Red Mages Needs a Bit More Complexity

[Syll]

Don't touch our RDM it's perfect as is.

I'm overrall happy with RDM, but as a gripe I -do- wish that you didn't lose the ability to use verflare/holy if you accidentally start casting a different spell (even if you cancel the cast)

From an increased complexity standpoint, having a situational incentive to unbalance your mana (keeping in mind the difficulty in returning the balance from the decreased mana gain penalty already in place) could be interesting.

[Rhinos]

I don't expect RDM will get anymore complex until 5.0 with new abilities. I'd like to have a new aoe spell to break up some of the scatter spam. I'd like something to let us use our melee combos more often. one more ability to spice up our mana generation phase.

[artyport]

I'm with you.
Verflare and Verholy and VerFire and Verstone and Ver Aero and Ver Lightning.. Need some variation. Just a smidge to make them more interesting to use.

I personally want them to increase the base damage of our sword skills and find something interesting to do with the enchanted versions of them. Making them more useful other than be a three button combo that you press every few minutes.

The class is fun. FOR SURE!
But it needs more choices more variation.

[Ilorin_Lorati]

The only thing I really find disappointing about RDM is that the melee combo is just a short burst phase with no real decision points at all. When I heard about RDM originally I imagined a class that spent far more time in melee that it currently does; what they have is fine, but isn't really what I was looking forward to when it was announced.

I don't need the insanity that was old NIN or DRG and I probably wouldn't play it if it was that complex, but melee as it is right now feels lacking - even for a burst phase. If they want to keep it as short as it is or not add reasons to be in melee when mana is lower, even something as simple as interactions with whichever mana was higher going into it would be a welcome addition.

[Shiro--Tsubasa]

rant about not meleeing

No idea where you got the idea from that we would be spending more time in melee. It has always been announced as a caster dps. If they said melee then I would understand your disappoint, but they didn't.

Also, OP please don't touch this job what you suggest is a convoluted mess. I for one, love the job the way it is. I get annoyed when every job plays the same. Adding a dot for the sake of "complexity" (yeah right, not complex, just an annoyance) isn't going to do anything, but make it seem to much like every other job. Not every job needs a dot, just like not every job needs a buff skill or utility. If you want a more complex job, then go ahead and play one of the more complex jobs. Oh and yes, I am over using the word complex on purpose, because this is the word that is constantly being thrown around even though they don't seem to understand what it means.


-rant over-

[LastDream]

Don't know if this was suggested yet, didn't read the whole thread sorry but i think something like :

"If you have 20 more black mana than white mana and at least 30 black mana and cast verfire, your next verthunder is enhanced and applies a dot".

That would require some potency tweaking, but i think it would be neat. Problem with RDM is how simple and without any risk it is. Absolutely 0 punishment or whatsoever and i hope SE either fixes that on BLM & SMN or adds risks & depth to RDM. The thing that happens when you do more one mana than the other cannot really be considered a "punishement", it's that low of a value and you'd have to be really derp to rush one and not the other.

[Grelvin]

I'd really like them to push the traditional red/white choice aspect of the class. Give us limited traditional whm/blm spells. Lock out the opposite. You choose white, you can't use black. And so on.

They would need to be at reduced potentecy. That's how RDMs always worked

I'd also rather them push the support aspect. Not sure how to accomplish this without stepping on BRD/MCH toes. Maybe give us a special 'balance card' style buff that works for magic only. Just off the top of my head. Embolden is great, but 1 2min CD does not a support-ish char make.

They can fix our insta-rezzes by simply upping the MP cost of our raise.

I don't think most of this is accomplishable without alterations to the UI/Job/Skill screens - so meh.

[JMadFour]

Honestly, the only "complexity" I might enjoy with this class, is a "stance" that turns our spells into Black/White aspected Sword attacks, with some sort of mechanic that would require us to constantly switch between casting and melee.

a furthering of the RDM's melee burst mechanic.

beyond that, leave the class as is. just add notifications on the Balance meter for Verfire/Verstone.

[Vincent_Mateus]

I suppose I can throw this in, because I haven't seen it anywhere... if you tilt your mana expenditure one way or the other (we'll say black) the mana you gain of the lesser color is halved. It's expenditure is also halved, so long as you maintain this shift in color.

Using this information you could execute your fully enchanted melee combo at 52/97 for example. Or 26/49 if using Manafication. I tried encorporating this knowledge into a rotation, and due to the random nature of our procs did not have luck. I did however recover from an accidental swing and gained dps from this by entering my melee combo earlier than I otherwise would have. its not a grand find, but it can come in handy in rare situations you find yourself unbalancing yourself. (You could do it intentionally and push yourselves to the proper level by using acceleration and or swift cast as well obviously

[MidnightTundra]

Half of these suggestions are really not well thought out.

Red Mage is fine as it is but its numbers are too high for what it brings to an encounter. The burst of the class is high and frequent (which is valuable for fights with a high number of phase transitions), it isn't inherently punishing and the fights don't punish you much due to lack of buff management and high mobility to deal with mechanics. The class is legit just good fun and I'd like it to stay that way. May others would most likely agree with me due to the overwhelming majority finding RDM really fun to play.

It doesn't need to be some overly complex, melee caster with cleric stance-sword mechanics. 32% of your gcds during an encounter require you to be melee or chain off of a melee combo. 25% of your gcds are weapons skills. That's 25% more than any other caster; RDM is currently assigned in this "ranged caster" role. What the job is doing is fine.

Tune the numbers for what the job is based on the adaptability of its kit and raise the damage of BLM and SMN. RDM should be the weakest caster in personal DPS at the highest level of play.