Please reconsider an upcoming Black Mage change.

[Eraden]

Changes to BLMs only reinforcings Mao conclusion that SE gonna go full steams ahead with DDR fights. Also, PCTs is still thems wonder-childs. Mao still on track to nopings out of game by 7.5. When MSQs became so bads it became so clear to Mao that so much of rest of game was threadbare. Mao been playings Dragon in WoW and Mao been havings blast!

[Turtledeluxe]

The JP forum isn't happy and their feedback is very helpful. Go give them some likes in their BLM thread.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...%A3%AB/page343

Some quotes

I predict that even if a buff is added in an emergency update, they'll say, "Because we lowered Enochian's numbers, it was perceived as a weakening," as if it's a misconception by players that's the problem. I can't help but feel a little skeptical about the current management and the producer's guidelines.

Reduction in freedom of skill rotation:
Black mages have been using the nonstandard rotations for many years, so black mages before EW were able to build extremely flexible skill rotations. The reason why nonstandard lines were eliminated in DT was probably to "make it possible to get proper damage if you can do the basic rotation," but the result was that the damage ceiling was lowered, the range of rotations was narrowed, and improvisation was replaced with predictable, worse feeling gameplay.

Black Mage's identity is firepower:
Nothing more, nothing less. Black Mage users don't want more insta cast skills to improve mobility, or more mitigation to strengthen support (is the benefit of making Despair insta cast more about refreshing AF?). Black Mage is supoosed to be a difficult job where, even in some dungeons, positioning is important. As mentioned above, there are no benefits other than firepower. Therefore, at least the firepower must be higher than any other DPS. It is an absolute requirement to surpass Pictomancer.

I'll say it again. It is absolutely necessary to surpass Pictomancer.

Flare Star Specifications:
The concept of being able to cast FS after casting Fire IV six times is good. The presence or absence of casting and the potency are also issues of numerical adjustment, so I will omit them. However, it is not good that Astral Soul disappears when switching between AF and UI. Not only does it force the basic rotation, but even if you take into account the instant cast of Despair, it limits the magic that can be cast during AF. This makes it hard to shake off the feeling that you have no choice but to cast certain spells because damage will suffer otherwise.

Also, was it necessary to make Leylines a charge? I think that people who want to use Leylines after the opener are probably quite niche... It would have been possible to reproduce the same level of firepower adjustment just by adjusting the power of Despair and Flare Star, without increasing Leylines by one charge or reducing Enochian, which is clearly a debuff.At least, I don't think it would have caused any controversy.

[Valence]

Do they have similar threads for rphys or something?

[Turtledeluxe]

Do they have similar threads for rphys or something?

There's a MCH thread but it's not nearly as scathing as the BLM thread, perhaps due to how long MCH has been neglected. They seem mildly pleased with the recent buff, but there's random suggestions as far as utility/mobility and then the usual criticism of low DPS. Some feel it should be more on par with melee.

[Altera]

I just cannot fathom with all the suggestions so many BLM players have posted, and the devs seems to have not read anything as they did something nobody asked for.
Not sure wether or not this was a buff or nerf tbh. Feels like all this was, was reallocating the Nerf to Enochian to the Insta Despair and Leylines. Yet PCT is still miles in front of BLMs

I would love to get some Devs to tell me what IF any visions they actually have of what a BLM is supposed to be xD As it is a pure DPS while PCT is a more support without Raise. So it should be above RDM and SMN but behind BLM. But now it has been what? 6 months or so and PCT which they admitted was too overtuned, yet do to nothing about PCT.

I have played BLM since 1.0, and never taken a break from the game, but atm I am really beaten up and feel it is time to hang up my Rod for the last ever time and find a new MMO or find something else to spend my free time on :/

[GartredZW]

- snip -

I feel you. I've talked to many people who ask how Black Mage is after this update, or 7.05/7.0, and I'll explain what they did that got under my skin, and almost every time, I'll be hit back with a "How's that bad? That sounds so much easier now."
It just feels like they listen to the feedback on players who couldn't figure it out, rather than players who actively play and love the class (ie. people who know how it works) And until recently, it seemed like the job was designed by people who also knew how it works. That's what was so great about Paradox. Yeah, it's more powerful, and yeah you get to move a bit during your ice phase, but the important part was that you'd have an extra GCD to regain MP with so you'd almost always be back at full by the time you cast Fire 3. and don't have to use double Blizzard4s, or a xenoglossy when you don't need it.
Now it just feels like they're throwing things at the wall, and seeing how people react. It's why they had to make two major updates to job actions so far, and we're only in the .1 patch.

I'm calling it now, before the expansion is over, they're going to standardize Black Mage's cast times to 1.5s. finally making it the most braindead job in the game, and finally pushing me over the edge to maining red mage like I expected to when I first started playing this game. If I even keep playing at that point.

[GartredZW]

See what you've done, Square?
You see what this change allowed?
You should have just left the class alone and let us play the way we like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbHH5R7taxg

[brinn12]

The BLM instant-cast rotation still puts the job very close to Machinist in damage.

How is Square planning to release difficult high-end content in the future, when every expansion released is breaking the game even more? You can't have DPS checks in an imbalanced mess. And the way they "fix" the BLM issues is by decreasing time spent casting. BLM, of all jobs.

[Carighan]

You can't have DPS checks in an imbalanced mess.

We didn't have actually tight DPS-checks in a loooooooooong time. You can clear stuff with 4 Dancers as your DPS easily so long as they have all buttons assigned to their hotbar.

[GartredZW]

The BLM instant-cast rotation still puts the job very close to Machinist in damage.

How is Square planning to release difficult high-end content in the future, when every expansion released is breaking the game even more? You can't have DPS checks in an imbalanced mess. And the way they "fix" the BLM issues is by decreasing time spent casting. BLM, of all jobs.

The poster of the video says that it's around 98%-99% as effective as playing standard, and the first time you're required to hard cast a spell is around 6-7 minutes into the fight, which you can easy balance out by just playing standard for like 10 seconds somewhere that doesn't require any movement.
Meanwhile, Machinist pulls around 10% less damage than Black Mage assuming top level play.