Removing elemental nukes from WHM

[Altena]

Being a jerk to everyone doesn't make your points more valid. If you find Black Mage so gosh darn boring to play...for the Twelves sake, DON'T PLAY IT!

Nice, a personal attack.

I am a jerk because my opinions aren't yours by the sounds of it, as I have done nothing apart from disagree with the points you have attempted to make.

Playing BLM in content because it is optimal, is a bearable reason to play it, despite it being a boring job.
Is there something wrong with improving a boring job? It is pretty widely known to be boring. A lot of people think the job is boring, and facerollingly easy to play.

[Alaltus]

Nice, a personal attack.

I am a jerk because my opinions aren't yours by the sounds of it, as I have done nothing apart from disagree with the points you have attempted to make.

Playing BLM in content because it is optimal, is a bearable reason to play it, despite it being a boring job.
Is there something wrong with improving a boring job? It is pretty widely known to be boring. A lot of people think the job is boring, and facerollingly easy to play.

If you find spamming thunder nukes boring then i doubt you will be satisfied with having the other nukes either. As they are likely to just be used in the same way, thunder weak mob, spam thunder, stone weak mob spam stone. The mechanics don't change at all if anything you get more intrenched in the boring mechanics you say are boring. You can remedy this a little by adding spells that have utility uses (uses no good for spamming) effective on end game bosses. Preferably not on Black Mage's elemental nukes also.....

So for example what would help Black Mage switch things up in a fight would be spells like:

Bio~ Non elemental/Poison Elemental Nuke with Poison/Sap add effect.
Stun~ Stuns the enemy.
Blind~ Blinds the enemy.
Poison~ Poison's the enemy.
Curse~ Reduces the enemies attack stat.
Toad~ Turns the foe into a useless toad.
Break~ Petrifies the enemy.

All these could break the elemental nuke spam cycle, though i won't argue how broken they could be depending how they were implemented. I'd argue Black Mage should be more powerful, but take more hate because the way things are now Black Mage can sit in the background spamming nukes with little skill needed to evade aggro. Not helped by them having access to archer -emnity skills and freeze in its current form.

[Kinseykinz]

If you find spamming thunder nukes boring then i doubt you will be satisfied with having the other nukes either. As they are likely to just be used in the same way, thunder weak mob, spam thunder, stone weak mob spam stone. The mechanics don't change at all if anything you get more intrenched in the boring mechanics you say are boring. You can remedy this a little by adding spells that have utility uses (uses no good for spamming) effective on end game bosses. Preferably not on Black Mage's elemental nukes also.....

This is a point many of us, including myself have been trying to make...but she won't listen to that. Having more spells makes it 'magically' better.

So for example what would help Black Mage switch things up in a fight would be spells like:

Bio~ Non elemental/Poison Elemental Nuke with Poison/Sap add effect.
Stun~ Stuns the enemy.
Blind~ Blinds the enemy.
Poison~ Poison's the enemy.
Curse~ Reduces the enemies attack stat.
Toad~ Turns the foe into a useless toad.
Break~ Petrifies the enemy.

All these could break the elemental nuke spam cycle, though i won't argue how broken they could be depending how they were implemented. I'd argue Black Mage should be more powerful, but take more hate because the way things are now Black Mage can sit in the background spamming nukes with little skill needed to evade aggro. Not helped by them having access to archer -emnity skills and freeze in its current form.

All great ideas which probably would make the job more dynamic to play...but these skills (or at least dots/debuffs) have been slotted for Arcanist/Summoner to use.

I'd hate to point to current in-game mechanics and lore again as part of the reason Black Mage is limited to what it is...because I've been told several times 'screw all that, they can rewrite the whole game'...but once again, the lore and current game mechanics matter.

The only thing they maybe could do to change BLM from a 'park and bark' caster is to have spell potency changed based upon how close the mage is to the mob. It changes nothing about what spells they have, but does in fact require more skill, timing and strategy to play. It also ends one of the other DD's griefs that Black Mage tends to be overused due to it being able to avoid most damage. Personally, I don't know that this would be a good battle mechanic in the long-haul but it is the only thing I think you could viably do that wouldn't require screwing up so many other things in the game that work well.


But, Alaltus is absolutely right, having more DDspells by themselves, any DD spells (stone/aero/water/umbral) won't overall change the 'spam spell x' feel of the job. Something needs to change in HOW you cast and the mechanics behind the spells you do have, in order to add more drama.

The elemental strength/weakness thing is even a different topic behind that and all I can say is Black Mage doesn't need all these spells to be effective as long as SE makes sure to include them in battles even if they decide to allow for mobs resistant to their magic. We've already had examples of this type of battle with Garuda by the way. Black Mages couldn't harm 1 of the 2 sister spawns or the plumes. But were great for burning down Garuda. So instead of asking for spells from the CNJ tree you don't really need, maybe instead ask SE or for ideas to counteract any possible battles wherein Black Mage might be less-needed due to any time of Magic Resistance (there are potential Mobs that just don't take damage from magic period).