The raising of the DPS floor is something that we're seeing on basically every job in some way. For example, DRG used to have to balance using BOTD time on Geirskogul and gaining it with WT/F&C. But now that Geirskogul doesn't decrease the timer, it's simply a matter of keeping the buff up.

1. Final Fantasy xiv new jobs of potential design in
Stormblood
Now many people are talking about the final fantasy xiv new job Stormblood's potential design,
then I'll tell you about this things.
The raising of the DPS floor is something that we're seeing on basically every job in some way.
For example, DRG used to have to balance using BOTD time on Geirskogul and gaining it with
WT/F&C. But now that Geirskogul doesn't decrease the timer, it's simply a matter of keeping the
buff up.
Less damage for people that could successfully manage the timer, but more damage for the
people that had a lot of trouble maintaining BOTD. I'm very happy with the changes, even as
someone in the former group who can play the job well. It makes the job more relaxed, and
allows me to focus more on mechanics.
Yoshida never said anything about lowering the DPS ceiling. In fact, he stated on several different
occasions that he wants to make the gap smaller by bringing the floor up without punishing the
hardcore players.
There is very little skill involved in pushing a button that just says "do X% more damage" once or
twice a fight when it comes off cooldown. Maintaining your Astral Fire/Umbral Ice/Umbral
Hearts, keeping Enochian up and knowing when and where to move during all of it is where the
skill comes in.
Timing when to use that one button to waste it as little as possible and align it with buffs
contributed by your teammates or burn phases by the boss (such as A5S), or your own
placement within your rotation (having full mana in astral fire phase, having convert and leylines
available, having pots available) do require skill and coordination and make these skills more
than just the 'push on cooldown and forget' that you are suggesting.
Enochian being easier to adjust to mostly focuses on raising skill floor, not lowering the skill
ceiling (although this does lower the skill ceiling slightly as well).
Understandable position and I can see from where you are coming at that this potentially lowers
the skill ceiling. From what we have been hearing, seems like the relatively minor changes to the
ceiling however will be compensated by content being varied and requiring more mechanical skill
at the highest levels available.
I imagine it is extremely limiting for the boss/encounter designers right now knowing that any
interruption in combat can completely screw classes like BLM and MNK and most bosses have a

2. very set rhythm right now because of it (punching bag phase so everyone can use their opener,
add mechanics one by one that require some movement, an add phase thrown in there, a part
where the boss goes away long enough and timed so that people have their cool downs, then
punching bag + all the mechanics mixed together).
A very passive way of being good. Things like DOT upkeep, keeping the GCD rolling, and stacking
buffs are what made good players really good but it was very PASSIVE. It's like you might watch a
pro League of Legends streamer and not notice anything.
I think Raging Strikes is a pretty boring example of a dps buff and something more unique to
Black Mage would be much cooler; such as a +damage only until the current astral fire phase
ends, or something similarly more Black Mage specific, so that the buff is both a class mechanic
and a game mechanic.
There is much more skill involved in pushing a button that does more dmg once or twice a fight
than you are leading others to believe, it's using it at the right time. It makes a big difference if
you use it when it's just a boss, as opposed to saving it for 10-20 later when the adds come.
There can be too much difference between the best players and the average. Reigning the top
end in helps keep the average player motivated. Think of how many times you've seen someone
give up at, say, a fighting game because the skill requirements for strong performance are so
daunting. FFXIV's skill ceiling was intimidating for many players, so people who would've tried for
it were put off (in addition to players who wouldn't try anyway).
I see the skill gate for DPS cooldowns--lining them up with the strongest part of your
rotation/best phase of the fight--and I'm just kind of underwhelmed that you go about it with a
"do more damage" button. I think there are more elegant ways to test that particular skill in kit
design. BLMs want to line up their AF + Double Foul with the burn phase, for example. Strong kit
design can do the heavy lifting in a way that doesn't have to resort to generic DPS cooldowns.
Burn Phase
What burn phase? There is no burn phase with Raging Strike gone... that's the point. We can't do
cool things like double foul, or pre-setup umbral hearts and convert for a raging strikes phase
that has double foul + 7 or so fire IV's. There's nothing to line it up with.
That raging strikes is boring in comparison to other cool cooldowns, by itself, but that was our
burn phase. Even modern Raging Strikes, for Black Mage, is not a 'do more damage' button
alone, because of the way enochian and convert work; Heavensward Black Mages will waste a
raging strikes buff on 1 of their three enochian durations per cast, and they have to find a good
time to use it around a boss's mechanics as well since being able to turret with leylines is huge
for a strong BLM opener. But with the info we have now, Black Mage looks to be robbed of this
potential. Even a skill as simple as raging strikes has a lot of cool potential because of the other
tools in Black Mage's kit.

3. Ley Lines has the same layers of decision making as raging strikes but has a smaller reward per
action spent as well as a shorter cooldown and subsequently is less demanding of proper timing
than Raging Strikes ever was. Pairing ley lines with raging strikes to get more casts into the burst
window was a huge part of skilled BLM play, on top of being very rewarding for the player. Ley
Lines does gain more decision making with its new mechanic for sure, but as a dps cooldown it
isn't as interesting as you claim; a lot of its best parts is using it to fit more casts into the duration
of the longer cooldown.
Lowering the dps ceiling is bad, raising the skill floor is ok. If you make this too easy a lot of
players who like to be good at their jobs will leave. I'm not here to press 1-2-3 and have the same
dps as other just because of feel good sentiments.
As for the people complaining how they know the ceiling is now reduced. None of us have played
the game at level 70 in a raid fashion. None of us understand the full complexity of all these
changes and how they interact in a raid environment.
It's not confirmed but it also seems like dots are being reduced/comboed into other skills (ie
dancing edge and shadow fang for ninja have been combined for sure) so that not every job
needs to be watching 3-5 timers for dots which is nice. This kinda falls into point #2.
The evolution of the game and the desire to try and downplay the One True Meta concept leans
heavily into giving up pretending that Support DPS really has a role to play in this game and just
accepting that physical ranged and magical ranged are two types of ranged DPS.
It depends on how they're going to be doing content from this point forward. They mentioned
that they want to do more in dungeons like they did with Sohm Al (Hard) where you had an
enemy that had a large health pool, but you could drag over the geyser to give it vuln. They could
very well make a fight where those CC skills are actually useful, think T7 where Shadowbind from
BRD, and later Hyoton from NIN, was extremely useful for positioning the large mob to get
petrified.
Seeing a big meter on the screen that flashes and changes as you do more than spam one combo
might encourage/entice lower-skill players to experiment and see what they can do with it, since
it offers a form of instant feedback/gratification.