So why do we have the worst Espells?

[ManaKing]

I mean the obvious answer is obvious, because RDM almost never gets the best of anything. In many ways it's valid, but generally we don't lose out on self buffs.

Enlight and Endark are obviously not Enhancing magic, but they did just blatantly steal our stuff, make it better, and then not share it with us.

I don't want Enlight and Endark. PLD and DRK can have them because it adds flavoring and I don't want to take away something that feels right for them. But what I do want is an update to Enspells for RDM.

Endark gives Attack, Enlight gives Accuracy, but Enspell 1s and 2s give nothing....
That's pretty bad. We have 2 tiers of enspells, 12 total spell and not a one is better than 1 spells that PLD and DRK has. They aren't even supposed to be mages. It's complete BS.

Solution: (aka how to make RDMs shut up) Give Enspell 1s an accuracy bonus = to your max enspell damage. 30 accuracy at max enhancing. Breaking the game on that one.

Give Enspell 2s an accuracy and attack bonus = to your current enspell calculation. If you have maxed Enhancing then it starts at around 26 and could build to 56. Still not really ground breaking since that take time to build and requires a RDM to be in combat. AND Enspell 2s would actually be useful.

If you want to be extra nice, you make is so that equipment that 'Enhances Enspell Damage' also works to add the same bonuses so you could get from Enspells. Chimeric Fleuret would add an additional 7 accuracy with enspell 1s and 7 attack and accuracy with enspell 2s.

Like is you like/want. I don't think this is unreasonable and it would make RDM with dual wield less gimp than it already is without /WAR.

[Toadie-Odie]

Don't forget, WHM has Auspice as well. The Subtle Blow effect it has applies to the entire party. However, when WHM has Afflatus Misery on and engages in combat they get an accuracy bonus everytime they miss. Would it be feasible to apply a similiar effect for the RDM enspells, but only effecting the caster?

I think the original post goes in with this idea, but boosting the enspells in some way really should be considered. When you throw in Sambas into the mix, the enspells are severely lacking. It's very difficult to convince people that RDM is a front line mage as SE has advertised but the job is given next to nothing to support that role.

[Doombringer]

I don't even want a gimmick like bonus attack or acc, just fix enspell2 to be what we all thought they were gonna be when they were announced... stronger enspells...

make them proc on all hits, not just initial. make them start at max damage, as opposed to having to build dmg every strike. make them calculate damage based on enhancing skill at the time of cast, not at the time of strike.

is it original? no. but it should be an easy improvement. (hell, could they just copy/paste the enspell 1 info and put a *2 in there at the end?)

you could argue that even then they would still be lesser than endark and enlight, but endark and enlight decay, causing a lot of wasted casting time. (particularly with enlight) compared to how much casting you wouldn't need to be doing with a non decaying, composured enspell on rdm, and it starts to add up.

[Economizer]

Don't forget, WHM has Auspice as well. The Subtle Blow effect it has applies to the entire party. However, when WHM has Afflatus Misery on and engages in combat they get an accuracy bonus everytime they miss. Would it be feasible to apply a similiar effect for the RDM enspells, but only effecting the caster?

The accuracy bonus from Auspice is a total joke ever since it got massively nerfed. Additionally Auspice lasts a comically short time, even compared to Haste. Having Afflatus Misery up is even more of a joke since the job ability currently is fairly garbage and is just about only useful for unnerfing Esuna.

Red Mages have Composure and Enspells that last at least the standard three minutes (unlike Auspice), and actually even longer under Composure, which does give an accuracy bonus. But I'm sure if SE wanted to give Enspells an additional accuracy boost, they could do that under Composure and just copy/paste the concept of Afflatus Misery, similarly to the way Scarlet Delirium feels like it was a copy/paste of the same.

I'm rambling a bit, but the main point here is that it isn't fair to compare Red Mage's Enspells to Auspice, especially since Auspice acts more like the broken Enspell II's. Red Mage's already have something better then Auspice's Afflatus Misery effects with Enspell I and Composure Accuracy Bonus currently.

I don't even want a gimmick like bonus attack or acc, just fix enspell2 to be what we all thought they were gonna be when they were announced... stronger enspells...

make them proc on all hits, not just initial. make them start at max damage, as opposed to having to build dmg every strike. make them calculate damage based on enhancing skill at the time of cast, not at the time of strike.

is it original? no. but it should be an easy improvement. (hell, could they just copy/paste the enspell 1 info and put a *2 in there at the end?)

Pretty much this, although I'd like a "gimmick" in addition to fixing Enspell IIs as described.

I would prefer giving Enspell I/II the effects of boosting Magic Affinity however, at least under Composure and when using a 1handed weapon. I'm aware Enspell II spells already have a -10 magic evasion effect on opposing elements, but this isn't really enough, and the confusing opposing element bit wouldn't stack with it anyways.

Even if in the future SE did manage to add an Affinity Shield, I doubt they would be anything more then the NQ/HQ Elemental Staff all over again, so between a shield and an enspell affinity buff you'd have a half decent jack-of-all-trades flavored boost. Additionally, even with Affinity +2 from a tier II enspell, you'd still be doing less damage then a Scholar that used a weather spell (and you wouldn't have Enlight/Endark) so this would still be reasonably balanced.

[Toadie-Odie]

I'm rambling a bit, but the main point here is that it isn't fair to compare Red Mage's Enspells to Auspice, especially since Auspice acts more like the broken Enspell II's. Red Mage's already have something better then Auspice's Afflatus Misery effects with Enspell I and Composure Accuracy Bonus currently.

I'm sorry. Not sure what else to say without digging myself a bigger hole other than your point regarding Auspice vs. Enspell II only amplifies the need for a boost of some kind to the enspells.

I don't think Auspice was intended to make WHM a front line job in a party; I think it was intended to be mainly a party buff with a mild boost for solo play.

However, RDM isn't like WHM. Since the beginning the game has advertised RDM to be a melee mage job, but I have yet to see anything significant in this game that upholds that advertisement.

[Vicious]

You aren't looking nearly hard enough.

[Toadie-Odie]

You aren't looking nearly hard enough.

That may very well be painfully true. I keep saying I'm going to go back to RDM and explore it more, but I haven't had much opportunity. Just one more thing on my infinite list of things to do.

[Economizer]

I don't think Auspice was intended to make WHM a front line job in a party; I think it was intended to be mainly a party buff with a mild boost for solo play.

Auspice itself is very party-centric, and is more for the 10~20% Subtle Blow it gives. While I'd still like to see it get a full three minute duration to be in line with buffs like Haste, it is a decent stand alone spell.

If anything was supposed to assist White Mage's front line role, that would probably be Afflatus Misery itself though. The ability does nothing but encourage front lining, Cura and Banish spells requiring the White Mage to take damage to buff them, Esuna's mechanism for removal requiring the White Mage to get debuffed too, and even the slight boost to Auspice to make it like an Enspell II.

The main problem is that Afflatus Solace does everything better, from Magic Defense Bonus to prevent the damage in the first place with barspells, the Holy Laser, Curaga spells just being purely better then Cura spells from the beginning to the end, and that sweet, sweet cureskin making anyone hit with a single target cure that much more survivable.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Red Mage. As said before I'd like to see Red Mage's enspells, particularly the tier II spells get a buff, but this has nothing to do with comparing things to White Mage. If you really want a good argument for Red Mage getting better enspells, I think it would be Temper - Red Mage has a good native multihit ability, so shouldn't tier II enspells synergize with this well? Or even a question about enspell II spells being better then their tier I counterparts?

[Toadie-Odie]

Of course, this has nothing to do with Red Mage. As said before I'd like to see Red Mage's enspells, particularly the tier II spells get a buff, but this has nothing to do with comparing things to White Mage. If you really want a good argument for Red Mage getting better enspells, I think it would be Temper - Red Mage has a good native multihit ability, so shouldn't tier II enspells synergize with this well? Or even a question about enspell II spells being better then their tier I counterparts?

I'm not very good with number crunching, but it's my understanding that currently the teir II enspells start at the max damage that teir I enspells offer and then are built up to max of 42 extra damage - twice that of the extra damage built up with the teir I enspells. Aside from that, the effect is restricted only to the first swing of an attack round, leaving the remaining swings open for other additional effects to proc.

Assuming that I understand that correctly...

I don't understand why enspells' damage is modified by the current enhancing magic skill as opposed to being modified by the skill at the time of casting. Most enhancing skill boosting gear is not TP friendly. Afterall you wouldn't use enspells on yourself if you didn't plan on engaging the enemy and when you do engage an enemy you want to be wearing your optimal combat gear. So I think we either need combat appropriate gear that has enhancing skill boost on it or it calculates damage only on your skill at the time of the cast.

I'm not sure how I feel about building up the damage effect to a max amount.

As for synergizing with Temper... why couldn't we have the enspell effect proc on every swing with this buff on? I can't see how this could be over powered when you compare the idea with how Sambas work. When you don't have the Temper effect on, the enspell effect only procs on the first swing. I think this would be a fair trade off.

[Vicious]

Enspell II are designed to be used in situations where you are meleeing and casting in roughly equal amounts. The damage increases with each swing to encourage you to keep swinging; the maximum damage is set higher to compensate for lost damage while casting; it only applies to the first swing to prevent them from being used purely for the damage; the magic evasion reduction is there to increase the accuracy of your spells since you're not using a staff; the damage is calculated each swing instead of at cast because... nope, I got nothing.

In other words, the reason you don't like Enspell II is because it does not fit your playstyle, not because they are terrible; they could use some work though, I'll be the first to admit.