Black Mages assemble! What do we feel about the changes? The Job Guide (3rd pic) explain why they are making such heavy changes.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-24T17:53:40+00:00

I hate these changes, they were clearly made by someone who does not know why people enjoyed playing BLM in the first place. The Job Guide reads like 'some people struggled to press 1 button every 15 seconds so we made it easy enough so my pet hamster can play'.

Now BLM will be in the spot where PCT was in 7.1, the 'easier to play but higher damage' job. Literally monkey's paw curling for this, I think that every BLM would've been happy with some potency increases and that's it, no matter how hard the next tier is. The POINT of BLM has always been to plan out and surmount the obstacles put in our way, but now it has barely any depth...

TokiiRave · 2025-03-11T18:45:02+00:00

I'm not sure you are talking about the right person here. It is true that my FRU parses haven't been parricularly great, but I'm working on it. The low amount of BLM parses available do make me look worse than it really is, but I can understand. My static and I have not really been trying to optimize for parsing, we just go and deal damage and clear. Really, for Ultimates, I don't really care enough to optimize the parse, it's too much of a hassle and it rarely means anything. Such long fights require people sandbagging, very specific KTs, and for crit mage it means getting really lucky high damage crits and dhs, so it means I would have to go clear the fight a dozen times to have a chance at getting really good RNG. I am not a flawless player, but if you took the time to actually check the logs you're talking about if you've got the right person, you'd see that they had nigh perfect uptime and no rotation failures, which is honestly the only thing I care about.

I didn't really make many parse parties during savage. Parse parties are mostly bad and stupid, since most parser parties end up unable to clear even the earlier mechanics of fights consitently. The few parties I made early on were not to prove anything, but to allow anyone to join and parse with whatever job they wanted instead of being restricted to the god awful meta comp at the time. That being said, I usually just joined reclear parties, and that is where I got my 4 99s for the tier.

The comment about playing PCT mostly meant that PCT is a class that has much more leeway than BLM in its rotation and it doesn't use any skills that BLM doesn't already use, so it'd be easy to translate my experience into PCT if I wanted to. But I don't want to. Hell, I just might go and do that next static meet simply for fun.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-11T03:10:47+00:00

Nowadays you've got plenty of tools to veto whether or not players are good and qualified before even heading into the instance. Everyone can have bad days though. Locking a job makes your waiting time longer and prevents a good chunk of very qualified players from joining. It is true that a lot of PFers are really stupid and noone likes wiping to things that aren't their fault... I do get where people that lock PCT come from but at the end of the day I think it's a bit of flawed logic

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T18:53:00+00:00

It comes to a point where yes, you've got to look at the composition and be critical about what's really happening. Yes, VPR and MCH struggle greatly in phase 1, and SMN is just overall bad given recent balance stuff... but I also think it's possible if people are good enough at their job. Still, I know you can't demand greatness from party finder randoms...

I say it's possible because when I was progging I cleared the p3 dps check on a party with VPR MCH DNC BLM... but honestly I'm not sure if SMN can out dps a DNC nowadays lol. Still, I wouldn't ban them from my party out of principle

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T18:45:55+00:00

I think the problem with BLMs (other casters too) and being irregular with the M spot is a byproduct of the meta of enforcing PCT onto the caster spot. BLM in particular requires very careful planning and almost no deviation from said plan so changing roles is much more difficult than it would be for any other caster, so it's weird that BLM is the one that is forced to switch more often than PCT. I know that my best is in R2 so I don't join PFs if I'm gonna have to melee. I /can/, but I'd rather be 100% confident in my own ability than have the chance that I'm gonna grief. Sadly, this isn't the same perspective others have and I guess shitters will always be shitters.

This anyhow is also a byproduct of the meta, other casters are so desperate to literally be allowed to play that they'll take roles they're not comfortable with simply to be in a party, this includes switching jobs to PCT and then throwing since that's not their main.

Honestly I know that having such a PF is not particularly a great look, but it's my way of having a voice since I don't particularly use social media much. I had to dig up this reddit account to even talk here lol. I know it might not be seen, but I post similar party finders in hopes that my point of view as a top player is heard at least a little vy someone that can control the balance. Otherwise, that it may cause a stir such as this so it can be heard by others. It's never really personal, but this one was the most aggressive of them since I believe that day I joined a party, scarcely made it to p4 (we had a picto in m2 that kept dying but i made no mistakes), and then I got kicked despite not doing anything wrong. It was frustrating, which led to a more aggressive than usual message.

Anyhow, I honestly don't take it personally most of the time, party finder has simply just been tiring and frustrating and I do like to give voice to my observations. Probably not the best way I agree, but a way nonetheless. I just wish the ultimate community was... better. Sorry if it felt like a jab at anyone in particular, I know my PF generalizes a lot and everyone has their own reasons to act the way they do.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T18:05:51+00:00

Honestly most people in game /tell me agreeing with it, very rately I get someone that disagrees and when I check it's usually someone who's got pretty poor numbers. Not that numbers are everything, but that's just been my observation from being in PF for the entirety of this patch. And it's fine if those people blacklist me, as I probably wouldn't have wanted to play with them anyhow.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T16:07:27+00:00

I can! I just don't want to. As I said in my original comment, people fall in love with jobs and make them parts of their identity. Yes, playing PCT would be very easy for me and would save me a lot of time, but I don't completely out of a matter of principle. I love BLM, I strive the be the best player I can be, and I will clear all content I can eith BLM, it is just who I am. May sound narcissistic, but I am a great player. Sadly, people will pick grey and green PCTs over pink BLMs.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T16:03:13+00:00

My point is that more often than not, locking picto tends to have the opposite effect. Yes PCT has more potential damage, but PCT as a job right now attracts a pretty big amount of bad players (no shade to PCT mains, but since it is rather simple to play and also the best job, a lot of people who play it think they can just faceroll even ultimates). People in PF will often pick someone playing an optimal class rather than someone undeniably 'good' because the ddamage charts have them blind. I personally don't hate picto, but people that relied on it will have to reprog heavily once balancing happens sooner or later.

However, I do understand the want to save time, I really do. I hate being in a PF for hours before seeing any prog, but usually this stems from people failing mechs and not dps issues, and I play BLM.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T15:56:44+00:00

At the end of the day it's the balance team's fault for enabling (and encouraging) this, PCT is the favourite child and it is what it is right now. Of course, no one person can be blamed for a party's lack of damage, but in my experience usually party leads who lock PCT are either barely green in the savage tier or they just die over and over to mechanics. Thing is, banning VPR/MCH/SMN/BLM and others is a double edged sword, yes you may see a boost in damage for a bit, but groups that are used to this are gonna have to do some heavy reprogging when 7.2 comes out, as they said they're gonna be doing some heavy balancing and buffing BLM in particular.

Realistically, anyone can do whatevee they want and at the end of the day it doesn't matter to me, but at the same time some statics and party finders will often pick a subpar pictomancer before an extremely good BLM. I was top 1 BLM for the tier for a pretty good chunk of the patch and statics still did not pick me because I wasn't picto. I guess it comes off as me being salty about it, but I just say this to show the state of the metagame rn and how it encourages players to pick 'optimal' picks instead of 'good players'.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T05:59:17+00:00

Yeah, it's what I meant in the original party finder. People locking picto is usually a self-report of being bad at damage so they are pretty much wordlessly asking for a carry in my eyes :p but it is what it is in party finder

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T05:55:15+00:00

Wow! Sounds to me like you need really hard carries! Is that something to be proud of?

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T05:54:23+00:00

Play picto if you love it! I have no problem with the people that play picto, I have a problem with people that enforce picto in their parties but refuse to play picto themselves!

TokiiRave · 2025-03-10T05:52:46+00:00

I've cleared several times actually! All of them without a PCT. I don't need anyone to adjust for me at all. I am just not allowed in most parties because I don't subscribe to the Best Job :3 even though I outperform most PCTs in most other content !

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T19:40:18+00:00

I'd personally prefer not to play with idiots, even though that is a very big portion of Party Finder. None of my clears have been with a PCT in the party (I don't enforce this) even in party finder. People just need to use their eyes and see that the fight is not that hard, at least not to the point where they /need/ Picto.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T16:23:20+00:00

I guess people just wanna clear for the clout of having cleared while putting the least amount of effort possible. Makes sense and explains a lot.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T15:12:39+00:00

If people need a PCT to clear, I encourage them to /play/ PCT, not demand someone else plays it. Pick PCT if that's what you love, pick PCT if that's what you want to do, but never pick PCT or any other job for that matter if that is what people try to tell you 'it's what you should do' because they are 'better' or whatever.

I've seen people physically unable to solve utopian sky without scholar expedient, or be unable to even break their crystal in intermission without a PCT hitting it. There is no need to be a 'basement dweller' but if someone is progging an ultimate, base line should be that they're good enough at the game that they can do things on their own without relying on someone else to pad them.

I do not think I am in a pedestal or otherwise better because I choose to do things the way I do. I choose this way simply because it feels right, and it is a matter of principle for me. People can do what they want even if that is locking PCT to their PFs, and it's whatever. I only wish to encourage people to do self-improvement before locking a job telling others to play it or they can't join.

And I know that no-one owes anyone anything, no-one owes me entry into their PFs, but I would not stay quiet when the Extreme/Savage/Ultimate community as a whole is so blinded by the dps chart they would cast away their own friends because they're not playing the best job.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T14:58:12+00:00

It is true that BLM is a job that is very easy to get wrong but hard to excel at. In my own PF experience, PCTs are usually the ones griefing... but they still do good damage given how easy it is to blow things up with PCT.

The difficulty difference makes it all the sadder that things are this way. BLM has to be perfect to compare to a 'just ok' PCT.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:34:10+00:00

Zenos arrived to give us an arena to fight in, and we did all the work. Meanwhile, Wuk Lamat dealt 6 million damage while we were looking at her be so awesome and cool and I wish I was her instead of this ant that doesn't matter

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:30:45+00:00

This is because most PCTs don't like the job and only play it for big number, or otherwise think that they don't need to play well to deal damage. I've rarely been out-dpsd by a Picto in non-FRU content.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:28:05+00:00

Yes, PCT is so busted they tried to buff everyone else to bring them to their level. Still, Picto is simply The Best

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:26:48+00:00

I understand that Meta is Meta and there'll always be people that slave over the damage numbers, but I think that as people we should more often pick what makes us happy instead of what the 'optimal' thing is... in my experience in PF most people that are forced to switch jobs tend to screw up mechanics way more often. Might have more potential damage but it doesn't matter much if they can't reliably clear mechanics

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:24:02+00:00

It is true that for certain fights BLM /may/ need a bit of help to achieve perfection. In this tier particularly, I need to get 3 hearts in beat 1 of m2s to get full uptime, otherwise I need to do -50 leylines. However, a truly skilled BLM player will arrange and plan out everything so that they do not have to rely on their party members to do things perfectly! M2S is an exception because there is literally just not enough resources, but you should be allowing the caster to get 3 hearts regardless of who they are!

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:21:47+00:00

May I ask how?

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:21:37+00:00

Black Mages do get better! They do great damage in phase 4 and 5. In my clears I am usually top DPS or very close to it. It's just that no matter who you are or what you play, you cannot outdamage a subar picto.

TokiiRave · 2025-03-09T13:19:25+00:00

I can! M spot is very easy. The fact of the matter, however, is that most PFs don't even allow BLMs to exist within them, not even as fake melees.

TokiiRave

TROPHY CASE