6.0 Red Mage speculation

[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.

[Jirah]

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

^This

Also means going back to basics as MNK in 5.0 is nearly identical to 2.0, and as for MCH, I didnt bloody ask for a culling of skills! All I ever wanted was a more seamless way to overheat and the turret to be more dynamic and 5.0 just bastardized the job to the most bare bones job in the game and I would not in a million years call SHB MCH a QOL change despite the fanfare.

back on topic, RDM did get a aoe upgrade...sort of it just feels abit boring to AOE. besides that Idk what else RDM could use without it adding too much to it

[Shurrikhan]

^This

Also means going back to basics as MNK in 5.0 is nearly identical to 2.0, and as for MCH, I didnt bloody ask for a culling of skills! All I ever wanted was a more seamless way to overheat and the turret to be more dynamic and 5.0 just bastardized the job to the most bare bones job in the game and I would not in a million years call SHB MCH a QOL change despite the fanfare.

back on topic, RDM did get a aoe upgrade...sort of it just feels abit boring to AOE. besides that Idk what else RDM could use without it adding too much to it

The saddest part is when you can actually have both more depth/nuance and QoL, if a modicum of creativity had just been applied. Consider RDM AoE, for instance.

Consider even the absolute most barebone way RDM AoE could have been applied:

Scatter
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 140 to target and all enemies nearby it.
Additional Effect: Increases both Black Mana and White Mana by 3.

If Dualcast, Scatter instead duplicates the prior cast, striking the target at all enemies nearby.

What would that mean, then (tuning aside)?

1. You could Scatter-Scatter, as before, for 6|6 Mana and 280n potency.
2. You could Scatter-Veraero or Scatter-Verthunder, as before, for 3|14 or 14|3 Mana and 140n + 370 potency and chance of Verfire/Verstone procs.
3. You could, newly, Verfire-Scatter for 3|12 Mana and 450n potency or Verstone-Scatter for 12|3 Mana and 450n potency.
4. You could, newly, hardcast/Swiftcast Veraero-Scatter or Verthunder-Scatter for 14|3 or 3|14 Mana and 510n potency and chance of Verfire/Verstone procs.

1 button in total required for non-Mana-spending AoE, but now you have a significant AoE damage increase from procs generated and more reason, situationally, to hardcast.

But no, instead we needed to use 3 buttons that are not cohesive with the procs system, just to give the illusion of greater element-play.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

But no, instead we needed to use 3 buttons that are not cohesive with the procs system, just to give the illusion of greater element-play.

The current AoE rotation tries to illude a "greater element-play"? I'd argue it doesn't even come close to even being an illusion. Call it for what it is: a reverse single target rotation but aoe form.

Consider even the absolute most barebone way RDM AoE could have been applied:

What would that mean, then (tuning aside)?

1. You could Scatter-Scatter, as before, for 6|6 Mana and 280n potency.
2. You could Scatter-Veraero or Scatter-Verthunder, as before, for 3|14 or 14|3 Mana and 140n + 370 potency and chance of Verfire/Verstone procs.
3. You could, newly, Verfire-Scatter for 3|12 Mana and 450n potency or Verstone-Scatter for 12|3 Mana and 450n potency.
4. You could, newly, hardcast/Swiftcast Veraero-Scatter or Verthunder-Scatter for 14|3 or 3|14 Mana and 510n potency and chance of Verfire/Verstone procs.

1 button in total required for non-Mana-spending AoE, but now you have a significant AoE damage increase from procs generated and more reason, situationally, to hardcast.

I'd even add Tether in. Tether>Scatter/Impact>other spell. I just want Tether back. I miss its animation and wish it was used as an aoe of some sort instead of being culled.

[Shurrikhan]

I'd even add Tether in. Tether>Scatter/Impact>other spell. I just want Tether back. I miss its animation and wish it was used as an aoe of some sort instead of being culled.

Tether kind of makes me wish we had DoTs on certain skills (say, Fire and Wind), which Tether could then draw into a focus target or whatnot, since that's what Tether's animation reminded me of (iirc). Also, something something the line animation on Corps-a-corps feels like it could have interaction, etc.

Of course, for that not to feel like a one-off gimmick, that'd need some further spell-combo context, like being able to expand Verfire's DoT to nearby enemies with an immediately-following Veraero or being able to explode a Verstone mid-animation with an immediately-following Verthunder, etc., etc...