Black Mage

[zuzu-bq]

So much this. When they finally fixed this issue, it was just too late.

The issue was only fixed because it became a half problem on BRD and MCH for Heavensward. Funny isn't it? Then they just applied the fix to BLM because why not?

This whole thread was meant to address the problems in very high level of play and you keep derailing it by babbling about mobility and the difficulity of keeping astral stacks all the time. No offence.

Yeah when we started talking about these questions it was more a matter of finding solutions that could both boost high level play's damage and ease the job for others too. We got a bit carried away. But making BLM mobility slightly better would reduce the feeling people have against having the job joining them for progression, so that discussion isn't really irrelevant by the end. Yoshida itself said BLM will have issue for Ultimate like... This is like a official propaganda against the job.

[Llugen]

It's not like I haven't been playing the job in endgame relevancy for four years, I've thought pretty hard about what it is that I'm suggesting.

The beauty of it is that it would help both mobility and overall PPS, rather than just a band-aid fix of more potency on Fire IV and pray. Less wasted thundercloud ticks, more chances for thundercloud procs, no need to cast Fire to refresh timer if you get thundercloud procs, these are pretty big potency gains. And apparently she completely ignored my bit about Convert needing a fix and everything about Blizzard IV and about the job needing 2 minute synergy, but I digress.

[zuzu-bq]

About synergy, if Thundercloud, for example, gets easier to juggle between any desired GCD better it can be probably be consistantly thrown into 60s buff windows by using Sharpcast. It would be a QoL fix that would brought more damage for high end play for example. Not enough to fix BLM's issues of course, but it is something.

[Waliel]

plus10char

It wouldn't even have to be extra damage, I just want my Firestarter back. Wouldn't also mind the extra leeway it would bring.

ARR people were unhappy at Firestarter because of how late the proc happened back then, and not because of the randomness itself. And everyone loved Thundercloud because you could pretty much use it forever without ever worrying on Astral Fire. You can run back and search for old BLM posts, they are all about annoying MP ticks, late Firestarters (the practice of fireweaving and discussions about it), and MP pools for different Thunders hard cast usage.

Firestarter to some extend and Thundercloud especially were favourite things about BLM in 2.0. Big random spikes of burst that allowed for movement at the same time. TC probably still is my favourite thing in the whole game.

Maybe Enochian could grant a % damage increase on top of it's base dependent on how long you stand still up to a cap?

Kind of like that was my first thought when I heard Squenix would reward the BLM for keeping Eno up. Something like 5% base and +5% for every B4 cast, up to max of 20%.

[BlackcatChen]

There already is a system in place for having enochian up for a time, it's foul.

Could always give foul more potency, people love their big numbers. Also make it flashier too because I want to blind everyone.

[Ryi]

And apparently she completely ignored my bit about Convert needing a fix and everything about Blizzard IV and about the job needing 2 minute synergy, but I digress.

Reading my previous comment again, I have to admit I do come across bit of a jerk. And for that i apologize. Sorry!

But worry not, I have read all of the posts in this thread, and you have been most vocal about changes without doubt. My lasting impression just was that you saw movement as the greatest bottleneck of the job, with which I disagree. I didnt comment about rest of the suggestions made by you, like the two you pointed out here. And I absolutely agree. Umbral hearts could use something little besides the reduced mana cost and reworking convert to actually have synergy with Trick Attack and other raidwide offencive utility skills would be amazing. Especially regarding convert, I'd like to see it function like raging strikes did back in the day, giving blm a definite window where it could pump up the numbers.

[PriyaJugulataris]

There already is a system in place for having enochian up for a time, it's foul.

Could always give foul more potency, people love their big numbers. Also make it flashier too because I want to blind everyone.

Personally, my dream would be to give Foul a magic vulnerability up, letting double caster comps be a thing (because let's face it, contagion on Garuda is mostly ignored in favor of Ifrit's Radiant Shield) and it'd be dope to have BLM/SMN be a theoretical competitor to BRD/MCH.

[Sfia]

Personally, my dream would be to give Foul a magic vulnerability up, letting double caster comps be a thing (because let's face it, contagion on Garuda is mostly ignored in favor of Ifrit's Radiant Shield) and it'd be dope to have BLM/SMN be a theoretical competitor to BRD/MCH.

this dream get shattered when you realise bard/mch defensve utility beats theirs though, even if the overall damage contributions were perfectly even

[Llugen]

It's all good. To fully recap the changes I would make if I had a magic wand, I offer the following:

Adjust Thunder III to 30 seconds and make it both additive to 60 and refresh the Astral/Umbral timer as laid out before, and give a Firestarter II trait allowing Firestarter procs either to be used with Fire IV or obtained by the use of Fire IV. The length of the proc durations need to be increased to 30 seconds as well, which matches Ruin IV and Verstone/Verfire Ready. Doubling Foul's potency when only hitting one target might be a good idea, but I wouldn't change the potency of anything else directly (namely Fire IV). Instead, I'd rather see +5% damage (or 10 or 15 or 50 or DOUBLE) from the consumption of an Umbral Heart.

To fix Convert, I'd make it give you back a full MP bar and maybe even give you three Umbral Hearts and refresh Astral on top of that, and make it at least 90 seconds recast to line up with Ley Lines or 60 (and get rid of the HP penalty so the healers aren't driven crazy, perhaps rename it Indulge).

As far as a personal damage buff/utility is concerned, I'd like to see it have a 10%/5% tether like Dragon Sight where the player needs to remain close to the caster (to be honest, this kind of skill makes more sense on BLM than it does on DRG), or possibly a party wide speed buff every other Ley Lines. Giving Enochian a +2% direct hit or speed or crit buff like BRD's songs would also further encourage Enochian upkeep, so that could be considered. Lastly, I'd give Blizzard IV +10% magic vuln for 45 seconds. (The underlying theme of this thread is basically party utility will always be favored over raw damage in party play, which is a no-brainer). One other special utility that would fit well with BLM I think would be Mana Channeling, giving its MP to one target over 5-9 seconds (designed for downtime) on 120 second recast.

And yes, I still believe in the importance of class balance, so I would magic-wand the class a 180 second recast off-gcd Raise that costs no MP. To reiterate, balance >>>>> "lore", and it is unbalanced that BLM is the only Disciple of Magic in the entire game with no access to a raise ability. Having it be a cooldown instead of a GCD like the others would fix the infinite MP issue, and no one could ask it to rez dispenser like RDM.

[Remedi]

I do think that those are all good proposal, but I also think it would just shift the weakest link from BLM to RDM, atm do not think that they are in a much better place than BLM, what they can do SMN can just do as fine, just beign considered as a rezz dispenders sets them up to be at risk especially since even when you consider their raid dmg they really are not that up there, not to mention that them beign unhindered by movements isn't that true.

As much as I would love the idea that convert would be as cool as proposed, I think we need to be more mindful of our surroindings