Firestarter

[Daemonfaust]

I hope people aren't making the mistake of casting Fire 3 just because it has a higher number than Fire 1. Its an honest mistake though but when you look at the numbers of mp, time casting, and damage, Fire 3 is only worth it during Firestarter procs and to get a full stack of Astral fire while in full stack of Umbral.

I like how they made all the spells have a purpose from 1 - 50 and still be used. Only issue is that the naming is a bit confusing... Fire 1 is single target, Fire 2 is less damage than Fire 1 and AOE, and Fire 3 is single target but doesn't replace the use of Fire 1 due to cast time and mp even though it does more damage. Think they could have worked out some better names.

[Divine_Ultima]

Snip

You would be surprised. If I had a dollar for every time I used the duty finder and had a BLM or THM use Fire3 until low mp then Blizzard 3 till full mp, I'd be rich. No thunder in the rotation at all because most of them say its useless and weak. I tried helping out a few only to get chewed out by them saying that I didn't know how to play the class so shut-up (last time I gave advice on a rotation). Once my CE arrives I'm re-rolling to THM I fell in love with the class in phase 3 but decided to opt out and try Arcanist this time (meh overall) and I'm underwhelmed with it.

[RonPierce]

I hope people aren't making the mistake of casting Fire 3 just because it has a higher number than Fire 1. Its an honest mistake though but when you look at the numbers of mp, time casting, and damage, Fire 3 is only worth it during Firestarter procs and to get a full stack of Astral fire while in full stack of Umbral.

I like how they made all the spells have a purpose from 1 - 50 and still be used. Only issue is that the naming is a bit confusing... Fire 1 is single target, Fire 2 is less damage than Fire 1 and AOE, and Fire 3 is single target but doesn't replace the use of Fire 1 due to cast time and mp even though it does more damage. Think they could have worked out some better names.

I'd have expected, given past naming schemes, Fire II would actually be Firega, and IDK, Fire III could have just been called anything else with a fiery context. Same with cures, there should be a Curega.

[Allyrion]

I'd have expected, given past naming schemes, Fire II would actually be Firega, and IDK, Fire III could have just been called anything else with a fiery context. Same with cures, there should be a Curega.

Should be Fire, Fira, Firaga or Blizzard, Blizzara Blizzaga etc.
That's the standard FF naming scheme.

[Braxy]

Should be Fire, Fira, Firaga or Blizzard, Blizzara Blizzaga etc.
That's the standard FF naming scheme.

Actually in FFXI, there were both. Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, and Fire 4 were progressively stronger single-target spells. Firaga, Firaga 2, Firaga 3 were progressively stronger AOE spells.

[kdk_]

They usually do... like the -aga suffix for aoe elemental spells. I think in the Japanese versions of the game they keep this naming convention of spells, but they change it for localised versions.

[Kuroi_Tsuki]

Divine_Ultima, I don't use thunder I or thunder II either. Because yeah, they look weak and useless. Mind explaining why you think otherwise?

[Braxy]

At level 50, there is no benefit to using Thunder 1 or 2, except perhaps using Thunder 2 at the beginning of the rotation to save MP/Cast time, hoping for a Thundercloud proc to recast Thunder 3.

First, the DOT damage on all three spells is the same potency, but the duration increases with each rank. So, Thunder 3 is the better alternative to fit into a rotation.

Second, they changed the mechanics of Thunder from Beta. In Phase 3, you could stack Thunder 1/2/3 on the same mob and get non-stop Thundercloud procs. This is no longer the case. What's more, in Phase 3, the tooltip read something like this: "5% chance after each tick that the next Thunder 1/2/3 will be an instant cast, cost no MP, and do all of its damage immediately."

But now, that is different. Instead of "doing its full damage immediately," Thundercloud procs differently depending on which spell you use. The potency of the instant cast spell is 240, 295, and 340 for Thunder 1, 2, and 3, respectively. This effectively makes a Thunder 3 cast with Thundercloud gained from Thunder 3's DOT the strongest spell a BLM has in terms of potency.

[Juumix]

Good to know about the Thunder change. Good change in my opinion.

Back to firestarter. When firestarter procs, and you have already begun casting your next Fire I, is it better to stop casting your Fire I and blow the firestarter, then restart your cast of Fire I? Would it be better to just wait for Fire I to land, THEN start casting the next Fire I? The reason I ask is i notice that I "eat" my firestarter procs. I'll go Fire I(1) ->(Firestarter procs) -> Fire I(2) -> Hit instant cast Fire III ->(Fire starter procs from Fire I(2) thus refreshing Firestarter) -> Fire III hits, effectively "eating" a proc. I've been conflicted, and have just been eating them, I've always played my caster as a "keep casting" playstyle.

[Enzo729]

I've personally been cancelling my Fire 1 cast to use the FS proc. Otherwise I notice I waste a proc even instantly using the proc after the Fire 1 cast because it would proc again and then just consume (The timer will go back up to 10 seconds or whatever it is and then disappear).

I'm not 100% sure until I get to test more but I strongly believe wasting procs = dps loss.