6.0 Red Mage speculation

[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.