Small tweak for RDM

[Archwizard]

A full elemental wheel to make Red Mages rotation a bit more robust would be nice, but given most seemed happy with Red Mages rotation seeing (essentially) no change with Shadowbringers, I imagine I'm in the minority with that.

Quite the opposite actually. Many of us were disappointed at the relative lack of expansion to the job, particularly since two out of three new skills are to be avoided as often as possible and the third was a big contributor to our MP issues until literally tonight's patch. No more depth or complexity was added to the job outside of AoE.

But, at the same time, RDM is still young. To change it up too much in the immediate next expansion would make the design seem manic. The devs chose to focus first on putting final refinements on the existing design before expanding it, which is a very practical approach if nothing else.

Still, I'd like a job with full access to the elemental spells, that cycles through them in a wheel-correct manner, and Red Mage is the perfect candidate until Geomancer gets added...

Yeeeeeah... Hate to break it to you but GEO NPCs are already in-game and they're basically super-CNJs. In fact there are rumors GEO was initially meant to branch off CNJ (like SCH and SMN off ACN) as another DPS alternative, before they decided SCH would be the last class advancement ever.

I highly doubt we'll see GEOs as your elemental wheel casters -- the lore so far has been very big on their mastery of air and water magic, but nothing governed by Thaumaturgy, since they largely contact similar Elementals to the Twelveswood's Conjurers.
To be honest I would doubt RDM being an elemental wheel caster even if we got all 6; maybe a trait here or there to buff incidental spell combos, but given our access to at least two elements is entirely RNG, doubtful.

[Nalien]

but given our access to at least two elements is entirely RNG, doubtful.

I wouldn't say entirely, but yeah... Honestly I think the Ver-Ready duo could do with some adjustment... Mostly because Impactful is gone now, but if Verfire Ready and Verstone Ready both had a similar stacking effect as Summoners Further Ruin trait? That would be nice, throw in a charge on Acceleration? Would feel better at least, right now the general build rotation feels worse than Dancer to me... Perhaps it's just that I hate Jolt IIs basic af animation and it now sees double the usage with Impactful torn away...

Quite the opposite actually. Many of us were disappointed at the relative lack of expansion to the job, particularly since two out of three new skills are to be avoided as often as possible and the third was a big contributor to our MP issues until literally tonight's patch. No more depth or complexity was added to the job outside of AoE.

Good, though most I've seen in game seemed happy to have no real changes; "At least I don't have to change my hotbar", "At least I don't have to relearn my rotation". Meanwhile I'm sitting here not only lamenting the lack of anything new, but the loss of old things like Impactful and additionals... I ultimately have less to do, and an extra step with Scorch doesn't add nearly enough to make up for that...

Personally I'd prefer a complete elemental wheel to go to a new job (if not Geomancer, Elementalist or something, IDK) since I'd rather see more swordplay on Red Mage going forward, although tying Reprise into the wheel combo did tickle my fancy... Still, I'd rather probably see something like a Fleche/Contre Sixte rework to have them be a bigger part of the rotation than just semi-long oGCDs... The whole aetherial blade concept has a lot of potential for really cool looking attacks IMO, but as it is currently is just a tad... Lackluster... I wont say many nice things about FFXV, but the whole "Look at my spinning shield of aetherial weapons" concept was awesome, change Fleche to that? Perhaps 6 charges and a new gauge element, maybe some other way to generate them as well (a Meditate style skill to have something to do during transitions would be lovely, come to think of it), have various skills (like Engagement, hey look it has a purpose now) fire them off, keep Contre Sixte as a "Fire all" button... Would give Red Mage an amazing new level of visual flair...

[Archwizard]

Personally I'd prefer a complete elemental wheel to go to a new job (if not Geomancer, Elementalist or something, IDK) since I'd rather see more swordplay on Red Mage going forward,

Gonna have to stop ya right there.

Red Mages are not a melee job. We are not Rune Fencers or Mystic Knights or Spellblades. "Mage" is literally in the job title; we're primarily back-line fighters who occasionally enchant our weapons and dip into fencing, not the other way around.
I would argue the swordplay is more incidental and aesthetic.

I agree that the aetherial blade spam has visual appeal -- I've personally suggested summoning a barrier of crystal swords for a counter-based personal mitigation tool many times before, citing Noctis' Armiger and Sora's Ultima Form, "En Garde" is a perfect name -- but let's not get carried away. The Red Mage archetype has always been primarily about blending the opposing forces of White and Black magic, with a splash of better physical stats to make up for its lower potential as a caster, not about tossing out swords as a primary mechanic.

[Nalien]

I agree that the aetherial blade spam has visual appeal -- I've personally suggested summoning a barrier of crystal swords for a counter-based personal mitigation tool many times before, citing Noctis' Armiger and Sora's Ultima Form, "En Garde" is a perfect name -- but let's not get carried away. The Red Mage archetype has always been primarily about blending the opposing forces of White and Black magic, with a splash of better physical stats to make up for its lower potential as a caster, not about tossing out swords as a primary mechanic.

Am I suggesting making the aetherial blades a primary mechanic, though? I'm thinking something along the same lines of Summoners Fester, part of the rotation but the summoning rotation clearly, and rightly, takes priority. Fleche and Contre Sixte are already part of our rotation of course, I'd simply prefer them to be both a bit more visually interesting, and mechanically. Two oGCDs that you simply press on cooldown is just dull. A similar "You have X stacks of Aetherial Blades, spend them before Aether(blade)flow is off cooldown". Don't think I'd even make spending them that intrusive, I'd be more incline to simply change Fleche to give the stacks, then have existing skills (such as Engagement) supplemented by them. Takes what we already have and just makes it a tad more interesting, IMO.

Only new skills I'd actually really like with regards to any of this, would be a Meditate style charge skill to work in to lengthy phase transitions.