Hey, my name is Jill. For context to this thread, I started playing this game back in ShB during the very beginning of the COVID-19 Lockdowns.
I have only levelled casters, healers and (specifically) Dark Knight because I have an immense love for "MP" spending jobs. So far, I have accumulated 4,000 hours of gameplay as of writing. This isn't an accomplishment, merely a stating of fact.
The main topics covered here will be an assessment of features gained, lost, and retroactively adjusted from prior expansions. A majority of topics covered are either speculatory or mathematical. I will not be mentioning changes to the role such as Addle and Swiftcast.
Black Mage (BLM)
Needless to say, the newest changes for playing BLM are, for lack of a better term, decisive; but let's mull over the facts introduced in DT then we can deconstruct it's rippling effects.
Synopsis:
- The removal of MP being linked to "server ticks" - or 3 second intervals.
- The removal of Sharpcast AND Thundercloud.
- Reworked Thunder, Thunder II, Thunder III, Thunder IV. (Reduced from being a 30s DOT, potency tweaks, loss of burst from old Thundercloud.)
- Addition of High Thunder, High Thunder IV and Thunderhead. (Damage neutral with old Sharpcast Thunder skills IF their DOT timer is not refreshed early, otherwise a DPS loss.)
- The removal of High Fire II's 'Enhanced Flare' bonus, a DPS loss.
- Umbral Soul rework to align with changes made to MP Recouperation.
- Blizzard IV now gives MP equivalent to Umbral Ice #. 1/2/3 = 2500/5000/10000MP.
- The removal of half of Endwalkers Capstone spell 'Paradox' in Ice Phase. A 500 potency loss.
- Retrace, a relocation of Ley Lines.
- Flare Star, a spell on-par with a Foul in terms of damage; it requires the spending of 6 Fire IV's to execute. Causes a DPS loss if unable to execute, being a capstone "Nuke" Spell akin to ARR 'Flare', HW 'Fire IV', StB 'Foul' and ShB 'Xenoglossy' (EW 'Amplifier' granted a Xeno). Loses all "stacks" of Flare Star when leaving Fire to Ice.
- An extra polyglot stack.
- Paradox rework; Paradox in Fire now grants Firestarter at a 100% chance always and is an instant cast (allows the drifting of Astral Fire timer by the GCD due to its instant cast nature and only being accessible in AF) and the removal of Paradox in Ice.
- Enhanced Enochian (Baseline DPS increase)
Continue reading...
I have only levelled casters, healers and (specifically) Dark Knight because I have an immense love for "MP" spending jobs. So far, I have accumulated 4,000 hours of gameplay as of writing. This isn't an accomplishment, merely a stating of fact.
The main topics covered here will be an assessment of features gained, lost, and retroactively adjusted from prior expansions. A majority of topics covered are either speculatory or mathematical. I will not be mentioning changes to the role such as Addle and Swiftcast.
Black Mage (BLM)
Needless to say, the newest changes for playing BLM are, for lack of a better term, decisive; but let's mull over the facts introduced in DT then we can deconstruct it's rippling effects.
Synopsis:
- The removal of MP being linked to "server ticks" - or 3 second intervals.
- The removal of Sharpcast AND Thundercloud.
- Reworked Thunder, Thunder II, Thunder III, Thunder IV. (Reduced from being a 30s DOT, potency tweaks, loss of burst from old Thundercloud.)
- Addition of High Thunder, High Thunder IV and Thunderhead. (Damage neutral with old Sharpcast Thunder skills IF their DOT timer is not refreshed early, otherwise a DPS loss.)
- The removal of High Fire II's 'Enhanced Flare' bonus, a DPS loss.
- Umbral Soul rework to align with changes made to MP Recouperation.
- Blizzard IV now gives MP equivalent to Umbral Ice #. 1/2/3 = 2500/5000/10000MP.
- The removal of half of Endwalkers Capstone spell 'Paradox' in Ice Phase. A 500 potency loss.
- Retrace, a relocation of Ley Lines.
- Flare Star, a spell on-par with a Foul in terms of damage; it requires the spending of 6 Fire IV's to execute. Causes a DPS loss if unable to execute, being a capstone "Nuke" Spell akin to ARR 'Flare', HW 'Fire IV', StB 'Foul' and ShB 'Xenoglossy' (EW 'Amplifier' granted a Xeno). Loses all "stacks" of Flare Star when leaving Fire to Ice.
- An extra polyglot stack.
- Paradox rework; Paradox in Fire now grants Firestarter at a 100% chance always and is an instant cast (allows the drifting of Astral Fire timer by the GCD due to its instant cast nature and only being accessible in AF) and the removal of Paradox in Ice.
- Enhanced Enochian (Baseline DPS increase)
Continue reading...