6.41+/7.0 — SE, if you won't buff RDM damage, at least improve usability and utility

[Renathras]

So, still reading, but a few thoughts that I agree/disagree with:

Agree with the proposal the AOE rotation needs to be reversed. I've been saying this since Veraero/thunder 2 were added that it's backwards.

Agree Reprise needs to be changed, though I'm not sure I agree with your proposal. I'd settle for taking it back to the ShB recast and to giving it a 1/1 or 2/2 or 3/3 mana cost. It's old cost was 5/5 vs a melee combo of 80/80. Using the equation 5/80 = X/50, you get 5 * 50 / 80 = 3.125, meaning at most it should cost around 3/3. I also disagree with turning it into a Spell and would rather RDM get a trait that converts Spell Speed into an equal amount of Skill Speed. This is Red Mage, we're talking about. It's supposed to be a hyrbid Fighter/White Mage/Black Mage. For this reason I also oppose raising all the melee skills to 30. There is some flavor in having the ability to use melee attacks at lower levels, even if the Job doesn't start at them.

I also oppose the proposed changes to Raise. The Devs just need to do what you said in 4-5 and stop being noncommital about it. Raise is the single thing the Job is most known for, and why so many people have picked up the Job (that and a simple rotation and Vercure). If you start ripping out those elements, you are appealing to the people who like playing a hard casting Job (like BLM) but not the people that have picked up RDM because they DON'T want that and already see BLM there and have chosen not to pick it up.

If anything, I'd make Vercure and Verraise available at earlier levels, since they're so iconic, and while maybe not Raise, Vercure should generate White Mana. It's far more iconic of a White Mage spell than Stone or Aero are. Indeed, even in FFXIV, it's the second spell in the game you get (the first you actually learn, since you start with Stone), and the only reason you start with Stone is so you don't have to auto-attack your way through your first level.

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People already pick RDM to play a hybrid Support/Healer/DPSer, and that's what it's always been in other FF games as well, even being a semi-competent healer in FFXI. At the time it was introduced (SB), had they given it Vermedica and some kind of oGCD spot cure, they could have introduced it as a Healer Job (since at the time, Healer Jobs largely worked as Healer/DPS hybrids anyway). I'm not saying to go Healer with it, but it's clear a lot of players in FFXIV want a supporty Job to play, and RDM is probably one of the best cases for it.

I also would like to see the other elements, but my proposal would be to use them for AOE. Blizzard and Water could be their AOE spell line, though I'd honestly pick Water and Aero or Water and Thunder for that. (Water spells in FF games are OFTEN already AOE, like in FF9, and Aero spells are...uncommon; Fire, Ice, Thunder spells are common and generally single target - but I'm fine bending the rules here to keep the Umbral/Astral split, so Water and Thunder makes sense).

I also happen to like Jolt and Impact. Though...I also do dislike Fire/Stone being random, so if removing Jolt made them not random, I suppose I'd be neutral on such a change. The thing is, Acceleration and the shortened combo (guaranteed Stone/Fire proc if you're keeping your mana imbalanced right) means there are relatively fewer Jolts than ever before, so it does kind of beg the question as to why it's still there.

Embolden should effect all damage on the RDM. It does for everyone else and it's not like there's a lot of non-magical damage RDM even uses; just auto-attacks and the extremely uncommon un-enchanted melee strikes (Enchanted are magic as are Fleche and Contre Sixte).

I do agree that continuing to add singers onto the burst combo is very quickly going to drift into the realm of absurd.

I'm not sure about putting all the mana cost on the first strike of the combo, since that could be really punishing if something bad happens after the first strike that causes you to not be able to execute the combo. Right now, you suffer a hit and just have to recover, but this would be even more punishing, I think.

[Rongway]

Embolden should effect all damage on the RDM. It does for everyone else and it's not like there's a lot of non-magical damage RDM even uses; just auto-attacks and the extremely uncommon un-enchanted melee strikes (Enchanted are magic as are Fleche and Contre Sixte).

Fleche, Contre-Sixte, Corps-a-corps, Displacement, and Engagement are all physical.


If Embolden affected all damage, it would increase the potency of the RDM opener by a whole 72p, and non-opener bursts by no more than that.
(360 + 460 + 130 + 130 + 180 +180) * 0.05 = 72

Even just increasing the potency of all five of those attacks by 10p would increase RDM output by more than we'd get from expanding Embolden to affect them.

I'm not sure about putting all the mana cost on the first strike of the combo, since that could be really punishing if something bad happens after the first strike that causes you to not be able to execute the combo. Right now, you suffer a hit and just have to recover, but this would be even more punishing, I think.

Agree. The melee combo should not have its entire cost deducted as soon as the combo starts. The current implementation allows for flexibility and recovery.