[Job Adjustmentｓ Manifesto] RDM

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Give Reds the ability to grant physical and/or magical shield effect that doesn't stack with each other and lasts for 5 seconds with a high mp cost - to help negate severely damaging TP moves to a tank or himself.
Not so OP because timing and player skill is crucial.

The only way enspells are gonna be better at this point is if Reds have an ability to increase the potency or duration of a particular de-buff associated with an en-spell element. For example Slow II or Paralyze II staying 'sticked' with Enstone or EnBlizzard, aside from that lolrdmmeleestopitgtfokthx.

What of the issue of Red's barspells? Is it the Dev's vision to see a Red barelement himself and his party wipes from an elemental explosion and the only one left standing is a Red? So that he can chainspell raise everybody just so that they can get mpk-ed again and see how useless it was inviting a Red for party support?

I don't know what other Enfeebling spells are in the works but I'm certain it won't be anything nearly as effective as an exclusive RDM stun effect spell based off Enfeebling magic.

I'd be all for just deleting the job if it wasn't for the fact that it's a good sub.

[Deadvinta]

We looked into this, however, if we were to add this it wouldn’t be a job trait. The possibility is pretty high that it would be in the form of equipment that a red mage could wear.

Seriously? That's stupid. Do the SE developers realize that BARD has the fencer trait, with absolutely no need for it? Red Mages need the trait more than they do, even if we only get tier one, and there are already swords and other gear that have better priority for melee over whatever you'll be adding with a fencer effect. Get your heads out of your asses and give us Fencer, damnit.

[idx1]

It's more convenient for Reds as players to lug around an extra set of gear that give fencer trait rather than coding that in.
Just see it as the overall effort going towards RDM.

I'd be overjoyed if they'd just give me the option of transferring my Red levels to another job.

A good Red is dependent on gear swaps so they probably figured, 'they're used to it, so why not'.

[Duelle]

Seriously? That's stupid. Do the SE developers realize that BARD has the fencer trait, with absolutely no need for it? Red Mages need the trait more than they do, even if we only get tier one, and there are already swords and other gear that have better priority for melee over whatever you'll be adding with a fencer effect. Get your heads out of your asses and give us Fencer, damnit.

While I question how useful Fencer would actually be (in the world where dual wield stomps single wield), I agree with this sentiment. You're tossing in fixes through gear. Which means they don't shake or otherwise affect class identity and instead lean more toward the territory of "toys".

As was stated in the preface of the job adjustments concept, the core concept of these adjustments is to make each job useful in HNM fights as well as other battle-related content. That said, we mentioned that the job adjustments will focus on party structuring, but that doesn’t mean that we will not be looking into the sword-wielding proficiency of red mages. We are actually planning adjustments to red mage’s proficiencies in the upcoming version update.

The way you word this worries me.

[cidbahamut]

Give red mage the “Fencer” job trait!

We looked into this, however, if we were to add this it wouldn’t be a job trait. The possibility is pretty high that it would be in the form of equipment that a red mage could wear.

Quit trolling and change the trait's name already.

[Daniel]

Am I the only one that was disappointed that not a single thing was mentioned in regards to cure V or even the aura affect on our enhancement spells? These two things alone will decide if its time to hang up the Chapeau for good or not... Yet all they talked about was enfeebles and mele... honestly rdm mele is a dead concept, you want to mele like a mele, level a mele job.

[Hyrist]

Am I the only one that was disappointed that not a single thing was mentioned in regards to cure V or even the aura affect on our enhancement spells? These two things alone will decide if its time to hang up the Chapeau for good or not... Yet all they talked about was enfeebles and mele... honestly rdm mele is a dead concept, you want to mele like a mele, level a mele job.

If it was a dead concept, so many players wouldn't be so loud about it. It's one of the few things that define this job as it's archetype away from the now many other mage job archetypes available in the game. And while I completely agree that for HNM fights our primary source of contribution should be magical, those improvements should not come at the full neglect of our martial status. As the level cap goes up, there's going to continually be more content Red Mage is going to pull their blades out for, as the wealth of content for this game just gets richer. (Till we hit PS2 limit.)

Cure V, and the concerns about it have been addressed through Scholar update patch notes: They're trying to avoid the same bread and butter cure power and give alternatives. We're probably more likely to see Regen III on our list than Cure V if that is their approach. If the lack of Cure V makes you want to hang up your hat, continue to play WHM.

Red Mage is one of the most popular mains in the game, it's healthy for the community that it shaves off a few people to other jobs they enjoy more.

As far as the Aura type buffs, that's a valid question, IMO, and it wasn't addressed. I'd like to see what their response to that is.

The way you word this worries me.

Why should it?

It exactly follows the "Melee Fodder, Magic Bosses" approach that has been the Red Mages staple since people played it. I've said so many times before Dulle, but your approach to the job is too extreme. The job needs to be tweaked, not re-written. More important than the Melee aspect of the job is to improve the use and effectiveness of our buff/debuff game, then our Melee side can either tie into that, or be given a general performance buff to compensate for the separation.

If I'm to gander a speculation as to what was said. Essentially they like the fact that our debuffing concepts and our melee concepts are kept separate roles. Essentially, that when we are put in situations in which our debuffs are not effective because the monster is dieing too fast, that's when we're pulling out our swords. And the situation between when you melee, and when you focus primarily on debuffing, is a gradient as opposed to a checklist. The longer the fight, the less our melee becomes effective and the more effective our debuffs become. (Buffing being universal between these)

I can live with that.

However. That means I want more effectiveness in both melee and debuff aspects for their intended areas. (HNMs need to be more susceptible to debuffs and have a wider array of debuffs to inflict them with, and RDM's melee performance should be more influential on lesser monster. Either by a straight performance boost, or a means of assisting the party's damage better.) So far, SE's shown that that's about what they're doing, but in their usual "This is way too vague for you to start harping on us about the specifics until the patch is out." deal.

I'm interested in seeing where SE goes with this, and am glad that the 'stri' file was actually for Red Mages. Looking forward to seeing the job adjustment details.

[cidbahamut]

If it was a dead concept, so many players wouldn't be so loud about it.

Yes they would.

Cure V, and the concerns about it have been addressed through Scholar update patch notes: They're trying to avoid the same bread and butter cure power and give alternatives. We're probably more likely to see Regen III on our list than Cure V if that is their approach. If the lack of Cure V makes you want to hang up your hat, continue to play WHM.

Regens don't cut it when the going gets rough, and I think we both know that. We can argue the effects Cure V will have on job balance until the cows come home, but if you think getting Regen III is going to do anything for our healing game you are sadly mistaken.

[Zirael]

When I've read Dev comments, this was how, more less, it was translated into in my mind. Consider it me reading what has been said between lines, or the smallprint:

Greetings red mages!

Thanks for all of your feedback and sorry to keep you waiting! Here are a handful of responses we got from the development team in regards to your questions and requests.

Do you have any plans to enhance the viability of our sword-wielding proficiency?
As was stated in the preface of the job adjustments concept, the core concept of these adjustments is to make each job useful in HNM fights as well as other battle-related content. That said, we mentioned that the job adjustments will focus on party structuring, but that doesn’t mean that we will not be looking into the sword-wielding proficiency of red mages. We are actually planning adjustments to red mage’s proficiencies in the upcoming version update.

You will not be allowed to tank any HNM, if you try it using some nifty trick, we’ll cripple you even more, so don’t even think about it. Refresh/Haste/Gain-STR or GTHO.

Make it possible to add enfeebling effects to En-spells.
We have no plans for this at the moment. When looking at the current system, where enfeebles take place using magic and En-spells increase damage, we’re pretty satisfied with the current separation of the two.

En-spells are already awesome (and remember to use En- II for that extra Mag. Evasion- bonus we gave you awhile ago!). They are great asset to any RDM (and their party) meeling in the front lines of current end game content… Oh, wait…

Add higher tier En-spells.
Planning to add these during the next version update. However, this isn’t going to be the tier-III version, we are thinking about a different type of En-spell.

We were thinking on how to make T3 en-spells suck more than T2, but couldn’t come out with any nice ideas, so you’re not getting any. How about en-poison or en-virus for extraawesome damage?

Add an ability that enhances the effect of En-spells.
We would like to look into perhaps having this take place through merit points.

Spend 5 merit upgrades to buff your enspells by +5 damage. Hell, spend 10 for +10! Bargain!!

Make it possible for red mage to use Enlight and Endark.
Enlight and Endark are special magic spells for paladin and dark knight respectively and we have no plans to add them to red mage at this time.

*This one sounds fair enough to me. Bit sad it’s DRK and PLD, that got something actually nice out of this deal tho.

Get rid of the 100% enfeeble resists on some monsters.
In regards to monsters that are completely resistant to certain spells, there is a high possibility that we won’t make any significant changes. However, there aren’t really too many of these monsters, so in regards to adjustments making it possible to land enfeebling magic easier, we feel it would be better for red mage’s to experience this effect on a larger amount of monsters.

You can already enfeeble almost any NM/content no one cares about anymore, so why complain?
Yes, we’ve put slow/paralyze/gravity/silence in this game, but we don’t want them to be used to win battles for any content lv70+. You should’ve gotten the hint when we added Greater Colibri, yo!

Add new enhancing magic.
Since enhancing magic is an area that red mages excel at, we would like to add something. We have been receiving a lot of ideas for enhancing magic and we will be keeping them in mind when exploring this subject.

Gain-STR to cycle through all DDs in your party, Gain-INT when in mage party, make them all demi-gods! Hell, how about cycling these two on everyone in the alliance? We might add Gain-ATK, just don’t Accession it, that wouldn’t keep you busy enough, yo!

Will red mage be able to the use the higher tier Gravity?
We are planning to make this spell a red mage-specific spell, but are continuing to evaluate it.

Gravity II, resisted by anything tagged as Notorious Monster. Modus Veritas’s little brother!

Allow red mages to use one-hand sword weapon skills that can only be used by certain jobs and support jobs. We also want staff weapon skills.
We will be looking into both of these along with the weapon skills revamp.

Suuure, use any weapon/WS you want, just stay out of any end-game tanking. There’s a lot of fun to be had in Campaign Battles, look forward to it.

Give red mage the “Fencer” job trait!
We looked into this, however, if we were to add this it wouldn’t be a job trait. The possibility is pretty high that it would be in the form of equipment that a red mage could wear.

We will add a lv80 sword and call it a day, job well done! It’ll pair up nicely with that Shield Mastery+1 shield you got like 30 levels ago.

[Ophannus]

RDMs are getting Cure 5 next patch. Keep in mind RDM learns cures before SCH does, and the level cap is only going up to 95 next patch. The SCH update notes indicated that they won't be getting Cure 5(for now), meaning not 91-94, but remember RDM learns Cure IV before 50 while PLD/SCH learns Cure 5 at lvl 55 which is above G1 level cap. So most likely we will be getting Cure 5.