How can SE make sure in melee Range RDM isnt squishy as a caster?

[Mhaeric]

A lot of ranged players think that being at ranged somehow means they take less damage, which is entirely untrue, as long as you dodge AoEs and don't stand in front of the boss and get swiped you take no more damage in melee range than standing far away, on top of that you make it easier for the healers to heal everyone at once when you're all grouped up.

This is my pet peeve as a healer. Nothing worse than the Black Mage who thinks that their best way to do DPS is by standing as far away as possible from the group. The worst case this happened to me was in Void Ark where I had 3 black mages in the party and for every single boss battle they would immediately spread out to stand as far away as they could from both each other and the rest of the group. I couldn't even find a spot where I could single target all 3 at once never mind also being in range of the tank or including them in aoe heals. Beyond frustrating. I get that keeping a distance makes it easier to avoid certain types of AoEs, but there's a point where it becomes extreme to the point of bringing down your group. Summoners, Machinists, and Bards don't seem to have this problem staying reasonably close for some reason. Thankfully with the nature of Red Mage melee/ranged hybrid combat I don't think they will either.

[Mhaeric]

I think the actual question should be: "How can SE make sure in melee range RDM isn't squishy as a Dragoon" given that there will likely be some sort of animation lock on their 'jump' abilities. Hopefully it won't be a very long one. I.e. that "high-speed positionals" refers to more than just the speed of movement.

[JunseiKei]

I think the actual question should be: "How can SE make sure in melee range RDM isn't squishy as a Dragoon" given that there will likely be some sort of animation lock on their 'jump' abilities. Hopefully it won't be a very long one. I.e. that "high-speed positionals" refers to more than just the speed of movement.

People will just need to learn when to and not do certain things. DRG, NIN, BRD all have moves that will get them killed if they aren't careful (Jump, Repelling Shot and Assassinate). It mostly just stems from lack of knowledge; very few people seem to understand that you can't jump out of AoEs. While you're in the air, the game just sees where you were; your new position doesn't update until you land. In the case of Jump, you're actually in two places at once: where you activated the skill and where your spear hits the ground to land the attack. That and people just don't want to memorize mechanics that will get you killed. I've seen more DRGs die to the first triple landslide Titan does in Extreme.......................

Now that I think about it, it wouldn't surprise me if a MNK's Elixir Field also has this issue.

[Mhaeric]

People will just need to learn when to and not do certain things. DRG, NIN, BRD all have moves that will get them killed if they aren't careful (Jump, Repelling Shot and Assassinate). It mostly just stems from lack of knowledge.

Well, yes, but also no to a degree. Dragoon jumps used to have a longer animation lock than they do even now, iirc. Hopefully the adjustment they made to fix that issue was remembered when they designed the RDM positionals. As long as the animation lock is reasonable, then yes, people will be expected to move out of aoe damage taking into account their abilities' quirks. I'm just pointing out that the quirks need to be at a manageable level.

[Kosmos992k]

To the OP's question, obviously the use of armor will figure in this.

actually... WHM already is a partially close range magick attacker, with holy, fluid aura and assize. how does a squishy mage work in meele range you ask? well, we have tanks in this game...

Give mages back their shields!

don't get hit.

Red Mage is also a dancer...confirmed.

[Dualblade]

As a few have said, the most obvious way is that SE gives you the skills to move in and out of melee range (as shown in the trailer) and its up to you to make sure you don't stand in the fire. Don't ever jump to the front of the boss for example. Squishyness should only matter in these cases for unavoidable damage, which if you aren't screwing up in other areas shouldn't be a big problem.

On people who think that going into melee is going to be a rare thing: The placement in the trailer makes it seem that jumping into melee and then back out is going to be a big part of getting the big spell off. I wouldn't expect it to be rarely used or that SE will suddenly change RDM to only ranged.

[Thayos]

Follow the song and dance like every other job does.

[SomeRandomHuman]

I'm fairly certain it won't be an issue since 75% of attacks are cleaves, and 15% full area AOE. Most likely they'll have a spell or 2 for protection. Like Blm manawall, even SMN have titan for protection.

If you're using titan in group content with a tank then you're losing so much dps.

Also titan doesn't agro rip off you if you switch to him mid fight. He needs time to get agro like every tank and he gives you no boost to defense what-so-ever. Even in the quests the tank pets are said to be "treated like a shield" but they can't shield you if they don't have agro.

[Chiramu]

No, make it a squishy caster and increase the difficulty of the game please. It will weed out the bads if RDM needs to be in melee range as light armour caster. Don't listen to OP and make something challenging.

[Callinon]

No, make it a squishy caster and increase the difficulty of the game please. It will weed out the bads if RDM needs to be in melee range as light armour caster. Don't listen to OP and make something challenging.

This entire thread has been trying to explain why it doesn't matter. You aren't supposed to be taking incidental damage in the first place. It doesn't matter what kind of armor you're wearing, if you're not a tank you're not going to survive too many hits from a boss (if any).