The RDM Update Thread.

[Demonjustin]

a question on Magic Damage+ does that work on weapons in the offhand?

Yes. However while it does count for the offhand it's much lower than that of 2-handed weapons, meaning 2-handed weapons still win for nuking DMG. That being said if you used 2 weapons with Magic Damage you could feasibly nuke while meleeing and do some decent numbers, wouldn't be optimum but it is possible.

[Olor]

Mostly thinking for a future with blu, when you're going to cast a few spells no matter what. (Unless magic damage doesn't proc for physical magic), or soloing or lowmanning events as rdm where you want multiple damage types.

[elqplau]

Ive been RDM sence it was a line job... was a RDM when it became a BRD-1 now with gear i can go as a RDM used to be able to. I can roam the vast world as RDM and be proud of the job again not being just support any more

[Demonjustin]

Ive been RDM sence it was a line job... was a RDM when it became a BRD-1 now with gear i can go as a RDM used to be able to. I can roam the vast world as RDM and be proud of the job again not being just support any more

While I 100% agree the job is getting better, I have to say the job isn't where it should be still.

Our healing is better than ever before, yet our lack of any level of Regen above II and the fact we're regulated to Cure IV at best really drags us down to some extent, we rely on /WHM or /SCH for any form of AoE cures and any -na spells what so ever, and while that's not too bad, it all contributes to why RDM isn't looked at as a healer in many cases.

Our nuking I have no complaints about, we've nearly the same access to gear that BLM & SCH does with only Mythics being a real loss for us, using gear properly we're easily one of the best nukers right now.

Melee we still need a few things for, our gear has been getting increasingly better with each update and we've gotten more access to high-end gear than in recent years. The drawback on this is we're still mostly regulated to gear made for mages rather than made for DDs, in today's day and age that is more detrimental than ever before due to the lack of augments. Right now we're at a time in this game where Accuracy is becoming more important than it has been in many years, RDM is a job which is missing out on a good deal of skill and the lack of access to gear like Qaaxo is both understood and devastating to us as the lack of Accuracy gear makes it near impossible to fight even Difficult Merit Point NMs.

Lastly you have our spells and JAs in general, we've access to many spells which is fantastic and gives us our great versatility but the fact we've so little unique really kills us. We're still waiting on Haste II, a spell we were told about more than a year ago from what I recall and yet have not seen or heard about at all since then. We also lack JAs worth using, we as a job only have 6 JAs, but one is really only a miniature version of our SP1, and our SP2, as well as how many people rejected it and continue to do so, speaks for itself. A melee-based JA, SP2 changed to a Soul Voice like ability for RDM, Haste II, our Merits being changed to potency and allowing us access to the normal 5/5 versions of the spells, all of this would go a long way to helping the job even if it doesn't fix it.

In the end I don't mean to ramble or rant on things we all know, I just feel it worth repeating that while we're doing better than in recent times, we're still not quite as powerful as we should be, and this very fact is reflected by the fact that the demand for RDM has not risen in recent months but actually fallen due to Delve becoming a low man event. In either case, can't wait for the 15th, my next post will be at that time to assess what the update means for RDM. Here's hoping Lancelord Gaheel Ja or our old friend Gessho will be bringing a new Scorpion Harness like piece or something along those lines with them for RDM! ^_^

[Protey]

For Attack: Excal/Bura > All Sword Combos(Slightly edges out Uson Offhand)
For Accuracy: Excal/Uson Acc > All Combos(Slightly edges out Bura Offhand)

so is mandau best to offhand with excal or bura?

[Demonjustin]

Mandau beats Bura in all cases from what I could tell except when your Accuracy isn't capped. Once Accuracy falls below cap Uson beats everything, but till then Mandau beats Bura.

[Demonjustin]

Well, today's update wasn't too big in terms of gear for us but we did get some really, really nice things out of this.



A



Last month brought us Ischemia as an amazing melee body, and while it was amazing for Accuracy we actually had Aetosaur +1 as our best overall damage body thanks to the high DEX giving us some nice crit rate advantages over certain mobs. Well, Aetosaur and Ischemia are no longer our best body. Though it may not be the Scorpion Harness I'd asked for, it's definitely filling the same spot. This body has more Accuracy than Ischemia, which was it's real advantage over everything else, and then against Aetosaur it's better in every way except it has 1 less DEX, but it's not enough to make the difference, this body wins in every other way for TP, WS, everything. Also, the fact this body has an astounding 6% Haste means we're never going to need a Haste belt or anything of the sort ever again, we can cap Haste effortlessly just by using this body and the rest of the stat spam we normally get. In the end, if meleeing is your goal, this body is the most important thing you could set your eyes on.



B

There are a ton of new Rings/Earrings for All Jobs which give us some nice pieces, things such as a new 6 Magic Accuracy Ring, or the new 4 Magic Attack Ring, these things really stand out as being quite good especially since there are so many. There are some for melee too, a STR one which has 2 STR & 10 Attack that's a nice help to TPing or Req, and a DEX one which likely will be our best Accuracy Ring. In the end they seem more like side pieces, nothing too amazing, but upgrades all the same, and while I won't be throwing out any pictures of specific pieces you can check them all out on this page.



C

The largest thing this update is the Mog Wardrobe of course. This comes with an added bonus we couldn't have seen coming even, the ability to differentiate between which area we swap from on a piece to piece basis. This means we can now use some pieces like Hagondes for MAcc and don't have to worry about it not using the correct piece, we can use 2 sets for 2 different things and be optimally geared successfully! Add this new feature to the fact we've got an amazing 160 inventory space for our gear and it's easily the best thing about this update especially when you think of how it helps everyone, not only just those who can do the high tier content!

[Camate]

Greetings,

As we have been receiving feedback for quite some time now that it’s difficult for red mages to join parties, we will be introducing potent new enfeebling magic that is geared towards party content. While I do not have a specific time frame to share with you right now, the team is currently looking into new enfeebling and enhancing spells for red mage. I’ll be sure to make a follow-up once there is more information I can share.

[Ataraxia]

Greetings,

As we have been receiving feedback for quite some time now that it’s difficult for red mages to join parties, we will be introducing potent new enfeebling magic that is geared towards party content. While I do not have a specific time frame to share with you right now, the team is currently looking into new enfeebling and enhancing spells for red mage. I’ll be sure to make a follow-up once there is more information I can share.

I'm very happy to hear that something good is bring done to Rdm. I been a rdm and geo myself and have a 119 gear set. I think it's time Rdm get a rank B on elemental magic and dark magic :/. For some reason i think the Geomancer is more beneficial than the Rdm because it seems that they land enfeebling magic more easily on Delve run using geo-ball / Indi than a Rdm. If Changes are being done i hope we get a enhance to dia III effective reducing more defense down and Gravity II should land more easily and reduce more evasion. The recast on Gravity II is bad enough to wait if it get resist. The challenge is landing enfeebling on the new delve boss on rdm and those boss sure resist a lot and the only time it landed was using Stymie. I hope the new enfeebling and enhancing spell post by Camate for RDM is super good than maybe I'll gear up Rdm again but for now I'll stick with Geomancer because they are more awesome. =)

[Demonjustin]

Greetings,

As we have been receiving feedback for quite some time now that it’s difficult for red mages to join parties, we will be introducing potent new enfeebling magic that is geared towards party content. While I do not have a specific time frame to share with you right now, the team is currently looking into new enfeebling and enhancing spells for red mage. I’ll be sure to make a follow-up once there is more information I can share.

I'm happy to hear it. My question to you Camate is, will we be seeing changes wider than just this?

There are many changes the job needs in order to perform better as a whole, also I think it's time that a statement is given on just where the team plans this job to fit in. Many players in this community believe that a RDM is little more than a support job meant to cast Refresh & Enfeebling Magic with some slight cures & nukes thrown in as well. Another set of people such as myself believe the job is more of a hybrid such as BLU is, a job which has both the capacity to melee and at the same time cast it's spells on the battlefield, becoming a dynamic job that changes to fit the situation but can fill all roles in a limited capacity.

The first and most important question on where RDM will end up is extremely dependant on the above question. We can't know what to expect or what we're intended to do unless given some guidance on what exactly the devs are trying to build this job around. I personally believe the job is, and should be, a hybrid as I mentioned before. The job has been given a great deal of melee gear as of late, the team has expressed support for melee through it's attention to the fact RDM had a very bad lack of daggers(which still persists with our only having 4 item level daggers in all, including a Relic), and the fact we have spells such as Temper in our arsenal. Be this the case or not we are severely lacking in skill to make use of many of our melee powers. Our best weapons are B skill, we lack a ton of Sword WSs, our shields are at F skill rating which puts us over 150 skill under a PLD even with access to Beatific +1, and while other jobs have gear that can be augmented for melee combat such as the Qaaxo set we are stuck with not but base pieces such as Battlecast Gaiters or Karmesin Vest. While much has been done in the last few months these things still greatly drag our abilities on the frontlines through the mud so to speak, the lack of augmentable gear is the most bothersome of all as it leaves us with less gear for important stats such as Accuracy on our legs, a slot that by default gets no Accuracy or DEX generally meaning we're unlikely to ever have a pair in the near future.

I don't mean to rant, especially in a post that's both good news and somewhat of a different topic, but it's all things that must be said. The job primarily lacks invites due to a lack of place in parties. Some things such as our lack of melee power stop us, other times it's a lack of ability to aid through Enfeebles, and a few times it's for random things like Enmity or lack of T5 spells, things which are important in newer Delve areas and have even been the cause for denying me invites. I don't expect all things fixed especially because many of them aren't really issues anyways such as the T5 thing, but in the end I feel it's highly important for the developers working on this game right now to actually tell us what their plans are for RDM as a job and at the same time tell us exactly what it is they're planning to do to fix things for it in coming months.

You said Enhancing and Enfeebling spells should be on the way in the coming months, I'm glad to hear it, my only questions are will it be enough and will this mean we're going to become the next SCH whose entire use is dependant on a few spells like Embrava & Stun? I hope the answer to these questions are resounding nos, and that we will see more use than simply a Haste II & something like an Addle for TP moves.



I hope you'll forgive my ranting. RDM is the only job I play anymore and because it's my exclusive job at this point I feel quite attached not only to the job but how it's changed in the future. I hope that the adjustments will do it justice and things will change for the job soon to make it more viable and actually desired for content. That being said, I also hope to hear more about these spells in the future and will continue to assess everything done in updates that pertains to RDMs in this thread in the future. Also I wanted to say thank you for the reply, I'm happy to see a reply to a RDM thread, especially my own.