Thread: They are gutting Black Mage even more in 7.2

Originally Posted by Underscore

Never played Back Mage in my life, can anyone explain this in melee terms?

The way BLM currently works is they have 2 stances, Umbral Ice and Astral Fire. When applied, each one has a 15 second timer and allows the use of specific spells. The main one to pay attention to is Astral Fire, since it is where BLM spend most of the time.

During Astral Fire, they have access to Fire 4, which is what they should be spamming, the downside to Fire 4 is that, unlike other fire based spells, it does not reset the Astral Fire timer. In total, you wan to get 6 Fire 4s off before going back to Umbral Ice, but the Astral Fire timer does not allow for this. This is where Paradox comes in. This resets the timer on Astral Fire, allowing more time. You then have the guaranteed Firestarter proc off of Paradox, which allows a use of Fire 3 that is instacast, which again rests the Astral Fire timer.

The balance comes into play in using as many Fire 4s as you can before you reset the Astral Fire timer with Paradox/Firestarter. The most common split is 3 Fire 4s, Paradox, 3 Fire 4s, though other splits are used based on the situation.

On top of that, you have Thunderhead, which allows you to use High Thunder and you have Polyglot stacks to use Xenoglossy. Both are strong spells and should be used when appropriate. The fun then comes in that, using High Thunder or Xenoglossy uses up a GCD slot, which would otherwise be used for Fire 4. So you are effectively balancing the number of Fire 4s, keeping High Thunder ticking and making sure Xenoglossy does not over stack whilst ensuring the Astral Fire timer does not run out.

This might seem quite a lot to keep track of, but just from simple playing it does come fairly naturally, though not always 100% optimally unless you take the time (just like with any other job).

By removing the Astral Fire timer, you take away the thing you have to work around. You no longer have to worry about when to use Paradox or making sure you still have enough time left when using High Thunder/Xenoglossy. The timer never really got in the way in a casual sense, but it was still something to think about.

Unfortunately, I cannot think of an equivalent melee mechanic to try and explain it in, unless someone else thinks of something that I am missing.

I don't really participate in these forums but I just wanted to say that I am unhappy with the changes shown on-stream so that my voice is somewhere.

I don't know if we're just stuck in the past and in the long run this will end up being good, but it feels like they're systematically taking away everything I loved about blm. I remember when they made enochian a trait instead of a skill and was upset they were dumbing the job down, now it's removed, I'm going to miss the need to learn fights in and out to optimize my layline placement. It's just not the job I know anymore. I've stayed positive to this point, I've given the benefit of the doubt, I've turned a blind eye, and it's getting hard to keep doing that. I'm happy with the 7.2 patch content, but blm is just disappointing to me now.

This is the worst thing they could do to BLM. Making Despair instant has been the beginning of the end.

Anyone know what the JP forums are saying about this?

Taking the caster out of Spellcaster. Or maybe it was right under our noses all this time, hope they remember to correct that bit about movement.

This is really upsetting lol and a horrible potential preview of future job design.

With the caveat that I'm not the best or most experienced black mage;

I can't imagine a black mage without the enochian timer. That pressure to get your spells in on time is what makes the class exciting, and what makes it feel so good when you get it perfect. I choose to play it over other dps classes not because I always get it right but because it's more stimulating than other casters.

I haven't enjoyed playing one of my other favorite classes (AST) since the 7.0 changes, so it would be sad to lose another one.