As someone who started at the end of Shadowbringers I share the sentiment that it has the same bad feeling to it, in comparison to Endwalker. But of course the issue I now have is still somewhat related to not playing the new rotation optimally, resulting in mistakes that are far more punishing than ever.

Without having all the background information and going in bad faith territory, I would say the changes were more targeted at making the non-standard lines impossible, rather than improving Black Mage. While I get that non standard lines might not be the indented way of playing, most high end players used them and I have not heard from anyone, who took the time to learn non-standard, preferring the default playstyle.

I have no doubt that Black Mages in statics will find good ways to adept to the new Raid. When it comes to PF, non-standard was often a good answer to play around strats that did not took BLM's into consideration.

On a personal level I am not opposed to a Black Mage rework, I am disappointed in the changes that feel more like band aid fixes and invalidating what I have learned over the entirety of Endwalker. At least I did not venture into Ultimates yet, that would feel even worse relearning them on a impeded class, only to wait for a rework that might not happen until 8.0 and then start all over again, if we go by past SE's announcements for class reworks.