RDM 6.0 Idea

[Leidiriv]

So, since SE seems to be pretty firm on the idea that our "defensive" utility in the form of Verraise is the reason for our relatively low rDPS, I got to thinking, what if RDM could get some more proactive utility that could stop people from going down in the first place, while still potentially feeding back into our rotation (while nerfing Verraise somehow ofc)? With that in mind, I looked to two skills in WHM and BLM's respective kits that seemed to be good candidates for the task: Assize and Manaward. Hopefully the concepts speak for themselves, because I'm not exactly the best at explaining stuff outside of discussion.

Leniency: Deals unaspected damage to all nearby enemies with a potency of 250
Additional effect: Restores HP to nearby party members
Cure Potency: 350
Balance Gauge Cost: 10 Black Mana
Grants 5 White Mana
Recast time: 90s
Charges: 2
Radius: 15y

Phalanx: Grants a magicked barrier to target party member equal to 30% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 15s
Additional effect: Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 250 to all enemies near the target when the barrier breaks due to damage.
Balance Gauge Cost: 10 White Mana
Grants 5 Black Mana
Recast time: 90s
Charges: 2
Range: 25y
Radius: 5y

[Gaethan_Tessula]

While I want to see more traditional White Magic or fusion Black/White RDM supportive abilities, I think they need to be oGCD cooldowns with no mana cost or gain. Nothing that causes DPS loss via eating GCD's (Vercure/Verraise) or will throw off mana accumulation if you actually need to use it to save the party. Because if that happens, people will complain and want it gone. Possibly for good reason, if that lowered DPS makes keeping people alive futile because the RDM's DPS plummeted doing so and you hit enrage (this, presently, is the problem with Verraise in Savage).

Preferably, such abilities would work in one of the following three ways:

1. Have nothing to do with DPS, and are thus only used if needed (ex. an improved version of Erase with a real potency and decent cooldown)
2. Can be slightly delayed in use without serious DPS loss, and if you don't need it to heal, no big loss either (ex. Ver-assize)
3. Damaging aspect depends on actually being used for defense (ex. Reflect/Wall type ability)

[Drayos]

Tbh our rdps is too low, in SB we were 1600 dps closer to BLM compared to now so I’m hoping changes will happen in one of the two future patch’s.

I don’t feel we need more defensive utility I’d like to see verraise gone onto a 30 second cast time with 2charges, or to be excluded from dual cast

The problem with non dps utility factors is the game’s design doesn’t need it, healers generally do not need support healing.

So I’d honestly prefer verraise got nerfed and our personal dps went up. And imho SE need to reliese balancing us on this is making the job undesired in farm runs.

A job concept shouldn’t be a week of want and then benched for the next 2 and a half months following that.

[Leidiriv]

While I want to see more traditional White Magic or fusion Black/White RDM supportive abilities, I think they need to be oGCD cooldowns with no mana cost or gain. Nothing that causes DPS loss via eating GCD's (Vercure/Verraise) or will throw off mana accumulation if you actually need to use it to save the party. Because if that happens, people will complain and want it gone. Possibly for good reason, if that lowered DPS makes keeping people alive futile because the RDM's DPS plummeted doing so and you hit enrage (this, presently, is the problem with Verraise in Savage).

Preferably, such abilities would work in one of the following three ways:

1. Have nothing to do with DPS, and are thus only used if needed (ex. an improved version of Erase with a real potency and decent cooldown)
2. Can be slightly delayed in use without serious DPS loss, and if you don't need it to heal, no big loss either (ex. Ver-assize)
3. Damaging aspect depends on actually being used for defense (ex. Reflect/Wall type ability)

I addressed all 3 points in that pair of skills. Both Leniency and Phalanx are oGCD, their damage potency was carefully selected to be slightly below the potency-per-mana of the melee combo (8 potency per mana instead of the 9.16 of the combo), and the primary purpose of their Balance Gauge interaction is for realignment without having to blow excess procs or anything like that. Additionally, Phalanx fulfills your third point to the letter.

[Leidiriv]

Tbh our rdps is too low, in SB we were 1600 dps closer to BLM compared to now so I’m hoping changes will happen in one of the two future patch’s.

I don’t feel we need more defensive utility I’d like to see verraise gone onto a 30 second cast time with 2charges, or to be excluded from dual cast

The problem with non dps utility factors is the game’s design doesn’t need it, healers generally do not need support healing.

So I’d honestly prefer verraise got nerfed and our personal dps went up. And imho SE need to reliese balancing us on this is making the job undesired in farm runs.

A job concept shouldn’t be a week of want and then benched for the next 2 and a half months following that.

This pair of actions are, as noted in the OP, being made under the assumption that Verraise gets nerfed to the ground. Additionally, both skills are completely oGCD and though they come at an extremely slight potency-per-mana hit compared to the melee combo, the potential for realigning mana while providing mitigation or a quick AoE heal that can be worked into the fight's schedule can't be overestimated.

[Drayos]

This pair of actions are, as noted in the OP, being made under the assumption that Verraise gets nerfed to the ground. Additionally, both skills are completely oGCD and though they come at an extremely slight potency-per-mana hit compared to the melee combo, the potential for realigning mana while providing mitigation or a quick AoE heal that can be worked into the fight's schedule can't be overestimated.

my major fear is.

This game doesnt actually demand Defensive Support, as Tanks and healers are given all the tools to deal with everything by standard, This may lead to even without verraise being Over-nerfed Potency wise to make us this "supportive" job, which will do nothing but bench us every expansion.

[Mansion]

I'm not sure about healing as an added effect, see Phoenix on SMN. It's kinda okay, but no one can rely on it as it's a bonus top up.

We all agree that the elephant in the room is VerRaise. It needs either a nerf or to be gone entirely so that RDM can be reconsidered as either a "support oriented" job or a higher DPS job, as it seems to be the thing holding it back currently.

For me this brings new elements in the calculation;
- More support tools, this would keep RDM as a lower-side pDPS job, and it would allow it to keep its easy straightforward rotation.
- More personal DPS, then I can guarantee it could turn up unfair to the other caster jobs. RDM is the most mobile and the easiest caster (rotation and optimization). Seeing it out-DPS SMN which has a harder rotation or BLM which has to master a lot more elements in a fight to perform optimally would not sound right in my opinion. This option should bring a rotation rework so that higher DPS is harder to get.

Personally I'd like to see more proc-management tools (as the return of 4.X Impact) and new CDs around this idea. Perhaps a third aspected spell in the Mana build up (Archwizard's legendary VerBlizzard and VerWater for instance), that would unlock after specific conditions. The idea of that is to put a bit more thoughts in the casting mana build-up.
The combo is fine as it is now; VerFlare/Holy-Scorch are quite welcome for weaving and mobility too, so I would not mind to keep it that way.
The idea of overcapping is a bit complicated because it needs potency consideration in trading DPS for that effect. Having an oGCD that uses Mana but buffs the party could be an option.

[Drayos]

I'm not sure about healing as an added effect, see Phoenix on SMN. It's kinda okay, but no one can rely on it as it's a bonus top up.

We all agree that the elephant in the room is VerRaise. It needs either a nerf or to be gone entirely so that RDM can be reconsidered as either a "support oriented" job or a higher DPS job, as it seems to be the thing holding it back currently.

For me this brings new elements in the calculation;
- More support tools, this would keep RDM as a lower-side pDPS job, and it would allow it to keep its easy straightforward rotation.
- More personal DPS, then I can guarantee it could turn up unfair to the other caster jobs. RDM is the most mobile and the easiest caster (rotation and optimization). Seeing it out-DPS SMN which has a harder rotation or BLM which has to master a lot more elements in a fight to perform optimally would not sound right in my opinion. This option should bring a rotation rework so that higher DPS is harder to get.

Personally I'd like to see more proc-management tools (as the return of 4.X Impact) and new CDs around this idea. Perhaps a third aspected spell in the Mana build up (Archwizard's legendary VerBlizzard and VerWater for instance), that would unlock after specific conditions. The idea of that is to put a bit more thoughts in the casting mana build-up.
The combo is fine as it is now; VerFlare/Holy-Scorch are quite welcome for weaving and mobility too, so I would not mind to keep it that way.
The idea of overcapping is a bit complicated because it needs potency consideration in trading DPS for that effect. Having an oGCD that uses Mana but buffs the party could be an option.

Problem isnt verraise, Problem is how Massive its Considered, its a Utility which realistically only is ever maximised during a Progression run, and while this Made RDM Feel almost mandatory during Progression In SB due to this, Nerfing RDMs damage didnt change this, it just merely make the Job Less Worthwhile Once progression had ended, if they intention was to reduce how much RDM is needed in progression, the nerfs should have been made to verraise and not the job itself.

[Seraphor]

Repeating from another topic:

Change Dualcast to 'reduces cast time by 5s'
This will make all spells instant, except Verraise with its 10s recast, reduced to 5s, forcing the use of Swiftcast.
It's then still technically superior to SMN's 8s default cast time, but not so useful that it can be spammed at will.

This should allow them to reduce it's "raise tax" and increase DPS.

[Leidiriv]

my major fear is.

This game doesnt actually demand Defensive Support, as Tanks and healers are given all the tools to deal with everything by standard, This may lead to even without verraise being Over-nerfed Potency wise to make us this "supportive" job, which will do nothing but bench us every expansion.

They may not "need" the support, but if the RDM player can potentially save a healer GCD with a well-timed Leniency while setting things up so they can immediately melee and guarantee a Verfire proc, that's gotta be worth something. The skills can be worked into a healing/mitigation schedule for a fight at little to no cost to the RDM and they can freely nuke Verraise while bringing the rest of RDM's kit slightly up to bridge the gap a bit.