6.0 Red Mage speculation

[Duelle]

I don't know how many ways to tell you that the "representation" you keep bringing up is a misguided push to rework us into a core melee job with some ranged spells. Which very few people want.

By representation I mean the core of the job is still spamming spells. When I start seeing more sword use beyond the melee combo, I can re-evaluate how one stands compared to the other.

Also, while my issues with the job's design are no secret to anyone here, I'm not talking about a redesign.

As RDM stands, if you want more melee skills, we need more Mana generation first.

If you increase mana generation, you're part of the way to making the spender phase superfluous because the current design and pace of mana generation tries to pass off enchanted sword swings as a big deal. If the goal is to keep the current design, I'd prefer to leave that part of the job alone and instead favor melee oGCDs that are not dependent on the mana bars.

Otherwise Engagement is just gonna be something we may as well macro into our melee combo, or split an extra 50 potency among the E. Melee skills.

You could do what I do, which is stand in melee range and just use it on cooldown. I won't deny that splitting Engagement from Displacement would be a boon to me, as I wouldn't miss out on a gap opener when needed just because I like to stand in the front lines.

Whenever you use Corps-a-Corps, your starting position is recorded and you get a buff remembering it for 15-20 sec (possibly with a visual like a sigil on the floor or a shadow clone left behind, whathaveyou).
If you use Displacement during this window, instead of jumping 15y straight backwards, you instead jump to the exact spot you used Corps-a-Corps from. No more flipping out of the arena; if you used it in a safe spot or hold Displacement until your original spot is safe, you will be.

Okay, I understand that now. Getting rid of the meme of accidentally jumping off boss platforms would be an improvement, and it deals with an apparent flaw in Displacement (I'd still say needlessly having to jump around is stupid, but that's neither here nor there). I guess you could make Engagament its own ability (buff the damage or give it another effect) since at that point there'd be no reason for it to share a cooldown with anything.

Corps is 140 potency to a single target every 40 sec. This would increase it to 340 (or accounting for the CD difference, around 370) potency every 40 sec. -- all of which is damage we already inflict now, just split over two oGCDs.
...
Literally, what does it matter?

300+ potency on a gap closer leaves a bad taste in my mouth, even if it'd a DPS gain (assuming you make Corps 2 charges). It just makes the "that's a bit much for the utility it offers" alarms ring in my head.

So what you're saying is, no worse than what we have now, even if little better? No different than most of the vaunted melee jobs you wish RDM was part of...?

Corps and Displacement being oGCD fillers doesn't make them a good thing per se (for context, I had a problem with stuns and silences dealing damage during ARR and Heavensward because people were using those on cooldown instead of properly learning to stun and silence mobs, which is still biting us in the ass). Taking this back to an earlier point, assuming you add one or two oGCDs that involve sword use as better alternatives to Corps/Displacement, you basically push them out of the rotation outside of situations when everything is on cooldown (which, based on my own experiences, is not often) or when you actually need to open/close a gap. At that point you're playing into the priority system currently in place.

We already have one possible candidate in Engagement (assuming all you do is split its cooldown from Displacement and buff its damage). We'd just need another one, be it just plain damage, something that interacts with spells in some way, or something that interacts with procs (consuming Verfire/Verstone Ready to generate mana or upgrading the procs to more powerful spells that generate more mana or mana of both types). That said, two skills would be nice, but just one would make a notable difference.