Do BLMs really do that much damage?

[fuz]

Don't forget the damage done by elemental enfeebs, and/or bio. It can add about 100-300 damage per fight depending on resists.

[Tetsura]

In experience partys at 75, unless you're in a Blm pt, a well equipped Melee can outdamage you pretty easy. Just because the level diference between what you're fighting is low, and the strength of equipment is so high. I recently partyed with argueably the server's best Samurai, he was doing sometimes over 2k damage with Tachi:Gekko and easily 2-3 ws's per fight. In cases like this, Blm are restricted by their MP and MP regen.

Blm really shines when you are fighting things that are stronger then what your party should be fighting (provided you have good gear). Blm's can still do over 2k damage with Thundaga III MB, but you have to take into account alot of variables like nation control and day/weather while doing so.

Make no mistake, Blm's do alot of damage by anyone's standards. But what we do best is large damage in small time frames consistantly. Blm's can also do some amazing things in large groups

[Yuanlung]

While we can do a lot of damage as BLM's, our most important role in the party isn't damage over time. Black mages supply "damage on demand". We are capable of dishing out damage whenever it is needed the most.

I used to parse logs for damage comparison. (I don't any more since the software sometimes kills my FFXI app) In most cases, the 3 damage dealers in my party (RNG, DRK, and BLM) ended up doing about the same damage over time. With the melees doing more at the beginning of chains and BLM does more towards the end of the chains.

[Asharu]

Originally posted by Gman
Do you mean non "-ga" spells only? A BLM in a group I had on the weekend bursted Firaga 3 for 1395 damage (on firesday) on greater cockatrice (light SC)

Thundaga III would do somewhere in the 1600's on a Aura Statue for me... maybe more, I don't usually use -aga spells because the MP difference is too much for only a 300-400HP difference in damage.

[Asharu]

Originally posted by Tetsura
In experience partys at 75, unless you're in a Blm pt, a well equipped Melee can outdamage you pretty easy. Just because the level diference between what you're fighting is low, and the strength of equipment is so high. I recently partyed with argueably the server's best Samurai, he was doing sometimes over 2k damage with Tachi:Gekko and easily 2-3 ws's per fight. In cases like this, Blm are restricted by their MP and MP regen.

Blm really shines when you are fighting things that are stronger then what your party should be fighting (provided you have good gear). Blm's can still do over 2k damage with Thundaga III MB, but you have to take into account alot of variables like nation control and day/weather while doing so.

Make no mistake, Blm's do alot of damage by anyone's standards. But what we do best is large damage in small time frames consistantly. Blm's can also do some amazing things in large groups

This is quite true. Most melee jobs can deal a great amount of damage on mobs that are close to their level. For mobs that are higher in level, BLMs (and RNGs) are optimal because they can still deal great damage b/c most mobs are always weak to magic (arcana-type mobs suck tho ). This is why, for instance, why you see a lot of RNGs and BLMs for sky gods, b/c they can keep up with the damage even though the sky gods are high in level.

[Anakron]

Yeah, the first time I noticed that was partying in Onzozo with my RNG. We were waiting for our 6th member, so we decided to go kill some EPs near the entrance. Each hit from the WAR/NIN's 1-handed axes were doing the same damage as my bow.

Also, while soloing some exp on EPs as BLM, I noticed that my nukes do more or less the same damage on EPs as on ITs (without resists).

[Jei]

Yuanlung > I like how you define that ^^ "Damage on Demand." So true.

[Lakario]

Like others said, the important thing to note regarding BLM damage is not the mass-damage over time, but the individual chunks. At 75 I cast about 1 burst per fight and 1-2 (tops) damage spells if I have time/mp averaging around 1500-2000 damage per fight. As far as damage percent goes, I usually come out with the most damage or a little less, but never significantly. Rangers are, undoubtedly, more powerful than a BLM and do considerably more DoT, but that is because BLMs are restricted to MP and long recast timers as well as the issue of hate-control. If I wanted to out-damage a RNG, I certainly could, but it would most likely come at the cost of death. Like I said, BLMs do *large* chunks of damage in single attacks and have a tendancy to throw the focus of monsters off the tank. Whereas, as a ranger, one is able to do a large damage chunk and take/blink a little of the reciprocated hate. I think BLMs and Rangers hold the title for the largest damage totals per single attack, but rangers will always have the one-up due to their increased physical strength and lack of dependancy on an expendable commodity (MP).

But, to answer your original question, there are really no DD jobs other than ranger that can match up to a [high-level] BLM for total damage per fight. 1400DMG Un-bursted Thundaga III {Please check it.}

[Fingus]

Wouldn't be a Final Fantasy without Black Mages so stop whining about damage and durrender to the nostalgia! >:D

By the way. Less than "holy flammable jesus on a pogo stick!" damage is still damage. Lesser is better than nothing.

[l33t_c0w]

<plea-rant>
I was thinking about posting a new topic, but it seems like it'd best fit here... I recently was playing with the log parser. couldn't get it to gather logs, but i did parse the last 4 fights or so of the party I was in... it was around level 40, and I was one of the higher party members. We were fighting Soldier Crawlers. Anyways, in overall damage the monk lead by a significant margin, followed by the dragoon. A little ways after the dragoon was me (blm), followed very closely by the War/Nin.

I'm a black mage. And I'm the least of the damage dealers. What's up with that? I stuck to elemental weaknesses... My gear isn't gimped... I've pretty much got all the non-HQ/non-rareish int gear... works out to +23 after food. Even for chain 5, when I nuked all out until it was dead (not sure how i had the mp for it... usually running empty around then) I only was doing 30% of the damage.

If the monk and dragoon were unusually good, then ok. Or if having all the gear that I can't afford (all the +1s and morion stuff) might actually help matters then... I guess I can try farming for a year... but if this is normalcy, I might as well be a red mage - at least then I wouldn't be useless...

</plea-rant>

PS. somebody shoot the damned assjack who made the banner with the "camera noises" - I'm literally having to click back and forth thorugh the forum until it goes away - annoying as all hell.

[Jei]

lol ^^ The Mnk and Drg can't escape your group out of the nest. Let alone warping themselves home. That where they'll kneel down to you.

[Peachey]

Hmm..I usually have a little trouble if I'm too low for the area.
I almost always do 30%-34% of the damage if it's a good party setup with a decent renkei. One thing you might consider is using an HMP food such as ginger cookies, especially against mobs such as crabs. Even with a good dispeler Shell really blows, and you'll essentially have to nuke twice as much for the same damage. I can't wait for raptors....

I should probably add that this was with a PLD, THF, RNG, WHM, RDM, BLM setup. Thf and Rng wouldn't renkei every fight due the Fuidama timers.

[sekaran]

I parsed my damage in my last static.. from lv37 to 75.. was NIN MNK RNG BLM RDM BRD static and damage usually looked like this..

35%MNK
35%RNG
20%NIN
20%BLM

Somewhere around that.. it's hard to nuke large tier spells in a EXP PT due to pulling hate. :\

[Stokes]

I never cared if I pulled hate or not in XP pts :\

If you wanna test BLM dmg for fun, go destroy sewer syurp for fun lol, do like 3k+ dmg to it w/ thndaga3 :O

[Ghostraven]

-blm will usually outdamage melee on crabs
-Melee can't burst
-ranger is PAYING for that damage (so are you but not per casting w)
-You will have an easier time hitting IT+++ mobs than any melee
-instant invites even when not seeking

give yourself a hug, love blm, don't worry about being the highest damage class in the game... if that's what is important to you, level rng.......