How do you feel about the BLM 4.2 adjustments?

[Lina_Slayer]

I never said it wasn't, but at least its been in the meta consistently for a long period of time. BLM hasn't been close for that same period of time. To Monk's credit, it hasn't been there for a while. But I find it very hard to sympathize with Machinist in a thread about Black Mage. Not all DPS classes can be meta, but when one has been for multiple raid tiers and another hasn't - there's an issue.

Ok it was just a small nitpick because I think MCH nerf was garbage, you don't nerf the 4th best class in the game while doing nothing to the 3 best classes, just another bad balance decision by SE, in fact if SE started actually doing something about NIN,BRD and disenbowel maybe the potency buff on F4 could have been enough, alas it's really hard to trust they'll ever fix us when you look at all the really bad decisions...

[Remedi]

The work needed to really fix us requires a rework of the game balance in more than simply removing disembowel, it could even be simply as adding a magical weakness to a Melee job, that's why I said expecting more than this was not a reality

[Grimoire-M]

Machinist is the weakest of the big 4. It essentially suffers from the same problems the other caster DPS have when compared to SMN, but it has enough synergy and damage to justify its slot over them. I've played a little of the class, and while its utility and damage is lacking compared to BRD, what it does have is really good. To be honest, BRD is the most swingy class I've ever seen. I would like it if SE tweaked their numbers to flatten the extra damage it gets from procs while buffing Heavy Show & Empyreal Arrow just to even out the variance.

To be honest, It's kinda paradoxical that SE would make the changes to SMN that they did as well as fixing the NIN/WAR slashing debuff issue in 4.0 and NOT fix DRG/BRD/MCH's positions as the Big 4 in the process.

[HaroldSaxon]

Ok it was just a small nitpick because I think MCH nerf was garbage, you don't nerf the 4th best class in the game while doing nothing to the 3 best classes, just another bad balance decision by SE, in fact if SE started actually doing something about NIN,BRD and disenbowel maybe the potency buff on F4 could have been enough, alas it's really hard to trust they'll ever fix us when you look at all the really bad decisions...

I can agree with that, although even then the small potency buff on F4 wouldn't have been enough imo

[FFgame]

I cant do Aetherial Manipulation because I lose the mouse in all dynamic explosions that are happening on the screen. They need to let us change the color of the mouse icon

[EllieShadeflare]

I cant do Aetherial Manipulation because I lose the mouse in all dynamic explosions that are happening on the screen. They need to let us change the color of the mouse icon

If I may give a suggestion, I'd suggest hotkeying members of your party... and also turning off spell effects from your party if they're really distracting.

That said, by default, the game should hotkey F1 as you, F2 as member 2, F3 as member 3, ETC. Knowing your hotkeys will make Aetherial Manipulation way easier.

With that said, I'm actually really excited by the changes to BLM. It seems that they've created some interesting goals in mind for how they handle the changes for BLM (Transpose to make it far easier to maintain our Polyglot in downtime, Aetherial Manipulation keeping us as kinda of a turret but kinda not especially while using Between the Lines, the obviously TOASTY~ Fire IV buff, and the constantly suggested increase to the durations of Firestarter and Thundercloud) and still making sense in our theme and also changing priorities of how we used procs (like you can now save Thundercloud for a rainy day/forced movement).

[Shiroe]

I cant do Aetherial Manipulation because I lose the mouse in all dynamic explosions that are happening on the screen. They need to let us change the color of the mouse icon

i use one player (max 2) as target with "macros" on the ps4 (usally one healer or/ and one melee.., depending on the fight)., without macro would not use AethetM..., atleast not on ps4, but AetherM is fine with macros on Pc too

but nice to see AetherM CD reduced to 10 sec.. , juzt the range can be at times an issue, but stil great is only 10 sec now.. (unless new fights have crazy amounts of heavy / rng movement..)

[Elix_Moarbase]

I can agree with that, although even then the small potency buff on F4 wouldn't have been enough imo

I think what is critical to acknowledge is where we are, and have been, in terms of class design. For example, if you look at the logs:

Why and how did we get to the point as to where classes with raid utility and mobility do just as much and more damage than a class that has neither? Currently, just as one example, smn and mch do more dps-- per the top 100 etc. This shouldn't even be possible. Yet, here we are-- as if a class that is strictly hurt by movement and provides no raid utility isn't just, outright, broken.

[Shiroe]

yep, smn with utility and high dps (in aoe and heavy movement as much or more than blm), is way not good as it is now

sam and blm should be the 2 top dps with no utility ..in all fights aoe or movement

(sam hogging more group buffs . and with its slashing debuff, should be 2nd by far on a dummy, more than even now. but in real fights competitive with blm numbers)

mnk & smn should be the next tier of top dps, under sam and blm..., in all accounts with their utility,.. competitive with each other (mnk & smn).. not with sam and blm..., but above nin and brd/ mch .. and ofc drg..;

maybe mnk more on single target .. and smn more in aoe or the otherway around

but fear mnk will now 4.2 compete with sam and blm numbers (instead of only pull away of nin) even more... and smn still too

[Shurrikhan]

The AM change sounds ridiculously fun, but also ridiculous.

The Fire IV change only further increasing scalability, and thereby relative penalty in mobile fights.

Transpose's change seems fine and sensible.

The TC/FS change honestly seems... too much. Will there by any urgency left to them?