Is Black Mage the perfect job?

[Rain_Blade]

The reason I have that title as is it is because I have never seen many Black Mage complaints or requests for updates for them. It makes me wonder is everyone completely satisfied with this job. So far, the only bad thing I can think of is that it isn't useful as a subjob except for a job that has Enfeebling Magic (such as Whm and Rdm) and Dark Magic (such as Dark Knights). I mean like...I'm not trying to say there SHOULD be something wrong with Black Mage since SE might actually one day change a job to make it satisfying to everyone and be done with it (unless they like to add more of their ideas to it). So is there anything wrong with Black Mage? Has it satisfied all of you?

Note: I'm excluding the Aht Urgan vs Blm thing. I'm mainly talking about the job itself.

[Taskmage]

Well, party-wise blms get screwed since their heavy mp dependance causes downtime in the fast-chaining parties the playerbase has become accustomed to. People complained about that for a while, but I guess most blms either learned to solo pets or it just went out of style to gripe about. Endgame blm has a lot going for them, so in the part of the game that tends to produce the most bitching blms are pretty well off.

[Murphie]

The only problem I've ever personally had with BLM is the same thing Taskmage mentioned above. I enjoy the job, but it's heavy dependence on MP makes for slow going, especially later on when they have scads of MP. I mean, the job is still pretty kickass, and I wish I had the patience to solo mine up to 75. Because that kind of raw firepower would be pretty nifty. But I don't.

[Jei]

They were similar to Summoners in that they have a very specific task in parties. Blm and SMN will get called a lot for missions, quests and NM/HNMs. Everyone expect BLM to be there and nuke and die for others. But when it comes to EXP party, no one cares for them and they're left to get their own EXP themselves.

Without the buring trend, I think the job is fine. Remember when PTing was about killing IT's and magic burst?

[Malacite]

Someone's never been to the other forums it would seem.

BLM have been screaming bloody murder since ToAU began. It's really, really hard to get a PT these days on BLM (at least on my server) so it's a damn good thing the job can solo as well as it does.

Everyone wants it for events, but no one wants to help them level. Soloing gets pretty boring after a while you know.

[Silent Howler]

Hm, never really thought about that until now. But it does seem like a lot less people complain about Blm than with other jobs. But of course, Blm is a very unique job in it's own. A Rng may look at a Drg and compare their damage capabilities, and then may complain about the outcome. Blm is different and doesn't have a whole lot to compare itself too. Yes, they do have a DD role like a Rng does, but their damage is based on MP rather than weaponry. They could compare themselves to Smn, but people complain about that job 100x more, so Blm kind of wins over that by default. Not saying Blm is better than Smn, just that people are more satisfied with the job.

[IfritnoItazura]

I think job itself is OK, though some (BRP comes to mind) constantly demand S-E add ways for it get save/get MP.

IMO, it's overbuffing of melee (gears, and the recent upgrade to two-handed weapons) and monster/camp design from ToAU which is really wrecking havoc with BLM's invite rate, but the job itself is fine.

[Kirsteena]

I have to admit, I get bored soloing blm, but it is a nightmare to get a party - I basically soloed from about 53. But I have to solo to keep my buffer up, especially when people are lax in getting a group of statues off me and I spend a fair bit of time face up (personal gripe from last night's Dynamis).

[Olorin401]

I soloed or manaburned from about 60 to 75.. but something weird happened... When I was 70-71 I started getting normal parties every once in a while, I mean parties with a tank and RDM and some DDs! I think people started to realize that BLMs need love too, especially the Japanese players.

[hongman]

My BLM is 41 (like 1k from 42) and I would love to take it to 75 next, but the slow-go of soloing (and boring) just puts me off. PT invites are slow at that lvl range anyway, being a BLM just makes it slow-er!

[Coinspinner]

Remember when PTing was about killing IT's and magic burst?

Grouping with a normal party as a BLM, magic bursting a skillchain, that is my favorite way to level up in any MMO I've played. I took interest in this game again after reading about the upcoming expansion and I'm kinda disappointed that that style has become obsolete since I left the game.

[Feba]

Most people that dislike BLM dislike the core of the job, not how it's currently implemented. Those people just quitely switch to another job. The people that remain are happy with blowing shit up

[Malacite]

Blowing shit up is awesome, but seldom worthwhile.


I still say the fix lies in skill chains. Lord knows if they didn't get resisted like 90% of the time and did decent damage, then it would be worth it even in merits.

A good light chain (in merits) should be enough to take out most of a mob's HP, which would allow a BLM to burst a tier 3 spell (to save MP) to finish it off, thus conserving MP.


That's the job's biggest problem (well 1 of) in EXP. It's very difficult to conserve MP in a fast party since tier 4 nukes require quite a lot of MP. In that light, I fully support Legal Fish's idea for a conserve MP effect on skill chains. Some unique party buffs for BLM would be cool too.


SE said they'd be doing something about it, maybe it's coming now with Wings on the horizon. They did promise to re-balance *all* the jobs and add new spells.



Finally, soloing on BLM is anything but slow. Most camps average at least 7k/hour if not more. It just gets dull being required to do that.

[Niin]

i usually hate mage jobs i find them boring jus standing there n casting but BLM is the only one that i find fun, gunna take it all the way ^.^

[Mhurron]

Necroposts are bad, m'kay.