Quote Originally Posted by Reinhardt_Azureheim View Post
The "goal" from what I figured from the slides was to make MP generation not tick-dependent, which is a good thing. Please refer me to where the goal was explicitly stated to kill off non-standard BLM gameplay in an effort to streamline and unify Black Mage gameplay down to one route, because I'm not buying it otherwise. You call it enjoyment of elitists, but I feel like it would be neat if we actually took into account what our dear Yoshi P does on Black Mage at the moment - there is probably data somewhere on it.

If enough feedback comes in asking for non-Blizzard-spells during Umbral Ice to generate MP (a reasonable request if you ask me, depending on MP values) and that gets implemented, then we'd essentially have non-standard available again with a different MP system, which is what many don't mind. Personally also hoping that the Astral Hearts (or whatever the new gauge is) don't empty out upon entering Umbral Ice and just "freeze" for lack of a better pun, then we'd have a solid all-around Black Mage with the most annoying part, the MP regen ticks, fixed.
Their entire goal with job design in dawntrail is to streamline the jobs and then give further identity to them in the next expansion.

The whole point of astral fire is that you're rushing to get all your power out within the window you have available. If it carried over to umbral ice it would defeat the fantasy of astral fire phases. If you didn't get your explosions out properly, try again next time from scratch. It doesn't make any sense for the gauge to carry over to umbral ice and would significantly lessen the weight and urgency of astral fire. It's supposed to feel like a hot streak.