Quote Originally Posted by Greatguardian View Post
I don't want to get lost in neverneverland where the penultimate obscenely overpowered Mage class of FFXI suddenly needs Aura buffs and Ultima. We're not that poorly off. Small, unique tweaks and abilities that enhance what already makes us good would be ideal.
Well, they did nerf RDM soloing and RDM tanking pretty badly (both were very liked by me), so forgive me if I'm a little sore at the idea that RDM shouldn't get anything awesome, since we've had awesome things taken away.

They've said in the Manifesto that they want RDMs to be "Support specialists who excel at transforming their allies from mere mortals into demigods with their enhancements, while rendering once-formidable enemies impotent with enfeebling magic", so I'm running along those lines. Yeah, a full compliment of Aura buffs could be overpowered, and their manifesto vision is a bit of an exaggeration, but cutting out Haste cycles with HasteSphere (or making Haste and Refresh II Accessionable) would make the job less of a grind to play in large groups, and is pretty much a convenience boost. It's not going to lead to RDM Tank 2.0, or more bind-kite/pinning solos--the fear of which, let's be honest, is what really stops the devs from giving RDM more. They seem to like the duration enhancements angle, so taking that to its conclusion would be a great alternative (the cycle you run once every 7-10 minutes is much less of an annoyance than the one that starts 40 seconds after it ends).

At any rate, I don't think the job needs to be made more powerful as much as it needs to be made less of a chore. I like being a support, but Haste/Refresh cycles really suck. They're not even a little fun in the way that COR rolls are, with its blackjack-esque minigame. Single-target spells meant to be cast on everyone in succession is a stupid mechanic meant to eat up your time/make you constantly concentrate (it's less fun that spot-curing, which at least is reactive and takes a small amount of skill), and is a relic of Zilart-era design. If what I really wanted was to run a cycle, I'd get a second job flipping burgers and at least get paid for it.

Other thoughts:

- There seems to be a bit of schadenfreude from other mage job mains, who like to see RDMs not get what they want after years of being neglected themselves. Everyone can get cool buffs--no, really! It wouldn't be the end of the world.

- Camate has said in the past not to hold back and refrain from posting job suggestions just because they're overpowered, so that's what I did. Who knows, maybe something useful will come of it.