Red Mage: Potential adjustments

[Shurrikhan]

We don't have the button room to add combo bits to the AoE to satisfy people for whom 6 buttons isn't enough. So what are we giving up for this?

You realize RDM already has among the lower button counts, right? And, we definitely have the room for even the most button-anxious players... if we just didn't go out of way to waste it.

We've already consolidated Verflare, Verholy, and Scorch, but there's zero reason for the melee chain itself to take up separate keys. That's a further 2 saved right there.
There is zero reason to have Veraero II and Verthunder II when you could accomplish more nuance with, say, just having Scatter duplicate the last cast at 50% AoE damage atop a base potency. That's another 2 buttons saved, and more nuance available atop a unique focus-target capacity.
Further, if, as above, we had ways to leverage partial combos, there'd be no need for Reprise as a mere combo-delaying skill. That's a fifth button.

But let's just stick with the 4 for now. That gives us plenty of room. Heck, even with just the melee combo consolidated, we'd still have the fewest required buttons of any job, iirc.

And why would single-target/I need AoE but only for this one gcd/back to single target be a needed burst phase in any content in this game

Virtually nothing is technically "needed". Being able to charge your melee combo off Moulinet would just means that you're no longer screwed out of Verflare/Verholy if you happen to need burst AoE damage instead of ST damage. It's an AoE and fluidity buff; plain and simple.

and if that content were to exist, how is that problem not solved by 'Contre Sixte exists, is more flexible, and does a better job'?

I wasn't aware that Contre Sixte dealt 600-800 AoE potency and was bankable, rather than a CD that almost always ought to be used on refresh.

(This goes for people who want 'an AoE Finisher' after the single target combo, seriously what situation is this remotely useable?)

Usually, the request is merely that Verflare, Verholy, and Scorch deal 50% of their damage as AoE, but okay... It would usable any time you can combo ~1.8 GCDs before adds are gathered. Given that it often takes ~1.8 GCDs for adds to be tightly gathered around a longer-term or focus target, that's pretty often. Like, literally any dungeon pull with a higher HP mob near its end. Rather than ripping threat off the tank mid-gather, you dive the far target and charge back-to-back heavy AoEs.