Frustrations with BLM immobility

[Korbei]

Ever since the SMN update, I feel like BLM has become more frustrating to play comparatively due to its immobility. It used to feel like a trade off for the big booms but I feel like SMN provides big booms without a trade off in mobility. I feel like its time to make some adjustments to BLM to follow suit in this regard.

Most of my frustrations center primarily around Ley Lines, which is a cool ability and Between the Lines is a fun mechanic to exploit in certain situations but Ley Lines is too important to overall DPS while being too easily completely screwed over by too many mechanics in the game. It either has too short a duration or too long a recast, probably both frankly.

I suggest that they should be a permanent fixture until you get too far from them, at which point they vanish and the 2 minute cooldown begins. They should disappear manually by using Transpose and they should follow you when using Aetherial Manipulation.

[Elissar]

Honestly i don't know what you mean. BLM is more mobile now than ever before. At lv90 you can literally cast 6 spells instantly WHILE moving, plus aetherial manipulation AND your lines if they are active. For the latest extreme available, BLM is easy to move. You can move faster than any SMN.


Yes, you will have downtime and you will need to stay where you are but it's not like SMN has their primals all the time. Learning when you can and when you can't exploit your mobility is what makes you a good BLM.

[Taranok]

Honestly i don't know what you mean. BLM is more mobile now than ever before. At lv90 you can literally cast 6 spells instantly WHILE moving, plus aetherial manipulation AND your lines if they are active. For the latest extreme available, BLM is easy to move. You can move faster than any SMN.


Yes, you will have downtime and you will need to stay where you are but it's not like SMN has their primals all the time. Learning when you can and when you can't exploit your mobility is what makes you a good BLM.

My response to this is simple. I didn't become a black mage main because I like doing movement mechanics all the time, crossing the map over and over. Or, to put it another way, TEA has less movement (during uptime) in its entire 16m fight than the 2 minutes both leading up to and including purgation in P7S.

BLM may have a ton of movement, but it's overwhelmingly the least satisfying gameplay I've ever had on the class. Especially when you take it into something like DSR and realize you just, flat out, full stop, don't have enough movement for the mechanic, no matter how much you save them.

I miss when the devs designed fun fights that challenged all roles equally. I want Stormblood and Eden tier 1 fight design back.

[Absurdity]

I miss when the devs designed fun fights that challenged all roles equally. I want Stormblood and Eden tier 1 fight design back.

Welcome to Meleewalker, where the balance between job difficulty and fight difficulty has completely fallen off a cliff so now they need to make you run zigzag patterns across the arena every 30 seconds to avoid instant wipe mechanics, just so you don't turn your brain off.

[ZiraZ]

BLM is so broken right now that even if you suck at using your movement abilities (which has plenty of) you can still destroy every other caster, every RDM main wants to slap you for making this thread.

[Turtledeluxe]

BLM is so broken right now that even if you suck at using your movement abilities (which has plenty of) you can still destroy every other caster, every RDM main wants to slap you for making this thread.

I will say that on the more superficial side, SMN spells are big and flashy. Also their summons are obnoxious. BLM is definitely more powerful but its rotation doesn't look that cool. Maybe that's a hot take, idk.

And for me, it has just gotten worse over time. Spells just look more and more miniminal/boring on the BLM end, which doesn't make any sense imo.

[OgruMogru]

I will say that on the more superficial side, SMN spells are big and flashy. Also their summons are obnoxious. BLM is definitely more powerful but its rotation doesn't look that cool. Maybe that's a hot take, idk.

And for me, it has just gotten worse over time. Spells just look more and more miniminal/boring on the BLM end, which doesn't make any sense imo.

It's to keep the people only interested in jangling keys in their face away from the job and then demanding it be made easier. It's camouflage!

[Raikai]

It kind of depends on how you're using BLM's mobility tools...

If it's to use them reactively to prevent dropping AF, then yeah, it's quite limited because you have only 2 triple and one swift (and maybe a F3 if you're lucky).

If it's to use them pre-emptively to create a map with the moments you need to use them, then BLM is incredibly mobile considering the mechanics.

Leylines is a different story, you need to know the fight to use it well, but that comes alongside mechanic solving naturally, I feel it's part of the fun learning the spots where you should place them every 2minutes.

[LilimoLimomo]

It used to feel like a trade off for the big booms but I feel like SMN provides big booms without a trade off in mobility.

A few things here. First, in the FF series, Summoner has generally outshined Black Mageswhen it comes to big booms, so the recent Summoner update seemed like it set things right with the cosmos in that regard. And if you want big booms without the mobility trade off, one option that's always open to you is to switch to Summoner. It's a simpler class than Black Mage but it's loads of fun, with a simple rotation that offers a bit of flexibility without punishing mistakes to nearly the same degree that Black Mage does.

Sometimes I switch my main to SMN for awhile, but so far I always come back to Black Mage because the challenge of it excites me. And the pointy hats, those excite me, too.

Ever since the SMN update, I feel like BLM has become more frustrating to play comparatively due to its immobility.

I am a passable Black Mage seeking to improve, and while the class is transparently less mobile than SMN, in trying to take my game to the next level I've found that it's a surprisingly mobile class. At level 90 there are so many sources of free movement via instant-casts, including:
2 stacks of Xenoglossy
2 stacks of Triple-cast
Swiftcast
Ice phase Paradox
Thunder Procs
Fire 3 procs
2 stacks of Sharpcast, which guarantees procs of the above

Additionally, Between the Lines can instantly get you back to your Ley Lines, and Aetherial Manipulation can teleport you to your more mobile ally's safe positions at the last moment after your lengthy Ley Lines casts. There are so many toys that Black Mage has to play with to give them mobility when they need it.

Most of my frustrations center primarily around Ley Lines, which is a cool ability and Between the Lines is a fun mechanic to exploit in certain situations but Ley Lines is too important to overall DPS while being too easily completely screwed over by too many mechanics in the game. It either has too short a duration or too long a recast, probably both frankly.

I think it's also worth saying that Ley Lines is probably the most difficult part of Black Mage's kit, as optimizing its timing and placement is dependent on the specifics of the fight you're in, meaning it's something new that you have to learn distinctly for every single fight. But I also think that's kind of cool. When I do Ley Lines well (and that's very rare), I feel like I'm the prettiest princess at the dance. The challenge of playing Black Mage is what makes it feel so rewarding when you do it right.

Whenever I'm feeling down about Black Mage, I watch Pint's absolutely fantastic playful-but-spot-on video essay on the class, and that helps me re-center my perspective and decide what step I want to take next. If you feel frustrated with your recent Black Mage experience, I cannot recommend this video enough! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVXSWE7KE68

[Rithy255]

BLM having movement issues is the entire job, getting good at when to use your free mobility and when you can safely not use during a fight is what makes BLM fun.

I don't want to play Summoner, it's not a good example of a caster DPS, it's likely one of the worst current designs for one and I can only hope that the new caster Doesn't follow its footsteps