balance that for raiding. It may be a separate fun progression system that only takes effect in Eureka itself, though.

[Remedi]

Some things are actually a problem outside of BLM,
The dmg of a BLM is fine on paper and their tools when mastered allows them to functions fine in most fights.
So then where's the elephant in the room? Why SAM does works more or less while BLM is considered less viable?

Well consider how much better physical dmg synergy is compared to the non existant caster one, you could argue correctly that SMN does brings alot of magical dmg, but most ppl just uses sic ifrit because he's much easier to use than garuda.
I mean triple melee meta is not so far off that ranged ones in the parser although ppl uses ranged one more probably because it's about a year or so they have used that (and some bosses are aids for positionals but I'd be fine with that) also ppl are starting to use a SMN over BRD or MCH because their huge dmg and their usefulness in both defense and offense (remember devotion increases also healing which is useful for shielding).

Personally I think that movements problems of BLM are becoming a meme like DRG tanking the floor always, it's disonest saying otherwise because we haven't ever had as many movements tool as now and honestly most movements heavy fights (even shinryu) have movements on a 1 min cycle.

That said the possibility of adding a magical weakness debuff could solve something, it would be a great boon to us and maybe a comp of BLM/SMN could become viable (I don't see we ever partying uip with RDM because of embolden)

[zuzu-bq]

Some things are actually a problem outside of BLM

Agreed, Disembowel is the main issue for imbalance between the two roles of Ranged DPS jobs. Which in itself causes an issue to the melee side as well. The meta isn't as stable or too strong as it once was on Heavensward post MCH and BRD's absurd buffs. This thread was mostly to put a spotlight on the fact BLM as a job has no desirable traits for your potential party members even on a time the meta team isn't ridiculously stronger. I can only justify myself to play BLM because it is my favorite job and parties that play with me don't care. But justify myself while looking for a static group of even on PF where people can lock the job out is becoming harder each day. And yes, those issues are outside of BLM, but being a pure damage job that can't keep up wih other's party buffs just show that the battle team been underestimating players to stack buffs in some kind.

RDM is liked by their Raise and easygoing playstyle. They won't hurt your party's flow by being there even though their party contribuition is smaller than BLMs. So yeah in the end the issue is also a popularity issue. You can say BLM is better than a RDM for a farm party since no detahs are being expected but people are more likely to accept a RDM than a BLM.

SAM and BLM are comparable jobs. SAM and NIN are not.

What, not sure if you're just trolling or being a bit clueless about the game. If the later is true I suggest to give a better read on what people been presenting on the thread so you can understand better why people are saying what they are saying. And if you don't understand them simply ask and I can asure they'll try their best to make themselves clear to you. As in for SAM having a more presence, read my posts when I touch about job's popularity and also there is the fact BLM can havebig presence over group positioning (specially bad BLMs) that can cause issues for some. While SAM doesn't.

[Kaebora]

An anecdote, for what it’s worth: I’ve mained and raided almost exclusively with BLM since 2nd coil. I consider myself a good black mage - not great enough to warp a party, but generally an asset.

SMN and BLM are broken. I shouldn’t be able to practice a SMN opener 20-30 times on a dummy on Thursday and Friday and then equal or beat my top BLM parses on Sunday.

How do you fix it? Potency buffs are a given, but there needs to be more.

I like the idea of having a BLM-only utility ability, like Apoc used to be.

I want to be able to provide something unique to the party that noone else can: RDM offers unmatched chain raises which is amazing in progression. SMN offers damage debuffs for physical and magical sources. NIN offers Trick Attack and threat management. DRG offers piercing buffs and Battle Litany. MNK offers Mantra, MCH brings hypercharge, BRD brings Troubador. SAM brings a longer-lasting slashing debuff, which may not be unique but it's something. BLM brings... what?

Why not let a blizzard spell add magic vulnerability for 30 seconds or so, like the melee classes add for their respective damage types? Or, if you don’t want it to be pure damage, why not give a party-wide Mana Shift with half the Refresh cooldown? Why not give BLM a party-wide Apoc? Or a targetable Manaward? There needs to be something that only BLM can offer, and right now, that “something” doesn’t exist.

[Acidblood]

An anecdote, for what it’s worth: I’ve mained and raided almost exclusively with BLM since 2nd coil. I consider myself a good black mage - not great enough to warp a party, but generally an asset.

SMN and BLM are broken. I shouldn’t be able to practice a SMN opener 20-30 times on a dummy on Thursday and Friday and then equal or beat my top BLM parses on Sunday.

Switched to SAM for similar reasons... Played BLM as my main throughout HW, used it as my 'comfort class' for first runs, and always felt like I was contributing well to the group (even when I didn't know the mechanics 100%).

Enter Stormblood and BLM feels 'off' from the start. I couldn't quite work out why at that point so I pressed on, telling myself that I just needed to learn / re-learn a few things and it'll be good times again... that is until I did my first 2 runs of Rabanastre:
- First run I went BLM and, to put it mildly, it was a horror show; BLM was such a terrible choice .
- Second run I went with SAM, a class that I hadn't done much more than a half-dozen dungeon runs on at 70, but wow, compared to BLM it was like I'd cleared Rabanastre a 1000 times already; dealing with mechanics, even those I hadn't gotten a handle on the first time, was almost effortless (and my DPS was, of course, far better as a result).

Now BLM isn't all bad, and it still feels good when it works (the frequency of which varies greatly depending on the encounter), it's just that compared to other classes (most directly SAM and SMN) it is just so much more work for the same (or worse) results.

The 'fix' I'll leave to the Devs (), but whatever they do I just hope they focus on making BLM fun as much as 'balanced'.

[Remedi]

I'd say that SMN is broken compared to all the casters tbh, RDM doesn't fare that better as their utility in chain raises is niche at best and their dmg+rdmg is inferior to BLM tbh

A magical ward to everyone could work too however I'm inclined to say that B4 offering a magical weakness should be a priority on things as it would idd fix several issues imho

[Kaebora]

By broken, I meant "not working as intended." I think it's obvious that BLM is intended to do more damage than SMN, but it's obviously not working if I can play the class for under a week and beat my numbers on a job I've played for years.

Additionally, I wasn't trying to say 'hey, RDM's ability to chain-raise justifies a slot,' but rather "this is something that ONLY this class can do." Some have a wealth of these (NIN), others don't (MNK, SAM). I think BLM needs some kind of ability, whether it's magic vuln with a blizzard spell or defensive shields, that only they can do.

[Remedi]

Wouldn't really say that SAM brings a real utility, slashing debuff is nice for them and all slashing dmg dealers but NIN and WAR already do this and you are most likely to have one of them in the group and honestly WAR has to play really bad to let it drop off.