Firestarter

[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.

[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.

[DrEubanks]

tier spells in Final fantasy are not like any other mmo where.. 2 is greater that 1 so i will use 2 from now on..

in FF you use all spells and all tiers! when the moment calls for them

Don't use thunder 1-2.

[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.

[Orophin]

I personally have not been queuing my Fires since learning Firestarter as I don't want to waste the time cancelling. It doesn't seem beneficial to continue a Fire cast as it has the chance to proc another Firestarter and you missed out on the opportunity to get two back to back.

Also regarding Thunder, I haven't learned Thunder 3 yet, but I've been using Thunder 2 as an opener since the high 30s and on since mobs last a little bit longer now. Getting the chance for the Thunderspark proc seems worth it IMO. I am pretty sad they disallowed the stacking of the three Thunder spells. I used to use these as a filler waiting for my mana to recharge after swapping to Ice.

[Rbstr]

I've noted when Thunder procs I can get it off almost exactly in time with my current FireI cast. Then go into the next FireI cast after the cooldown resets.

Seems to me that even though you have a chance for that FireI to proc it's better to get a half-casted spell off than interrupting it unless you'll pop the mob with it:
Each cast is an individual proc event. You're not "missing out" on a back-to-back except hypothetically. Even then It's less likely that Firestarter will proc again on that FireI than not.

[Enzo729]

As for not spamming Fire 1, it's a give and take, because in the time you wait for the previous Fire 1 to hit to see if you got a FS proc you could of casted another Fire 1. So basically if you're trying to optimize DPS, it would be better IMO to spam Fire 1 and just cancel whenever it procs. Overall canceling 5-10 times a fight is much better than delaying 30+ fire casts.

As for Thunder, I always hard cast (opener and reapplying) Thunder 2 due to shorter cast time and use TC procs on Thunder 3.