To the devs!

[ManaKing]

Because comments like "The people that actually play RDM want something awesome to do with all of their MAB as well" totally wasn't worded to undermine other posters here. Drop the finger wagging. You're hardly a saint.

Well I should think not. I doubt I've taken any time to try to substantiate a claim for being canonized. That would be a complete waste of time and would be self contradictory.

GG admits he doesn't play RDM anymore. I have no interest in listening to his or anyone's opinion on RDM unless they are actually willing to play it. If you can't suffer through another ambiguous RDM phase then I don't really have any interest in listening to an opinion from someone that has already given up and is crying/trolling from the sidelines instead of playing the job that you should still love to play.

I solo aby NMs for my other jobs all the time with my RDM. It is a delight to play RDM in it's current incarnation on lower level content because it takes a level of effort that I've always associated with this game. I take my RDM to Dynamis because it is fun and I'm in no rush to throw away content that I'll enjoy as a RDM for the efficiency of another job. No idea when I'll get something new to play as a RDM, might as well enjoy playing it in the meantime.

The plain truth is that RDM doesn't do anything substantial in VW or any current content that came out in the last 2 level caps. I'm pretty tired of not having a legitimate role in a party through merits of my job. Enfeebles are broken and we are 2nd rate at everything else by design. Pretending that a staff on your back suddenly makes RDM viable again is a farce. The job isn't viable regardless of how hard any of us struggle to make it so.

I'm really not sure if you're aware of it, but my only real purpose for being on these forums in to start enough discussions about things I'm concerned about that so that I can make sure we didn't at least attempt to give feedback. Getting transparency from the Devs has proven impossible and RDM at 99 looks as crappy as it did at any other point after the level cap was raised. In my opinion, they have failed to properly integrate this job into the current state of this game. The only way I get any answers is by poking at the devs as hard as I can to see if I get a response.

Look at how many responses from devs there are on the board. Look who started those discussions. It shouldn't surprise you that Saevel and I, the horrible melee RDMs, have started the majority of those threads. I won't discount anyone else that participated in the discussions, because obviously participation is necessary to create discussions. But I see a common trend of people actually discussing things they are concerned over and then an irrational opposition coming in to start a turf war over the least viable job in the game.

Why don't the supposed pro mage RDMs start discussions on things you want to see happen to RDM instead of walking into other people's discussions and intentionally starting fights?

Do you just not have anything interesting to discuss? I'm sure you are capable of giving more than just constant criticism.

I just want to know why the supposed 'melee RDMs' are the only ones that show a vested interest in starting discussions on the future of where this job is going. I know it's must be shocking to some, but I (and I'm sure Saevel as well) actually play RDM as a mage. I just so happen to be willing to melee when I can't kite anything because enfeebles are useless now. I adapted to what the game would allow and had no interest in continuing RDM in a direction I thought was foolish to begin with as it became less and less viable to do so.

For people who get all uppity thinking people misunderstand you, you are way off the mark here. Go back and try reading. It wasn't at all anti-melee anything. It was all talk about whether it was the right call to get the multi-crit WS that we got. Or would we have been better off with the magical WS. I say how about the option that covers more ground rather than more menu clutter for types of damage we're already capable of doing?

I did read. You said Cloudsplitter was trash. I said Cloudsplitter is trash on WAR/BST. I made a distinction and expressed my opinion. The peanut gallery came in and insulted the idea that I would want an elemental based WS and buffs that would make sense to me for how I see RDM. Saevel and I comment back and forth why we don't understand the hostility and you see it as Melee RDM banter, where as we see it as discussing RDM as a whole. If you don't see melee as an option for RDM then you won't understand it, but realize that I see melee as the most viable option RDM has right now. It is not the only option I would entertain. But SE would have to actually make alternatives attractive and they don't seem to have any interest in making a full time mage RDM attractive anymore.

I will continue to comment that a multi-hit Crit WS, while attractive and useful, is still an obvious blanket adjustment to the job. In a game of comparisons, RDM will always come up short to other jobs so long as it is still playing by the same rules. RDM has a B in swords, so by comparison, it is always going to be inferior to the other sword users because we lack the attack power to drive a physical WS. Without a BLU to compare to, CDC on RDM is an amazing thing, but when the majority of the player base tells you that you shouldn't even touch a sword because you are a mage, then what is the point of even having the WS? We weren't included on Vorpal Blade, why should this be any different? The lack of consistency is troubling.

RDM has strengths that we both agree upon. It has a large repertoire of mage gear and job traits that enhance our magic attack bonus. But it will never have the same spell execution as a BLM or even a SCH because we are stuck on Tier IV nukes. The obvious solution, for me, to get around that restriction is to channel that abundance of MAB into another vehicle for delivery. My best solution is an elemental WS that punches holes in mobs.

Our other strength is that we are one of the toughest jobs in the game and can take more punishment that just about anyone besides a PLD. We already have reduced melee damage that is made up by hate-less enspell damage. We have the ability to stick on a mob and not draw as much hate as most jobs. We have the tools to be up front, we just have to be welcome there because we have something to offer.

Why would I want a physical WS to be decent at, when I could have a broken elemental WS like Wildfire to flourish with?

Why would I want to be 2nd rate at everything when I could have the best elemental WSs in the game? The reason RDM doesn't have good elemental WS isn't because they couldn't use them, it's because they were never given them to use.

I have no intention of settling for mediocre on these boards because that might be the end of it for RDM. We should be good at something, but we aren't right now and that legitimately isn't our fault. We haven't gotten any specialized attention from the dev team and we are in really bad shape because of it. Blanket buffs like Almace/CDC and Tier ups are what got us here in the first place. Why should we want more of the same treatment? They haven't even fixed enfeebling and that is just the beginning of our problems.

[cidbahamut]

Well I should think not. I doubt I've taken any time to try to substantiate a claim for being canonized.

You get points for vocabulary.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

GG admits he doesn't play RDM anymore. I have no interest in listening to his or anyone's opinion on RDM unless they are actually willing to play it. If you can't suffer through another ambiguous RDM phase then I don't really have any interest in listening to an opinion from someone that has already given up and is crying/trolling from the sidelines instead of playing the job that you should still love to play.

To be fair: RDM was my first job when I joined over 4+ years ago, and even when I joined when it was first released is the UK. I would class RDM as my main job, and favorite job at that. That being said, even I am doubting whether I'll be continuing playing it much longer. (I have most the gear I want, am capping my skills etc... but even I know that RDM adds nothing to the current endgame, and I'm only gimping my group by using it when I could use something that is better in the current content) Whether someone plays as the job has little relevance on their opinion of the job, in fact it could be argued as being more relevant as it means they find it no longer fun, or worthwhile to play as so something could potentially be wrong.

RDM was never the greatest job to begin with, the only thing it had over other jobs was the ability to extend it's MP pool via Refresh and Convert, that and Enfeebles actually worked on quite a few things.

Now these things are gone, RDM has shown it's age, and the fact it actually isn't all that.

Basically my point being: Just because someone has stopped playing as a job, they leveled and played as it enough to give their opinion on where they think it needs improvement. (This doesn't include when they insult other posters, this or people that only leveled it to SJ or lower)

[Neisan_Quetz]

I see no reason why my attraction for slashing stuff has to be related to a trait that enhances magical prowess, but apparently that's just me? The only exception I can think of is enspells, but they are hate free damage, and even if sch did benefit, at the very least they don't have as much issues as they used to with resistance.

SE's made it pretty clear how much they either 1. hate elemental weaponskills (older ones have either crap mods and/or have incredibly poor scaling, if they even have mods at all, and some aren't even affected by MAB...); 2. They're just going to make it exclusive, and this has gone as far back as Red Lotus Blade, so they have a record of doing this.

Until either of these scenario changes I'd rather stick to a sure deal, than one I'm confident SE is going to muck up somehow.

[ManaKing]

Until either of these scenario changes I'd rather stick to a sure deal, than one I'm confident SE is going to muck up somehow.

I can respect that.

I still want mage-related buffs for RDM that just so happen to affect the rest of the job in a positive manner. The only reason I keep bringing this up is I don't want a couple more sloppy buffs to RDM, that generally offend most of us, and then SE call it a day. I think we all know how long it takes SE to get around to buffing specific jobs in FFXI. I don't want to get left out and then have to wait another year+ for another chance at it.

[saevel]

I can respect that.

I still want mage-related buffs for RDM that just so happen to affect the rest of the job in a positive manner. The only reason I keep bringing this up is I don't want a couple more sloppy buffs to RDM, that generally offend most of us, and then SE call it a day. I think we all know how long it takes SE to get around to buffing specific jobs in FFXI. I don't want to get left out and then have to wait another year+ for another chance at it.

I never got that about the anti-melee-RDM crowd. None of us are diminishing the mage side, to the contrary many of the pro-melee-RDM's play the mage side just as much. What we're speaking out against is a side of our job that has mostly been neglected and sloppily implemented. No reason not to have a +MAB like spell that doesn't stack with Temper, or go one step further and add +FC or +Cure Pot spells that all overwrite each other. This way any RDM could turn themselves into "demi-gods" to support their party, which is the correct translation of that manifesto.

[Neisan_Quetz]

I only have 2 concerns at the moment really, Enfeebling magic on difficult mobs (either being heavily resisted immune/having little to no effect) and Cure IV falling behind at higher level (personally, I think they should just remove the soft cap for III/IV). I can work around almost anything else.

Will Rage if SE's 'solution' is Paralyze III still not landing on mobs.

[Neisan_Quetz]

I don't see why it matters if someone says they don't use Rdm anymore because of the state of it. I certainly couldn't fault them. Aside from voidwatch procs, messing around with old content and Relic+2 trials I can't fault anyone for not using Rdm. I still do because I like the job too much, but once again, only because I'm doing the above + magian trials, since I have no interest in leveling Blm. If I did I probably wouldn't use Rdm much/at all either.

[ManaKing]

It's funny NQ, because you're one of the few people I legitimately respect on these forums. It's pretty obvious to me that you still play RDM because you still have an air of realism about the job. The reason I don't listen to most of the people on these forums that will straight disagree with me is they have lost that and moved on to something else, usually elitist banter.

[Psxpert2011]

Dear Devs,

I'll chat to you on the XIV forums, tata! Keep up the good work, never mind ffXI =P

Your truely,
PSX