Black magic...kinda sucks

[Malkria]

Ok I started out loving the black mage, but apparently was playing 'over geared' or something since now that I've hit mid-sixty range the job...just kind of sucks. The cast times I could live with, the need to switch between fire and ice is fine, but the timer...just kills it. With base gear you MAYBE can get three fire fours out before you need to toss a quick fire one or switch stances. But with the sheer amount of moving involved not only does the black mage have to work the hardest of all the classes to do damage but whether or not you do the mechanics you get screwed out of a lot of fights.

Take the ruby sea dungeon. The first boss isn't to bad, you just need to avoid the water drops from the add and placement can make it easy to take it out. But the second boss has two mechanics. One with he eruption that makes you have to run and thus probably lose your timer, and the second with seduce which again will probably make you lose your timer. The final boss is similar, with long phases where you can't attack anything, and thus lose your timer.

Frankly I don't even think you need major changes to make the job not feel so bad to play. First off the ley-lines could be a buff for going through a full ice-fire switch with full charges and every time you switch after that it resets. Second, having you lose complete charges feels to heavy handed. But having you lose a charge when the timer runs out every three seconds would give enough breathing room to the timer while better allowing the job to do mechanics without losing all momentum.

I like the job itself and the power it brings, but it isn't the top DPS and it's mechanics seem to but heads with the dungeon/raid design of the entire game. With those combined the question should be how to make the black mage better fit into the game, because right now the RDM is more fun to play even if it doesn't hit as hard simply because it feels better suited tot he game at large then the supposed heavy hitter black mage is.

[Kathyz]

I understand, and yeah it makes one mad sometimes, but really you can be all the dungeon without losing your timer using transpose. But after time you get use to it and learn where to stand up.

Hey! You even get a skill to attract AoEs with ley lines!... I swear to god every F time!

Ps. Im no an expert, no idea if the transpose thing its good idea but i do it to have the timer up all dungeon xD

[Izyla]

I haaaate that 2nd boss in the dungeon you mentioned. It's just annoying as every job to be honest. So much running around.

[Malkria]

I understand, and yeah it makes one mad sometimes, but really you can be all the dungeon without losing your timer using transpose. But after time you get use to it and learn where to stand up.

Hey! You even get a skill to attract AoEs with ley lines!... I swear to god every F time!

Ps. Im no an expert, no idea if the transpose thing its good idea but i do it to have the timer up all dungeon xD

You can keep up the timer, but even with transpose the point is that the timer still will be cut far to close far to often..and lose the timer and the job slams into a brick wall until you can get the buff back. End of the day it's a turret in a game not built for it. Which in turn wouldn't be bad if everything didn't just seem to break by moving, i've played plenty of turrent classes that handled moving much better then this. WILDSTAR for all it's broken stuff has a better turret class.

[Legion88]

I think BLM isn't to hard in the dungeons. You have plenty of actions to use in downtime or to improve your mobility:
Swiftcast: makes your next cast instant, so you can move around a little.
Tripplecast: makes your next three casts instant, so you can move quite some time.
Aethermanipulation: ports you next to the targetet member in range.
Transpose: if you can't attack for a while you can switch between Astralfire and Umbralice and the cooldown is shorter then the buff durations, so you can keep them running indefinitely.
So there is no reason to let your timers fall off, with the exception of your example of the charm and even then you can keep your timers up with Transpose and the right timing i think.

[Rongway]

But with the sheer amount of moving involved not only does the black mage have to work the hardest of all the classes to do damage but whether or not you do the mechanics you get screwed out of a lot of fights.

BLM has always been about knowing the fights well enough that you know when not to use certain abilities, and which mechanics you can ignore or cheese. If a BLM knows the fights that well, but is still having problems, he is (1) overmoving or (2) not killing things fast enough or (3) not using enough of his "Additional effect: Ignores Mechanics" abilities.

For example:

Take the ruby sea dungeon. The first boss isn't to bad, you just need to avoid the water drops from the add

1) This entire fight can be done without moving once. If you want to make it more convenient for the tank and melee DD, park by the boss so it doesn't move if it decides to snare you.
2) If you kill the add fast enough, there are no puddles to deal with. BLM should be able to two-shot the add.

But the second boss has two mechanics. One with he eruption that makes you have to run and thus probably lose your timer, and the second with seduce which again will probably make you lose your timer.

3) BLM has two teleports on short timers, and a shield. You can use them to minimize downtime during the eruptions. Knowing that eruptions are a thing that happens, you can also prepare by keeping Swiftcast for that part, and forcing a Thundercloud proc with Sharpcast ahead of time.

Seduction only happens two or three times. Enochian should be ready to reactivate after each one, should the timing be inconvenient for transposition or you lose your stacks. The same applies to the last boss.

[Rhus]

Sounds like you're not using transpose enough TBH. At that level it really is your best friend. Funny though it goes from key ability 1-50 then you kinda fall out with it 50-60 but you make up and become best friends forever 60-70 and by 70 it's your EB partner.
Using this you really should never lose timer. I can run an entire dungeon and never run out unless forced to through cutscenes or non-attack sections but even in Hells Lid when the final boss switches to shield, transpose right before it and you have plenty time to get back on the attack and not lose AF, UI or Enochan. Similar to be applied In other dungeons.

[Malkria]

BLM has always been about knowing the fights well enough that you know when not to use certain abilities, and which mechanics you can ignore or cheese. If a BLM knows the fights that well, but is still having problems, he is (1) overmoving or (2) not killing things fast enough or (3) not using enough of his "Additional effect: Ignores Mechanics" abilities.

Um...first off if I have to memorize each dungeon just to play a job, no thanks. Every other job is leagues more forgiving in that regards and like I said more fun to play, and I didn't need to play russian roulette with boss attacks to figure out what I can eat or not. Second of all that doesn't negate, at all, my point about mobility. Yes if you know what you are doing you can avoid a lot of the mechincs, but the mechanics are NOT as punishing to any other job like they are to the BLM. Third, even if you do all this, it's twice the work of say the SMN who has free range and comparable damage; and in the other direction doesn't have the utility of the RDM. So in essence...there is NO reason this class should be this difficult to play or but heads with the dungeon design as much as it does.

Also, yes I know about transpose (have it bound to my mouse wheel button I use it so much). But using transpose means you have to do a hard cast for another ice/fire 3 to get back to full power because chances are you just cast swift cast for that last time you were forced to move. The point is, the entire design of the BLM doesn't fit well with the game design, and even if you learn how to make it work it still doesn't give you much better damage over the other two magic DPS.

[Popotato]

This post completely misses the point of BLM. BLM's identity is "Turret DPS", and this post is written with a failure to recognise this identity.

...but the timer...just kills it. With base gear you MAYBE can get three fire fours out before you need to toss a quick fire one or switch stances. But with the sheer amount of moving involved not only does the black mage have to work the hardest of all the classes to do damage but whether or not you do the mechanics you get screwed out of a lot of fights.

Not enjoying the job because of the timer is perfectly fine, but it in no way kills the job. Every other BLM player can make the timer work with their playstyle. The fact that you can't just highlights the subjectivity in this post. Additionally, it's natural to have difficulty with a job's mechanics when you aren't as experienced with it. It's easy to just complain about the job if you're having difficulty coming to terms with the mechanics, but if you're committed to the job you should practice maintaining the timer. If BLM players can maintain it in God Kefka, I don't see how you can't maintain it in Shisui. It's just a lack of experience.

Frankly I don't even think you need major changes to make the job not feel so bad to play. First off the ley-lines could be a buff for going through a full ice-fire switch with full charges and every time you switch after that it resets. Second, having you lose complete charges feels to heavy handed. But having you lose a charge when the timer runs out every three seconds would give enough breathing room to the timer while better allowing the job to do mechanics without losing all momentum.

Once again, these changes just miss the point of BLM. I'll once again reinforce that BLM's identity is "Turret DPS". The current Ley Lines is such a fantastic skill that accentuates this playstyle. It rewards people knowing the fight well and planning out it's usage. Removing it just ruins a layer of skill from a job that has already been heavily trimmed down since HW.

The second change, I don't understand well. Are you suggesting you lose a stack every 3 seconds instead of losing all stacks after 12 seconds? That would 100% kill the job.

...but it isn't the top DPS...

It literally is top DPS. This is just misinformed.

... it's mechanics seem to but heads with the dungeon/raid design of the entire game. With those combined the question should be how to make the black mage better fit into the game, because right now the RDM is more fun to play even if it doesn't hit as hard simply because it feels better suited tot he game at large then the supposed heavy hitter black mage is.

BLM does fit into the game. Naturally, a job that wants to stand still will be challenged to overcome mechanics, but using that logic to say it doesn't fit into the game is like saying melee DPS don't fit into the game because they sometimes have to go far away from the boss to do mechanics .

At the time of writing this, your BLM is level 65. That means you don't even have Triplecast yet. BLM is given plenty of tools to keep up their rotation during mechanics, these tools such as Aetherial Manipulation, Triplecast, Manawall, Between the Lines, Swiftcast, Thundercloud and Firestarter procs. If you're having trouble keeping up the rotation, then perhaps look into how you can better use these skills to your advantage, but don't try and change the class' identity to one that's more convenient for you. I think in this case, it's just a matter of BLM being a class that you aren't experienced enough with, or a class that simply doesn't suit your playstyle.

[GunksFoy]

snip.

This about sums it up.

The only point in your entire post that I'll agree with, is that Summoner is a bit too close in terms of DPS for the utility and mobility it provides. As for the rest, part of the fun of BLM is the challenge and thrill of finding a way to manage mechanics while pushing max dps. You not liking BLM doesn't mean the job is broken.