To be quite honest, my stance on the whole RDM Melee situation is, I'm neutral to it. And after looking into Temper being self-target only, it made me contemplate a few things, especially in my outrage thinking that we still won't be getting a spot in abyssea because of our lack of buffing options on the backline.
I'm condensing a bit of this in hide/show boxes to reduce "tl;dr" syndrome and "ZOMG WALL OF TEXT" disorder. I don't want to double-post, so I provided a summary at the bottom if you want skip the big details. In any case, I doubt the Community Reps want to spend the time to read this post in particular, but you know what? To hell with it, I'm doing it anyway.
Foreword
I used to be all about it in the level 75 years, especially when I did campaign, experimented with party grouping, and areas where it would be beneficial with minor risk. And yes, a few degrees of soloing. Before abyssea we were presented with many opportunities to do it, with a respectable selection of gear to use for it, even when the stigma of the idea of a "magical swordsman" wasn't optimal for the endgame side of the game. In fact, 80% of the time, when we see a rapier-wielding, classy-suited figurehead point their weapon at a gigantic fiend, a group of heavy-armored soldiers would laugh at this person. And that's really the big problem- the more seasoned players will always find a way to optimize the specialties of all the jobs that are laid out to them. So, this Estoqueur in Red is probably smirking. Why?
The Duelist has a few tricks up their sleeve- Crippling the monster with debilitating Enfeebling Magic and the ability to magically Enhance their prowess of their own abilities and allies. Normally their weapon would break, trying to pierce the stiff hides of these abominations. So they have this magic to fall on, on top of a few things they learned from a few White Mages and Black Mages. Hell, they even concocted some of their own exclusive spells. Spells they wish they could use more effectively in the frontlines, too.
Issue Number 1:
Spontaneity is a good start in the right direction, though I honestly doubt it will be a stand-alone JA that doesn't wear off after a spell is cast. The key word in the description would be "occasionally" reduces casting time if it were so. Not to mention, Red mage is a job that has a long casting cycle of enhancing magic to cast on party members. This answers the call to RDM having some form of faster casting stacking on top of, and the icing on the cake in terms of removing the cap on Fast Cast.
Too much time casting = loss of DPS which = lower damage output. The less time casting means the more time you can get to doing something else- like nuking. And that also rules out the Melee option, since Estoqueur+1/+2 gear has now given RDM more Magic Attack Bonus options through gear. And that brings another thing- Melee gear selection.
Issue Number 2:
Red Mage is not expecting to outclass a Warrior or Monk in physical damage (Elite Melee RDM vs Naked MNK anyone?). Let's be real with that. But with the Advent of Almace being used, we can certainly see some potential to at least add in something extra. Mainly, as the other side of the coin to Blue Mage. Blue Mages throw out their High-power Physical Magic and drop on magical healing magic that rivals most support healing, while Red Mages take advantage of their Enfeebling and Enhancing Magic to turn the tide. The big concern here, however, is feeding TP to the monster. While BLU or any other sword user is widely viewed as an exception to the TP-feeding stigma, RDM ultimately suffers from it.
Because of the ratio in which subtle blow is applied to a Melee hit, it is often considered undesirable as usually more unnecessary Melee hits would give more TP to a monster that would possess dangerous special attacks. There isn't an easy answer to this one, except perhaps...adding a degree of subtle blow to Composure? Even if the bonus is small, it would do more to prevent TP spam, especially in this scenario:
If a RDM is doing 500-something on a Chant du Cygne in Abyssea...okay, they're clearly doing it wrong, because they're wearing gear suited for the Backline role. Personally, I'd look at a minimum of 2200-2500 damage on Chant du Cygne to be decent in Abyssea. But it's not like RDM wants to do it wrong. This issue is where meleeing on RDM gains its overwhelming notoriety. The job just has such a small selection of gear to support its ability to deal respectable damage.
At the very least, the game should let RDM share some of the gear that jobs like THF/BLU/DNC could use. I'm already snickering at the thought of my RDM wearing Loki's Kaftan. While this certainly doesn't seem like an option in the eyes of the players, if RDM were able to get these goodies, its competition will always pull ahead as its competitors should. As long as RDM has the ability to keep up with enfeebles and enhancements, what would it hurt except monsters?
Issue Number 3:
As for the topic of Enspells, it's an often relied on series of spells that support their melee output. However, even with what could have been a beneficial perk, the Enspell II line and its effect of lowering elemental resistance had proven unfavorable in the means of using multi-hit weapons. Perhaps there is a solution to this, with word that there is a new line of Enspell coming soon.
Instead of adding Enfeebling effects to Enspells, as the suggestion was thrown out the window by the developers, why not turn it the other way around and make it so they lower Enfeebling resistance? Fire would reduce Addle Resistance, Ice would reduce Paralyze/Bind resistance, Wind would reduce Gravity/Silence resistance, Earth for Slow, Thunder for Thunder-based enfeebles (if there are any that isn't Shock), and Water for Poison. Each Melee hit would lower resistance by a certain percentage per hit, depending on the elemental resistance of the monster, and while enhancing magic increases the potency of the enspell damage, Sword Skill could be necessary for the resistance effect to add up. It would provide that middle ground between providing a niche that stacks with other spells that lower elemental resistance, while giving an expanded use of Temper and being able to Melee on the frontlines when it works best for the strategy.
In short, There needs to be a sort of middle ground to encourage switching between frontline and backline duties, and most of all an incentive that will allow seasoned people and endgame groups to say, "bring your Melee weapon too, we'll need you using [insert ability here] for this beast." Therefore, we'll have to see a lot to put into Red Mage to make frontline capabilities actually desireable.
Abilities like Spontaneity and Fast Cast give Red Mage slightly more room to breathe after finishing their enhancing magic cycles of Refresh, Haste, Phalanx 2 and so forth. If done right, Red Mages should be able to do more than just stand around waiting for the next round of Enhancing Magic cycles for the party.
Then, to add support damage on the front lines, more Light-Armor DD Gear variety is needed to push its currently low Melee output into respectable but not overpowering damage. Some of the pieces RDM gets are often outdated for the level 90 era to be worth using much of, so a little more freedom of gear choice could help. We shared a good amount of gear with BLUs, THFs, NINs, and DNCs, so why not this time?
Finally, Enspells need a major overhaul in which they function, like adding the ability to reduce Enfeeble Resistance with them. If we want to be able to see them used, they should fulfill a niche that's worth taking advantage of on the frontlines. I don't know what SE was thinking when they made the Enspell 2 line single-hit only, but its limits are detrimental to their relevance. Making the Enspell line provide some kind of niche practical enough to be worth using in an alliance situation should be something to consider as well. If it doesn't, well, clearly it's just there to deal damage, and any other damage dealer can provide that.
So if all this can be implemented somehow, we could see some potential. Otherwise, I'm just going to sit back with the other mages, cast with my Elemental Staves, and just go whack at something as either another job, like my Caladbolg DRK, or solo on Red Mage at the end of the day. Because that's always more appropriate than just poking your sword at Orthrus, Alfard or Apademak, while hardly making a dent.
And Going semi off-topic, but in mentioning thunder-based enfeebles, I would like to throw in an idea for a new exclusive Enfeeble: Seizure. It should be Thunder Elemental, and it could provide some interesting use- "Sends the target into a self-inflicting mental shock." We haven't really seen a stand-alone enfeeble that is thunder-based and would make a target hurt itself. You have to admit, though...it would be pretty hilarious. I wouldn't mind it having a 20%-25% base proc rate, personally. Not to mention, it's something that could add some support damage if the RDM decides to Melee. It's an idea to consider for the 99 update.
I typed all this on my cell phone going on a road trip today too, lol.
Originally Posted by Supersun
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