My review of Black Mage

[Jinrya-Geki]

... because if Flare isn't good for Coincounter and Mistress, then it's a shit spell.

Would you use it on the moogles? Might loss you MP doing that.

There reasons why bosses have attacks that make it hard for melee. So going up to a boss as caster is a terrible. And if the mobs are weak why not just use fire and fira to two shot the mobs if they are that weak versus one long recast where the mobs might run just outside the reach of flares effective range.

[NoctisUmbra]

I use it to clear rooms in dungeons quickly.

I use it on Myrmidon Princess and co.

I use it during the add spawn phase of Chimera.

Want to kill or seriously damage a large quantity of mobs quickly? Use Flare.

It has plenty of use.

[Jinrya-Geki]

Ok, but why waste the time if you can kill them just as fast with Fire > parsimony/Excruciate > Fira

Just saying if you have a whole crowd of mobs gathered together, and the tanks get's knocked back and all the mobs move away now they take less damage, Vs the fire spell that's aoe damage is set at any range? Why use flare?

[Peptaru]

The only time I use flare is for the DoT, its actually a steady dmg source while it lasts. Aside from that people force it to have uses when other spells work just as well or better.

[kro]

Ok, but why waste the time if you can kill them just as fast with Fire > parsimony/Excruciate > Fira

Just saying if you have a whole crowd of mobs gathered together, and the tanks get's knocked back and all the mobs move away now they take less damage, Vs the fire spell that's aoe damage is set at any range? Why use flare?

Because it's your strongest and most MP efficient spell and the case you mentioned can be avoided with better positioning?

You won't always be in a situation where a tank can hold hate on a group of mobs. In the time it takes for the tank to build that much hate, you probably could've killed them all 30 seconds ago - especially when grouping with other BLMs.

Flare > Sanguine Rite > Fire > Fira

Maximize Sanguine Rite uptime and minimize damage taken by opening with a spell that deals a lot of damage and takes a long time to cast. If Fire is going to take hate from a group of mobs after one cast, it's better to open with your strongest AoE before you take hate and clean up with the fast casting spells. Then save Blizzara for when Sanguine Rite ends.

I play how casters are supposed to be played as, the ranged casters. The only worth while self-aoe is Blizzara. Flare should combo off of Fira, and combo effect should be high dot damage.

I think you're limiting yourself too much. Casters adapt to the situation. If you're in a manaburn, then you do things like bunch up, rely on Sanguine Rite, and kill things before they can kill you. If you're fighting a single-target boss with heavy AoE, then you play the traditional style and ride the hate line at max casting range.

Flare guarantees that your spell goes off. If you were casting Firaga mid-combo on something and one of your PT members kills that mob, then your spell gets interrupted and all the other mobs are still alive. With Flare as is, that doesn't happen.

[Knives]

Flare is a spell that doesn't use up your ability to use your fire/fira combo, and as a trade off for the DoT, you need to put yourself in harm's way to use it effectively. With good communication, you can have a PLD cover you when you run up to use it in order to prevent nasty AoE mishaps. In large group battles, as my WAR, I use Collusion on my friend's BLM so that he can run in and Flare me some serious hate. Once I get Steel Cyclone, I intend on following up a collusioned Flare with it to stun much of the group and further secure enmity. I believe that before critical reviews can be processed properly, we need to figure out smart and interesting ways to make use of our new abilities in conjunction with other jobs, rather than taking others out of the equation all together. Teamwork is the name of the game when it comes to the new Jobs. THM is probably just as powerful as BLM with the tools they share, but BLM has some tricks up it's sleeves that, if your party is confident and varied enough, can prove interestingly useful.

Burst is another ability that can be useful. It might be a 15 minute spell, but it has a lowish MP cost, and does decent damage. If you have a WAR in your group, one strategy could be to burn your MP doing damage as usual and as you're getting low on MP, use Freeze to reduce your enmity a bit while still dishing out and when you convert, have the WAR use Collusion on you at the end of your burst combo before you're cured to secure even more enmity onto the tank and keep the healers and everyone else safe while dealing high amounts of damage. Still, perhaps the damage could be increased a bit for this one.

edit: Reviewed burst a bit to include that you do need to combo to make full use of it. I do think it needs a bit more oomph provided by HP differentiation bonuses.

[carraway]

Don't blame the job for your inability to maximize its benefits.

[NoctisUmbra]

Ok, but why waste the time if you can kill them just as fast with Fire > parsimony/Excruciate > Fira

Just saying if you have a whole crowd of mobs gathered together, and the tanks get's knocked back and all the mobs move away now they take less damage, Vs the fire spell that's aoe damage is set at any range? Why use flare?

WAR Colludes BLM. BLM uses Flare.

Honestly, if you're such a dedicated BLM main you should be figuring these things out with your mates rather then demonstrating your poor understanding of it on the forums.

[Jinrya-Geki]

Haven't had a warrior tank yet in a party, and no one in my linkshell mains one at the moment.

And does a warrior trait enhance collusion or something? Redirects enmity generated by target party member's next attack to you. Target must be within 8 yalms.

Don't blame the job for your inability to maximize its benefits.

They are saying use War/Pld to maximize flare's potential usefulness so I guess you need another job to maximize your skills.

[Shiggysonson]

Haven't had a warrior tank yet in a party, and no one in my linkshell mains one at the moment.

And does a warrior trait enhance collusion or something? Redirects enmity generated by target party member's next attack to you. Target must be within 8 yalms.


They are saying use War/Pld to maximize flare's potential usefulness so I guess you need another job to maximize your skills.

You are finally starting to understand the job system...