Suggested Black Mage quality of life tweak

[Waffleiron70]

One of the core elements of Black Mage is maintaining Astral Fire / Umbral Ice. And this is a fine mechanic, and it's fine that letting it drop comes with a significant penalty. I personally think it's in a fair state so far as what's needed to recover if it's messed up in the middle of a fight. But there are a couple scenarios when it becomes either extra painful, or a needless nuisance:

1. When it drops right at the end of a fight in an open zone, or in a duty with multiple fights.
2. When it drops shortly prior to a boss becoming un-targetable.

In both of these scenarios, the extra pain comes from not being able to get back into AF/UI without something to attack. To that end, I suggest a new mechanic:

• Add a new buff with no duration limit. It can be named something like "Elemental Memory."
• The new buff is automatically applied when Astral Fire or Umbral Ice drops, and goes away when either state is entered.
• The buff has a single function: Allows Umbral Soul to be used outside of Umbral Ice. When used this way, Umbral Soul grants no Umbral Hearts and no MP, and only grants a single stack of Umbral Ice.

This should have no impact on optimal play, since in optimal play AF/UI is never dropped. It also would intentionally be the weakest way of entering Umbral Ice, only useful if you need to enter it with no target to attack. The sole purpose would be to alleviate the pain of dropping AF/UI with no target to regain it on.

The reason why I suggest adding this buff to the mix rather than simply making Umbral Soul usable outside of Umbral Ice generally is because the latter would have implications in optimal play, allowing Black Mages to start duties in Umbral Ice prior to the first pull or after a wipe. By using the buff as described here, it would only be usable this way if you are in a scenario where you could have already been in Umbral Ice if only you hadn't made a mistake.

[SubmarineAlt]

I think it's really, really shitty that people like you have any say in the game, but you got your wish. You no longer will ever drop astral or umbral. Not through an extra button or anything. Just innately. Your inablilty to handle a fail state is no longer an issue.

[GartredZW]

I think it's really, really shitty that people like you have any say in the game, but you got your wish. You no longer will ever drop astral or umbral. Not through an extra button or anything. Just innately. Your inablilty to handle a fail state is no longer an issue.

mate, the 7.2 changes aren't at all what OP was asking for.
What she was saying was that she wants Umbral Soul to be usable from a neutral state if enochian was dropped. That's all. It's an alright idea, I guess. but it just seems wholly unnecessary for basically every situation.

[Carighan]

I mean that's SubmarineAlt, just block them. They always post troll comments like that one. /shrug.

[SubmarineAlt]

I mean that's SubmarineAlt, just block them. They always post troll comments like that one. /shrug.

Troll comment? 9 people agreed with me. LMAO. You can have an opinion when you stop trapping EU PF. I have a special little note by your name on my blacklist on my EU alt. Glad you finally got your clear week 12!

mate, the 7.2 changes aren't at all what OP was asking for.
What she was saying was that she wants Umbral Soul to be usable from a neutral state if enochian was dropped. That's all. It's an alright idea, I guess. but it just seems wholly unnecessary for basically every situation.

Aaaaand, what was now entirely removed? The ability to drop Fire/Ice. So, what does that mean? THAT'S RIGHT! Their other feature request is no longer relevant! Wow, critically thinking. It's such a wonderful thing.