Inquiry to the Devs

[Duelle]

Granted, that was the rdm complaint before is you didn't want to just be healers, but you had already taken the job of healer from whm in end-game at 75 on merits and most everything else. Perhaps if all the rdm out there refused invites when expected to be the healer, but that didn't happen. Seems to me the devs have simply been following the direction that play-style had taken rdm in.

The answer there has always been "buff WHM and make it the better healer, as it is supposed to be", not "leave things as they are". In our case, we want to see content as much as the next guy. We get dragged along as healers because no one will accept us as anything else. Simply saying no won't change anything because for every one of us that want to do something other than heal you have 10 bandwagon jumpers who love the fast invites.

[Tassidaru]

I feel i should clarify something. My post and, by extension, this thread, is not about asking SE to 'fix' this or 'buff' that. While there are some things I would love to see changed, I do not have a right to demand those changes, nor do I know what SE plans, and cannot say with 100% certainty that any changes i want will keep the current balance, assuming this is the balance SE wants. My post is only some things ive wondered that i cant come up with a good explanation about short of RDM becoming the new black sheep of the XI family, something like how Dragoon was when call wyvern was it's 2 hour. I mean i can make conjecture that SE plans to raise our shield skill back to a C (like it used to be, pre refresh) and maybe give us flash back, but thats just conjecture, on the other hand i could theorize that se simply troll faced us with the same overall accuracy. what i do know is that generally when a job gets nerfed se OPd the job, or made a trait or ability op, resulting in nerf hammer being swung at their head. RDM has either been caught in the nerf hammer or been caught in the backswing repeatedly, but i dont remember a recent time of OPness.

[Tamarsamar]

on the other hand i could theorize that se simply troll faced us with the same overall accuracy.

Making a Job Trait called "Fencer" and then giving it to Bards instead of Red Mages was troll-facing us.

The Black Magic Enfeeble nerf (and soon-to-be-implemented Curing nerf), utterly decimating our ability to generate hate even if our lives depended on it, was troll-facing us (or for that matter, anybody who wasn't a Paladin).

S-E, Y U NO STOP TROLLING RDMS?

[Carth]

As long as my party are a bunch of nice guys and talkative, I enjoy the backline aspects as well, mainly because I still have a lot to do. (Curebotting during the ToAU-era was just boring though). Like Seriha said some time ago, I'd be fine with how RDM is if they took that A+ Enfeebling and ran with it, but as it stands we're stuck in limbo, and it seems this'll continue due to the Voidwalker update.

Truthfully I just want an update that's worthwhile.

[Glamdring]

I know the boycott wouldn't have worked, that's why it wasn't a serious complaint. To honestly expect every rdm on an entire server to refuse every end-game invite that involved main healing would be ludicrous, especially considerring how hard it can be to find a party invite. Lucicrous or not however, the consequence is that if SE follows the use path in development that is the direction the rdm job will go. However, some of the changes (enmity for cures, etc.) was not intended as a rdm nerf but a boost to other jobs. Unfortunately, with you using the same ability-Cure-as whm, sch and the like you get hit with their benefit, which is unfortunately not a benefit to the style you would like to play. Think of the poor paladins, Curing was one of their best hate control methods, and hate control is the heart of tanking; now they are relegated to Flash, shield bash, cover and whatever they can manage from their subjob.

No tweak is ever perfect. Your Enspells need a big boost in effectiveness if they decide you need to be able to melee to take hate. Otherwise, make it more realistic for you to be able to self-SC>MB. Not likely IMO that it will happen, SE doesn't want that many jobs able to self SC.

[Supersun]

Not likely IMO that it will happen, SE doesn't want that many jobs able to self SC.

>.> almost every job can self SC now days.

[Tassidaru]

Think of the poor paladins, Curing was one of their best hate control methods, and hate control is the heart of tanking; now they are relegated to Flash, shield bash, cover and whatever they can manage from their subjob.

Actually Paladins are unaffected by the cure hate change this next update, The job trait is WHM/SCH/RDM only

[Glamdring]

Actually Paladins are unaffected by the cure hate change this next update, The job trait is WHM/SCH/RDM only

missed that, sweet! They noticed pld didn't need another back-handed nerfing...

[Seriha]

In MMO speak, "Jack of All Trades" means "Suck at them All" depending on who you ask, which is basically every balancemonger that's argued against RDM buffs from the beginning. We're pretty much at the point in relative comparison. WHMs are the superior healers, duh. BLMs are the superior nukers, as they should. BRDs, CORs, and to some degree SMNs are better buffers, as I say Haste and Refresh do not a buff job make. We all know pretty much the majority of other jobs are better at physically DDing. I still call the enfeebler role a farce given merit restrictions and the sheer number of debuffs BLU gets, often AoE and damaging, over RDM's single-targets. We all know the MMO mentality is not to settle for second or third best if you can help it, either, which automatically puts RDM in a bit of a bind since making them top-tier in all aspects would definitely be bad.

So all you can really do is hope to make RDM unique, which is why I've been trying to pioneer ideas where integrating melee helps our other aspects to be better than just purely backlining. That style has its own perks in higher safety and needing fewer pieces of equipment. Those who risk themselves in the front deserve a more beneficial experience on the job, and even if we never individually match a heavy DD, what we should offer should at least multiply the performances of others, be it offensively or defensively.