The RDM Update Thread.

[Demonjustin]

I'm just making this thread for my own personal assessment on each update for RDM, to kinda give a look at what's worthy of note for us each update and such as well as general feedback on it all.

Obviously anyone else can feel free to chime in, but this thread is more for assessing what's done every update. This thread is not meant for discussing the issues plaguing RDM as a whole, but only if it has/has not been addressed by the update itself.

All of that said, this recent update had a lot of good for RDM.



A

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/a/a3/27868_description.png

This body is not only our new best Accuracy body for TPing, and a good TP body at that, but it's amazing for Enfeebling and beats out our RF1+1 body in every way that matters.



B

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/0/0b/28292_description.png

These are just TP feet, but they are amazing at what they do. They have 15 Acc, high stat spam, some nice Haste with Store TP, and to top it off some much needed PDT.



C

The last thing to talk about really in this update that comes to mind is kind of annoying to me, because it once again shows extreme favortism to WHM's melee aspect while also showing RDM's melee side is largely ignored.

What do I mean? Well, throughout the past we've always seen WHM only pieces that had a large boost to melee stats such as the old Haste in high amounts that Blessed gear provided. What happened to RDM? Well, it got the same gear every other job did be it mage or light DD, never anything special to cater to that aspect of the job really.

So, once again WHM gets something amazing for melee while RDM doesn't, and it's so very annoying.

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/6/6e/20720_description.png

This is our new JSE weapon. Look great? That's because it is great, it's wonderful. I was very excited to see this sword originally because wow, it's actually a sword with 'Sword Enhancement Spell Damage +' on it that will actually be useful! Not only that but the boost to Phalanx means this blade has a use outside of meleeing even, and specifically makes RDM as a job, better. Now, compared to some other swords such as one I'll have a picture of in a bit, it's actually weaker, and probably not optimum for anything melee, but it's not a bad sword in the end by any means.

Enter, the WHM Club...

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/2/27/21110_description.png

27 Accuracy, for a job whose weapon has an A+ rank where as our's sits at B, while ours has none. 15 Atk, a stat both jobs could use but again skill plays a large part in our lack there of and in the end it's a vital stat for our best WS, one which causes our attack starved issues to become even worse! Last but not least this weapon has a grand 4% Double Attack.

I know this caters to a group of WHMs who melee, I have no issue with that and hell, I even support WHM meleeing because I do no different with RDM. But in the end this is an issue for RDM overall which seems to be brought to my attention through this update because once again, it happens.

Now the last thing I want to bring up is the other sword that beats it and kind of defeats the point of using it for melee.

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/1/16/20722_description.png

This sword has better DMG, lower delay, and some much needed Accuracy on it before you augment it. With augments that cost around the same amount as our JSE sword you can get an extra 7STR/10Atk/3DMG, or 7DEX/10Acc/3DMG. Either path puts this at 135 DMG, a full 11 more than our JSE, while also giving Atk or Acc we do need.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to cater to RDM's who melee like they do for WHM and why they can't just make our weapons good or give us some specific gear too. This update, this sword, exemplifies one of the problems with RDM meleeing and that's the fact SE just doesn't give us the gear we need. They're getting better, but this is still an example of us getting left behind when it comes to vital stats, and WHM's failure to be stuck as we are. I'm not saying stop giving WHM these pieces that cater to their melee aspects, I'm saying start giving RDM some love too, we need it desperately.





That's basically everything RDM related this update, eagerly awaiting May & Wardrobe!

[Protey]

the error you make in comparing the acc/att of the JSE club to the JSE rdm sword is that the club has 14 less skill.

[Demonjustin]

But all the same it's Attack and Acc that our job lacks due to skill while WHM sits on it's comfortable A+, the lack of skill is also more than made up for by the Attack and Accuracy whilst also providing a boost to the main hand in those same stats at the same time. I will admit however in the end I did overlook that fact when it comes to these weapons.

[Raydeus]

The things I don't like about Egeking is that it should've had lower Delay (218) and Phalanx +10 instead of +2.

Other than that it's decent I guess, even if it completely fails as an incentive for me to play more. /shrug

[Doombringer]

would egeking make a viable offhand? like, does the enspell damage effect both hands, and does that outweigh the superior delay of eminent dagger or the DA you'd get from buramenk'ah/anahera

also i really wanna believe that that phalanx buff is not just the straight -2 points of dmg per hit that it looks like it would be. that's kind of like pissing in the ocean to kill fish...

[Demonjustin]

would egeking make a viable offhand? like, does the enspell damage effect both hands, and does that outweigh the superior delay of eminent dagger or the DA you'd get from buramenk'ah/anaheraI assume it's both hands though unsure, old weapons did so I assume it does as well for that reason even with the rising up of stats tied to specific weapons alone. As for if it's better, I don't think so. Minor edits to the spreadsheet were enough to show that the hierarchy for weapons in our off-hand goes something like Mandau > Uson Atk > Bura > Uson Acc > Anahera > Em Dagger. I would think at best this would fall between Uson Atk & Bura. So viable, yes, but not best. Once the sheet is updated proper for RDM it'll be easier to judge.


also i really wanna believe that that phalanx buff is not just the straight -2 points of dmg per hit that it looks like it would be. that's kind of like pissing in the ocean to kill fish...It's what it is, the only other thing it could really be is a %, if that were the case 2% of 35 is less than 1 so we wouldn't even see a difference. It's disappointing but since the stat now officially exists I'm hoping to find it on our Empyrean Feet or another great Enhancing Magic piece down the road.

[Crimsonwizard]

/wave Doom
Just wanted to confirm, that the En-Spell damage does apply to both hands, even when in off hand, like Chimeric Fleuret did until SE decided to adjust it...
ib4 Emerg Maint RDM OP Nerf.

[Olor]

/wave Doom
ib4 Emerg Maint RDM OP Nerf.

I definitely lol'd

[Demonjustin]

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

Excluding Excalibur: Bura/Uson > Bura/Anahera > Bura/Egeking = Bura/Eminent Dagger > Bura/Other Swords.

Simplified. Egeking really doesn't serve a lot of purpose if you can get your hands on Bura, if you can't then you're unlikely to get Anahera, if you do get either of these two swords you should use Eminent Dagger and just ignore Egeking. If you don't have either Bura or Anahera though you should probably pick this up and offhand Eminent Dagger all the same. It's also worth noting that Eminent is very low on Accuracy so that's another small boon for it, take it for what you will.

[Olor]

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

[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 moreWhile 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

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/images/2/23/27861_description.png

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 (http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/May_2014_Version_Update_Changes#Armor).



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.

[Minikom]

Haste 2 should be useful for rdm or let cast gain spells on othes and plague spell

[Trangnai]

As much as people may disagree. Demonjustin is right. Especially with most updates to our spells and the class as a whole what we have gotten is lack luster, kinda niche. RDM shouldn't be thrown into a niche spot for its "fix" given 1 or 2 new unique spells that they will be asked to spam. As much as I love hearing we may get new spells in the future, what is the future for RDM as a job in general?

I personally as much as I like RDM how it is now, thinks the entire class needs a redesign for todays game. Enfeebling magic isn't very potent (and is our best skill, great for solo play, but worthless in party content). everything else is lackluster in comparison to other classes, our enhancing, is self-target or single target. and everything but refresh II can be done better by a whm unless its a merit spell which we are limited in cause they are merits.

Many people, especially those playing RDM today. See it as a hybrid class which should be able to fill many roles. Maybe not all at once. But should be able to fill.
RDM is by far my favorite job in the game, I have many memories attached to it, and as such I want it to prosper. But I cannot help but say the dev team gives us mixed signals and/or doesnt acknowledge what the playerbase that is playing RDM wants. Some of us play backline, some frontline, some solo. But at least in all of these situations I see no place where I can, as RDM fit into this content.

Maybe its just me, but judging by the other posts on this board I'm not the only one. Nor, are we the only class suffering from the exclusion from content.

I don't feel RDM or any class, should be stuck in a "cast 2 spells and stand there role" I personally soloed 1-75 cause I didn't want to be a refresh/haste spammer from 41+ (the later levels while mostly soloed, abyssea didn't really care much for role, so i could enjoy sitting there and meleeing an EXP alliance in abyssea).

I love the things we are getting, I would like to see more daggers. But I'm still confused as to weather my rdm will ever be relevant in current content.

[Rwolf]

I agree with Demonjustin and Trangnai, Red Mage needs a dramatic overhaul to fit into today's FFXI. A lot of the functions of Red Mage were built in a time they were necessary and desirable.

Refresh was practically non-existent for the most part outside of food, medicine and Vermillion Cloak. Fast Cast was also something only Red Mage excelled at, so it made it beneficial. Combat was a lot slower paced (outside NMs mostly and not timed events), so enfeebles mattered. Red Mage's B skill in combat was enough back then to make use of melee and enspells in between magic tasks especially because equipment haste, multi-attacks, etc. wasn't abundant. Merited spells were potent because at the time of inception, no one else had equivalents. Now other jobs have access to enhancements/enfeebles much more potent than Red Mage or share the ones we have. None of what this job is built on is unique today, FFXI is completely different.

I won't derail this into yet another Red Mage suggestion to changes thread as there are a ton of them on this forum. Red Mage, in short, needs a major overhaul to be brought into today's game that a few niche spells will not fill and shouldn't. The class is the most true definition of "jack of all trades" but in a very outdated system.

Don't let the fear and ignorance of Red Mage's past, prevent creating its future. A lot of that is not one single job's fault, but issues with other jobs and battle design itself.

[Glamdring]

I'm generally on board with the last few guys, but one issue. You described the "jack of all trades" aspect of rdm that makes you like to play the job, fair enough, it's the element of the job I like the most too. what is forgotten is the 2nd half of that phrase "master of none". And the problem with that is the people designing cookie-cutter strategies for end-game only design for "master of one" in their job builds. They do allow 1 jack of all trades slot, but that goes almost exclusively to sch.

Now, if SE does make us the master buffer or enfeebler or DoT or whatnot that's great, but they need to see if that's something that would be enough to put us in those strategies. And this time they might just want to do it in such a way as to not make the other game jobs undesireable. Difficult when cookie-cutter thinking dominates end-game strategies, as there will be only 1 6 man build allowed, meaning that-assuming no overlap-16 jobs will still be on the end-game scrap heap.

[Demonjustin]

The Master of None part of the title is important but it's almost always exaggerated in practice. The idea we must not be the best at anything is one that I am ok with following but the question is what exactly do we define as a category for which we could be called master of? If the question is Enhancing Magic pure and simple then yes adding buffs to the job in this regard may make us a master in the field more so than any other job, but what of buffing as a whole? If we get Haste II & Temper II to cast on others we will still not beat out a BRD who can throw down 2 Attack Songs and 2 Marches, let alone Soul Voice, and easily out match those effects. Also you must ask how far behind must we be before it becomes too little or too much? Right now our DMG is far behind others in optimum situations and RDM's optimum is much harder to obtain than that of the average DD who matches our DMG. While the 'Master of None' part of our title is so very important it's very hard to place exactly where on the scale we belong, we obviously should not be best, nor second likely, but the gap between what we are and what we need to be in order for our versatile nature to be viable is far too wide as of right now.

[Rwolf]

I don't think it's forgotten, I just don't believe it's necessary to say. I agree with Demonjustin on the emphasis of "that title is almost always exaggerated in practice". The idea that we have to sacrifice not being the best at something for versatility is outdated. A heft amount of the jobs now are very versatile in this game (tanking, healing, buffing, debuffing, MP conservation, cast speed, and dealing physical/magic/breath damage) and yet have unique strengths unto themselves. That's why I finished that sentence saying "in an outdated system".

I don't think master of none needs to be part of Red Mage's title. It just doesn't fit modern FFXI, in a current game full of nothing but versatility in other jobs and not enough slots. They need to be iconic and master of something in this age. Scholar isn't invited for its ability to be a "jack of all trades" (though it's a nice bonus), it's invited because it also has mastery over a couple things no other job can do. Red Mage at this point needs more than a few enfeebles/enhancements to be competitive. They need to redo a lot of things including enspells, enfeebles, enhancing, merit point 1 category taking up 6 slots for magic accuracy, merit point 2 being spells that should be scrolls + higher versions, stymie... I digress on getting into details as a lot of fellow Red Mages have covered a lot of these in suggestions over the years. They just need to stop taking them and making new jobs. （；¬＿¬)

[Demonjustin]

Though still off topic, albeit more on topic than the last few posts, I have hopes that the Job Point system will fix a couple of our issues at least in some sense. Specifically 2 things that stand out as large issues are the lack of a more powerful effect on spells like Paralyze & Slow and En-spells. Were they to add 1 point of DMG to En-spells per point that'd be +30 once the system reaches it's final cap, that's 65 DMG on our En-spells which could actually help our melee quite a bit. At the same time increasing Paralyze or Slow Potency with JPs in the same way would also greatly help those spells and make them very powerful even with their inability to lock down TP moves as it would lock down normal attacks quite effectively. With RDM's complete and utter lack of Job Abilities in any meaningful number I'm hoping they will turn to our spells and their potency for our Job Point effects.

[Glamdring]

I wasn't saying Master needs to be part of our description, my point is for the cookie cutters we DO have to be the best at something necessary if rdm wants a spot in those end-game builds, at least the way people design those strats. I agree with the above posts that if we are properly adjusted per Cam's post, coupled with an increase in our elemental skill, and maybe healing as well we might get some respect for those builds.

[Rwolf]

I agree that we do need to be the best at something simply because that is FFXI right now. I sincerely hope they don't try to fix Red Mage through Job Points. It's something that needs to naturally occur as a job update, similar to what they did for Scholar through a series of major updates and not locked behind arduous trials. They have no intent on easing up on Job Points with the thought it's a casual reward process that you'll gradually earn. In my opinion, I don't believe it is ok for Red Mage to just become a complete job with merits/job points making it essential to put points in them.

[Raydeus]

Personally I wouldn't want any huge changes to RDM because even with all the problems I actually like how the job plays. Most of my complaints come from SE's active attempts at blocking RDM's access to equipment, spells, traits and weapons that we should have access to as a hybrid class.

That said, if I was able to change RDM in any way I wanted I would probably do something like this:

Weapons

Swords : More focus on Rapiers with Acc/Dex/parry/Enspell damage bonuses. Less DMG rating and higher attacking speed, and the piercing bonuses/penalties that entails.
Daggers : More utility daggers with low delay and damage ratings and bonuses to M.Acc/INT/Crit rate/Enspell damage

Armor

Shields : Bucklers, just more bucklers with different bonuses to Shield skill, bonus to Phalanx, elemental defense and status resist. RDM needs magical based bucklers.

Body Armor : Access to most of the medium armor that jobs like THF and BLU have access to. Also, it's just odd our AF1 is really the only RDM AF armor that actually acknowledges RDM can actually melee AND cast in battle.

Spells

Dia : Back to Divine magic skill.

Enspells : Rework of damage formulas so Enspell damage scales much better with skill. With elemental resistance attributes of the target playing a much bigger role on the amount of damage being dealt. Simply put I want to be able to deal Enspell 200 dmg if I use the proper Enspell in battle, and deal only 2 dmg if I don't.

Spikes II : For RDM, WHM, BLM, and I'm including all 6 spikes spells in this with tweaks to some effects and adding elemental/status resistances to them.

-Blaze Spikes II : Stronger fire damage, +Ice resistance and lowers M. Acc of ice based bebuffs/DoTs (Paralyze, Bind, Frost, etc.)

-Ice Spikes II : Stronger Paralyze effect, +Wind resistance and lowers M. Acc of Wind based debuffs/DoTs (Silence, Gravity, Anemohelix, etc.)

-Shock Spikes II : Stronger Stun effect, +Water resistance and lower M. Acc of Water based debuffs/DoTs

-Aquaveil II : Stronger Guard against interruption effect, +Fire resistance and lowers M. Acc. of Fire based debuffs/DoTs for 3 mins even if the Interruption Guard effect is consumed before the 3 mins are up.

-Blink II : Instead of 2 random Shadows it adds a (fairly low) chance to negate single target attacks for the duration of the effect, and a 3 mins duration instead of 5. Adds Resistance to Earth and lowers M.Acc of Earth based debuffs/DoTs

-Stoneskin II : Stronger effect, +Thunder resistance and lowers M. Acc of Thunder based debuffs/DoTs for 3 mins even if the damage absorb effect is consumed before the 3 mins are up.

Phalanx III : For RDM and PLD. Stronger effect (60 dmg cap instead of 35 @500 skill), and receives a bonus when using a shield based on Shield Mastery level (5 extra dmg absorbed per level)

Job Traits

Fencer : /10 char

Resist Status (Trait) : Substitutes Resist Petrify with a Resist against all status effects trait, with a bit higher activation rate (I've only resisted a petrify ONCE in more than 10 years playing RDM.)

We are the masters of enfeebling and enhancing, we should at least have some slight insight into how to resist most status effects.

Abilities

Triple Cast : This Ability would probably the most controversial and difficult to implement. The way I see it working would be in a similar way to setting Blue mage spells where we could set 3 spells that could be cast simultaneously when using the Ability. Casting time would be the average between the three and the ability would have a 5-10 min cooldown.

Spell cost requirements, interruption rate and recast times would remain unaffected.

Limitations would be that the spells would need to be of the same type to be grouped together or you would get an error. For instance, you could cast 3 enhancing spells on yourself or a party member (if applicable) using Triple cast, but not a combination of nuking and enhancing spells. As they would require different targets for in order to work. Also, since spell effects would be applied one after the other if you use spells that replaced each other you would end up with less effects than desired.

Example : Rasp + Frost + Drown would stick on the mob using the ability. But if you used Shock + Rasp + Choke only Choke would remain on the mob.


And finally, if you made it all the way here without falling asleep then I congratulate you for your patience and endurance. Which incidentally are the trademarks of the great RDMs. ;)

[Rwolf]

A huge change doesn't have to alter the core game play of Red Mage. Unfortunately most of what is suggested is just solo survival tools. It simply isn't focused on small group content and doing something that no other job can bring to the table. I agree on weapons and armor, but I don't think moving Dia back is necessary. It's practically unresistable either way. Enspells, I agree need a dramatic difference in potency given how strong Tier 1 spells are to the point, that it eclipses melee in most cases. I don't think there should be such a severe penalty however for not using the correct enspell, as that penalty doesn't exist with any other magical damage. It's always been a mob is strong against, weak against, and rest of the magical elements just do damage in between.

The resist traits through new White Magic/Black Magic defensive spells seems redundant in regard that we already have barspells. I'd rather them just scale barspells better. Rune Fencer's limited unique factor is about resisting elements moreso than any other job, I don't think Red Mage needs any more than it currently has. In the same regard, I'd personally rather see Phalanx II a scrolled spell for Red Mage only and have both tiers scale better into newer content. I think we have a lot of current spells that fit a lot of this that just have poor scaling with skill and current content.

As cool as it would be to Doublecast or Triple Cast because it has been a Red Mage staple in the series, it's just very unlikely with how the game is designed. That was the reason they initially gave us Fast Cast, but now everyone has it. Spontaneity is the closest thing we'll likely ever get to that and honestly in an age where everyone can cap Fast Cast, I really think it should be on a much lower timer or have charges.

[elqplau]

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.
Thank you that reboost to RDM will be well waiting for ...as my other RDM breathern has stated the upgrades to RDM should be on par with what RDM was in the start ...not wanting to be more powerfull just would like to hold my own fir a change

[Damane]

A huge change doesn't have to alter the core game play of Red Mage. Unfortunately most of what is suggested is just solo survival tools. It simply isn't focused on small group content and doing something that no other job can bring to the table. I agree on weapons and armor, but I don't think moving Dia back is necessary. It's practically unresistable either way. Enspells, I agree need a dramatic difference in potency given how strong Tier 1 spells are to the point, that it eclipses melee in most cases. I don't think there should be such a severe penalty however for not using the correct enspell, as that penalty doesn't exist with any other magical damage. It's always been a mob is strong against, weak against, and rest of the magical elements just do damage in between.

The resist traits through new White Magic/Black Magic defensive spells seems redundant in regard that we already have barspells. I'd rather them just scale barspells better. Rune Fencer's limited unique factor is about resisting elements moreso than any other job, I don't think Red Mage needs any more than it currently has. In the same regard, I'd personally rather see Phalanx II a scrolled spell for Red Mage only and have both tiers scale better into newer content. I think we have a lot of current spells that fit a lot of this that just have poor scaling with skill and current content.

As cool as it would be to Doublecast or Triple Cast because it has been a Red Mage staple in the series, it's just very unlikely with how the game is designed. That was the reason they initially gave us Fast Cast, but now everyone has it. Spontaneity is the closest thing we'll likely ever get to that and honestly in an age where everyone can cap Fast Cast, I really think it should be on a much lower timer or have charges.

i think they should totally revamp the merit II category of RDM. They should give out all spells as scrolls in that category for RDM and add different options to the category like:

2 Job traits you can pick:
Double Cast: occasionally cast elemental magic twice with the cost of 1 cast only:
1. rank adds 10% of double casting, while each additional merit rank adds 2% more on double cast (Relic boots +2/ilvl give 4 MAB per merit rank up)
Quicken Casting:
1. rank adds a 10% of occ. quicken casting, additonal ranks add 2% to this (Relic hands +2/ilvl augment give 2% of Fast Cast per merit rank up (quicken doesnt need to proc for this to apply to spells))

Abilitys:
Steamy (yes the crappy 2 hour): Greatly increases the accuracy of the next enfeebling magic spell.
1. Rank: gives access to the ability, recast 10 min, additional ranks enhance the potency of enfeeb magic by 2% (relic hat +2/ilvl enhance the duration of enfeeb magic by 5% per merit level in here)
Traverse: Extends the effect of the next Enhancing magic spell to party members within range.
1. Rank: gives access to abiliy, recast 5 min, additional ranks enhance the duration of the enhancing magic by 5%. (Relic legs +2/ilvl enhances the duration further by 5% per merit rank ups in this category).


now change the SP2 into a spell that cripples the enemy for 2-3 min with def down, atk down, slow and paralyze

if noone wants occ. quickens spellcasting trait change it into this ability:
Immunity: Your next enhancing magic spell will not be dispellable (however it can be overwritten!)
1. Rank: gives access to ability recast 10 min, further merits enhance various elemental resist points depending on spellelement cast by 10 per rank (relic hands +2/ilvl augment give a 1% potency for each merit rank to enhancing spells)

[Demonjustin]

i think they should totally revamp the merit II category of RDM. They should give out all spells as scrolls in that category for RDM and add different options to the category like:

2 Job traits you can pick:
Double Cast: occasionally cast elemental magic twice with the cost of 1 cast only:
1. rank adds 10% of double casting, while each additional merit rank adds 2% more on double cast (Relic boots +2/ilvl give 4 MAB per merit rank up)
Quicken Casting:
1. rank adds a 10% of occ. quicken casting, additonal ranks add 2% to this (Relic hands +2/ilvl augment give 2% of Fast Cast per merit rank up (quicken doesnt need to proc for this to apply to spells))

Abilitys:
Steamy (yes the crappy 2 hour): Greatly increases the accuracy of the next enfeebling magic spell.
1. Rank: gives access to the ability, recast 10 min, additional ranks enhance the potency of enfeeb magic by 2% (relic hat +2/ilvl enhance the duration of enfeeb magic by 5% per merit level in here)
Traverse: Extends the effect of the next Enhancing magic spell to party members within range.
1. Rank: gives access to abiliy, recast 5 min, additional ranks enhance the duration of the enhancing magic by 5%. (Relic legs +2/ilvl enhances the duration further by 5% per merit rank ups in this category).


now change the SP2 into a spell that cripples the enemy for 2-3 min with def down, atk down, slow and paralyze

if noone wants occ. quickens spellcasting trait change it into this ability:
Immunity: Your next enhancing magic spell will not be dispellable (however it can be overwritten!)
1. Rank: gives access to ability recast 10 min, further merits enhance various elemental resist points depending on spellelement cast by 10 per rank (relic hands +2/ilvl augment give a 1% potency for each merit rank to enhancing spells)I really love all of these ideas, and they'd be somewhat difficult choices even. The SP2 idea I disagree with and still/always will think that it should actually be an Enhancing Magic version of Soul Voice but besides that, I'd love to see those happen.

Besides that I somewhat want to say I'd like everyone to talk about adjustments elsewhere, but this thread is getting attention both by SE & players so, while I'll keep posting updates/info here on them, feel free to stay & keep goin with the ideas! :D

[Rwolf]

I think it is an awesome idea to give Red Mage a replacement merit category for "Occasionally quickens spellcasting". Especially in this day and age where there is so much Fast Cast and Haste for any casting job.

[Raydeus]

Personally I don't like casting Quickening much because it makes timing very unreliable. So I would rather have Fast Cast merits that went over the cap instead.

I'd also have the same issue with Double cast because if the effect triggered at the wrong time it could mess things up bad in many situations. That's why I came to the conclusion that what would work best for me would be something like the Triple Cast job Ability I mentioned in my post. Even if it's very unlikely to happen.

[Demonjustin]

I gotta say Triple Cast does sound better than the proposed idea for Double, but as you said it's unlikely sadly which is why I wouldn't bank on it as an idea overall by compare. I can't think of a real situation I've come across as of late where double casting would actually be a bad thing, but the flexibility that the Triple Cast idea has really makes it better in the end even outside of the idea of casting 3 spells rather than 2.

[AppropriateName5786]

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 think you forgot to mention that WHM will be getting AOE versions of all of those spells.

[Tennotsukai]

I think it would be really nice if rdm had a spell, like addle, that slowed weapon skill ready rates and decreased acc. It would be interesting for stunners and a very nice spell for rdm. I know rdm needs a whole lot to be a decent job again, just a spell idea.

[Demonjustin]

I think it would be really nice if rdm had a spell, like addle, that slowed weapon skill ready rates and decreased acc. It would be interesting for stunners and a very nice spell for rdm. I know rdm needs a whole lot to be a decent job again, just a spell idea.It's not a bad one either. I quite like the idea since it's a form of slow that would not only work on all mobs but would work in basically all situations. If you're soloing mobs it allows easier stuns and might actually low our Evasion to play some sort of role. If you're in a party then it either A:Helps Stun or B:Slows down overall attack speed due to the fact that in a zerg as it is right now TP moves are often done back to back and slowing normal attacks would matter anyways. If you're slowing down the overall TP move speed then you're slowing the monster down as a whole. It would also mean that RDM can slow a mob as a whole and a BRD can't, BRD can cover Slow & Addle, but unless they are given this too(don't do it SE... BRD is overpowered as it is -_-) you're looking at a special type of enfeeble only RDM can do and a form of slow that would be powerful on endgame content.

[Creelo]

I think Composure should give a Macc buff as well. It's simple, makes sense, and would be a nice little boon! @_@

[Protey]

with the update to WSs, Death Blossom is doing considerably more damage than before. Anyone with a Murgleis can post some statistics on their damage?

[Demonjustin]

This update was really just a bunch of QoL but there are 2 things for RDM.



A

First up is the Weapon Skill update. While Knights of Round is now completely useless as a WS and Req stayed the same all other WSs we have got a great boost. CDC is now almost always the best WS to use, beating out Req on almost all content even due to the attack penalty still being there(wish it were gone...) and Death Blossom isn't too far behind. With our Mythic Death Blossom may be situationally better than CDC and even if it's not the 300 TP for AM3 and the DMG it does makes it at very least much less a hinderance to the weapon, likely making our Mythic our best weapon even though it used to fall just a bit short of Excalibur. The best thing here however is the prospect of using daggers as a main hand weapon, with this update Aeolian Edge has been doing insane DMG for jobs like THF & DNC from what I hear, while I've not had the chance to test it myself I'd assume RDM can crank out some amazing damage.



B

Secondly we have the new augments for WK gear. At first glance this seems like a minor thing, but this is actually quite amazing for us. Before this update it was a pain to use Buremte Gloves with our TP Accuracy set due to Haste issues unless you had perfect gear, but with the ability to add DEX & Haste to these hands you're looking at a pair of gloves that more easily cap Haste and provide the most Accuracy in the hand slot we can possibly get. Similar to this if doing any old content the new daggers we were given can be augmented with Occasionally Attacks Twice which seems to be near 40% I hear and would easily be our best offhand in any content where the accuracy isn't dragging us down. I've not had a chance to look at all pieces of gear with all augment combos but I'm sure there are many great setups you can choose that will make this gear an asset in the end.

[Protey]

you sure an OAT dagger is better than mandau offhand?

[Demonjustin]

100%? No, but I'm fairly confident that the extra attacks/TP gain would make it better if Accuracy isn't an issue. I personally don't see much use for items like that either way so I've no plans to get it but it seems like it'd be quite amazing if you do that kinda content. I still don't quite understand the OAT & DA/TA relationship entirely so if DA interferes with it too much or vice versa it's likely not better due to our high DA from Temper alone. That's about the only thing I think might drag it down, the additional 40% attacks seems like it'd be more useful than the DMG or Atk due to the fact that on lower end content you're going to be throwing down 5~6k WSs without a hitch and the additional En-spell procs that come with the additional attacks.

If someone who knows more about the OAT/DA relationship could explain it then it'd be easier to say for sure, but outside of that unless the OAT and DA conflict too much I'd say it's better than Mandau on lower end content, yes. Anything level 119+ I wouldn't use it due to Accuracy.

[Trangnai]

I'm curious of how the new daggers pan-out in mainhand and what augments might be good for that as well, I have yet to get one to drop thought. I've been running Xiuleato off-hand and the OAT seems decent enough when acc isn't an issue.

[Protey]

this just in for the early July update:

"Job adjustments will also make a splash, including an arsenal of new spells for red mages, such as Haste II"

and from Camate:

"Indeed, Haste II is on the way for red mage, but that’s not all we're adding! Other types of new enhancing magic spells as well as enfeebling magic spells will be added for red mage in the July version update.

Of the spells that will be added, there will be effects that lower the physical and magical evasion of enemies, which will make them resist less and increase your hit rate."

[Demonjustin]

[dev1217] Job Adjustments
Red Mage
The following spells will be added.
Haste II (Lv. 96, Recast time: 20 sec.)
Increases target's attack speed.
Distract (Lv. 35, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Reduces target's physical evasion.
Distract II (Lv. 85, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Reduces target's physical evasion.
Frazzle (Lv. 42, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Reduces target's magic evasion.
Frazzle II (Lv.92, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Reduces target's magic evasion.
Flurry (Lv. 48, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Increases target's ranged attack speed.
Flurry II (Lv. 96, Recast time: 10 sec.)
Increases target's ranged attack speed.Happiness.

[Trangnai]

Well, these updates will definitely give us our support job status back. Don't really help us much on the front lines, but they don't necessarily hinder us in that aspect ether. These spells will allow us to be more universal in existing content. I like that they took the time to give us spells pre-99 as well. As these will help rdm during leveling as well.

[Raydeus]

I hope they can be used with Accession, so we can see Arrow burns back into the game. XD

[Rwolf]

Honestly I wish they didn't make more subbable spells. RDM needs job identity. It'll depend on how potent tier 1 is vs tier 2. Because so far tier 2 debuffs have not made a significant impact on desirability. If a BRD or COR can just sub RDM, they might be more beneficial because they can add some evasion down/ranged attack speed while still providing other buffs.

I'm holding out to see how the update unfolds when we learn the values, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed to see more subbed (shared) abilities.

[Fermion]

If a BRD or COR can just sub RDM, they might be more beneficial because they can add some evasion down/ranged attack speed while still providing other buffs.

I'm pretty certain Distract and Frazzle will be based on enfeebling magic, and Flurry, enhancing. BRD and COR won't be able to land on anything worth mentioning, and the Flurry buff will be so weak, (lvl 49 RDM enhancing skill) that it'd be a huge waste of a subjob. This shouldn't be a concern.

This is more an indirect buff to SCH/RDM. Anywhere a SCH would sub /rdm, they just got three very nice usable tier I spells for free. But that won't really change anything for SCH. But this adjustment will pretty much cement RDM's spot in the RNG pt, among other potential endgame roster changes.

[Raydeus]

On the other hand it will be a nice addition for BLM since you can lower your target's magic eva.

[Rwolf]

I'm pretty certain Distract and Frazzle will be based on enfeebling magic, and Flurry, enhancing. BRD and COR won't be able to land on anything worth mentioning, and the Flurry buff will be so weak, (lvl 49 RDM enhancing skill) that it'd be a huge waste of a subjob. This shouldn't be a concern.

This is more an indirect buff to SCH/RDM. Anywhere a SCH would sub /rdm, they just got three very nice usable tier I spells for free. But that won't really change anything for SCH. But this adjustment will pretty much cement RDM's spot in the RNG pt, among other potential endgame roster changes.

BRD especially can land a lot of subbed white magic buffs reliably on content worth mentioning with the massive amount of magic accuracy gear they have access to. It will depend if the enhancing and enfeebling spells vary with skill and what their potency is on Tier 1 vs Tier 2.

First impressions, I'm just disappointed anything new for RDM is support job level. I don't think it was necessary as RDM doesn't have a lot of unique items to itself. Comparatively I'm just going off of all prior enfeebling and enhancing magic, they are still quite useful even with support job skill. I hope that these are tied heavily to skill. I reserve judgment until they are released.

[Fermion]

I'm going off the assumption that SE will have the buffs scale with skill (Temper, Phalanx, etc.). Hopefully they have that much foresight.

I've never seen a BRD or COR reliably land RDM debuffs on endgame content. Statistical flukes do happen, but no one is going to organize a run based on BRD or COR enfeebling magic landing (enfeebling cap @49 = 150; @99 = 424. It would take +274 magic acc just to catch up to a naked 99 RDM with no merits. We may have different meanings of mentionable content, but if a BRD can land enfeebling magic, so can a naked RDM. And I don't consider naked RDMs a part of mentionable content.

[Rwolf]

I can land debuffs in Outer Ra'Kaznar Skirmish and Delve. I consider that mentionable content. +274 is a drop in a bucket lately. Most 119 staves have +228, not even counting the Delve II staff. With access to over 120+ M.Acc alone in other gear, not counting MND and INT. I'm not debating that RDM obviously has a much easier time to land enfeebles, especially if you're considering content with ridiculous magic evasion. But if a BRD or WHM can land them in some recent content, it diminishes RDM's unique value. History so far with Tier II debuffs and buffs for RDM have been less than stellar. Where Tier I is suitable enough because other classes bring other things to the table along with it.

Again this is first impressions, we obviously don't know the details. My opinion is just that I don't think it was necessary to give access to new RDM spells to other jobs. I thought the purpose was to give RDM better job identity. I also agree with you, I hope they have that much foresight, and that this is also a start to making older enfeebles (like Blind II) and buffs (like Phalanx II) for RDM better.

[Babekeke]

I'm going off the assumption that SE will have the buffs scale with skill (Temper, Phalanx, etc.). Hopefully they have that much foresight.

Instead of going off the assumption that the spell that is more like haste will scale the same as haste does... or doesn't.

If flurry isn't a set amount, regardless of skill, I'll eat my hat.

[Glamdring]

there's also the trick of using a threnody to lower an elemental resistance and just using the element tied to Frazzle for instance, I generally have no issues landing any sub-job gained spell with that tactic. hell, I can even land tier 1 ninjitsu spells that way on brd/nin-not that there's a point to doing so, but just for fun I've done it once or twice in skirmish in RaKaz.

[Protey]

even with the boost to Death Blossom, I still don't believe that a Murgleis will outdamage an Excalibur due to not only the 25% of your HP additional effect, but also the occasional 2.5x damage, and the +40 attack. All Murgleis has going for it is occasionally attacks 2-3 times.... but only after missing out on 2 WSs. Anyone know the math on this?

[Demonjustin]

Going by spreadsheet, before the WS update Murgleis was only slightly behind Excalibur. Now with Death Blossom doing more DMG I'd assume that Murgleis is better by a small amount.

[Creelo]

Side Note: I'd personally really like Rdm to get Adloquium. Considering the fact that Sch/rdm and Geo/rdm are getting quite the buff with all these new /rdm spells, I really don't think the dev team giving Rdm Adloquium would be a big deal, at all. They can always add Adloquium+ gear on the reforged Emp armor for Sch to make it more potent than a Rdm's Adloquium anyways (I'm quite surprised they haven't done this already for Sch).

It's not asking for much, but I can't help but think it would be a nice little extra boon for Rdm this update (probably too late for this update anyways but w/e). I don't think I'd make the suggestion if they didn't make all the new Tier 1 Rdm spells available as /rdm.

Edit: Another suggestion: Uncap the group 2 Job merit category. Rdm is severely hindered atm because it has so many Rdm merit spells that it can't access atm with a decent potency. Putting 1/5 into these spells aren't worth it at all, so certain spells (Blind II, Phalanx II, Bio III usually) never see the light of day, even though at 5/5 they're pretty decent. Other jobs like Nin, Smn, and Blm would greatly benefit from this as well.

[Tennotsukai]

Edit: Another suggestion: Uncap the group 2 Job merit category. Rdm is severely hindered atm because it has so many Rdm merit spells that it can't access atm with a decent potency. Putting 1/5 into these spells aren't worth it at all, so certain spells (Blind II, Phalanx II, Bio III usually) never see the light of day, even though at 5/5 they're pretty decent. Other jobs like Nin, Smn, and Blm would greatly benefit from this as well.

I like this idea!

[Glamdring]

agreed Creelo, and the duration on all those merited spells is simply miserable, too, esp considering all the buffing rdm is expected to be doing, and back-up heals, and other enfeebs. when 1 job has to work 3 times as hard as the others (with the possible exception of brd, but what is rdm doing in a pt that has a brd?) it's not really fair to the rdm.

[Demonjustin]

Been a long time since I posted in here(since I kinda quit in September)... but... this update deserves it!

A

We got some awesome 'Gifts', T5 Nukes, En-spell DMG +5, both of which are great buffs to either backline or frontline depending on your preference. While they're not a massive game changer, it does allow RDM to be more competitive on the battlefield in terms of nukes, especially since our recast is fairly low compared to others which allows us to more easily alternate them than any BLM would be able to. On top of this, the fact MP costs are down again means even without Seidr nuking won't really deplete your MP, and with Seidr getting nearly/completely free nukes is a cake walk! The En-spell damage isn't a ton either, but it's nice to have a buff to them that's static as opposed to relying on gear as we've needed to up to this point in order to make them better. It's a boost that will now account for 1/8th of our natural capped damage, which to me seems to be quite the buff.



B

Melee gear... not just any melee gear but Skirmish augmentable melee gear in the design of Athos.




I feel as though my years of complaining were paid off with finally being able to wear a badass Chapeau whilst meleeing. While I can't give an exactly accurate estimate on how good these pieces are due to not knowing the caps for stats on them, or what stats are even possible, I can say that with the limited number I've seen each piece is likely our best melee gear in the game. Also, this gives us a lot of multi-attack gear, something we've always lacked in our melee gear, not to mention a lot of Attack/Accuracy, which means a lot especially on our legs which to this point have had 0 ilevel Accuracy options outside of Vitivation Tights/+1.

All in all, this set is the be all end all melee set so far as I know. If you've some high numbers you wish to share that would help me nail down just where they sit stat wise I'd love a message on FFXIAH or here letting me know.



C

More of a general thing as the Mog Wardrobe was, but still, we can fuse our gorgets/belts/obis! That's a lot of inventory freed up, and with how much gear we used to carry, it's a lovely feeling. The Taeon set does a great job too from what I've seen as many options we used to rely on for situational use won't be needed since that gear simply trumps so much of our old gear. In all, C is more or less just me yelling... INVENTORY!!!!!





Last, and least, I'm going to be going back through my RDM sets on FFXIAH.com to update them. I know a few people used to rely on those for great sets to aim toward so I'd like to update them. The only problem is, since so much gear is based off augments, I'm sort of at a loss on where certain things might fit. So much like I said with B, if you've a good amount of info on that please hit me up on AH or here in this thread. Much appreciated. ^_^

[Protey]

i was disappointed with getting T5 nukes (I only nuke on RDM once in a blue moon). would have preferred additional enfeebles or enhancing spells. I'm really liking the gear though. We are on three sets! you can get like +20 attack and 20 accuracy, along with +2 triple attack, and +3% weapon skill damage just in augments on each piece of Taeon!.... totally insane. Enhancing duration on the Telchine set! BTW, since the body has enhancing skill on it, it is possible to put enhancing duration on there and still get 500 enhancing skill total for your enhancing buffs that rely on enhancing skill. Can still put enhancing duration on the other pieces (head and legs, don't bother with hands and feet) too so can extend things like regen and refresh which have shorter durations than the other buffs.

[Protey]

With the Phalanx potency augment on Taeon that works at casting, we have a choice now... enhancing duration or phalanx potency. Although we lose potency from losing enhancing skill gear for the phalanx potency of taeon, it's a loss of 2 from skill and gain of 15 (assuming you get +3 augment on all 5 pieces) for a total of +13. I think that's worth casting it again a little early. Though I will miss those 5 inventory slots since it will require me to have a second set of Taeon.

[elqplau]

I agree I rember when RDM was more old than bard now it takes a lot to even do anything...my sword skill is at 414 and merit maxed to the stops still working on blade to bring it even higher ....but as you stated whom with same type gear as I do will shame me

[elqplau]

so far enspell is main only even with temper's double whack not getting nmore than first hit