FFXI Job Direction?? Dev Team, Please Respond.

[Eeek]

Meanwhile, your head's still up your butt if you think Empyreans or even WoE WS are standard.

For some DD jobs, yes, they absolutely are standard. The weapsonskills are just that good. I can understand folks who don't want to pursue a full Empyrean, but the WoE Empyreans are a reasonable and powerful option that are simple to complete on any schedule with or without assistance from friends. Every DD who takes their DD jobs even somewhat-seriously, and does not own a Relic/Empyrean, should have a WoE Empyrean or be working on one provided the weapon grants them a top-tier WS. Some of the weaponskills are not worth the effort.

So, by admitting you didn't level the job the old way, you've pretty much confessed no first-hand experience on the actual issues myself and others have brought up over the years. Hint: This isn't a problem that just materializes at 90.

Do we really need to drag out the 'players have to level their jobs in 4k/hour crab parties to be a good player' argument? Smart, dedicated players will play well, and poor players will be poor. Always.

And I like how I have no first-hand experience with RDM's issues despite being around the job for years, studying the job, gearing the job, and playing it extensively in the field. Anyways, most good players are well aware of the capabilities of jobs they do not have leveled. It's a part learning the game.

I've never meleed on my RDM in a group setting because I'm fully conscious of RDM's abilities and what contributions are needed from me for the group to be successful (it's as simple as looking at the party/ally list). Playing RDM feels like playing a God on the battlefield, and that's without /SCH (I don't enjoy leveling, but it's at 30 now and I will force it to 49 somehow ; ; ). RDM isn't primarily a one-trick pony like WHM or BLM - RDM can do damn near everything I'd want to do as a mage in the field. I absolutely love RDM's ability to switch on-the-fly between defensive/supportive play and offensive play, and I can make all sorts of subtle adjustments to play that vary from mob to mob and from area to area.

If I wanted to melee, I would have leveled an actual melee. While I did build a RDM melee set before taking a break (<3 summertime), I only intend to use it for fun in solo play. I don't care to put in the necessary effort to make RDM an effective melee in group play. If I ever make an Empyrean, it'll be a Twashtar without question.

I mean, I guess we could look forward to the job map, but that's not really any different than the years we sat around before that hoping for fixes and changes.

RDM's been an incredibly powerful job for years, so I can understand SE's hesitation in tweaking it too much. Something does need to happen in the next 6 months or so, though. It's easy to assume that the Devs will somehow boost RDM's enfeebling capabilities, but as happened with Break, they seem hesitant. I do think Cure5 will happen by 99.

I'm not sure what else the Devs would be willing to do. They could adjust RDM-casted enfeebles to be inherently more accurate on mobs/NMs that are highly resistant or outright immune to certain enfeebles, but that could break solo RDM. I'm afraid we'll mainly see additional tiers of spells as happened with Refresh 2. I wouldn't be surprised to see spells like Para3/Slow3/Phalanx3 show up in the next-tier merit system after level 99.

without running away for support or poisoning it with your sour attitude, maybe you might actually teach me something.

I'm fully aware that you don't care about my opinions simply because they're different than yours. That's understandable and incredibly common as has been demonstrated through psychological research. I write more for others than for you. I don't know why RDMs across all FFXI RDM Forums are so strangely obsessed with RDM melee while most RDMs I've encountered and spoken with in-game over the years don't care much about it. I write for myself and those who don't want the job so fundamentally adjusted as to cripple it.

I write because these official forums are probably the among biggest threats to FFXI in its history.