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Scrub Life Adventures: ONE PANCH MAGE!!
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Anyone who knows me would know that I usually do two things when coming to a new MMO:
1) Create that game's version of my core avatar, Orifiel Whitedeer the Drow, whether it be WoW's night elf or ESO's Dunmer -- I AM THE NIGHT....Elf.
2) Make her a priest/cleric
However, after being a hard core raider and professional punching bag for squishy tanks and standing-in-fire DPS for close to a decade, I decided that I needed a change. I'm not really all that fond of melee classes nor did I want to pick a class that had healer or tank as an option (little did I know that isn't this game you could literally be everything on one character).
So I decided to pick a pure power caster class, something that, once mastered, would make me the kind of dps that would regularly be /slapped by the tanks in every boss fight.
And boy did I pick well. I heard from my FC and former WoW players that Black Mages were essentially WoW's warlocks minus the demon summoning and plus awesome pointy hats.
My impressions as I get up in levels, however is that black Mage is much closer to a pure power class like sorcerer or Arcane Mage than Warlock. That is fine with me. The rotations are pretty straight forward so far and the extra class moves are really neat and not too hard to attain though I lament my lack of pew pew as a lowbie archer.
All in all, other than Astrologian which seems like a fun and interesting twist on a healing class (and also has pointy hats) I think I'll be working on mastering this very fun and power-trippy class.
How about you all, for those who play BLM: any tips or particular skills from other classes you think are useful or think are a must? Think another dps class is more fun or interesting?
Let me know in the comments below!
- Ori Cerfblanc
Ori, personally BlkMg 2me is as exciting as watching two turtles mate in the dark. Personal preference, but none-the-less my take on it. I have a "thing" for up close and personal so Monk, Warrior, Pally, and now getting around to ninja are my thing. If I could be so bold to suggest to you, try Dark Knight when in HW. You will have a combination of ALL jobs ( albeit some more loosely related than others ), but I think you will find the job challenging, invigorating, yet delectable.
That's really interesting! From what you mentioned, Lolo, I think it might also be a matter of caster vs melee preference. I do however, enjoy trying new things and I certainly wouldn't mind being a bit more mobile. BLM is pretty "dig in your heels and cast" until you get some serious spell speed boosts, at least from what I've experienced. It makes it hard not to stand in stuff and do damage. Thanks for the tips! When I get settled and ready to pick up a second class I'll look into dark night!
Indeed, some peeps get all hot and bothered by the shear Burst of a Blk Mage. Not I. However, for a change of pace why not give scholar a shot? Heals...yes AWESOME DoTs..YES Cool Tinkerbell Pet...YES.. BANE and SHADOW FLARE..YESSSSS.
As someone who mains BLM - awesome choice, you picked the most fun class to play right off the bat ;D
BLM stays pretty simple until you hit 60 when you unlock Fire 4, your new main dmg spell. That's when it gets tricky to throw as many F4s as possible without ever running out of Enochian AND Astral Fire WHILE moving (and oh do those endgame encounters love forcing you to move and abandon your lovely ley lines..).
Skills to pick up:
Definitely Quelling Strikes from archer (lvl 34). It helps so much to have reduced enmity on the highest burst phases (especially your opener), since BLM is a class that thrives in burst dmg.
Of course, also Raging Strikes (lvl 4 archer), but you should already have that one :)
Virus + Eye for an Eye (Arcanist) are useful as well as support abilities, although no necessity. For your last cross-class ability, you can equip Physick. Barely useful, but might save you one day.
I used to occasionally play Black Mage in ARR when it was all simple. Now that there's all that complicated Enochian crap I prefer Monk as dps goes because it's much simpler.
But all in all I'm a healer and tank at heart and mostly play Scholar and Paladin.
Other tips:
No idea if you need any advice but..close to all of your skills are useful! Those big power spells are awesome, but even your less flashy abilities can be great to help your group through an encounter :)
Need to stop a monster but the melees forgot how to stun? Slow it down with Lethargy.
Raidwide big magic dmg is incoming and one person has weakness on them? Throw Apocatastasis their way.
You really can't sacrifice time to move but there's an AoE beneath you? Aetherial Manipulation.
Aww Kupo, but that's what made BLM more interesting to play ;)
I think healing is more fun anyways and have mostly been doing that since closed beta. And just recently started getting into endgame tanking and have been tanking Sephirot for some friends while teaching them the fight.
I'm a healer at heart too, so I get where you are coming from, but Ori wanted a change, after all :)
I think it's a good idea to first finish BLM and learn how to play it at 60 before diving into other classes.
From there, everything is possible. And Ori might miss healing by then :P
Astrologian is my second main (which I also play in Alex Savage) and I can totally recommend it if you like a supportive healer over a pure healer and a healer that is basically just a dps class with a fairy :P
Thank you all very much for your comments! This is fantastic info. Another move I was told is a must is "Blood for blood" from lancer. I'm glad I only need to get to 34 on archer as I'm not all that find of it. As for healing I am likely to go back to it at some point but right now I just want to explode things with fire :D.
You can't cross-class Blood for blood on BLM though °-°
Or any lancer skill, for that matter. BLM is limited to cross-class skills from Archer and Arcanist, sorry :x
Blood for blood is a must-have for any physical attacker though, so if you decide to play bard, ninja, monk or the like, you should totally get it (and Invigorate too)!^^
Sera Speaks the truth about B4B, Physical Attacker it is pretty much a MUST have...plus you may find jumping all over the place with a pole, poking and prodding "things" fills you with devious enjoyment.
One ability, Lv 34 Archer/Bard "Quelling Strikes" cross class is something you want to add to your hotbar. The description tells all :D
Oh crud! I started leveling lancer for nothing -- oh well it is pretty fun for a melee class so it's not all a loss. Glad I can just focus on Archery for a bit then.
