On the Topic of RDM Magics

[Supersun]

There are a few BIG problems with casting auras on other people.

First is that pretty much kills any future hope for Rdm melee as any mage aura spells pretty much anchor us within the aura surrounding the mages.

Second is that these would pretty much essentially amount to cycles on crack. I mean if there's a limit of one per player then the party will likely demand that each player has one. You thought mindlessly spamming haste in a party was bad these would be 1000x times worse as I can't imagine a spell like this being quick to cast OR cheap on the MP.

I think one per player is way too many. I mean they would have to take into account that one job is giving 6 different "AoE" buffs. The buffs would have to be so saturated that they would be shadows of the originals which would kinda defeat the purpose of the idea.

If sphere type buffs were cast on other players there would need to be a great deal of restriction if they are to retain the full power of the normal spell.

[Aliekber]

If you need mage buffs other than your own Composured ones (A.K.A. on hard stuff), you'd hang back, like you already would. On stuff where you're not playing full-mage you can frontline, like you already could. If anything it'd help with meleeing, but the main point is to get rid of (in this case, drastically reduce) cycles, not because it will make the job stronger as a mage or as a melee, but because cycles are boring. Since they're revamping Merits, they could give Enhancing Duration Increase merits, or make Ensphere a JA with a 2 minute cooldown and -5 sec per merit, allowing us to only Sphere a few buffs.

Secondly, not all the Sphere buffs have to be godly. Haste Sphere is an obvious one, as is Refresh Sphere, but other than that, what do we have to give? Phalanx Sphere, Enspell Sphere, Regen Sphere? In a serious DD party (outside Abyssea, natch), you're going to have at least a Bard there with you, which means you're giving at best 4 Sphere buffs (because you'll have at most 4 DDs to cast on). One will be Haste (and if it has less potency than normal Haste, there's no point to it), one will probably be Enspell, and the other two would likely be nothing fancier than Regen or Subtle Blow (and that's if we're lucky and get a Subtle Blow spell).

Alternatively, they can stop monkeying around and just make Haste and Refresh II Accessionable like they already should be.

[Supersun]

If there are any sphere spells that are mage specific that we don't have a single self target versions of then yeah, we would be tied to the back.

If we do have single target self spells then there's not an issue

[Karbuncle]

Well, the idea is to give mage a boost to its mage side.

If it hinders Melee chances it not catastrophe here, As long as it doesn't nerf any current mechanics to melee. If it Nerfs something, Then its a problem, If its just an improvement to one side that may limit another I don't see it as a big problem so long as the benefit outweighs the cost.

[Supersun]

Yeah, but we're smart.

We can easily think of a way that equally benefits both sides.

[Karbuncle]

Doing both simply keeps it mediocre at both when it comes down to "balancing".

[Karbuncle]

And not to sound like a douche or anything but theres a 50 some odd page RDM melee thread you can discuss it there. I'd rather not have this thread degenerate to bickering like that thread has.

And you know as well as i do what will happen if this starts becoming RDM melee discussion. I can deal with it, but its inevitable the other crowd will come and bicker and degenerate it.

If you want to discuss RDM melee and its effect, you have a thread, I ask you to not turn this one into it as well. Because we all know what will happen.

[Greatguardian]

Until we see people fielding suggestions in the melee thread about how to buff Magical Red Mage at an equal level to the buffs they're talking about giving to Melee, you can throw that "equal benefit" right out the window. This thread is about Magic. Aura effects would be awesome, but are really, really not Red Mage's style. They are pretty much only single-target spells, and that is likely never going to change due to balancing issues.

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.

To that end, a legit Phalanx 2 would be awesome. Self-target, with higher damage mitigation and a more 99-balanced skill/potency cap. Gravity II would be awesome, and appears to already be in the works. I'd love to see Rdms get access to Break, even if its usage is limited to mostly fodder crap. Aside from that, being able to inhibit TP in some way may be useful. I believe that's a niche thing for a few other jobs right now, so that may not be possible. It would be cool, though.

An Amnesia spell would be amazing, but anything that mattered would probably just be immune so I'm not sure there's any point in adding it at all. Maybe a spell that acts similarly to Addle, but for TP moves? Forcing the monster to use TP moves either a certain % or a certain duration less frequently. This would be extremely effective on certain monsters which have permanent regain.

[cidbahamut]

We already have access to Break...

[Aliekber]

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.