Please do not touch the BLM! Stop jobs simplifying!

[Oreste]

I registered on the forum just to leave this comment.
Please read to the end, especially if you are belong to the SE.

I really don't like what SE are doing with battle jobs.
I remember the times when we had the old SMN, and back then its rework seemed like a very sad decision to me: the old summoner may have been weird, but it was difficult and interesting, and I liked it. Like the AST, who simply had its night phase taken away (why? who benefited from this? was it really necessary to adhere to the rule "we can only have an equal number of shield and regen healers"?). I don't remember the old MNK, maybe the EDW monk became better, but the fact that in DT you took away its timers (which kept the monk player in suspense) in my opinion destroyed the job.

And now you came for my favorite job too.
I remember the times when BLM had an Enochian button, but okay, maybe this nerf was worth the convenience. In EDW BLM became better because we got a beautiful button replacing Fire1, and also a very beautiful button that gives a stack of Polyglot. Back when the Pandemonium raids came out, we still had mana tics that forced you to rely on feelings and strictly control the time you were in the ice phase, and it was great, it was wonderful. I fondly remember the savage raids that I played on this job. I really liked challenging myself.

But what have we seen since the release of DT?
I strongly disagree with people who think that BLM was ok in 7.0, IT WAS NOT.
They cut off mana tics from the job (by which deleted time management in the ice phase), gave it an awkward unnecessary Flare Star (that greatly simplified time management in the fire phase), gave it portable Ley Lines (?!), and made Despair an insta-cast (?!?!?!?!). Despair was one of those buttons that kept the soul of BLM inside it. That great moment when you have 3 seconds left on the gauge, you have to cast Despair, but a voidzone is already spawning under your feet - that's what black mage means. A strategic approach to your gameplay, an attempt to predict the timings of mechanics that will happen in the next 30 seconds. That's what BLM meant to me.

After adding Flare Star and insta-cast Despair, this class became boring for me, so I refused to play it. NOT because PCT appeared, but because BLM itself started having problems.
And now it seems to go into oblivion, and will remain the same ghost of its former self, like summoner, astrologer and monk.

I'm seriously considering unsubscribing if the patch notes will confirm our fears about such a rework of BLM.

[Carighan]

I'll be honest, I don't think Black Mage is "okay" in any shape or form.

As such, while I feel the changes are negative, they cannot really do any damage. The job is in shambles, and has been since Shadowbringers at least. I would vote for ripping the job out entirely and going all the way back to the drawing board, keeping nothing but the motif of "Fire, Ice and Lightning". Scrap all current abilities. And the idea. Just re-do it from the start, "Big badaboom caster", no further limitations.

[Nivexus]

The job is in shambles, and has been since Shadowbringers at least. I would vote for ripping the job out entirely and going all the way back to the drawing board, keeping nothing but the motif of "Fire, Ice and Lightning". Scrap all current abilities. And the idea. Just re-do it from the start, "Big badaboom caster", no further limitations.

Although you view these changes in a similar negative light, I do not understand why you think the job has been "in shambles" since Shadowbringers. BLM mains agree that Blackmage was absolutely in its best iterations in both Shadowbringers and Endwalker: a plethora of optional optimisation lines which only slightly outperformed the standard rotation, and high reward for playing the class in a proactive manner given the limited movement tools.

Could you please help me understand why you feel the class wasn't in a good position? I fail to see why the dev team thinks implementing any of this could be a good idea, even in the long run.

[Leika]

Although you view these changes in a similar negative light, I do not understand why you think the job has been "in shambles" since Shadowbringers. BLM mains agree that Blackmage was absolutely in its best iterations in both Shadowbringers and Endwalker: a plethora of optional optimisation lines which only slightly outperformed the standard rotation, and high reward for playing the class in a proactive manner given the limited movement tools.

Could you please help me understand why you feel the class wasn't in a good position? I fail to see why the dev team thinks implementing any of this could be a good idea, even in the long run.

I totally agree, 6.5 BLM was peak and so much fun!

[DBriggs304]

They are determined to rework the game into a Disney adventure. The DT story has likely ruined the game for the long haul and now the jobs are getting watered down more and more

[WissOne-Kerst]

Please, I beg you for not simplifying BLM. It's one of, if not only, jobs that actually require some sort of thinking and skill. Please, do not take it from us.

[imhae]

Totally agree, SE please stop ruining jobs

[Krugman]

Totally agree, making jobs more accessible to lower skilled/new players is one thing, but these changes if true go too far. There has to be a better middle ground to preserve some amount of the skill ceiling. And just after the last black mage changes trended in the right direction imo. Players should be encouraged to learn and grow, not just steadily handed more lobotomized versions of jobs.

[NovaStella]

I have a hard time putting to words my disappointment that the Dawntrail changes to Black Mage have been. At this point I feel like I have to unsub, the developers wont care that people don't like the changes if they keep paying.

[Cleo_king]

Yes please stop doing this. Yoshi P, P for Poser BLM. No sane BLM player would want these changes, so stop acting like ur a blm player.