Rework BLM static leylines to be an aura instead

[icy_]

Please just redesign this class and rework its static leylines. Maybe the leylines are lore-friendly, maybe they look cool, maybe they're shiny, but please step back for a moment.

The static leylines are encouraging toxic gameplay:

• standing relatively still in fixed position
• not wanting teammates near them
• not moving to do mechanics

I can expand on this.

The game encourages standing relatively still in that leyline (within its circle) by reducing cast times. AoE about to hit them? They now begin calculating whether a manaward while staying in the leyline is worth it. Boss has moved but still barely in range while leyline still up? They likely will continue casting from Narnia, while potentially out of range of other team buffs or heals (assize/whispering dawn, etc).

A BLM usually doesnt want a teammate near them while they're on their leyline. If the boss does a line attack on random target, and a teammate is between BLM and boss, there's a chance the line will target through the teammate to the BLM. Then it's a tragedy when the mage has to step off the leyline to temporarily dodge a mechanic. If the boss does a puddle-type of AoE on random player, and the chosen player is near the BLM, similarly the BLM might have to leave the leyline.

I often see BLMs not want to move to do mechanics. For example, stack markers that are comfy with 4 people, but *could* be done with 3. More often than not, if a BLM has spawned their leyline, they are not going to help w/ the stack marker, letting the three poor brave souls take a much greater hit than normal.

Solution? Rework the "Ley Lines"(lvl52) and "Between the Lines"(lvl62) so that the ley line buff is instead an aura around the BLM and can let him/her move freely and maintain said buff. The second skill, not sure, perhaps add another charge to Aether Manipulation, or create a new trait. Perhaps the people nearby the Aether Manip destination get a short buff of some kind -- if not broken, this would definitely encourage the BLM coming to teammates instead of away from them.

It all begins with design change, and then selfless gameplay will follow. People should be encouraged to work together and not stand by themselves.

[ADVSS]

Ley lines should just offer a buff to everyone standing in it, OR just be a personal buff on the BLM, for the reasons you stated. Even if keeping up noke is fairly easy, its still frustrating in many high movement fights to begin with due to cast times/whatnot if you plan on dodging consistently. Id prefer the aura/personal buff to get rid of button bloat with between, and just add a second charge to AM personally. Half the time you drop lay lines, expect the boss to plop an acid aoe or something in it anyways.

[Sylvain]

Dunno I haven't have had any issue with leyline beside the second part of E4S p1 where leyline would often coincide with a heavy mvm mech...
I also think it fits the job fantasy very well.
Each caster has its issue in term of movement
RDM has to go melee else they overcap (which I find more annoying than leyline sometime ) , smn wants to be static during Bahamut to avoid loosing peanut potency on ruin and BLM have their leyline every 90s .

If any change I wouldn't mind reducing the duration a bit (with some buff else where)

If the BLM you see do not want to move to do mech then they're just bad. And mana ward will hardly save you from an extra hit... I mean it's not like ff14 raid design is dodge or die...

I never had an issue being in range of healer (aka center of the map) and stay on my leyline on any fight...

[Canadane]

The static leylines are encouraging toxic gameplay:

• standing relatively still in fixed position
• not wanting teammates near them
• not moving to do mechanics

That's not toxic, that's by design.

[MartaDemireux]

I think it'd be really cool if it worked that way instead. The aura could be a reference to the casting animation of the old FFs (yellow/green Aurora borealis looking circle) and could give their eyes a yellow glow like Vivi's (sorta like WAR has red eyes minus the slow light movement).

It's important to note that even this alteration would encourage staying away from people and moving as little as possible, though - which are related circumstances. But it would be better than it is currently so you could move and stay in the new place instead of losing your lines (like when arenas change or a fire puddle is placed on your ley lines).

I wouldn't want BLM to give a buff though, being the SAM of casters. An extra charge of Aetherial Manipulation would be a fine substitute for Between the Lines - maybe even a second movement ability that works like DNC's and lets you move forward (or maybe even strafe to the left to shake things up) a certain distance without the need to drop target.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

While I can see this being enticing and all, it doesn't matter whether or not LL is up, if you so much as drop a baited AOE near or on a BLM and force him to move, he will hate you regardless.

Apart from that, I think it is cool having to think about ideal spots and time in a fight for Leylines.

[CKNovel]

Alright but nerf its effect because of "mobility".

Leylines are meant to create a "High risk, high rewards" situation and it's not like BLM didn't had enough tools to move back and forth.

[Payotz]

No. Leylines are a big part of why BLM has such a high skill ceiling, and part of the reason why I personally find BLM's gameplay loop so engaging.
If you place Leylines on the wrong position, you get punished hard. If you know the fights, then you'll get rewarded. This contributes to the gap between good BLMs and average BLMs.
It also has enough mobility in its state as the radius of the effect is high, that you can just dance along the edges of the LL.
LL in general changes how BLM approaches fight as well, producing more replayability out of the fights if you're approaching it from a BLM perspective.


Leave BLM alone, there's little depth in the job design of the game as it is. Not everything needs to be easier.

[Rika007]

I mean you can literally say the same thing about any of the other casters and they don't have Ley lines weighing them down. When I play Summoner or Red Mage in raid, I'm not doing much in the way of moving either and my healers are normally just telling me to stay put and keep casting if the mechanic requires significant movement. When I healed the first Eden raids I just accepted that our strategies needed to be a bit different because a BLM was in the party. That's not Toxic gameplay. It's different gameplay that requires a different mindset from teams and healers. Not staying near a Black Mage's Ley lines isn't a difficult thing, hell its normally a thing to give at least a little bit of space to any caster or healer when you know AOE's are coming up, and the same is true for Melee's as well. As for the stacking part, thats actually pretty easy to handle, just stack on the Black Mage (or any other person with a stack AOE that does not have much free movement). Of all the jobs in a party, no one loses more by dropping casts. Move the AOE to them (if they are a good black Mage they should be just within range to where a melee can still hit the boss and stack) and then move away once it's over and everyone is healed back up.

Cooperation goes both ways of course. Black Mages are not like they were in 2.0 and have tons of movement abilities. I routinely will Aetherial Manipulation to my healers side sometimes for a stack Mechanic then instantly between the lines to get back to Ley lines if I put them in a place that is out of Melee range, and if triple cast is available you can sure as hell bet it's already marked for the heaviest upcoming movement mechanic. And I'm sure not all BLM's do that. But we shouldn't be making changes and decisions on class play based on the worst players, thats how jobs like Bard lose all their popularity and identity in the sake of balance and ease of use. BLM is literally one of the best designed jobs in the game. I'm more worried of what 6.0 will change on an already near perfect play style.

[Darsien]

This will come off as harsh: Try playing high level Black Mage before making such incompetent critiques.