6.0 Red Mage speculation

[Raikai]

Please no! I abhor targetless backsteps. With Displacement I know exactly where I'll land based on my position relative to the boss, no matter what direction I'm facing. If I'm Displacing for the movement, I was probably already moving and therefore facing some direction other than directlyAtTheBoss before I pressed the Displacement button. If Displacement were targetless, I would have to stop, face target, Displace, then continue running. Removing the target requirement from Displacement increases the freedom at the cost of making it more difficult to use in the middle of a mechanic, and I don't think the difficulty of use is worth the unnecessary freedom.

I see your point... I guess is more of personal preference at that, I kind of learned how to gauge the distance based on my character's perspective and I always could see more opportunities to backflip while not at melee range.

[Rongway]

I see your point... I guess is more of personal preference at that, I kind of learned how to gauge the distance based on my character's perspective and I always could see more opportunities to backflip while not at melee range.

Out of curiosity, are you using legacy movement or standard movement?

As a legacy mover, very few things I do are ever based on my character's perspective. AutoFaceTarget handles all of my facings and I can move in eight directions at full speed regardless of facing or camera position, which makes dodging and attacking at the same time quite simple. However, it makes targetless actions much more difficult to aim; if I can't get the correct facing just by pressing the FaceTarget key, I can't guarantee I'm going to backflip (Elusive Jump) or dash (En Avant) in the direction I really mean to.

[Raikai]

Out of curiosity, are you using legacy movement or standard movement?

As a legacy mover, very few things I do are ever based on my character's perspective. AutoFaceTarget handles all of my facings and I can move in eight directions at full speed regardless of facing or camera position, which makes dodging and attacking at the same time quite simple. However, it makes targetless actions much more difficult to aim; if I can't get the correct facing just by pressing the FaceTarget key, I can't guarantee I'm going to backflip (Elusive Jump) or dash (En Avant) in the direction I really mean to.

Standard... I can't really do Legacy, no matter how I try. I usually go with my mouse to turn and move.

I suppose still having a target is not exactly what I wished for the ability, but still even if it remained, it would be a huge improvement to have it just as an on-demand backflip. The choice of adding to the end of the melee combo would still be there to get into a certain position faster, which would translate in less needing of movement.

[Rongway]

I suppose still having a target is not exactly what I wished for the ability, but still even if it remained, it would be a huge improvement to have it just as an on-demand backflip. The choice of adding to the end of the melee combo would still be there to get into a certain position faster, which would translate in less needing of movement.

Just to be clear, I do agree with you about decoupling Engagement and Displacement so that Displacement can be used as a purely tactical movement. I just would loathe for it to be a targetless anydirectionflip rather than a strict backflip.

[Gruntler]

When looking at changes to RDM, there's the question of what it could use, and what you're willing to lose to get it--this balance must be maintained. Sometimes this means getting rid of something that works now, in exchange for something that provides better impact later. So, how do we jolt some life into the job for EW, to embolden it without sacrificing what makes this job a scorcher now?

1- MP costs could be removed from the single target rotation, and Lucid deleted with it. Right now it only exists to create a management look around MP that feels superfluous. Removing the MP costs means that Lucid can be removed, without removing MP's role as a Verraise-limiter. AoE could be changed as well, but in dungeon pulls, Verraise MP management isn't a thing and doesn't need to be considered. In exchange, RDM has a glaring flaw in hard content--they're the most squishy job of them all, with no defensive cooldowns whatsoever that isn't Addle. This hole in their repertoire could be replaced with either making Manawall a role-ability, or by introducing a RDM-specific cooldown with a defensive element, maybe even a healing ogcd.

2- I like Displacement and I like how it rewards knowing the fight and when to use, and not use; however if there was a button that we could sacrifice to get something more fun I'd be for this one getting axed to make room. Not decoupled--axed. However, that's because in its place, you could use something else--I'm talking about Chaincast. Obviously the damage buff would be pared down, but the idea of having a cooldown you use before Verholy/Verflare, and then coming out of your burst window throwing Verthunders and Veraeroes with impunity sounds fun.

3- Another red magic spell, long cast. Call it Jolt III or call it Ardor or something else, that doesn't matter. The spell would require both Verstone and Verfire Ready, and it would eat both buffs for damage, and provide mana to compensate. If current potencies were in play, it'd be set so that it has 40 potency above Verthunder, and provide 9/9 mana--thus it'd not actually be a loss of damage from losing the procs. It'd be a spell you'd use during Chaincast to ensure procs have value, or used if you're stuck with both procs going into melee (preventing losing a proc to verholy/verflare), benefiting from any spell damage buff Chaincast provided, and used to clear procs with a swiftcast so you can maximize use of that as well.

The other two ability gains could be dedicated to the usual potency buffs/full spell upgrades and readjusting cooldown timers a bit.

[StriderShinryu]

When looking at changes to RDM, there's the question of what it could use, and what you're willing to lose to get it--this balance must be maintained. Sometimes this means getting rid of something that works now, in exchange for something that provides better impact later. So, how do we jolt some life into the job for EW, to embolden it without sacrificing what makes this job a scorcher now?

SNIP

I do like the idea of some sort of defensive ability, and given that we already have both stone and wind in our toolkit it wouldn't be too hard for them to come up with something appropriate thematically even if they did want to avoid just a general "magic" ability for some reason.

I also like the idea of a sort of chain spell or double cast ability as, again, it doesn't really surface level change what we do but does add complexity and depth. Given that, for the most part, RDM's don't have to worry about MP outside of rezzing they could tack a significant MP cost on doing this so that MP would actually become something we would have to actually consider at points. Maybe something similar to SAM where we can instant "recast" the last spell we just cast but at the cost of 5000 MP.

But, yeah, really like these ideas. I like how they add to the flavour we already have without really changing the basic play style at all. That really is my biggest hope for RDM in EW.

Edit: After some more thought on the subject of a defensive ability, I find myself again thinking of SAM and it's Third Eye ability. Instead of just a standard defensive cooldown it could be part active defense and part utility. It could have a short active window but if used in time to mitigate damage it would maybe do something like increase your lower mana colour by a small amount (or maybe restore MP if we did go with a new Big MP Spender ability as above). A sort of active defense and redirection of energy would also fit very well conceptually with our fencing and overall theming. Plus, since we're not really a very buttonsy class to begin with a more active ability like that wouldn't bloat things much.

[Raikai]

2- I like Displacement and I like how it rewards knowing the fight and when to use, and not use; however if there was a button that we could sacrifice to get something more fun I'd be for this one getting axed to make room. Not decoupled--axed. However, that's because in its place, you could use something else--I'm talking about Chaincast. Obviously the damage buff would be pared down, but the idea of having a cooldown you use before Verholy/Verflare, and then coming out of your burst window throwing Verthunders and Veraeroes with impunity sounds fun.
.

Why not just decouple and remove the damage component? If it becomes a situational skill, it would free a spell slot, because it wouldn't be required as part of the rotation. Chaincast would also need something looked at... I think it's fine as a lost action because it's very niche content, but several insta-casts through a long period of time, you wouldn't have enough OGCDs to put between the casts. I could see it added if they, for example, turned Enchanted Reprise into an oGCD under chaincast effect, so you would have enough to keep the 'flow' of the job.

[Gruntler]

Why not just decouple and remove the damage component? If it becomes a situational skill, it would free a spell slot, because it wouldn't be required as part of the rotation. Chaincast would also need something looked at... I think it's fine as a lost action because it's very niche content, but several insta-casts through a long period of time, you wouldn't have enough OGCDs to put between the casts. I could see it added if they, for example, turned Enchanted Reprise into an oGCD under chaincast effect, so you would have enough to keep the 'flow' of the job.

Button bloat. This is in the context of expecting that something needs to be taken out of the kit in order to make room for other, more interesting buttons. The kit doesn't really need more ogcds, necessarily, and having a manaspender turn instant might have the opposite of the intended effect of having chaincast be a rampup, that if coupled with something like Ardor, could even be used in a way that acceleration could still be used.

without really changing the basic play style at all

Really this is the goal. RDM is (and always has been) in a good place playfeel-wise, so I don't want to see stuff added to it for the sake of adding things. AoE is already great, stuff just melts. Adding a dot out of nowhere would disrupt the rhythm of the kit. RDM really just needs another Shadowbringers-treatment; a bit of quality of life tools to make the job play smoother, and something high impact that makes a big number appear to make the pleasure centers of the brain go brrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Shurrikhan]

RDM really just needs another Shadowbringers-treatment, a bit of quality of life tools to make the job play smoother

Tbf, RDM lucked out with just how little (and therefore non-invasive or mechanic-gutting) QoL it was given. The same period's "QoL improvements" on Monk and MCH gutted existing playstyles.

(No, I'm not including Leaden Fist or the MCH combos in that, but merely all the ways GL was sabotaged into a non-mechanic before being removed completely and what the simplification of removing ammo or Rapid Fire--only to replace it with an even more ping dependent version--cost those affected jobs.)

In XIV, at least, "QoL" applied to job mechanics sometimes has a serious threat of Monkey's Paw outcomes.

[Katie_Kitty]

I personally believe taking emphasis away from the melee combo by making it just another cooldown to manage, and repurposing the job gauge to enrich the melee experience akin to something like a Fell Cleave option that you build inbetween your burst phases and expend alongside the melee combo is a strong way of allowing the job to be fleshed out, and expanding on it. Removing the rng tied to the spells and abolishing jolt 2 (as this only exist to fix an issue the job shouldn't have) would be a step in the right direction.

I can get behind this tbh. Remove the dumb RNG, make our melee combo a 30-second cooldown or whatever (the actual numbers matter less right now than the concept anyway), and give us something new and interesting to do with the job gauge. I think I'd be happy with that but we'd have to see how the actual implementation turns out.