BLM feedback.

[Pyitoechito]

If it hasn't been suggested yet, they could have Flare Star tied directly to spending Umbral Hearts.

Instead of having a separate gauge for tracking Flare Souls for Flare Star, have Umbral Hearts convert into Flare Souls when spending them (make them orange and... fiery), and reduce the Flare Soul cost of Flare Star to three (because the gauge only holds three Umbral Hearts). This means any fire spells will generate Flare Souls as long as they spend Umbral Hearts, and the requirement to reach Flare Star is less stringent. Flare Star is still locked to one per fire phase, but it's much more open on where the spell can be used during the phase. It's far more elegant than having a new toss-in gauge just for tracking when Flare Star can be cast.

[Ferrinus]

If it hasn't been suggested yet, they could have Flare Star tied directly to spending Umbral Hearts.

Instead of having a separate gauge for tracking Flare Souls for Flare Star, have Umbral Hearts convert into Flare Souls when spending them (make them orange and... fiery), and reduce the Flare Soul cost of Flare Star to three (because the gauge only holds three Umbral Hearts). This means any fire spells will generate Flare Souls as long as they spend Umbral Hearts, and the requirement to reach Flare Star is less stringent. Flare Star is still locked to one per fire phase, but it's much more open on where the spell can be used during the phase. It's far more elegant than having a new toss-in gauge just for tracking when Flare Star can be cast.

This is exactly what I want, too; I like casting Flare Star but it feels dumb to have a second, separate gauge. If they're really particular about sequencing they could make Flare Star only activate once you A) have three astral hearts and B) drop to 0 MP, but I don't think that'd be necessary. So long as the numbers are massaged such that more F4s will increase rather than decrease your dps on average (which is already the premise behind umbral paradox, really), it'll still be optimal in a white room to cast all six F4s in an astral cycle and there'll still be no incentive to skip B4.

[Pyitoechito]

This is exactly what I want, too; I like casting Flare Star but it feels dumb to have a second, separate gauge. If they're really particular about sequencing they could make Flare Star only activate once you A) have three astral hearts and B) drop to 0 MP, but I don't think that'd be necessary. So long as the numbers are massaged such that more F4s will increase rather than decrease your dps on average (which is already the premise behind umbral paradox, really), it'll still be optimal in a white room to cast all six F4s in an astral cycle and there'll still be no incentive to skip B4.

Of course. It would be a DPS loss to not cast all six Fire IV's every fire phase. Flare Star isn't such a DPS gain that anyone would want to cut the rotation down to three F4s or cast F1 over F4. The only time this would be optimal is if the boss is about to become untargetable, then it would actually be a boon to be able to cast Flare Star earlier in fire phase to get it out before the boss becomes untargetable and you lose the cast (we like mechanics-based optimization, right?).

I am an unparalleled artist.

[Ferrinus]

Of course. It would be a DPS loss to not cast all six Fire IV's every fire phase. Flare Star isn't such a DPS gain that anyone would want to cut the rotation down to three F4s or cast F1 over F4. The only time this would be optimal is if the boss is about to become untargetable, then it would actually be a boon to be able to cast Flare Star earlier in fire phase to get it out before the boss becomes untargetable and you lose the cast (we like mechanics-based optimization, right?).

I am an unparalleled artist.

And if they're absolutely dead set on Flare Star requiring six stacks and cannot be budged, they can STILL have each umbral heart turn orange, and then have those orange umbral hearts start crackling and flaming one by one.