Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Worked fine for (pre-Guardian spec) Feral, and (SoL) Retribution, and (Tenacity) Beastmaster, and (absorb) Blood and (mini-kite) Frost. And I think the internet's made memes enough to tell how their 'streamlining' down from that went.
Ferals still had to gear for one or the other. A bear-focused druid was not going to match the damage of a cat-focused druid. Tenacity pets didn't last long enough to be worthwhile, specially since BM hunters as of the last time I raided were still brought for the exotic pet buffs over anything else. Blood before it was sacrificed to become the tank spec was actually the weaker of the damage specs for DKs (since everyone either went unholy or shadowfrost back when that existed) and didn't have anywhere near the survivability they have now.

Retribution is an entirely different story, since the bulk of what we had access to was native to the paladin class (hence the whole "plate bubble healz" argument that was used against paladins back in vanilla and TBC). We also weren't about enfeebling as much as dealing additional damage from attacks (holy damage or proxys to holy damage), very easy-to-maintain-buffs and utility that didn't intervene with our role as DPS.
Every enfeebler is in some way a tank or healer. Every kiter with the enemy's attention is doing mitigation. If anything, XIV ought to be trying to make use of where these "role" lines already blur, rather than panic-rooming themselves into rigid design models. Personally, I want RDM specifically because it can get us out of that room. And I don't think it'd going to be a real RDM unless it does that.
As long as it swings a sword and casts magic, it's a Red Mage. The easiest place to fit that archetype in is DPS. The templates for this already exist (see: Retribution Paladins, Enhance Shaman).