-Strike spells.

[Lukas]

I was talking to a friend of mine who stills plays over on Shiva when the subject of levelling BLM came up. My friend is attempting to level his BLM and before I retired I also remember finding it quite... interesting. I mainly focused on pets and Qiqirin RNGs which, although progress was slower than it was on my RDM, I didn't mind a great deal as it offered the flexibility that comes with soloing.

On the flip side, it got old fast. And if I did not have experience with hate/mp management on two other mage jobs, I think I would definitely have had issues when suddenly thrust into certain end-game situations.

So anyway, we discussed this very odd idea: what if Black Mages had a pseudo-melee option similar to the way spells work in FFXIII? I wanted the opinion of some still active BLMs to see what they thought. Here are the details:

• Essentially six -strike spells aligning to the six basic elements (eg. Thunderstrike, Icestrike etc)
• They would function exactly the same as normal melee swings at range.
• A BLM would need to be engaged to use them, but not at close range
• A BLM would need to be facing the target
• They cannot be interrupted by taking hits, however they are affected by Silence.
• Their damage is temporarily suspended when casting other spells
• Their accuracy/potency are determined by MACC, Elemental Skill, INT, MAB.
• They have a set delay which is affected by Haste and Slow.
• Their damage is magic-based
• They cost very little to sustain, or possibly only cost MP to initiate
• They do not accumulate TP
• They cannot be reflected by Birds
• They are subject to potency merits, however they are not tiered like the other elemental spells, so Earthstrike would do equal damage to its counterparts on a target with no elemental resistances.
• They obviously cannot be used while resting

I don't think it would be game-breaking. Picture this: you rock up to a party and assess the mob's elemental weaknesses. Let's say you're at a colibri camp, so you cast Icestrike on yourself giving you the "Icestrike" status which remains active for a prolonged period of time or until you cancel/zone. You sit yourself down in the back line, BRD brings a bird around, you engage it and start shooting shards of ice from your staff. The Bird gets down to low health and you Tier III it to finish or Aspir it quickly before it dies. Throw around a few Cures, Convert when necessary, Rinse and Repeat.

I know it's an odd idea, but I think it would be interesting. I mean you will still have MP concerns so low tier spells will be your friend, not to mention the hate line will be finer due to the constant DoT from the Strike spells. When you think about it, it wont do much to BLMs efficacy in other areas, because these spells would pretty much be useless for Nuke > Sleep strategies or kiting anything dangerous. They could even allow parties to exp efficiently off mobs resistant to physical damage like Slimes or Hecteyes which would open up a few more camps.

BLM won't suddenly become a must have in any merit party, but at least they'll be a reasonable DD option. Opinions?