My Feedback on Black Mage

[ultimacy]

I haven't been playing BLM long, but in 7.05, I felt I reached the class's peak. I enjoyed the structured rotation compared to 6.x, which often relied on RNG like server MP ticks. The 7.05 changes brought consistency, with slight adjustments for specific fights, and I found this rewarding.

As a high-end BLM player, I’m deeply disappointed by the 7.1 instant-cast change to Despair. While it seems minor, it removes depth from the class. Optimizing Despair and Flare Star casts was key to mastering the rotation, but now much of that skill expression is gone.

BLM has always been the hardest job to master, rewarded with top-tier damage. However, with Pictomancer, that dynamic has shifted. PCT deals more damage while being far easier to play, leaving BLM players feeling unrewarded for their effort. It’s frustrating to polish my gameplay only to be outdone by a simpler class. Party Finder often locks caster spots for PCT, sidelining BLM, RDM, and SMN. Why should we be excluded from participating in parties? Picto's presence in this will force those who are easily suceptible to the meta to just exclude players that don't play desired classes.

The Ley Lines change in 7.1 is appreciated for its flexibility, but overall, the patch feels like a nerf to BLM’s skill ceiling. If the hardest class to master no longer rewards effort with superior damage, what’s the incentive to play it? While I love playing it, it is taxing to put in great effort into my job only to be chosen second next to an average Pictomancer. SE's trend of simplifying classes (e.g., Viper, Dragoon) is alienating for those who value rewarding difficulty.

To fix this, BLM needs meaningful buffs. I'm no game designer of course, but my ideas would be to restore Enochian's power, increase Flare Star's damage to reflect its casting effort, or add guaranteed crit/direct hit effects like PCT’s hammer combo. BLM should excel in high-level play—not feel punished for choosing a challenging class.

[fulminating]

Please be aware that you are talking to an monkey’s paw here; any complaints about effort input to damage output inevitably lead to the job being chucked into the sandblaster until no one who originally played it gives a damn anymore.

[Carighan]

As a high-end BLM player, I’m deeply disappointed by the 7.1 instant-cast change to Despair. While it seems minor, it removes depth from the class. Optimizing Despair and Flare Star casts was key to mastering the rotation, but now much of that skill expression is gone.

*the monkey paw curls*

7.2:

* As a result of player feedback, Despair has been moved over to the Pictomancer job.

hardest class to master

Ah, more copium to still feel relevant.

[Keichi]

Why the f is instant despair a problem?
It improved the blm.
Before, had you little time to cast it, if you had to use fire3 before and slower cast speed. So, that you needed Quick spell very often to refresh the timer.

Now, is it instant and you spare the use of Quick spell (or use it for flare star). I see only improvement.

[ShadowNyx3]

You are the first "high-end" BLM player that I have ever seen say that they prefer the rigidity of 7.05 over 6.x's Non-standard. It's kind of laughable to see you say that and also call Instant-cast Despair a minor change and loss of skill expression when I see other BLMs using this change to remove Flare Star from the rotation and implement the Mana ticks of Lucid Dreaming to bring back some of that Non-standard play that allowed for much more movement.

BLM has always been the hardest job to master, rewarded with top-tier damage. However, with Pictomancer, that dynamic has shifted. PCT deals more damage while being far easier to play, leaving BLM players feeling unrewarded for their effort. It’s frustrating to polish my gameplay only to be outdone by a simpler class. Party Finder often locks caster spots for PCT, sidelining BLM, RDM, and SMN. Why should we be excluded from participating in parties? Picto's presence in this will force those who are easily suceptible to the meta to just exclude players that don't play desired classes.

The ego trip here is astounding but nothing I haven't seen before. Many Black Mages have a superiority complex and its really quite insufferable. You could have made legitimate points like: BLM not having any party utility or being behind the 8-ball on balance because of Picto's party buff that will grow stronger the further the expansion goes or this game's two RNG stats inflate the maximum output potential of Picto beyond what it should be; but instead we just have to listen to you spouting crap about how hard and difficult your job is to "master" and that you should be the one to get that exclusive locked party slot. Nobody but you cares about how hard your job is and if you do not feel rewarded by playing it then don't.

[IOwn92FCHouses]

You are the first "high-end" BLM player that I have ever seen say that they prefer the rigidity of 7.05 over 6.x's Non-standard.

They didn't play Black Mage in 6.x. They were too busy griefing parties with a Grey to green performance in casual content.

OP is a player that got carried by RNG for a run or 2 and now thinks they're pretty hot shit. Most actual high end players don't need 20 runs of rolling the RNG dice to squeak out a 99. Or, in op's case, an astounding 150 extreme runs for a single 99. On a non-competitive job, which BLM is. Because there's no objective reason to pick BLM over Picto.

[Owyn_Addens]

Why the f is instant despair a problem?
It improved the blm.
Before, had you little time to cast it, if you had to use fire3 before and slower cast speed. So, that you needed Quick spell very often to refresh the timer.

Now, is it instant and you spare the use of Quick spell (or use it for flare star). I see only improvement.

Speaking personally, I don't like it when they remove cast times from casters. If I wanted that I'd just play Phys Ranged. Instant Despair in particular is pretty grating because the problem that it's meant to address is a problem that only exists in the first place because they made Fire Paradox instant. Back in 6.X when both of them had cast times the AF timer wasn't really an issue.

[blackmagics]

You are the first "high-end" BLM player that I have ever seen say that they prefer the rigidity of 7.05 over 6.x's Non-standard. It's kind of laughable to see you say that and also call Instant-cast Despair a minor change and loss of skill expression when I see other BLMs using this change to remove Flare Star from the rotation and implement the Mana ticks of Lucid Dreaming to bring back some of that Non-standard play that allowed for much more movement.



The ego trip here is astounding but nothing I haven't seen before. Many Black Mages have a superiority complex and its really quite insufferable. You could have made legitimate points like: BLM not having any party utility or being behind the 8-ball on balance because of Picto's party buff that will grow stronger the further the expansion goes or this game's two RNG stats inflate the maximum output potential of Picto beyond what it should be; but instead we just have to listen to you spouting crap about how hard and difficult your job is to "master" and that you should be the one to get that exclusive locked party slot. Nobody but you cares about how hard your job is and if you do not feel rewarded by playing it then don't.

I think that person made a valid point. A class shouldn't be excluded from group play just because another class exists and outperforms it in every way. I really think the frustrations that BLM mains have is that they pour a lot of time and energy into mastering a class only for another class to outclass it from it's one and only saving grace: Damage. pair that class with a more modernized kit and ease of use with mobility at this point one could assume Square is just rubbing salt in the BLM wounds.

[Supersnow845]

Why the f is instant despair a problem?
It improved the blm.
Before, had you little time to cast it, if you had to use fire3 before and slower cast speed. So, that you needed Quick spell very often to refresh the timer.

Now, is it instant and you spare the use of Quick spell (or use it for flare star). I see only improvement.

Why is it so strange to want casters to actually cast

There is a reason why everyone collectively had an orgasm when PCT was reveled to actually be a caster not a pseudo physical ranged like modern SMN

[GartredZW]

I enjoyed the structured rotation compared to 6.x, which often relied on RNG like server MP ticks.

I'm really not sure what you mean by this. The only way RNG could mess you up at level 90 was if you're running a high spell speed build, and go through ice under Ley Lines. And yeah, that was pretty annoying when it happened, but I always made a point to throw an extra Xenoglossy or Thunder just to make sure I get all my ticks. During normal play, even with my high spell speed build, your standard ice phase was enough to get all your MP back.

As for the structured rotation, If you played normally (as in, the way the game most intuitively leads you to) the rotations would be nearly identical structure wise. It's still the same F3 - F4(x3) - Paradox - F4(x3) - Despair - B3 - B4 - Paradox. even if Paradox was missing from ice for the first month of the expansion, and paradox is now instant, the basic principles of what you're doing are still there.
What we lost was flexibility in non-standard lines that only the absolute top Black Mages even knew how to do effectively. If you like the way Dawntrail Black Mage plays, but not Endwalker's, then it sounds like you've got more of an issue with Paradox and Despair's cast times, not the structure of the whole thing.

I'm a bit weird in this, but I really couldn't care less how well my class performs compared to others, or how easy or hard it is in relation to that damage. For me, Playing well is it's own reward, and I enjoy trying to optimize as much as I can even in normal content.
"Such pleasures you seek for their own sake, and no other reason. Is this not so . . . Adventurer?"

And yeah, I'm upset at the lowering of the skill ceiling too. I just think it's more productive to keep the critiques about Black Mage, and not pit it against any other class.
Let's be honest, with how new jobs are treated, which one are they going to side with when the two playerbases come to conflict? They're going to make the Picto players happy since they're playing the darling shiny new job. It's why they'd rather buff every other job slightly than nerf Picto even a bit.

My ideas for how to make Black Mage feel like it should again is basically just putting the cast times back on Fire Paradox and Despair, and figuring out a new system for Thunder that relies on a well timed weave in order to maximize it's effectiveness. We had just that in Endwalker, but I'm open to something that isn't just Sharpcast as long as it adds a new level of depth to think about for maintaining your Dot. Once you get the hang of using your instants, you should never need to use Thunder twice in one fire phase, making the whole Thunderhead system completely pointless.