My Analysis of BLM's issues and why it is currently the worst DPS class.

[HaroldSaxon]

To test I use https://www.mooglemedia.com/blm-guide/ and have tested it in my opinion is one of the best guides out there. Second if your on PC their is a program that can measure your DPS called ACT (Active combat Tracker ). This is something that raid leaders use. I've worked some people to gauge that for me. To proof my point you can do all the testing that you like it still won't change the one key point...player experience that is needed to properly measure. Now then based on your analysis I can tell you one thing for sure. Not everyone is at the same point in terms of experience with raids. Some are better than others and can really shine. The problems is their experience during the battle. As a BLM one of the major problems is the casting times and CD vs the flow of battle. In other words it's no surprise BLM would be one of the lower DPS when they are constantly moving. I mean come on even in normal raids some BLM are completely incompetent and lack experience, don't understand basic mechanics, and are ignorant of the 80% cast off timer vs 100%. It's no surprise that BLM players think something is wrong. Once again basics that have been constantly talked about in various threads. Nothing new.

Do me a favor - go read the guide. Its an alright guide, it has its issues and misses some things out, however nothing in that guide backs your argument up. Also, check the end of the guide - the mentions part. Then check my character name again.

Also, there is a website that uses the method you talk about to generate statistics for each job - All the uptime figures people have quoted, the raw DPS numbers and raid dps numbers are taken from the same method you are talking about.

I don't intend to turn this thread into another Zera-vs-everyone-about-Raise thread, but I'll merely say your accusation of "peddling" is a bit of a low blow, particularly if you didn't spend any time reading our discussion in the thread (Edit: sorry I just read your response to the other thread, and I do agree that "something unique" should be put on, but that -something- should be in the spirit of Raise as off-GCD in my opinion). Certainly no one wants Raise as a GCD on the class as is the current implementation on the other job, but recovery tools are an important consideration for the job (yes recovery, not just shielding) to compete with the other jobs, and therefore it should be carefully considered.

Making a dual caster comp viable might go a ways toward helping this issue kinda, since you're no longer "locking your group" out from access to raise on DPS if you bring BLM/SMN or BLM/RDM, however as you said, this is going to take some consideration, and I'm not sure I see this really becoming viable anytime soon, particularly as soon as 4.2.

Aside from the Raise argument, EVERYONE wants more damage on the job, certainly, but the way that I really want to see that happen is through reliable procs. Thunder Ready and "Firestorm" (check out my other suggestion threads) would go a long way toward this, adding another Fire IV to your rotation inherently and simultaneously increasing the number of Thundercloud procs you get and their potency value through "Thundersting" (again, read my other suggestion threads). Furthermore, more procs inherently means more chances to move for brief spurts and weave off-GCDs. It's a win-win-win situation.

Apparently I'm the only one who likes this idea, but lastly I want to see a passive party-wide stat buff coming from Enhanced Enochian like crit buff from BRD's songs. It wouldn't make the gameplay ANY different for the job, but because it's now buffing party members, parties would want BLMs more rather than just accusing them of being selfish. Currently, parties WANT RDMs and SMNs, they don't want BLMs, so careful consideration should be taken to figure out how this can be desirable. Even SAM could be "wanted" in DRK/PLD groups for slashing, if nothing else. There is zero benefit from bringing BLM outside "raw damage" which we already established isn't even actually true at the moment.

I dislike the trend to make classes carbon copies of another. If I want to play a caster with a supportive role, i'd play SMN. If I want to play a carry role, i'd want to BLM (if its fixed). If I want to play Rez-mage, i'd play RDM. Lets not make all the classes copies of eachother. If all the casters could raise and multi caster comps were viable, it would be pretty broken imo to allow that many raises.

I tried to explain that using MCH example of bringing a raid dps that is integral to your rotation could be a solution, but seems I'm not making myself clear

even using that DRK/PLD example for SAM in a non NIN comp (which happened) true it's rare but it's still possible

The thing is, its still providing raidwide DPS. Even if its part of your rotation (and remember, Bard's buffs are also selfish too - so is trick attack, so is Embolden) - its still raid dps. Not every class should have raid dps. It would be pretty boring if every class did. Variety is the spice of life Lets actually have "DPS Carries" like SAM and BLM be viable options. They don't have to be optimal and meta in all fights - but if they are like SMN and close to the meta, its certainly a step forward.