Thread: What is the Caster Role for 5.0 Going Forward and Where is balance?

First and foremost a Caster's role is to DPS, always. I don't think you can try and lump what they do other than what role actions they have. SE has taken a tiered approach to each job in that role starting with pure dps then flowing down with the more utilities it adds. Basically caster have Addle that would define that role. Physical Ranged DPS has a defensive buff and debuffs; Stun, heavy, interrupt. Melee have stun and lower damage debuff.

Many think BLM should get a raise to finish fleshing out caster as a utility of that role but it does take away from RDMs claim to fame.

Lastly SE defines "Magical ranged DPS attack foes using a variety of arcane arts. Movement is restricted by casting times, but they excel at inflicting high burst damage."

Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

I'd rather play a job than a role. I see no reason why Caster need all be glass cannons or all support-DPS. I prefer the variety we have, and would even like to see that variety expanded upon.

As it stands, Role Actions still muddle that diversity, making it sort of trip over itself when on one extreme or the other, but the value of Role Actions, if their capacities were just accounted for, is almost nill.
Just remove their bloat and give higher base MP regeneration, more ways to counterattack interrupts, more immediate and reliable ways to deal with brief but sustained forced movement (still varying Caster to Caster), and their own utilities into the class kits themselves.

Voila, no more role identity confusion. You're quite simply a BLM, a RDM, or a SMN. Where party utility exists for these it is noticeable, cohesive, and strong, but comes at cost of dps as not to make it obligatory to balance downward from.

This about sums up how I feel.