RDM is great

[DrFlesh]

I love all the changes except acceleration. I’d gladly take old acceleration just because of how much more consistent the opener was. New acceleration just feels like a different swiftcast and I’m not a fan of it. I’m still gonna raid on it and I love the changes to mana, manafication, finishers, and engagement/corps a corps.

what do you mean with that? the new rdm opener is the best one we ever had and is really consistent, you have 3 spells to get 1 proc and you are set for the entire opener

[Kakure]

I am glad to see people so happy with the RDM changes. Speaking as someone who doesn't raid and mostly just plays solo, I have somewhat more mixed feelings.

The AoE changes are awesome, as is Resolution. I also like the Mana Stack system broadly. Being able to mix and match Mana Stack skills means that if you lag or press the wrong button and you use the wrong melee skill at the wrong time (like if you accidentally fat-finger Enchanted Zwerchhau first), it no longer locks you out of your finishers. You still lose some potency on the melee attacks themselves, but it doesn't derail everything. Great change.

I am still getting used to Acceleration. I used it a handful of times in the trust dungeons while leveling and definitely prefer the old version. It isn't bad at what it does; it is just that what Acceleration does now isn't something I find especially useful most of the time. I'll probably end up moving it to a secondary toolbar and putting Magick Barrier where it used to be.

New Manafication just feels awful to me. Burst that doesn't require us to pool mana is great, but I hate that it no longer resets our movement skills and having to be in combat to use it is a massive hassle. Previously, I would kill an enemy, pop Manafication while approaching the next one, and use Corps-a-corps as soon as I got in range. It flowed well. It felt good to use. I get why they changed it -- they don't want people people standing around for two cooldown cycles so Red Mages can start every raid fight at 100/100 with Manafication up -- but it just feels clunky now outside of boss fights.

Ditto the movement skills and Engagement. I thought that having two charges would feel good. Instead I keep them recharging so as not to lose damage and then when I am in situations where I could use two gap closers or two distance skills -- the situations old Manafication used to help smooth over -- I don't have them. RDM would feel so much better to play if they moved the damage from Corps-a-corps and Displacement elsewhere, got rid of Engagement, and changed Manafication to restore a charge of our movement skills.

[Gruntler]

Instead I keep them recharging so as not to lose damage and then when I am in situations where I could use two gap closers or two distance skills -- the situations old Manafication used to help smooth over -- I don't have them.

The point of two charges is that you can use one, and never cap their uses, while still having one in reserve for movement.

it is just that what Acceleration does now isn't something I find especially useful most of the time.

Using Acceleration on Impact is more potency per second than the Moulinet part of your rotation, it's very strong cleave against two targets (there's a few pulls like that in MSQ trusts), and using it Verthunder/Veraero is extra damage AND the ability to dodge out of trouble. It's really good. This is a tool (along with swiftcast) where practicing getting to use it is a valuable skill that makes the job better. Even in trusts.