Shadowbringers RDM Wishlist

[Lauront]

At least... Unless Tanks get a universal interrupt skill that bypasses DR much the same way that Silence does so that this issue with Stuns no longer matters >.>

Seems like an easier solution to me, to just set the tank stun and silence to bypass the DR, put them on a reasonable CD, and have all other CC - Silence included - go on DR.

[Archwizard]

So, quick question then:

Should we just friggin' redo how Diminishing Returns (or, Status Effect Resistance Accumulation) works?

It honestly surprises me that Diminishing Returns affect enemies. It makes sense with players so we don't just lock each other out of being able to play, but against enemies it just exacerbates the uselessness of CC.

Also, [yeeting to your death] could be fixed by simply having the skill path-check and leap to path-end, up to a given maximum, rather than a fixed distance.

That would really only help on arenas like Alphascape v4 or Suzaku, when the arena is shaped to drop you.

It wouldn't help on fights like Alphascape v3, when the edge of the arena is designed to be an accessible space... that occasionally just kills you.

However I hope they give us a move to regain our mp back besides lucid dreaming

The thing is, if you want to keep this, you need a balance.
I agree with you, I don't think chain-raising is broken support because it's auto-balanced by mana cost and mana recovery.

Which does put us in something of an awkward position since that means we have to find a certain sweet spot with MP recovery -- enough to sustain or kickstart our rotation without Lucid Dreaming, without just having unlimited Verraises.
Not that it's impossible, or even improbable -- a small but constant or slow, on-demand method of recovery would still emphasize the penalty of Verraising too often without leaving us bereft of any casting ability. The big concern is really "how to fit it in our rotation."

(Also, potential noob question here: when you say "pDPS", what's the first "p" for?)

[Lauront]

I don't really mind that enemies are subject to it. Otherwise they may as well be target dummies. I think isolating DR-bypassing stuns/interrupts to the tanks should suffice.

As for the "p", it's personal dps.

[Kabooa]

Speaking personally, I want to keep the ability to yeet myself off the edge.

There is no greater moment of levity to help break up the monotony of the game than making such a mistake, and having your friends heckle you mercilessly for it.

[Shurrikhan]

It honestly surprises me that Diminishing Returns affect enemies. It makes sense with players so we don't just lock each other out of being able to play, but against enemies it just exacerbates the uselessness of CC.

I don't mind that we can't just stun-chain any given enemy for the sum of all possible CC, but I do mind how it works at present. Personally, I'd like to see three changes:

1. Future applications of status effects upon you are reduced by the lesser of half the time you spent affected and 50% of their base duration, accumulating (multiplicatively in the latter case, as per now, while still rounding the result up in duration).

   Thus, if you're stunned for 6 seconds and (lesser of 3 seconds' or 50% resistance) then what would have been 2 seconds (now 4 seconds or 75% resistance), or stunned for 2 seconds (lesser of 1 seconds' resistance or 50% resistance) and 6 seconds, the result is the same. In either case the stun lasts 7 seconds (2+5 or 6+1). Thus, order no longer matters. Moreover, players will not then be doubly penalized (in wasted duration and DR efficiency) by overlapping durations; the overlapping stun duration is wasted, but the DR is that much less applied.

2. Bosses and elite enemies may be immune to all stuns below a given effective duration and enemies can then be conditionally more easily stunned (such as when casting).

   For instance, Ifrit may require 3 seconds of duration to be stunned at all. Thus, no damage dealers' damage+stun skills (each at 2 seconds or fewer) would be able to affect Ifrit at all, but a tank could stun twice.
   
   Or, Ifrit may require at least, say, 4 seconds of stun normally but only 3 seconds when casting Plumes and 2 seconds when casting Eruption. Thus, tanks can use 'mitigation stuns' to prevent even AAs when there's no DR, but the DR thereafter is saved for when there's something actually worth stunning, with Eruption being further saved against compared to the less important Plumes.

3. Resistance should fall off in stages.

   Consider the current resistance steps from, say, Low Blow -> 5/3/2/1/mini-stun. Resistance counters/durations will fall off per application, separately, but each resistance counter likewise falls off more quickly than the last. The first counter will fall off in 20 seconds, the next in 15, then 10, then 5.
   
   Thus, if one were to stun an enemy into complete immunity (past even the no-duration mini-stun to interrupt a spell), it would take 5 seconds to again be able to mini-stun the enemy, undoing that latest application. It would then take 10 further seconds (15 total) to undo the next application, and then 15 (35 total), and a final 20 further seconds (55 total) to restore remove all applications. We return to full power in the same minute's time, roughly, but we can make use of the utility again much sooner.
   
   Compound this with the above resistances and it would take only 15 seconds before a tank could, say, stun Ifrit again for 3 seconds consistently, and a mere 35 seconds would again allow a "mitigation stun" of 5 seconds before the "emergency/event" stun.

That would really only help on arenas like Alphascape v4 or Suzaku, when the arena is shaped to drop you.

At least that would put it at the same level as any target-/area-selected or more reasonably distanced-based movement tool without having to sacrifice Displacement's kiting potential for overworld SnG. I don't mean it as a final, exhaustive solution, but it'd be a good boon for it and Elusive Jump.
(Heck, Elusive Jump has gone through quite a few physics reworks that have always felt somehow for the worst. All Jumps and Dives were once far better sources of knockback immunity and Elusive Jump was a favorite of every Mists resident for rooftop parties, so it's not like these things are completely unalterable.)

(Also, potential noob question here: when you say "pDPS", what's the first "p" for?)

To confuse people, apparently, since p could stand for "party" as easily as "personal"...
The p is for "personal", though, and pDPS is then compared to rDPS -- "raid" DPS, whereby your raid buffs or target debuffs increase the damage of your raid directly (Trick Attack, Battle Litany) or indirectly (saved healer GCDs via Divine Veil) -- and tDPS, which is pDPS plus rDPS granted minus rDPS received (i.e. your true contribution).

Speaking personally, I want to keep the ability to yeet myself off the edge.

There is no greater moment of levity to help break up the monotony of the game than making such a mistake, and having your friends heckle you mercilessly for it.

This is also a fair point, though I would hope then at least that players would have control over its distance via mid-flight W (shorten distance) or S (lengthen) so that it's not simply nigh-barred from certain fights.

[Shurrikhan]

The thing is, if you want to keep this, you need a balance.
I agree with you, I don't think chain-raising is broken support because it's auto-balanced by mana cost and mana recovery. Yet, that's it, there's not much more to RDM's support as Embolden is not a golden buff.
But RDM's DPS is quite low (like other "support" oriented jobs, SMN being the exception), for instance having a Machinist (clunky as it is) is currently a better option than a RDM. You have a strong mitigation tool every minute, MP and TP recovery, a decent Vuln up on the target that everyone can benefit from, and a higher personal DPS.

So for me there's no reason to keep RDM as it is. Either keep a lower side pDPS but great raid support tools, or higher pDPS and lesser support.

Personally, I'd like to see Lucid Dreaming (and Diversion) mostly done away with, while range from target and positionals instead influence out %enmity generation. (Enmity skills, from range or melee, will always count as from front and point-blank. Casts always count as from flank.)

Further away? Less enmity. Striking from flank or -- better yet -- the rear? Less enmity. Boom, no longer need to hit a CD every 2 minutes with zero other impact on gameplay other than not eventually get stomped as the tank's opener margin eventually fades (though likely if and only if no NIN or circle-Shirking even then).

As for the MP itself, kind of the same: Increase in-combat %MP generation per 3 seconds from 2% to 5% and slightly adjust MP costs across the board to the point that cheap-casting is actually a net positive, rather than merely MP-neutral. At that point, you put nearly the MP generation provided by using LD on-cooldown into the base kit after slight unique MP generation methods (such as Aetherflow, time spent on meleeing (buffed) on RDM, etc.). The difference will slightly increase the relevance of MP efficiency, but apart from that nothing much changes. You just don't have to hit a button every 2 minutes.

As for finer points... Increase on-resurrection MP, perhaps to the cost of standard cost of any given resurrection spell itself (currently 3600, maybe 3000 or whatnot after changes), making it never a net MP gain, but also a greater QoL boon to dps. And, if necessary, have Manashift siphon 20% of the lesser of personal or target's maximum MP to grant the target the greater of 20% of personal or target's maximum MP. (Personally, I think this skill should be RDM-only anyways, as sort of an alternative to Verraise that produces more net MP across the party.)

And as for RDM's own unique MP maintenance method, attach the Impulse trait or the like:

Impulse: Every spell instantly cast causes your next Dual-cast Jolt (II) to cost no MP and generate 1% of each type of MP per occurrence.

So let's say you cast Jolt+Verthunder, Verfire+Veraero, Verstone+Verthunder, Jolt+Veraero, Jolt+Jolt. That last, dual-cast Jolt II would cost no MP, generate 4% MP, 4 Black Mana, and 4 White Mana. Melee skills and Verflare/Verholy, hastened by generating would likewise cost no MP, which would just further this sustainability. And, if you really needed to generate MP, you could dual-cast Jolt II frequently for its free casts. Add to this greater melee value, such that its mobility is more flexible and comes only at small net potency costs, and you've got a solid MP kit, though with Verraise a bit more obviously balanced.

[Kabooa]

Impulse: Every spell instantly cast causes your next Dual-cast Jolt (II) to cost no MP and generate 1% of each type of MP per occurrence. .

Why not Impact?

[Mansion]

The idea of dual casting jolt fills me with rage and horror.
I'd rather have something similar to Free Cure, a percentage of chance that using Jolt (or Impact) makes the next spell MP-free. Thus, better Mana gain, better potency gain.

[Kolsykol]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I'd like to see less skill bloat...
I don't think that there needs to be basically 58315159 buttons that do the same thing.
Like just have Jolt 2 turn into Impact instead of them being separate buttons for example.

Fleche and Contre Sixte could just be combined into one bigger hitting ability too.
Having too many buttons to press unnecessarily for the sake of having more buttons just ends up feeling awkward imo.

[Mansion]

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I'd like to see less skill bloat...
I don't think that there needs to be basically 58315159 buttons that do the same thing.
Like just have Jolt 2 turn into Impact instead of them being separate buttons for example.

Fleche and Contre Sixte could just be combined into one bigger hitting ability too.
Having too many buttons to press unnecessarily for the sake of having more buttons just ends up feeling awkward imo.

I'm with you, but RDM is one of the jobs with the less buttons actually. We all kind of agreed Impact should proc on Jolt II, and perhaps after Enchanted Redoublement, VerHoly and VerFlare could proc on VerAero and VerThunder. But that's just quality of life. The problem is trimming too much might end up in the job feeling to brainless to play (which is already almost the case with casual Red Mage)
I like having Flèche and Contre de Sixte as separate abilities though, they flow in the rotation quite nicely.