Red Mage - The Spell Weaver

[Solaiel]

Well criticism is always difficult, isn't it ? (giving and taking alike)
That aside, i think status defects is a thing in this game. What sometimes is nice makes problems if used too often.
As you stun , or silence enemies with certain stuff ,the effective time is going to get smaller until immunity for a short time.
It is a nice idea to have more control in certain situations, but i am thinking if the current damage meta will be fitting to the design.
Don't get me wrong, support due to status defects is a nice thing, but the main place for it will really be pvp because many bosses are immune to anything like stuns , silence and stuff.
The goal would be to balance them to not be way too overpowered and at the same time not to weak in any spot of the game.
There could be ways like rdm based debuffs that dont suffer from applying them too often to a target, but that would be way too strong i guess. But i think you get the idea what i mean.
Damage wise you cant say okay this skill has too low potency or too much. It always depends on what can come together if used correctly.
And i guess the main idea is to have your enchantment most of the time on your blade, and if it expires or you use it up for some effect, you want to reapply it as fast as possible.
because your physical attacks you want to use are gaining most of their power because of the enchantment. (if i get everything correctly summed up)
And while it should be some melee type of support (bard) it should still have a little bit more of defensive stuff for itself , as well as slightly more damage, because it has to stick at the back of the boss and make a world of hurt.
Correct me if i am wrong, but in my opinion ranges have higher means to evade aoe attacks than melees.
And while the feeling how this class should feel is clear, balancing needs to start somewhere. And i would start by defining the exact means of where the damage comes from ,because thats the current meta of the game and the jobs main role. Then create the rest around it. But of course the exact mechanics have to be set in their basis, so you have to decide if, for example you would like to include gathering stacks of different elements into that class, or if you really care about another class having this system that is not even clear if it would come at any time. And still i think at least, even if this system is used already for some time, but you can still use it slightly different fitted to what the class wants to do.
For example warrior already gathers stacks, or summoner gathers stacks like eatherflow. What i want to say is, it is regardless what another class does, if you have the idea what a class could be then make it like you imagine, in the end it plays out different for each class, depending on the whole set. So choose what you think is right

[Solaiel]

Well, interesting enough, after the current patch i am definitely convinced, that there will be some spellblade / red mage class. But now i really wonder if that was the actual way of drawing the sword, or if it was just to be fancy.
The LB3 seemed to be that aether slash that seemed like some long cleave attack. A cleave like lb would at least be a new kind of damage range in terms of lb. Now i wonder about the mechanics of that class.
Because the person there did only use gladiator /default battle animations and the aether slash kind of thing. so my opinion of this is the moveset ist just default and will be replaced later, and the slash could be lb3 but can also be some story only thing.
So do you also believe that this could be our potential rdm ?

[Keyah]

So do you also believe that this could be our potential rdm ?

Yes, I finished 3.4 MSQ earlier and thought the same. It's 2 weeks prior to Fan Fest Las Vegas and there are many subtle easter eggs that definitely suggest that

Alisaie is a Red Mage.

Details:

From her mention of being studied in every magic school, being a lone traveler and wielding an Aethrial blade; right up to the hints of red on her hair tie and garbs, and the Rapier-like design on the front of her clothes. Even her words "It's official then, gods, I hope I don't regret it", would also seem to be Yoshi P speaking through her.

Exciting stuff!~

[Connor]

I think there are some great ideas in this and I really like the concept artwork provided (though personally I feel like some pants could be useful instead of just a subligar :P)
There are a lot of cool sounding debuffs that would be very useful for supporting the party (Blind, Frazzle, Phalanx) and would give Red Mages a pretty distinct role within a party.


However I think there are some debuff abilities that should be moved to the 'PvP abilities' category (where abilities such as Manasong, Sacred Prism, Between the Eyes, etc are found). The reason for this is that abilities such as Dispel, Paralyze and Slow do not and can not have an effect of most enemies where they would be useful for balance reasons (why bring a Bard/Machinist if you can bring someone that can keep the enemy under the effect of Slow indefinitely).

I understand that this is very boring and causes tedious constraints when designing jobs, but unfortunately it's the design the developers have opted for and I see no indication that it'll change anytime soon.

In regards to the En-spells, due to there being no elemental wheel within the game I feel like they would end up being more of a flavour thing. I do see that you've worked them into the job in such a way that they're still worth using and I like the concept, but I feel like many would end up complaining 'Why do we have all these abilities that just enchant our weapon?'. I would suggest that instead of Starlight Strike applying an elemental weakness, a standard Magic Vulnerability Up debuff whilst under the effect of a certain ability would make the job more streamlined and allow for more debuff and/or direct damage abilities. The debuff would also apply to abilities coming from other party members, so this would add another layer of support-debuffing.

It's also worth considering that the Red Mage's weapon will be distinct to them, and so even though it will be a melee weapon I don't think it'd too difficult to have all physical and magical damage abilities scale from intelligence (similar to how all Ninja abilities scale from dexterity, despite having both a melee weapon and magic damage abilities via Ninjutsu).

They could perhaps even have healing abilities to further solidify their role as a 'jack-of-all-trades' support. (abilities in the same vein as Bard's The Warden's Paean or Summoner's Resurrection).

These are just my personal suggestions and are in no means criticisms of your work, I think you've done a great job in designing Red Mage in a way that encapsulates the feel of the job whilst still being able to work very well within the context of FFXIV

[Keyah]

Well said.

I personally look at my design now and really think it'll be different (not TOO dissimilar though).
Especially with 3.4 MSQ, I feel that it'll play differently and were it not for the efforts I went to for this project, I'd try another one.

New thoughts and designs are rushing about in my head at present. I'm giddy and excited with what I believe we have seen is the Red Mage.

As such, I'm probably abandoning most of the design principles regarding the elements.

[Connor]

New thoughts and designs are rushing about in my head at present. I'm giddy and excited with what I believe we have seen is the Red Mage.

As such, I'm probably abandoning most of the design principles regarding the elements.

I agree, as someone who loves Red Mages I'm very excited about it too

If you're planning to edit it I think it'd be a cool idea to keep in mind the concept of channelling aether, which was pivotal to the fight we see the Red Mage in. I think this could be a further hint about what to expect from the job, but putting the idea into a solid playstyle isn't something I've ever been good at :P

[Keyah]

My current thoughts seem to be settled in:

Red Mage will be a branch off Arcanist and different swords will be summoned with different properties.
It'll be much more melee focused than previous thoughts, but I would like to see some spell weaving ' w'