[Suggestion] RED MAGE

[OMEGA_HACK]

Hello!

I thought about posting this in an existing thread about RED MAGE suggestions however like noted already, different suggestions shouldn't 'co-exist' within the same threads--or so that is how I felt. If I were to post this in someone else's thread with the line "This is how I feel they should do it" it 1) makes me look like a jackass who is trying to steal the thread from the OP and 2) disrespects the ideas of the OP, so I opted for my own threads separate of other people's ideas.

Secondly, -ra spells are not currently in the game and the -ra II spells offer unique debuffs (they are different than what BLM and WHM can do) when used in part of a combo. When creating this job I was thinking along the lines of a yin and yang, magic and melee. Which is where it's uniqueness comes from, you have special abilities that become stronger when the synergy between magic and melee is high, RDM would also be the only job that could land debuffs continually, with their special trait.

As for the elemental wheel and monsters not having weaknesses. I understand this, however RDM has always been a mix of WHM, BLM, and melee damage; so I thought 'how can this be done without making those other jobs obsolete?' My answer was a pseudo-elemental wheel where the magic would combo off the element it is stronger than.

Fire→Ice→Stone→Lightning→Wind→Fire

Which is why Fira combo's from Blizzara, and that RDM doesn't really have a "start here to begin your combo" because every tier 1 elemental magic spell can be the beginning of the combo depending on what you are trying to do to the monster (debuff or damage). Then you sprinkle melee weapon skills between those spells to strengthen the damage output, and you should have a job that functions somewhere between a BRD and a BLM in terms of damage output (since they have a way to continually apply debuffs its only natural that their DPS not be as high as let's say NIN/DRG/MNK).

Also to give it its own uniqueness, is the Glyph and Insignia system. Unlike BLM where tiers of Astral/Umbral make your spells more powerful in terms of DPS, RDM will be constantly consuming Glyphs and Insignias to be able to cast more powerful spells and by comboing they can ensure they can combo for a longer duration.

All in all, the job on the surface, may look like another magic DPS, BLM-clone, that is if you just look at the spell names. However if you read a bit more into it, you will see if offers classic RDM-ery, utilizing elements of WHM and BLM, as well as offering its own uniqueness as RDM.

A note on Spells: the -ra spells are NOT in the game in any way shape or form. Blizzard II does not equal Blizzara. In FFXI -ga represented AoE elemental spells and -ja represented elemental magic that was stronger based on previous actions (iirc). Each had their own tiers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for the single targets which was just Blizzard, stone, Fire, etc.

Looking at other FF titles:
FF1 first game to use a numbering system, Fire, Fir2, Fir3 (they could only have 4 characters per spell due to limitations)
FF2 didn't utilize tiers as the magic grew based on how you played the game
FF3 second game that utilized a number convention to indicate a higher tier
FF4 third game that utilized a number convention to indicate a higher tier
FF5 forth game that utilized a number convention to indicate a higher tier
FF6 fifth game utilized a number convention to indicate a higher tier
FF7 sixth game that utilized materia which magic grew stronger, however they were numbered Fire 1, 2, 3 to indicate its tier
FF8 first game to use a naming convention to indicate a higher tier ie: Fire, Fira, Firaga
FF9 second game to use a naming convention to indicate a higher tier ie: Fire, Fira, Firaga
FF10 third game to use a naming convention to indicate a higher tier ie: Fire, Fira, Firaga
FFXI seventh game that used a number convention for higher tiers, while using a naming convention to represent AoE vs Single target
FF12 forth game to use a naming convention to indicate a higher tier ie: Fira, Fira, Firaga
FF13 fifth game to use a naming convention to indicate a higher tier ie: Fire, Fira, Firaga
FF14 eighth game that used a numbering convention in place of naming convention for higher tiers.

Numbering has been used up to 8 times, while naming has only been used 5 times, and is mainly from the newer games.

[OMEGA_HACK]

i hate RDM as a DPS class, any RDM that doesn't have Cure isn't a good implementation of RDM.



a RDM is supposed to use existing White and Black Magic spells, that's what makes it a Red Mage. how and why it uses those skills is what makes the class, not what they are. half of the skills in the game are straight up damage or DoT with slightly different animations anyway.

Missed this response, they do have a Cure spell, two (kinda) Cura (which would heal the ANY playable character within range, not just party members) and Sanguine Blade which is a self HP and MP healing Weapon skill.

[Grey_Cain]

I fully agree that RDM needs some way to encourage swapping between casting and melee, and this idea is as promising as any. So, here's my critique, in no particular order.

Just to start, if you really want the job to alternate between melee and magic you should probably re-think the combo bonuses. According to your chart there's no reason to switch, as you can go Sage's Glyph > Dia > Stonera > Blizzara > Fira > Fira II without any melee attacks in between, and vice versa. To continue, you just spam Dia to get back glyph stacks and then combo again from there because nothing you do on the melee side is going to give you more glyphs.

Since Dia is the go-to spell for Glyphs, you might consider switching the DoT to one of the other spells and just making Dia a straight damage spell.

Since you're not using it for tiering, the -ra convention throws the naming off. I'd suggest just throwing the suffix out entirely and using entirely alternate spell names: Burn, Ice, Bolt, Rock, Gale, Spray (you may as well have a water spell too, since it's the only element you left out) and Heal (oh yeah, you don't actually have Cura on the list either), as examples.

TP/MP can probably be ignored with the Glyph/Insignia system in place, although the Glyphs/Insignias are kind of unwieldy, so keeping TP/MP and dropping the buffs might work better. Either way, having both is just extra cost for no real reason other than to have an extra cost. Just give spells combo bonuses from melee attacks and give melee attacks combo bonuses from spells. As a cooldown, Circumvent is still fine making the costs free for 15s. Chainspell would need re-thinking, though, but not for the reason you'd think.

From Chainspell's description, I can see it being saved for use exclusively with Circumvent, meaning, without any changes to the current design, you get 15 seconds of free-cost spells with full combo bonuses and only a 1s cast time preventing unlimited macro spamming. At the current 7 minute recast, it would still give long fights categorically to RDM, as you're getting a possible 15 spells in 15 seconds. If BLM had the same ability, they'd only get 6-7 spells in 15 seconds, depending on Swiftcast. Changing Chainspell to make all spells instant-cast without affecting the GCD, however, would give it good non-game-breaking utility and the recast can be brought down to much more reasonable levels.

You should never have an ability with a Stun you don't directly control attached to it. With no other elemental spikes, Shock Spikes is fine without the Stun, and you should really allow it to be cast on others (like tanks) or else it will just be a solo-only spell.

Likewise, you should never have a Cooldown ability with any cost. Circumvent should be free, and the recast should be dropped to 120s at most.

Chainspell's recast should be 60-90s if it changes to cast time, 180s if you go with a more powerful effect; otherwise even 7 minutes might not be long enough to balance it as it currently is.

Shock Spikes and Flat Blade recasts should be cut in half. Actually, Shock Spikes may as well be a buff spell on the GCD, as the effect is pretty much the same as a weak DoT.

Silence is always used as a reaction with a 1s duration. A 4s duration is just overkill. 30s recast is probably far too long for an ability that does nothing except Silence. Silence isn't necessarily the party-getter it used to be either. A spell like Dispel would have much greater applications, if that's what you were going for.

The affinity column may as well be tossed, since there are no cross-class skills in the list. Saboteur may as well be absorbed into RDM, since the new direction of jobs is to no longer have classes. The current classes may very well be the last classes we ever get.

Melee range for swords (PLD) is 3y.

There isn't much reason to separate the two buffs. Actually, there isn't much reason to have the buffs in the first place since their recast is shorter than their duration, and most combo timers are already at 10 seconds. You could just use combo bonuses to add the glyphs and insignias.

You should also have a weaponskill (Swift Blade) or spell (Dia), or even Shock Spikes just to be different, at 1st level, as the buffs do nothing for a 1st level character.

[OMEGA_HACK]

I updated the Original post with the a new image, don't know what happened to the Cura spell but it was there. (these things happen when you post big posts with not much sleep). I also took some of the suggestions into consideration and did some tweaks.

Link to the new image, if you don't want to navigate back to the OP