The Black Sacrament -- A Guide To Black Mage

IMO for BLM fix

The MB window should tick forward regardless of what weapon skills are popping off to setup a next skill chain.

Accomplishes nothing. It still doesn't get blm into a party. The only thing that would do is make GEO (and NIN*)stronger and maybe RDM more viable.

BLM works "fine" but it's slow. as. ***. The only option(s) are nerf literally everything down to blm dps. Or make blm nonburst holyshit ridiculous.

Neither is going to happen. Power creep ignored went significantly slower for spells while melee and WS damage grew out of control.

Probably other things need to be done, too, but it accomplishes a lot.

Right now, Melee and MBers are at odds with each other from the very start because of the way MB windows work. Melee literally have to be extremely mindful of their WS frequency to accommodate people who are MB'ing.

Melee with March/SAM Roll are functioning on a "Hurry Up to Wait" kind of mode with BLMs in the group trying to burst.

If they allowed the burst window to continue to tick forward regardless of a next weapon skill starting the next chain, an example is that you could have two BLU spamming CDC back to back creating light skill chain for every two CDC, and you could have a BLM in the group alternating their highest Light based nukes without ever really worrying about the burst window being closed because of the literal CDC spam that's occurring.

less you made a seperate pt melee is still at odds with you in the same way itd be at odds with pet jobs, cant share the buffs/debuffs

It has to do with how SC's / MB's work in the first place. Skillchain elements are basically hidden debuffs placed on the target. When you do a Techi: Enpi it places both Transfixion and Scission on the target. When another WS is done, those SC elements get compared to what's arleady present and based on a predetermined set of rules they can either place a new "SC" debuff or overwrite the old set entirely. That makes it impossible to "continue the SC window" because new properties are being placed.

The SC/MB system was designed back when the level cap was 50 and DD's had a very real limitation to their TP speed that prevented overcharged WS spam. Notice how WS spam parties don't really become viable until after 60 or 70, that's when we get enough power to actually make WS spam better then SC's (talking before all the SC updates).

Honestly trying to chase SC/MB is a failed path for DPS increase as it falls into the "Awesome but impractical" category. What BLM needs is sustained DPS where they can chain nuke for moderately high numbers and hit 4~5K sustained DPS. Melee's can hit higher but are also much closer to harm so there is some balance there.
Removing the damage wall and introducing some sort of MDMG boost would fix this issue immediately.

Different damage types require different buffs to optimize. That's a given.

IF;

Skillchains (from melee) lowered resistance to zero. For BLM only.
AND
Skillchains (from melee) were automatic 99999 burst. For BLM only.
AND
Skillchains (from melee) Stayed open/extended so that BLM only could always burst. / Spells do damage as though they were burst even when not. For BLM only.

You might be able to argue your way into bringing a BLM. maybe

...oh. Here's what you do. Take Gambit/Rayke away from RUN and give it to BLM. and/or give blm a geo-type buff to hybrid/magic ws.

Saevel, I get what you're saying about the debuff for the skill chain, but once the skill chain itself is made, *that* debuff needs to last the next few seconds 100% guaranteed regardless of what other weapon skills are flying around. I can think of a few ways to program it, even if it means creating half way duplicate or redundant variables.

Well give BRD or COR a +MDMG buff, plus removing damage wall would immediately fix BLM's damage issue. Personally I prefer making it so that 3000TP = +600 MDMG with Cascade giving another +600 at similar TP and shortened to a 15s timer. Would dramatically bump up T1~3 damage while not overpowering T4~6 at the same time. The BLM would actually care about TP gain and have to strategically use it as a damage resource.

A buffed spamable nuke every 4s for about 20,000 damage per BLM would be want is needed.

And in one update you would completely destroy multi-step SC's.

Going to use GAXE since that's what I use the most.

King's Justice -> Applies Fragmentation (A slot) and Scission (B slot) with no SC present.

Full Break -> Adds Distortion (A slot), deletes B slot, see's Fragmentation is present and so also adds a Distortion SC debuff.

Upheaval -> Adds Fusion (A slot) and Compression (B slot), see's Distortion is already present and changes Distortion SC to Fusion SC.

King's Justice -> Adds Fragmentat (A slot) and Scission (B slot), see's Fusion SC is present and converts Fusion SC into Light SC while adding Light (A slot).

Upheaval -> Adds Light (A slot), Fusion (B slot), Scission (C slot). see's Light SC is present and converts to Radiance SC while removing A B and C slots.

What you asked for is fundamentally impossible inside FFXI. Asking for BLM to wield GKT's would be more realistic.

Well Saevel has me blocked. If you changed your idea to a "skillchain causes a permanent debuff"

IE: if a light skillchain is ever applied, all (light) magic will be burst, and subsequent light skillchains increase burst damage. (*) Debuff cannot be overwriten/replaced by a lower tier skillchain.

That could do something. (this requires removal/modification of the resist wall however)

((this would end up making RUN extremely broken. preBuff RUN with brd/cor/geo reso reso radiance > buff blm > blow it the *** up with nukes while run stacks more radiances)) Just can't win.

Yeah, he has thinner skin than Trump.

That's what you get for making too much sense in your posts

In my own half-*** vaguely-remembered testing w/ Mallquis feet when I first got 'em, the "dmg rec'd > mp gain" effect was nullified during Mana Wall.. Which is one of my personal complaints about our Divergence staff -_-;;; WTF is the point of a weapon that nullifies it's own buffs 1/2 the time?

My SCH will ambush you after school by the bicycle rack and kick you in the BLM only.

If it's not BLM only then it doesn't accomplish anything it'll just buff SCH GEO and RDM

Which is the exact opposite of what needs to happen.

BLM isn't in a bad spot cause of BLM, it's still and will be much better at nuking than rdm sch and geo. It's in a bad spot cause of offensive magic in terms of dps is in a bad spot across the board. Fixing nuking itself is a better way to go about it than doing BLM only stuff.

Or do you think that a COR doing melee and ws and providing dmg, yes less than a war, but still contributing is wrong? To me rdm/geo/sch nuking alongside a BLM is exactly the magic equivalent of a bed or cor contributing dps.

To me BLM is the magic war. I'm a melee Strat you don't just stack cors and brds, you still bring your war and your drk. Same way in a magic Strat you'd bring your geo and sch and rdm... You ain't phasing the BLM out entirely. Now that's providing that magic start were competitive to begin with.

If melee was in a bad spot just as badly as magic is, we'd be talking about DRK the se way.

Personally, the entirety of the game is beyond ***. It's irreparable.

Let's just put it on the table. Literally anything you change that benefits BLM WILL undeniably benefit other jobs more. There is no possible way to make BLM, specifically, usable again. With any of their standard tactics.

BLM can only do one thing. And 3 other jobs can do it almost as well at this point WHILE doing other, more important things. It's no different than SAM and WAR being "better" with a spear than DRG.

It doesn't offer anything for party play. It gives absolutely no buff of any kind to any other player. It "can" heal but really. It "can" tank (and well) but really. it can't even AoE well comparatively.

Elemental DoTs are the highlight of a BLM party play. Imagine if the only thing DRK offered was ability to lower mob VIT with absorb. That's BLM. (oversimplified)

removing the nuke wall, and raising the MB dmg cap from 99k would be non BLM specific and would help across the board. BLM would still benefit from it the most since it would get a much easier time capitalising on those changes.

What does a drk brings to party play that's more than it's dmg, realistically. It's pretty much BLM levels but melee's in a better spot so we don't talk about it much.

Now take the debuffs you mentioned, and where a skill chain is created, add a 2nd debuff (by the same name ending in "SC" "MB" for all I care). And *that* debuff doesn't wear off or just get replaced. It ticks for it's whole duration and any Nuke with the correct element landing through that duration will burst... regardless of whatever else is going on.

If you take away the cap and the wall. Then you just go back to Death, literally everything (idiots can still fail at conduit burns, but death is impossible* to *** up). You just have to pick your poison. is it better that BLM is completely useless, or completely broken. There is no middle.

While I don't really like immanence death on 100% of the things, it's preferable to what we have now. at least BLM gear is shared with other jobs. (talking about smn gear)

Look at ambuscade, with triple HP BLM is never a viable strat. Even if death starts doing 299k it's still not a viable strat. But if the enemy changed according to the job you brought... shifting immunities, increasing PDT, repeated ws damage minus....

"guess we'll just use all cors then! rotate savage blade, evisceration, last stand and leaden salute" *sigh*

Possibly but to me, it's not a BLM fix if it only makes magic offense viable on blm only. Melee party wouldn't work this well if only the war or drk would be swinging. If the tank, and brd / cor dps was utterly meaningless, then you'd have even more trouble finding them to fill your party.

What's so wrong about wanting a magic based group to succeed where a nin tank can provide meaningful nuking from Ninjutsu, where support like geo/rdm/sch can contribute meaningfully like a cor and brd do in melee setups, while still the BLM is the big guns by way of having tier 6s, Ancient magic and death.

There's nothing wrong with it, that should be how it is. But it's impossible. (player mentality problem)

There is only one way to do (event). The fastest way or the *** that I'll do it with someone who will do it the fastest way.

You hang out with Frod too much. Lol

Hes not wrong in terms of what would be the meta, much like pre-smn burning it was death burn, itd just go back to that if it worked as well/better. People will still melee/pet/smn/rng burn if they prefer but majority will go for whats easiest/most effective and any other way is "wrong"

That's pretty much the crux of it. Has nothing to do with BLM or magic though. Whatever the burn flavour is, it doesn't matter much, that's dictated by stacking supports being too good in relative terms (say adding a cor vs going without one and adding another drk). Doing BLM only buffs won't change a thing except switching smn burns for death burns. If the goal is to change and put flexibility into the current foo strat, then I highly doubt a BLM change, without changing how magic damage works, would change anything.

I love BLM, but I highly doubt that making am2 scrolls instead of merits will do anything for the job's current status.

That "second" debuff your talking about is called the SC, when your MB it's the presence of the MB effect that determines the elements that can MB. If a fusion SC is present then you can MB fire / light, if a WS switch's it to a Gravitation SC then fire / light are no longer capable of MBing and it's now earth / darkness.

So yes your idea is impossible.

Back then melee burn was still "better", just the requirements were ridiculously high and BLMs could safely nuke from a distance. The evasion nerf and the buff to BRD made those requirements easier to reach while making the BLM requirements a bit harder to reach. All that's really needed is a buff to BLM nuke damage that would enable a bunch of buffed super BLMs to hit 4~5K DPS individually, could be a bit less but still much higher then whats present now.

All the discussion of SC / MB is just distraction and doesn't address the core mechanic issue. SC/MB is something that only works in small groups, it doesn't scale up.

No, the idea is not impossible. I think you're just having a comprehension issue on the matter and not being able to fathom how.

With code, the often limiting factor is the creativity of the person writing it.

Since you want to be obtuse about what I'm saying and say that the "second" debuff "is" the skill chain... then make a third debuff.

It would be rather easy to write in an EXTRA debuff that gets applied when a skill chain is created that does not get overwritten and is able to have its duration not be interrupted.

In doing so, it would actually be possible to do something like Savage Blade -> CDC -> Creates Distortion Skill Chain -> Starts the guaranteed full duration debuff for Distortion Skill Chain Debuff -> CDC -> CDC -> Creates Light Skill Chain -> Starts the guaranteed full duration debuff for Light Skill Chain -> Blizzard V & Thunder V lands and bursts on the very beginning of the Light Skill Chain animation because the EXTRA Distortion Skill Chain Debuff is still in effect and can't be overwritten or replaced until its full duration has expired.

Right now, and using the same WS set of examples, if the CDC that is starting the Light Skill chain lands only a tenth of a second after the CDC that closed the Distortion, probably no one is realistically landing a Burst in that 10th of a second and the CDC that fired off that is opening Light Skill Chain in this example has closed that Distortion MB window.

MBers should be able to reactionary watch the animation or log and land their MB regardless of how fast the WS frequency is. This is a huge problem for the synergy of MBers and TP spammers.

good idea? sure

there's less than 0 chance SE will implement something that complicated though, their current devs struggle with everything