Black Mage

[Dyvid]

When talking about the relative strength of the casters, people are saying SMN was "overbuffed". I strongly disagree, because with the most recent changes SMN is only now included in the discussion for whether or not it is worth taking in an optimal setup.
This speaks more to the weakness of the entire caster role, and I believe that anyone who considers SMN to be too strong is not looking at the larger picture outside of our role.
BLM damage contribution needs to exceed that of SMN (including it's personal damage and utility from radiant/contagion/devotion) due to SMN having access to raise and incredible mobility.
RDM does also face issues, but it's my personal opinion that if it has access to such powerful progression tools it's total damage contribution needs to be noticeably lower than the other casters.

But I didn't make this thread to talk about RDM tbh, whereas discussion of SMN's strength is useful as it serves as a benchmark which BLM should (at the bare minimum) be reaching.

As a SMN, I have to agree with this. BLM should be the SAM of casters, pure powerhouse DPS with no utility. RDM needs it's dps increase slightly, and SMN is fine where it's at. Raise and Verraise are bigger issues, for now anyway, since new raid content just came out but it'll diminish with time. I would be completely happy though if SE removed raise from casters all together and just gave it to Ranged DPS since they are suppose to be the support job.