BLM and the Loss of Game Feel

[Zigovali]

Way I figure it, the more threads and posts there are about the BLM rework, the more likely SE will hear about it and decide to do something. So yeah, there's a lot of threads, but if me throwing in one more amplifies the voices of concern, I see that as a good thing.

TL;DR: How a job feels to play is more important to me than how it performs, and this is the case for a lot of players I've seen. The BLM rework has greatly disrupted this, as have reworks in the past.

I'll be real: I'm a pretty casual player. I don't really do high-end content. I'd like to, but party finder scares me a little bit, and I don't have many friends that wanna try it either. But I love playing BLM! The technical aspects of the job, of executing efficient rotations in tight Enochian windows, of utilizing things like Triplecast and Aetherial Manipulation to deal with mechanics forcing you to move. The sheer satisfaction of knowing exactly where to place a Ley Line to be able to keep up a rotation while still dodging mechanics by inches without leaving the circle. When you get good at BLM, it feels really good.

Well, it did.

The technical crunch of the job is gone. No timers to force efficiency; no long cast times to convey that feeling of weight behind your spells. Abilities such as Paradox and Umbral Soul have lost a lot of their relevance, when before they were key parts of playing the job. What's left about BLM to satisfy someone who played it for its challenges?

This is the loss of game feel. We're not playing this game to produce sufficiently exponential quantities of numerical outputs to compete with increasing demands, because FFXIV isn't a corporate office job. It's a game! We play it because it's fun! And we latch onto certain jobs because it feels fun and good to play them. This is the case with BLM. It is also the case with several other jobs; I for one remember the old days of AST where the draws were random, and you learned to play the cards you were dealt. I enjoyed that aspect, and now it's long gone.

Frankly, I don't care if BLM doesn't have the absolute best damage in high-end content, or that the changes make it easier to handle "future encounter design". What I care about is how it feels to play BLM, and this very much seems to be the case for a lot of players. And yes, perhaps the changes will allow new players to feel more confident in playing the job. But how many existing players will stop playing the job as a result? And what is it you would like for us to do instead?

[Valkyrie_]

Way I figure it, the more threads and posts there are about the BLM rework, the more likely SE will hear about it and decide to do something. So yeah, there's a lot of threads, but if me throwing in one more amplifies the voices of concern, I see that as a good thing.

Yeah about that...you should probably ask the Samurais how that strategy went, even healers have a 1000+ page thread on the general discussion along with a boat load of threads in the Healer role section, and yet there has been no response or positive outcome from the devs.

Sadly we're all just screaming into the void at this point...
In the grim darkness of the Final Fantasy XIV future, there is only homogenization...
Please look forward to it!

[Carighan]

Yeah if you think that threads on the forum matter, you huffed entirely too much copium.

There's one way, exactly one way to give feedback: With your wallet.

[Azurarok]

Telling someone to stop complaining and unsub because it's hopeless isn't exactly convincing when it comes from someone who likes the changes, however true it may be.

[EreAsha]

I agree. Without a risk of dropping enochian, it just feels boring. I gave it an honest try before deciding I couldn't play it anymore, and that's upsetting. I've played black mage since I started this game back in 2016 during heavensward. And while I've never been a raider, I have done extreme trials.

The whole "we're changing it since it's going to be difficult to cast spells" feels a bit like a cop out too. None of the fights (the dungeon, the trial, or the normal raids) had enough movement in them that I felt like it was movement heavy enough to necessitate change. Some of them were just frustrating to deal with even if it was visually interesting. There's a point where you end up having to move too much, and it feels like this patch specifically hit that.

Something else I've thought of as I've mainly lurked through forum posts is fire paradox. Others have pointed out how it's a loss now unless you save firestarter for umbra ice, transpose, firestarter.... But in thinking about how /unintuative/ using fire paradox will be now.

Like, pre-60, you spam fire 1 and use firestarter when you get it. (Six casts). 60-89 you spam fire 4 because fire 1 is an obvious loss /unless/ you get firestarter. (7 casts if you have your umbral hearts). You hit 90 and get paradox... But it still costs mana so now you have to limit your fire 4 spam to 1 less than /30 levels/ and /four expansions/ (hit 60 in HW, spam until level cap in EW) have taught you.

They've raised the timer before. I really don't get why they couldn't just add some more time on it if they really felt it was necessary.