Letter from the Producer, XXVIII (05/28/2012)

[Duelle]

They changed cjn ant thm abilities to make their roles stand out more. Now Rdm is about to bump heads with cjn/whm.

Both can debuff, heal, and dish out some damage. What would be the difference besides the weapons.

The way level correction affects magic. All enfeebling focus would do is put the job at a disadvantage...again.

Sword & magic can work, but it needs to be adapted to work in an MMO instead of trying to use a carbon copy of how RDM was in FFI. XI's was pretty much a failure in and of itself, and is something I do not wish to see repeated.

Below are two threadas that went into detail on that topic. I should probably bump them too.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ack-line-class

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...esign-Red-Mage!

[Asiaine]

Sword & magic can work, but it needs to be adapted to work in an MMO instead of trying to use a carbon copy of how RDM was in FFI. XI's was pretty much a failure in and of itself, and is something I do not wish to see repeated.

*gasp*
RDM was amazing, brilliant, wonderful, fun. The problem was not with the class, but the people who just wanted it to stand in the back and refresh.

To call it a failure is a bit of an over-statement. TO say it could be made needed for more than just refresh/healing in a party situation would be fair. But not failure.

[Zenaku]

*gasp*
RDM was amazing, brilliant, wonderful, fun. The problem was not with the class, but the people who just wanted it to stand in the back and refresh.

To call it a failure is a bit of an over-statement. TO say it could be made needed for more than just refresh/healing in a party situation would be fair. But not failure.

RDM did not do great dmg with there swords but in ffxiv they could make the combo system work like WS,Spell,WS and give them a pretty high DPS with WS and spell but still be a good buffer

[Asiaine]

RDM did not do great dmg with there swords but in ffxiv they could make the combo system work like WS,Spell,WS and give them a pretty high DPS with WS and spell but still be a good buffer

*GASP*
RDM/NIN with En-Thunder and Joyeuse + Sword (not even saying Kraken Club here).
Solo-Skill Chain + Magic Burst o.o!

Plus..plus.. Pulling with bow ^^b

[Zenaku]

*GASP*
RDM/NIN with En-Thunder and Joyeuse + Sword (not even saying Kraken Club here).
Solo-Skill Chain + Magic Burst o.o!

Plus..plus.. Pulling with bow ^^b

ya that was all good but not everyone was skill and no one want them to dps in battle so that was all pointless in ffxiv they could make it from day 1 a great dps and you have to use them in battle WS->Spell->WS which make them have to fight face to face and not be in the background like rdm in ffxi.

[Skies]

Hrm... Main Class, Gladiator, sub-classes Conjurer and Thaumaturge.
First Job Ability is a 'stance' akin to the monk's fists, Flare Sword or something that increases damage dealt either based on INT or some other factor but moves the overall damage closer to "DD" than "Tank". The other four Job Abilities are Spells, one to combo off of Flat Blade, another to combo off of Rage of Halone. Hrm...

[Duelle]

RDM was amazing, brilliant, wonderful, fun. The problem was not with the class, but the people who just wanted it to stand in the back and refresh.

The fact the job itself allowed for that kind of pigeonholing by design is why the job failed. You don't create a generalist, then give them buff abilities while leaving their DPS intact. All that does is invite groups to use that job solely as a buff-whore instead of a hybrid. That's largely why I want a melee class as the base for RDM; that way we don't run into that sort of situation again because the meat of the abilities will be melee abilities.

[Elexia]

*gasp*
RDM was amazing, brilliant, wonderful, fun. The problem was not with the class, but the people who just wanted it to stand in the back and refresh.

To call it a failure is a bit of an over-statement. TO say it could be made needed for more than just refresh/healing in a party situation would be fair. But not failure.

He's just one of the people that consider anything XI related a failure, you'll learn this very quick about people who play FFXIV. RDM was an amazing job, it was the only job for the good majority of XI's peak that can solo lesser NMs and a few of the gods. Best part is, for one to complain about people wanting a 'carbon copy', it was a carbon copy of older iterations of the job to begin with since while RDM could use a dagger/sword in older games, it's main power came from spell casting.

The fact the job itself allowed for that kind of pigeonholing by design is why the job failed.

No job that can solo gods failed, especially back in 2004-2006 era.

[KoujiGeki]

The way level correction affects magic. All enfeebling focus would do is put the job at a disadvantage...again.

Sword & magic can work, but it needs to be adapted to work in an MMO instead of trying to use a carbon copy of how RDM was in FFI. XI's was pretty much a failure in and of itself, and is something I do not wish to see repeated.

Below are two threadas that went into detail on that topic. I should probably bump them too.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ack-line-class

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...esign-Red-Mage!

I guess soloing Gods makes it a failure.

[Duelle]

No job that can solo gods failed, especially back in 2004-2006 era.

Right, because that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that AI pathing was crap and bind/gravity were OP--oh wait, it did.

Anywhere else AI pathing would have been fixed and Bind and Gravity would have seen complete redesigns or outright nerfs. Not everyone who played RDM cared about soloing gods, and I for one wanted it nerfed so that people like you wouldn't bring it up any time we asked for melee fixes and buffs. This goes back to my annoyance at Tanaka & Co. being hands-off when it came to a lot of things in XI.

None of which will ever justify our being reduced to buff-botting in the content that mattered. Sword & Magic being reduced to "cure refresh haste" cycling was downright insulting.

I guess soloing Gods makes it a failure.

A job doing everything but what it was intended to do is a failure. A job that never lived up to concept between player dynamics, party dynamics and design of endgame is a failure. A job that was given a band-aid niche instead of a real set of fixes is a failure.

This would have been no different than Reckoning Bomb in WoW being left in-game (instead of nerfed to non-existance) and the developers using it as an excuse for never buffing Paladin melee. It was asinine then and still is asinine now.

PS: Another really good RDM suggestion, from the design thread, too!