I know, I know. Yet ANOTHER BLM thread. Don't worry, this won't be too angry.
Honestly though, I have been irritated and finding BLM to be more and more unsatisfying ever since Heavensward. However, I hadn't been able to find the missing... keys to the problem until I examined its design. As far as I can tell, these are what I can think of:
So, what would be some solutions I'd suggest? Not all of the solutions need to be taken, but something has to be done.
- The Enochian Economy: Enochian... just doesn't work. It hasn't worked since 3.x, but 4.x solved half of the problem but causing new ones. Foul is essentially a return to all the problems associated with the original Enochian but now with the stipulation that A. Enochian now has an indefinite duration if done right and B. Enochian is easier to lose. Enochian is easier to lose due to the design of Fire IV and Astral Fire, since Fire IV does not refresh Astral Fire but both Fire IV and Enochian require Astral Fire or Umbral Ice in order to build up Foul. Actually, this is the old Enochian mechanic, with a "reward," a lack of degenerating duration and actually being easier to lose... Somehow, Black Mage became more complex in the team's attempt to not make the game more complex. Hm.
- Gambler or Black Mage? Two of Black Mage's most important tools, Firestarter and Thundercloud, are locked behind RNG. Firestarter to some might not be so bad, since it's just a Fire III you get randomly (or by using Sharpcast) on Fire. However, its purpose to a Black Mage belies its simple usage, as it's neccessary to extend Astral Fire when doing the opener, or moving. Having it as RNG is honestly a massive hindrance to the class. Thundercloud is borderline unacceptable, however. This is our third highest single target spell and it's locked behind RNG. Granted, this is also a problem with Bard and Refugulent Arrow and Pitch Perfect, and both should be solved.
If it looks and quacks like a duck...Let's be blunt: in order to do well, Black Mage has to be a sitting duck. This is emphasized by the previously mentioned Fire IV cast time and Leylines, a Haste buff that only works if you stand in it. Between the Lines is just a scotch tape solution to the problem, however and Quadcast isn't a mobility option due to Fire IV's longer cast time than other DPSes.Note: This was made using some... not so good perspectives, primarily, the fact that not much content requires mobility beyond Ultimate Bahamut, so unless the Deve Team has plans on adding even more movement, this might not be as important.- "Where's the Kaboom? There's supposed to be an earthshattering Kaboom!" A long time ago, Black Mage had damage without peer. Our raw potencies when merged with Astral Fire beat out Fell Cleave as a standard rotation spell. Unfortunately, this all changed with the changes to Stormblood. We lost Raging Strikes, a whopping 20% damage boost for 20s and Fire IV reduced to 260 potency. It seemed that the only way to make up this loss in potency would be with Foul... if the game didn't make it also disappointing with only 650 potency. Sure, we gained 14 potency per second... but that's still a pretty low improvement, and especially considering it took 10 levels just to get there. Compare this to other classes, who have gained net gains (such as the Tanks, who have either gained a powerful 'Fell Cleave' equivalent (Holy Spirit and Bloodspiller) or have gained a better economy (Beast Gauge and Inner Release), Healers who all gain a new tool for their healing, damage and support, and every other DPS other than MAYBE Monk who all feel objectively more powerful at 70 than at 60. With that also said, unlike other DPSes, even though our rotation is "simple" on paper, it's also rather... forceful in its tunnel vision.
- Fire IV Solution A: Increase Fire IV and Blizzard IV potency to 300. Why? We lost an incredible amount of damage, so much so that all it'd take to make Black Mage close to its old potency is to give us back our old potency. Buuuuut. Even old Black Mage had problems in 3.x and we also lost Raging Strikes on top of that. As a result, 300 should allow Black Mage to inflict serious hurt without being too deeply hampered by death or losing Enochian... and would make it almost match what we had when we used Raging Strikes due to the change to Enochian. If Black Mage is gonna commit to being a turret with seriously high damage, then we go full hog.
- Fire IV Solution B: Decrease cast time for Fire IV to 2.5s. If this is done instead of A, this would solve the problem of lining Fire IV with Enochian, while also solving our mobility issue. It'd especially work well with the reduction of RNG.
- Reduce the RNG. The insulting part is that it was already done for PVP, through Thunder III ready. Essentially, you build up Thunder III Ready by inflicting 5000 damage upon a foe whilst under the affect of Thunder. Then, perhaps for Firestarter, we can create a new mechanic, Astral Hearts, that works under a similar principle. With each cast of Fire IV, you gain an Astral Heart, and upon gaining 3, you guarantee Firestarter upon casting of Fire. In addition, each Astral Heart buffs the potency of Fire, with 1 Astral Heart making it 200, 2 Astral Hearts making it 220, and 3 making it 240. Thundercloud can also work under the same mechanic, through Aether Static. Each tic of Thunder I/II/III/IV causes your Aether Static to go up. I/III will make it go up by 15% per tic, whilst each tic of Thunder II/IV would make the gauge go up by 5%. Upon reaching full Aether Static, this is when you proc Thundercloud, which would no longer have a time limit to casting. However, RNG could still be there but would not affect Aether Static nor Astral Hearts... though Sharpcast would need a new purpose. Or replacement.
- Grant some mitigation or mobility. For the former, Quadcast (Triplecast + Swiftcast) does some of the work, but due to the way Fire IV works, it works more as a pseudo haste than as a true mobility. As such, a solution granted by the Black Mage thread gives this:
While Quadcast may still be neccessary for the opener, IPZI would mitigate its neccessity for it in further procs of Leylines until you get Convert again.
If mobility is not in the question, give us better mitigation. Lower the cooldown of Manaward. Done. Maybe give us a damage taken reduction cooldown? I'unno.
Misc player suggestions!
These are just my thoughts. What do you think?