Quote Originally Posted by Demon6324236 View Post
That would work. But I admit after looking at the gear you really can not get 11STR 22Attack in a TP build with Ephemeron that you lose from the Shikargar, not that it is so terrible that you shouldn't use Ephemeron, but is it a point they made & is valid. For Impact to give us enough TP for what you suggest we would need at least 12.5~15% of the MP back in TP, which means T5~6 of OA. The chances of us getting T5~6 of it would be highly unlikely so I doubt even were we to get that trait we would be able to do this even.
There isn't a gear set that makes Eph better then STR Shikagar, I've looked for one.

As for Req being non-elemental, even with this being the case you have to also understand the WS is situational. CDC is good in a number of places, where as with Athos on RDM Req would likely only win in cases where mobs are resistant to Slashing or have PDT. Also on anything with high defense, Req falls apart, where as CDC stays strong.
He's using hyperbole, it doesn't need "extremely high defense" it only needs to be higher level then you for Req to fall on it's face. If RDM had access to berserk and DW at the same time then it might be a bit more feasible but as it stands that 20% easily push's you under 1.0 cRatio on most anything above your level. We're 99 not 75, "above your level" includes level 100 or higher monsters. CDC pretty much crush's it on most everything that isn't fodder, especially once you take into account ODD procs. Req is for fighting things with PDT, slimes, skeles, elementals and the like. In those situations it's amazing.

What I dont get is you seem to be defending SE's choice to give us nearly pure mage gear and leave us off of good Light DD gear, which makes little sense with how much time you say you spend on RDM. I would think you would agree with me that we need more gear on all sides of melee, rather than seemingly oppose me.
He's cheerleading that's all. RDM has kicked in the crotch in the gear department, mage wise we're set but melee is just a disaster. You can do work with it and sprinkle large amounts of pixie dust, but it won't hold a candle to what other light DD jobs can build. It gets worse once you introduce external support to the picture.