Rustic
12-09-2012, 06:47 AM
I'm an old-time player- came in during the last bits of CoP going into ToAU, and I left due to outside reasons right before the level cap- in the process of which my account info took a walk during a sudden move. (Ragnarok players or old-timers from other forums might recognize Kyreth from the old Harvesting Guide I did waaaay back.)
So I thought to myself: "Hey, it's been a while- I'll give the ride to RDM 99 a go and see how the job's changed. Good grief! We've become so much a jack-of-all-trades that what made us unique has ended up subjob fodder, and RDM main has declined to being simply a soloist whose subpar performance in parties has left the job gathering dust in most endgame and even party situations. Because we melee, we are inferior mages. Because we have magic, we are inferior meleers.
So, I read a while. And thought a while longer. And have an idea, if S-E and my fellow RDMs would listen to a guy who's last character only made it to 75.
Let our melee fuel our magic, and our magic fuel our melee in a way that benefits each appropriately. How? Via the one thing that makes us unique in all the mage classes- our use of weaponry (yes, I know- WHMs can hit things with hammers and that B+ club skill, but did you see them tanking HNMs? Nooooo...).
Add a JA to Red Mages at 10th level, useable as main job only- Channel. Recast time 30 seconds, duration 60 seconds (or until used). A Red Mage must have a weapon in hand to use Channel (so abilities that disarm the RDM would also prevent the use of Channel).
When Channel is active:
If the Red Mage activates a Weapon Skill, TP is consumed as normal but instead of the normal results, the Red Mage receives a buff that varies depending on the WS used, with duration and strength varying with the amount of TP used on the WS (say, 2 minutes for 100% up to 5 minutes for 300%, with merits improving this).
Buffs gained in this manner improve the RDM's casting ability in some form, with higher-skill level WS's providing more broadly desirable effects. Burning Blade/Red Lotus Blade might increase M. Attack, for example- with RLB having a better effect for the TP than Burning Blade. Shining/Seraph Blade would boost Enhancement/Healing/Divine skill, Spirits Within M. Acc, and so on. This could result in some interesting choices, especially if the most beneficial buffs are sword/dagger vs. say, club WS. Archery ones would be just plain weird, but hey...you could give a Red Mage an actual reason to shoot arrows, I suppose...but the point being that higher level RDMs would have good reason not to simply wave elemental staffs about (or the "combo" staff most mages use now).
If a Skillchain is completed and the Red Mage casts a spell that would normally Magic Burst with Channel active, the spell instead turns into a buff that increases the Red Mage's melee capacity in some form- but has no effect otherwise. The buff would vary based on the elemental type of spell and the MP expended. A Red Mage MBing a Cure II or other Light-based on the target might recieve a moderate DEF buff similar (but stacking with) Protect, while one that manages to time an Aero IV (or Wind spell in general) would watch their attack speed (but not their casting speed) go through the roof for a considerable amount of time. In effect, this ability would make the Red Mage's lower base melee skills effectively higher- as long as the Red Mage had skillchains to pump spells and their MP into to improve it.
In the process, a Red Mage would benefit in different ways from Channeling. Solo, TP could be consumed only to improve their casting abilities via their own WS, limiting it's ability to make a solo RDM overpowered since most solo RDMs cannot self-skillchain.
Only in working with others in a party or alliance would Channel realize it's full power.
A Red Mage in a party would melee and cast- burning MP to boost their melee capacity which in turn would improve their ability to for better casting capacity by consuming TP, in a cycle that would continue as long as the Red Mage had fights to feed both sides of the equation.
Sound interesting?
So I thought to myself: "Hey, it's been a while- I'll give the ride to RDM 99 a go and see how the job's changed. Good grief! We've become so much a jack-of-all-trades that what made us unique has ended up subjob fodder, and RDM main has declined to being simply a soloist whose subpar performance in parties has left the job gathering dust in most endgame and even party situations. Because we melee, we are inferior mages. Because we have magic, we are inferior meleers.
So, I read a while. And thought a while longer. And have an idea, if S-E and my fellow RDMs would listen to a guy who's last character only made it to 75.
Let our melee fuel our magic, and our magic fuel our melee in a way that benefits each appropriately. How? Via the one thing that makes us unique in all the mage classes- our use of weaponry (yes, I know- WHMs can hit things with hammers and that B+ club skill, but did you see them tanking HNMs? Nooooo...).
Add a JA to Red Mages at 10th level, useable as main job only- Channel. Recast time 30 seconds, duration 60 seconds (or until used). A Red Mage must have a weapon in hand to use Channel (so abilities that disarm the RDM would also prevent the use of Channel).
When Channel is active:
If the Red Mage activates a Weapon Skill, TP is consumed as normal but instead of the normal results, the Red Mage receives a buff that varies depending on the WS used, with duration and strength varying with the amount of TP used on the WS (say, 2 minutes for 100% up to 5 minutes for 300%, with merits improving this).
Buffs gained in this manner improve the RDM's casting ability in some form, with higher-skill level WS's providing more broadly desirable effects. Burning Blade/Red Lotus Blade might increase M. Attack, for example- with RLB having a better effect for the TP than Burning Blade. Shining/Seraph Blade would boost Enhancement/Healing/Divine skill, Spirits Within M. Acc, and so on. This could result in some interesting choices, especially if the most beneficial buffs are sword/dagger vs. say, club WS. Archery ones would be just plain weird, but hey...you could give a Red Mage an actual reason to shoot arrows, I suppose...but the point being that higher level RDMs would have good reason not to simply wave elemental staffs about (or the "combo" staff most mages use now).
If a Skillchain is completed and the Red Mage casts a spell that would normally Magic Burst with Channel active, the spell instead turns into a buff that increases the Red Mage's melee capacity in some form- but has no effect otherwise. The buff would vary based on the elemental type of spell and the MP expended. A Red Mage MBing a Cure II or other Light-based on the target might recieve a moderate DEF buff similar (but stacking with) Protect, while one that manages to time an Aero IV (or Wind spell in general) would watch their attack speed (but not their casting speed) go through the roof for a considerable amount of time. In effect, this ability would make the Red Mage's lower base melee skills effectively higher- as long as the Red Mage had skillchains to pump spells and their MP into to improve it.
In the process, a Red Mage would benefit in different ways from Channeling. Solo, TP could be consumed only to improve their casting abilities via their own WS, limiting it's ability to make a solo RDM overpowered since most solo RDMs cannot self-skillchain.
Only in working with others in a party or alliance would Channel realize it's full power.
A Red Mage in a party would melee and cast- burning MP to boost their melee capacity which in turn would improve their ability to for better casting capacity by consuming TP, in a cycle that would continue as long as the Red Mage had fights to feed both sides of the equation.
Sound interesting?