6.0 Red Mage speculation

[Shurrikhan]

I support Katie_Kitty's idea. If we have a series of 3-4 buttons that are always pushed in the same order at the same time, they are not genuinely 3-4 separate abilities. They are 1 ability and can be 1 button. This would free up space for more cool actions without deleting existing ones.

I, too, like that part of it. The less bloat, the better.

That said, I would like to first see if there's anything that can make those 3 buttons be worth having as separate buttons, as we can't so easily undo that change. (Any change perceived as "QoL", no matter how detrimental to actual engagement, is very, very difficult to remove.)

________________


Personally, I'd like to see more melee interaction on RDM. However, I feel that simply converting the base kit (or "combo") from a spender to a CD that in turn builds up a new spender is insufficient and would make RDM feel unsatisfactory for an even larger portion of its level span.

It wouldn't be much worse, mind you, but it occludes a fundamental issue by simply slapping a coat of QoL and "new feature!" paint on top of it, while still leaving it (even more) gut-less. I'd rather deal with that fundamental issue as directly and comprehensively as possible.

For me, that issue is two-fold:

1. It's a "Chekov's Gun" issue. If you give a caster a sword, then no matter how wastefully ornamentally its previous iterations may previously had made it, the sword should be meaningfully used.
   
   
2. The sword, at present, is an additional liability (unique among casters), rather than a unique advantage.

   While what may be seen as a unique weakness from one side of the coin can meaningfully direct job design or playflow, if you deliberately attach some cross-over element to a given role base, one would assume it an advantage, rather than a fetter.
   
   Yet, that's not how melee elements play out on RDM presently. Rather than being some caster-fighter that can all the more easily adjust with the flow of a fight, or the like, it's uniquely hampered with the least consecutive mobility except in the same brief window into which it is forced into melee range. The melee portion is not bankable enough to exploit its trade-off favorably and thus be a unique affordance. It instead, in practice, just gives it an additional weakness.
   
   Or, put more simply, our single-target melee kit is presently little more than a bloated Foul that forces us into melee range.

[NYCLouisGamer]

a bloated Foul that forces us into melee range.

That description is perfect. Put it in your signature! lol