SE, Temper Activation Rate

[cidbahamut]

Gotta nitpick you a little bit. Gain-Str and Dex are a LOT more than "just a continuation;" they give you a bonus to melee stats. I consider that a melee buff. Gain-Mnd and Int will surely help spell casting, but Gain-Str is absolutely a melee buff. Unles I'm missing something involving Str and spellcasting...

Nah. I was trying to point out that while they do benefit melee considerably, those spells were not designed specifically as an update to RDM's melee capabilities. They're simply part of a line of general purpose utility spells. It'd be like saying Black Mage getting Blizzard V was a buff to their ice damage. While it's technically true, it's just a logical progression of what's already been laid out previously.

Once our prohibitive TP:damage output ratio comes a little closer, you're saying melee will be viable? I think this hinges largely on the WS adjustment portion of the update. If it works in our favor, if we gain access to WS like Vorpal Blade, then those in addition to having magian/empyrean weps, STR/DEX boosting spells, DA, all that shiny new haste gear, new swords, etc sounds like a pretty good recipe for melee output to me. The +AGI on that new sword also adds to Subtle Blow, also that drain-tp effect further lessening the prohibitive TP we dish out.

I don't know that resolving the TP:damage ratio would actually change things. It's not that it's the sole thing preventing us from taking to the front lines, it's that it provides a major risk for doing so. Since we can do our maging from the backlines, it makes more sense to be there if our sword swinging provides more risk than reward. But again, we as a community still don't have a standard for measuring that. Heck, I'm not convinced that even zero TP per hit would be enough to place us at the front(short of having an alliance of RDMs guffawing at NMs without regain).

It's the age old problem of having to protect the mages because they're so much more valuable than the disposable meat shields that populate the front lines. It's partially a community problem, but it's also a problem of game mechanics and it's very difficult to tell where one half of it ends and the other begins, which makes it a very difficult problem to solve. But hey, I'm not a game designer so it's not my job to figure out how to make that happen, all I can do is offer up my opinions.

Well, if SE indeed leaves the existing enfeeble immunities/ridiculous resistances in place, maybe it's time we tried something different in a group situation to compensate? Just sayin, it might be time to switch things up a bit.

Maybe, but I think all that would realistically accomplish is banishing RDMs to the mog house with the letters "lolRDM" carved into our foreheads. I don't think any of us want that.