Maybe RDM need....

[SaberMaxwell]

Re-reading my post I indeed sound like a snob prick so sorry for that lol.

My point was that looking into RDM's kit from StB to ShB, and having mained it along with SMN for these two expansions, I feel StB RDM had a bit more room to push high numbers and I think it's because a good chunk of people I saw in things like dungeons or Eureka had trouble understanding how to optimize RDM's gameplay (which most of the time was linked to Impact, and more broadly to proc management). And I feel ShB ironed out this difference so it makes it even harder for optimal players to push out rewarding high numbers. I'm not saying there was a crazy difference, but that's how I experencied it. of course it's a fraction in the "everything wrong about RDM today", but I think it's worth mentioning it.

Now the main thing is that competition is hard for the ranged spot, especially when BLM is that far above every single ranged DPS, we know that well enough. I think it would be easier (as a band-aid fix mind) to nerf Enochian from 15% to 10-12% to make any other job buff more impactful (pun).

What you're not considering with regards to RDM optimization is now Red Mage effectively has two rotations it's expected to weave between almost on the fly as the fight and your mana counts demand: the 110s Rotation, where Manafication is popped off cooldown, and the 120s Rotation where Manafication is lined up with Embolden.

In the 120s rotation, your first manafication after the opener uses the 110s Rotation's rules. The advantage of the 120s rotation is that your combos will be under raid buffs, but it's harder to pull off; you need to know what skills to use to control your mana, and when it really needs controlled (whether it's better to overcap or to use ST Moulinet). You need to understand what opener you're using (5-8 is my preferred, for example), and how it interacts with these rotations, because the opener you run will effectively decide what your mana counts are going to look like through the fight. Finally, you need to understand how these rotations will interact with the fight.

Careless usage of manafication will lead to overcapping, and in the worst case scenarios, you can deprive yourself of a huge chunk of mobility in a very important part of the game.

There's a lot under the hood of Red Mage, it's just easy to pick up the basics of the job.

was going to chime in but you're doing gods work. i'll just watch on this one

Thanks! I do my best