Thanks for the shout-out, Isaccard!
Concerning the issue with movement, I do share some of the complaints a few have regarding BLM. I do use Aetherial Manipulation quite a bit, though, especially in T9. Also, my control scheme is likely very...odd compared to other BLM's. I'm very mobile in my playing, since, in-battle, I always have the right mouse button held down [to control the direction of my character]. I use A/D on the keyboard to strafe [so I can continue facing my target], and E to Sprint [which I use a lot]. I have all of my abilities bound to my mouse [with Left Shift as the modifier]. I also "cast-clip" a lot of my spells. This is done by moving slightly just before the cast finishes [I usually strafe super-slightly to the left/right]. If you do it correctly, your spell will finish regardless and you can begin the cast of your second spell earlier [instead of simply letting it finish]. It only saves a few milliseconds here-and-there, but it all adds up.
As for the buffs, I am happy to see an increased in potency for Fire/Blizzard spells [although the Manawall nerf will forever pain me, I loved that thing!]. It doesn't really make our class less RNG-reliant, but it at least makes it so if we don't get a Firestarter/Thunderstruck proc for a while, our DPS shouldn't suffer as much [the increased potency of Fire I helps in this].
It would have been nice to see them revert to the way the mana regeneration in Umbral Ice used to work, though. Sometimes the game seems to take a while for that first tick, and if it comes at an odd time, I usually have to wait a second for the final tick before going back into Astral Fire, or I cast a Scathe in-between so I'm not sitting there doing nothing. The timing was a lot less strict before they changed it, so you could still get that final Umbral Ice tick even after going back into Astral Fire. It was a lot less rigid in that sense, although I've more-or-less adjusted to the way things are now.
Either way, the patch notes are listed as "Preliminary", so there could be more changes for BLM not yet listed. Unlikely, but you never know! Even as things are, though, I'm pretty satisfied in being a BLM.
