I stayed away from blm for an eternity because of all the crazy rotational optimizations and my thought that it would all be absolutely necessary. Then i read on the balance that it was all for a .5-2% gain and was in no way necessary. Blm is now my fav job and i find myself trying to figure out how to push limits just for the fun of it but without the stress. I can't ever remember thinking i needed to go back and forth like the balance mage you described

Problem with blackmage is at level 1-50 your rotation is based around using fire 1 to proc fire starter cast fire 3.. then go into umbral phase.. but right after that from 60-90 it shifts to casting fire 3, then 3 fire 4s. then a fire1 or paradox  depending on level. and finishing with 3 more fire 4s into despair or swiftcast flare depending on level. Which is like a totally different rotation from what you was taught at levels 1-50. I'm a BLM main (until dawntrial hits). and ive seen so many other blackmages in roulettes around level 60+ still using firestarter cause the game never tells you in an intuitive way that your rotation basically just totally changed. between 50-60

I once met a SAM who wasn’t finishing any of their combos. I asked why and they simply said it was better for keeping the buffs up. I just told them they weren’t making any Sens!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

What makes Balance Mage so funny, is that it's not too far off of how Red Mage functions... Just with Red Mage having the neutral magic thrown in which you use for quick casts.

I can think of one instance where a Tech-first reopener makes sense for DNC, that being after Temporal Stasis in TEA. Alex Prime is only targetable for 28 seconds before Inception, so a Standard-first reopener risks losing the tail end of Tech Finish. In Endwalker it's even less of a trade-off, now that Tillana grants Standard Finish and you don't have to wait for Standard Step, assuming your Standard Finish fell off during Temporal Stasis.

I was running Amdapoor Keep with two sprout BLMs, one of whom was doing the "balance mage" rotation. I mentioned that staying in Astral Fire and using Fire to proc Fire 3 is better damage, and they actually listened to me. That is, until the sprout Paladin chimed in with "I just alternate between Fire3 and Ice3 so I never run out of MP", causing both BLMs to start using the "balance mage" rotation and nothing I could say would get through to them.
Needless to say, that dungeon took an eternity.

I once had a BLM in Ghimlyt Dark only using Thunder III. Even on a single target. I hadnt even levelled BLM yet and i knew something was wrong

Sadly the older White Mage midnight / early morning rotation of Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy... was nerfed with Holy 3 being less blinding.
But Monk spamming Six-sided Star remains as strong as ever!

Ah, slow mage... the issue I can run into as I fall out of the rotation or change between area or single target combat.  It can take me a few tries to resync my fingers for the correct pattern.

I used to play with someone who slow cast everything as Red Mage. Me and a friend would try to correct him, as nicely as we could, but he insisted that doing it this way got more crits.

I was a wrong proc mage until level 70, but thats nothing compared to me learning that Verthunder 2 and Veraero 2 existed

at level 90

Interesting about Doton, I was /always/ told by Static Raid Ninjas that Doton's DOT ticked every second, hence "Why it was reduced to 80 Potency per tick", and that it was an AoE so that it was easier to keep the target/targets in the area of effect by the tank. That is when Tanks recognized the circle of Doton and kept the single target in the circle.

I have a couple of strange play styles.

When needing to resurrect more than 3 times in a row as a red mage, I switch to my unenchanted riposte combo over casting spells in order to save more MP for verraise.

If I'm a paladin and the healers/raisers are dead, if the fight drags long enough, I sometimes shorten my combo to 2 with only Fast Blade -> Riot Blade so that I regain more mana for clemency.

I was completely unaware that umbral ice/astral fire also reduced the potency of the opposite element

OMG, mentioning Ice only BLM.  I encountered one of those in Ala Mhigo one time and I was doing more damage than them... as an ASTRO! (I'm usually bottom of the dps due to my heal-priorty style)  Longest dungeon of my life.

Another situation where doton could be used in single target fights is when the player has control during downtime phases, the downtime phase is long enough for you to get back 2 full charges of Mudra (40+ sec, preferably actually should be close to 50sec downtime, if the downtime is <45 seconds its usually better to precast Suiton).   In this specific case, casting Doton before the boss is retargetable, provided you do not lose a use of Raiton, is more damage.  Some more recent cases where this is true, depending on your parties kill time of course, is P8S p2's  final High Conept, and P12S Limit Cut.  Some people tend to use Mudra during long downtimes to refresh Fujin, but in cases like this where the downtime is less than 50sec, the last hit before boss leaves should be Armor Crush and should allow you to retain Huton, and even if you cant, it could be more damage to use Huraijin as first GCD when the boss comes back, again depending on the kill time.  Optimally, you also should have Bunshin come on CD before, and precasting it will allow a Phantom Kamaitachi which would reset your Hujin right as the boss comes back, allowing you to skip Armor Crush during your burst window for when the boss is retargetable.

RIP Pre-pull Doton, you were a real one

You mentioned single target Doton right as I messed up my rotation and was left with no choice but to Doton the Ultima Weapon and I felt like such a fool

I’ve definitely felt like that “balance” black mage sometimes when panicking and pressing the wrong buttons on the controller.  I just took like two weeks off the game so I think my fingers (and eyes) should have renewed vigor.  I want that Zidane minion and fancy exp earrings so bad, they know how to catch this guppy.

another thing with doton, i started playing ninja after already learning samurai, so my initial impression was that you kept doton uptime in the same manner as higanbana