Pipe Dreams: Red Mage the melee DPS

[Nyghtmarerobu]

These are all my own opinions, so take what I say with a grain of salt, as I read over everything that was posted and giving you constructive feedback. I will say I like your post, and I like your ideas very much.

- The concept behind this RDM is a magic swordsman, but the key element of the job in this suggestion is utility.

I think what your suggesting has -too much- utility

- This being said, I know this has a low chance of implementation because the gameplay is a lot more simple than NIN or DRG or MNK. I do like simple gameplay, though I get the developers don't agree with me on that.

Dragoon is pretty simple in terms of how its played, don't let the illusion that other jobs are more complex change how you feel Red Mage could be.

- To those curious, this job should be doing NIN-level DPS.

I think thats to much power for the utility it could possibly have. I'd say more akin to a bard, since they'd be more of a support role, rather than a pure dps.

Cross-classes: CNJ (Stoneskin, Cure, Raise, Protect), THM (Swiftcast, Surecast, Blizzard II, Sleep)

While I can see why you would want CNJ and THM to be its crossclass skills, I'd say unless they get some kind of weird potency change because they are RDM, CNJ just isn't good for them. Protect and Stoneskin would be great, but Raise would be worthless without a trait to battle raise. ACN over CNJ might be a better choice, as you'd be able to make use of Virus, eye for an eye, ruin (which could potetially, be useful with your double and triple), as well as Ressurection, and physick. This would only add to the classes utility overall. This contradicts what I said about to much utility, but if the dps were lowered overall, this would be awesome to have.

[Duelle]

First I wanted to say I thank you for taking the time to comment on this idea.

I think what your suggesting has -too much- utility

I agree that this has a lot of utility. I guess it's the result of trying to match the 18-ability mold while keeping abilities that are the same thing with different colors to a minimum. Realistically speaking, a DPS with utility doesn't need a ton of abilities to function, but since every job has to have 18 abilities on top of now 10 job abilities...

This said, most boss mobs are immune to Slow, Weight, Bind and Blind, and I would make them immune to Paralyze. Granted, this would still make RDM really strong in PvP before even introducing the PvP abilities and be a boon in dungeon runs (RDM paralyzing something like the Wamouras in Neverreap). It'd also be the only job that has a stun on a 45 second cooldown (more than double the CD of most jobs with stuns and requiring a stance change to do so). In the end, the main utility I was aiming for was Froissement, Phalanx, and Enfeeble as the reasons to have a RDM around. Off-heals as a nice bonus but at the same level of usability as Clemency (or probably more useful between Fast Cast and the fact its easier to use when you're not getting hit in the face by the mob).

For now I've done a revision that removes Paralyze and Weight, turning Burn/Frost/Shock into burst damage/Slow debuff/DoT respectively. To try to create a relationship similar to WAR and NIN, Requiescat now has a piercing debuff and Iron Thorn increases damage the mob takes from the RDM's magic attacks (enspell effects, Burn, Shock, Magic Burst and Spellblade), so no more Foe Requiem knock-off either.

I think thats to much power for the utility it could possibly have. I'd say more akin to a bard, since they'd be more of a support role, rather than a pure dps.

That invites too many problems to count, so I'd be more willing to remove the utility over nerfing the DPS.

While I can see why you would want CNJ and THM to be its crossclass skills, I'd say unless they get some kind of weird potency change because they are RDM, CNJ just isn't good for them. Protect and Stoneskin would be great, but Raise would be worthless without a trait to battle raise.

This is why I added the battlemage traits, though I guess those need to be made stronger. The idea is that since RDM scales with DEX (which directly influences attack power), you have a stat conversion trait that boosts magic attack and healing potency without having to gear for INT or MND (since that would dilute the stats on gear). This way spells become more powerful on RDM without matching the strength of spells cast by their parent classes.

I've never been keen on handing out battle raises, so RDM not having access to one is intended. It's also for the sake of thematics, since the traditional RDM borrows from WHM and BLM, much like this RDM can borrow from their analogues, CNJ and THM. That and between Refresh and using Soul Thrust to recover MP, battle rezzes are not as big an opportunity cost for a RDM compared to a WHM, SCH, AST or SMN.