Loss of drain on Blm...really?!

[Hasrat]

What if they're setting us up for getting a proper Drain (and Osmose!) in 6.0?

Mmm, Osmose as an oGCD, maybe some damage, more importantly regaining some MP. Let's say, idk, 800ish. That's some tasty quint-Flare.

[Cynfael]

Ranged Physical already gets Second Wind. Ranged Magical are the only DPS that don't get Second Wind.

*sigh*. I left the word "magical" out. Since we're talking about BLM, I assumed the context would be clear.

[RopeDrink]

Using an awful button that did barely any damage and barely any healing (in place of anything actually usable within your standard rotation to kill the target faster) will not be justified by "I had some clutch moments with it!"

It was rubbish, hands down. Use a potion and cast something useful rather than bewail the loss of one of the least used/pressed buttons the class ever had. Side-note, still enjoying BLM - one of the few that most people seem (mostly) happy with after all the fancy class/stat changes. I don't recall bothering with Drain outside of pre-level 30 and I will never miss it.

[TimeraiderGaranyi]

Wait.. BLM had drain?


The fact that i had to ask this question should tell you enough.

[Ramesses]

Drain was garbage.

Exactly this...

[Seraiki]

Not a fan of it being removed but it's a very underwhelming ability so understandable.

[Archwizard]

So far for this topic I've largely seen two very distinct positions:

1) The group that is considering Drain as it was in its form as a role action, and doesn't care to see it return to BLM because of how pathetic its output was compared to the damage loss.
2) The group that would like to see BLMs get some form of self-sustain for crisis scenarios and questing, and think an iteration of Drain would be a thematic backup to Manaward.

What puzzles me is that most of what I've seen of Group 1 thinks itself mutually exclusive with Group 2, even though both positions can be simultaneously satisfied by just not giving BLM an 80 potency attack with 80% damage-as-healing.
In all honesty, I expect half the reason it was so weak to start with was having to balance it against Ruin.
Give it something like 200 potency and 150% healing, that at least would be semi-worthwhile healing without replacing a healer. Sure the damage would still be pathetic but it's not like the intent is to be part of the main rotation; you don't use Sleep in raids either.

Bonus points if you remove Scathe and make either Drain or F1/B1 instant.

[Hikelos]

While the post borders on trolling, because of how absolutely useless Drain was, I agree that it's sad it was removed as it was good flavour (together with Protect).
IMO a better solution would've been giving Drain a higher potency, a long Cooldown and making it into the spell to use after Conversion saps 20% of your max HP. Sadly BLM instead lost both Conversion and Drain, in favour of Manafont, which is just a flat and boring "restore mp".
It would have fit in there very well too since after Conversion/Manafont you only have enough MP for two more Fire 4 and the space to cast a 3rd spell before going into umbral ice.

[Cynfael]

So far for this topic I've largely seen two very distinct positions:

1) The group that is considering Drain as it was in its form as a role action, and doesn't care to see it return to BLM because of how pathetic its output was compared to the damage loss.
2) The group that would like to see BLMs get some form of self-sustain for crisis scenarios and questing, and think an iteration of Drain would be a thematic backup to Manaward.

What puzzles me is that most of what I've seen of Group 1 thinks itself mutually exclusive with Group 2, even though both positions can be simultaneously satisfied by just not giving BLM an 80 potency attack with 80% damage-as-healing.
In all honesty, I expect half the reason it was so weak to start with was having to balance it against Ruin.
Heck, make it 200 potency and give it 150% healing, that at least would be semi-worthwhile healing without replacing a healer. Sure the damage would be pathetic but it's not like the intent is to be part of the main rotation. Not like you use Sleep in raids either.

A long-cooldown Drain that heals for more sounds fine to me. I still don't think anyone would really use it, but it wouldn't be unbalancing, so it's whatever.

It's not that there isn't room for common ground in this odd discussion; it's more that some of us don't care about Drain at all. We didn't use it while it was there, and we don't miss it now that it's gone. It's not going to hurt any of us in that camp to have some kind of Drain restored, but it's hard to understand why people ask for it when you already regarded it as unnecessary.

[Archwizard]

It's not that there isn't room for common ground in this odd discussion; it's more that some of us don't care about Drain at all. We didn't use it while it was there, and we don't miss it now that it's gone. It's not going to hurt any of us in that camp to have some kind of Drain restored, but it's hard to understand why people ask for it when you already regarded it as unnecessary.

Sure, but that's in large part because of how impotent it was. Give it enough of a healing bump and it'll be worth a bar space, even if only for rare circumstances from a raiding standpoint.

I mean don't get me wrong, even when I was using Drain it was exhausting to cast it 4-5 times in a row to get to a mild amount of HP, and that was only possible with Manaward. I can totally see why Camp 1 players would write it off. But, if Camp 2 players found reason to use even that much, that's just as valid.