I DON'T like Stormblood RDM

[Wayfinder3]

Introduction


Logs:https://www.fflogs.com/character/id/...3#spec=RedMage

Hello, I'm Sora Belle a die hard red mage player in Jenova's Aeon FC who absolutely loves this job aesthetically. When Stormblood released i dropped everything to play it. With it, i claimed many High parses in past savage, cleared both Ultimates using it and even claimed a week 1 Savage Kill for Eden savage and i hope to continue this pilgrimage. While i'm far from a master at the job, i know i've played it enough to be adept at the job which brings to the point of this post and the problems i have with this job. I linked my logs to give players a reference of my time with the job but they aren't indicative of my problems with it. i can assure you im not playing this job wrong and there is no untapped potential regardless of what an isolated parse may say but, lets begin.

DAMAGE
I liked Stormblood Red Mage, it was a good way of introducing the job into the game and while i hated it's lack of damage, that issue was remedy'd in Patch 4.4 where RDM received some very strong damage buffs. If you look at the 99th percentile between BLM and RDM. RDM was a solid 900 dps behind BLM for alphascape which was big, but comfortable enough for both jobs to coexist in a vacuum between each other. Fast forward to Shadowbringers and that gap has nearly doubled with a 99th Percentile RDM at least 1600 dps lower than a 99 percentile BLM. This is absurdly big for no discernible reason and verraise does NOT equal 1600 dps. I have no earthly idea why our RDPS is so low when it was perfectly fine prior. It needs a buff


NEW IMPLEMENTATION
By now you're probably wondering why i named Stormblood RDM instead of Shadowbringers RDM in the Title and i assure you, RDM didn't make the jump into SHB. The job is 99% the same as it was given 4 situation skills and 1 genuine addition in Scorch. While scorch is fine, some of the situational skills bother me quite a bit. Engagement was their response to displacement being an inconvenience and i don't mind the skill too much but the other 3 are very problematic. RDM needed a way to dump mana so they can control their burst windows and align them properly with other jobs burst windows and utility to benefit from them. Reprise doesn't fill that niche and really feels more like a Ruin 2 of which RDM has to lose dps to use. while it's not a terrible skill, it could really be better and, should have it's damage increased to at least 270-300 potency so that the skill doesn't feel like a complete waste to use. VerAero 2 and VerThunder 2 are uninspired 120 pot solutions to scatter from 4.0 that don't work on 2 targets. This is annoying because on 2 targets, RDM falls behind SMN and BLM the most and, it's 2 target rotation consisting of Jolt 2 into Impact is way too slow to generate mana giving you 3/3(250)+3/3(220(2)) for a total of 690 pot and 12 mana 6/6 for 2 gcds which is really lacking for a Casting DPS. if these skills were increased to 130-150 potency, i think it would even out RDM AoE dps rotation and get it moving towards our next melee combo much more efficiently(These really should've been Water and Blizzard based spells but thats a small nitpick)

The MELEE COMBO
This is RDMs most appealing feature and boy do i HATE it's implementation even more now than i did back in SB.
Here are 2 Scenarios RDMs often find themselves in:
A. I need to be in Melee range but this mechanic requires me to go a ranged position.
B. I need to be in a ranged position but i need this melee combo to go out or it's a complete waste.

Both of these are very real situations that no other ranged DPS has to deal with and, honestly, This wouldn't be so bad if RDM could use it's melee combo consistently or could control their mana better. This however isn't the case as the RNG overlords will give us that run with No Fire and Stone procs that set our mana generation back so much that we're GCDs behind where we want things to be.
My solution would be to Make RDMs melee combo and Manafication use a Flat 60 sec burst window, and apply RNG elsewhere as to not handicap our positioning. At the very least, Manafication should be changed to "Allows for the use of 3 enchanted weaponskills ignoring BW Gauge consumption." This way rdm can at least control their 2 min Burst windows better and not have one of the slowest Openers in the game, while simultaneously giving the job a better degree of control with it's Manafication and Embolden timing. Some RDMs are more split on this subject as they may like current manafication but, i really find the Doubling of mana more of a nuisance. I'd also consider giving Acceleration 2 charges and adding an effect that restores mana to the job. Acceleration isn't a Cooldown to be used ON cooldown, it's to be used when needed. In scenarios of downtime or when you're getting procs and Acceleration is available, It feels very bad holding on to the skill as there will be a moment where you won't get a proc. Keeping acceleration on cooldown would help get more uses out of it as opposed to losing 3 to 4 secs of it each time you have good proc luck, and losing the benefit of that luck when you won't have it later on. acceleration should be kept spinning and, good RNG and downtime shouldn't change that.

DUALCAST
I love dualcast but this skill is overhyped in the community, the idea that Dualcast makes RDM more mobile than BLM is a myth. Dualcast is hindered by the inability to control when you want the mobility, it's not a trait that is store that can be expended when you need to move, it is a set rotation of every other GCD and this can be very annoying to do mechanics with. BLM on the other hand has so many powerful Mobility tools, none of which require them to delay their burst window like our melee combo or cost them any dps like Reprise; it's just free. In my eyes Controlled Mobility is alot better than Uncontrollable Mobility and, My solution would be to please let Swiftcast proc Dualcast. Having this Double swiftcast available to us every minute would be perfect as it would give RDM the bit of breathing room between mechanics so they don't need to delay melee combos to do mechanics like Stormy Horizon. (While it's possible to do Stormy Horizon without holding a melee combo, it requires perfect spacing of the entire party and thats pretty annoying to ask for in the party finder so a bit more breathing room would be nice)

VERRAISE
This skill is the center peace of the RDM kit and the reward RDM brings to the party. It's powerful, certainly not worth 1600 dps when compared to BLM. Honestly though, Please remove Verraise and Resurrection from casting DPS. These skills don't balance properly with BLM and, BLM ends up getting way more attention than SMN and RDM as a result of it not having a combat REZ. It's also not rewarding to use to RDM and feels like the only primary Job utility offered by a job that isn't appreciated by the user. (This isn't the case of a Good NIN rewarding a good party with trick attack) Sure it could save runs, but in situations where death isn't an Option (week 1 Titan savage) RDM felt very miserable to play because my primary utility isn't an option and my damage can't compensate for it. Remove it and design casters in a more uniform matter. BLM doesn't need a combat rez and neither do we. the job is missing so many of it's White magic staple spells that i don't even care to keep this one. In it's place, should be more damage and more potent Raid utility on the level on NIN and DNC since RDM should be competing with them as the 3 high utility jobs between the subcategory of DPS. The idea that a job exist in this game that falls off after you've seen enrage or after you've killed the fight is completely unfair to me.

CLOSING

RDM doesn't feel good right now, you have to try pretty hard to perform in higher lever encounters and the only reward is salvaging the runs for those who make mistakes which gets harder the higher the content is. It has this weird interaction of having both the problems of a CASTER and a MELEE dps and it's kit doesn't really help ease the pain. The job feels like it was completely overlooked in Shadowbringers and, i while i respect the dev team. They didn't put alot of effort into improving the RDM experience and it shows. RDM is probably the most overlooked job in the game, verraise seems to be so polarizing that nobody feels the need to question it's statistics beyond it. the fact that MNK is also about 1600 dps over NIN and players are screaming in outrage shows that nobody truly knows what to do with it considering the gap between BLM and RDM is basically the same as MNK and NIN. If other RDMs have different opinions or feel i'm mistaken, please speak up and lets get a discussion going. We need to talk now because our job isn't feeling too great or performing well and, with buffs going out to SMN, SAM, NIN, and possibly even DNC, and BRD. the calamity is about to hit us again as we fade back into the void that is "You can combat Verraise lol"

[ksuyen]

RDM doesn't feel good right now, you have to try pretty hard to perform in higher lever encounters and the only reward is salvaging the runs for those who make mistakes which gets harder the higher the content is.

Welcome to Summoner.

[Wayfinder3]

Welcome to Summoner.

I'll drink to that, at least your buffs are coming in patch 5.1. Lets hope they don't drop RDM to the bottom again like they did in funnily enough, Patch 4.1

[Kabooa]

Guessing you used Chaos. I'll use Final Omega since it's 100% potential uptime.

99th Black Mage: 9100
99th Red Mage: 8,000

Difference: 1100
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 13%

Using Voidwalker since it also has potential 100% uptime

QUICK PRIMER
RDPS = The damage that 'belongs' to the job in question.
ADPS = The damage that the Job conveyed to the boss, minus single target buffs (Dance partner, Eye, etc)

ADPS

99th Black Mage aDPS: 15,292
99th Red mage aDPS: 12,576

Difference: About 2700
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 21%.

RDPS

99th Black Mage rDPS: 14,922
99th Red mage rDPS: 12,883

Difference: About 2100
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 15%

[Wayfinder3]

Guessing you used Chaos. I'll use Final Omega since it's 100% potential uptime.

99th Black Mage: 9100
99th Red Mage: 8,000

Difference: 1100
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 13%

Using Voidwalker since it also has potential 100% uptime

QUICK PRIMER
RDPS = The damage that 'belongs' to the job in question.
ADPS = The damage that the Job conveyed to the boss, minus single target buffs (Dance partner, Eye, etc)

ADPS

99th Black Mage aDPS: 15,292
99th Red mage aDPS: 12,576

Difference: About 2700
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 21%.

RDPS

99th Black Mage rDPS: 14,922
99th Red mage rDPS: 12,883

Difference: About 2100
% difference: Favoring Black Mage by 15%

I used the Overall metric for all fights at the 99th percentile, but even when you apply a more fight specific view, RDM is still needlessly lower compared to BLM now than it used to be

[Kabooa]

I used the Overall metric for all fights at the 99th percentile, but even when you apply a more fight specific view, RDM is still needlessly lower compared to BLM now than it used to be

I'm just putting numbers on the front page in a useless attempt to provide perspective before people use my job as a scapegoat again.

[Mediocre]

I'm just putting numbers on the front page in a useless attempt to provide perspective before people use my job as a scapegoat again.

BLM isn't the problem or a scapegoat - a 15+% tax on damage based soley on verraise (since you included embolden in the rdm numbers already) is the problem. That is way over the top for utility that quickly becomes pointless after learning the mechanics of a fight.

[Neela]

BLM isn't the problem or a scapegoat - a 15+% tax on damage based soley on verraise (since you included embolden in the rdm numbers already) is the problem. That is way over the top for utility that quickly becomes pointless after learning the mechanics of a fight.

or u can say it’s absolutely worth it because u learn mechanics of a fight way faster with less wipes - there are always to sides of a medal.

[HinokaTheRed]

Honestly though, Please remove Verraise and Resurrection from casting DPS.

I say this all the time, and I sure hope it becomes a reality. Caster raise is overrated.

[Wayfinder3]

I say this all the time, and I sure hope it becomes a reality. Caster raise is overrated.

I know, nobody truly knows the value of it as it's utility that is inherently rdps negative but powerful in a specific niche scenario and its not the first death of a party. 2 people would need to drop at the same time for caster rez to be better than healer Rez and thats not good enough for me