Please make Verraise accessible at level 12

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

[...]Stripping RDM of Vercure/Verraise would be equivalent of stripping PLD of all melee sword skills and turning them into Holy Spirit only[...]

Probably a bit uneven in comparison, because I do not think that Cure/Raise is as deeply rooted into a Red Mage as is general swordsmanship of a Knight / Paladin. I'd say sooner "a part of Knight" but certainly not a hefty bit of the core. RDM restorative magic is certainly part of it, but not as core as the general idea of being a Caster/Melee hybrid.

That said, I have a proposal.

Verraise and Resurrection, both imo can go. I want them both to shoot up in damage numbers so the devs can stop worrying how much they need to tax the damage (which they absolutely do).

In turn, the following:

1.) In preperation to point #2 and I bold this on purpose so you don't cringe before reading it properly - a "spell" that does basically "nothing", like Form Shift for Monk, other than prepping Dualcast. This is necessary to allow for the downtime optimisation to prep Dualcast as it is currently possible in downtime, while allowing for the changes on #2 to not impact this.

2.) Change Vercure from "Spell" to "Ability", changing the recast to 15s on three (3) charges, allowing you to weave Vercure in between. Adjust potency as seen fit.
3.) Replace Verraise with Vermedica (Ability) on a 60s recast. Idea is essentially an oGCD Medica II but with potency value within the range of Summon Phoenix's Everlasting Flight.

The interesting part of #2 and #3 is that they play hand-in-hand with "Magick Barrier", which happens to enhance healing recovery to those affected, especially the Vermedica. Vermedica also being more on demand than Everlasting Flight plays in similar leagues to Dancer with Curing Waltz.

Now, obviously RDM has a lot to weave, so it may be a bit of a challenge to get it all under the barrel, but so does a job like Dark Knight during large burst windows or Gunbreaker.

Why am I suggesting this? Because I fully understand the niche people want RDM to see in, and imo this would be the most sensible way for Vercure (and other things) to exist in Red Mage without either being too impactful or basically useless.

[Mithron]

I'm just going to continue to ignore FireMage's obvious shortcomings.

Verraise and Resurrection, both imo can go. I want them both to shoot up in damage numbers so the devs can stop worrying how much they need to tax the damage (which they absolutely do).

2.) Change Vercure from "Spell" to "Ability", changing the recast to 15s on three (3) charges, allowing you to weave Vercure in between. Adjust potency as seen fit.
3.) Replace Verraise with Vermedica (Ability) on a 60s recast. Idea is essentially an oGCD Medica II but with potency value within the range of Summon Phoenix's Everlasting Flight.

I don't think non-raid damage buffing utility needs to be taxed at all. It's just flavor, and since it's not required in any fight, it shouldn't cause the job to have lower damage. I believe RDM's identity should be 3rd lowest DPS, not because of Verraise, but because they should be known as low personal DPS but high DPS buffing as their role is in classic FFs. Just above BRD and DNC, but below everyone else, which means buff Embolden and add more raid damage buffs as needed, and even up their aDPS if necessary. But it should be low.

The problem with making Vercure a free OGCD is that it might not be necessarily more fun depending on how it works. With many charges, you're gonna have to be target switching quite often to use them basically on cooldown to be optimal and may even take away from what a lot of healers want to do. It's not really very fun to constantly switch from enemy target to someone on party list to heal with Vercure then quickly back to enemy without clipping GCD, especially for controller players. While it sounds great on paper and makes it an actual usable button during combat, I don't know if it would be fun. I want Clemancy to behave like this (at the cost of 50 Oath), but I worry about how RDM would need to play to use it.

I'm not a fan at all of giving RDM a medica, as even in FF1 they don't have AoE heals. RDM does have access to Nul-element spells in FF1 so Magick Barrier makes sense. You can multi-target Cure in FF3 and beyond, but I mean I find that to be more of a healer/tank feature than RDM for 14.

Of course this is just me and my opinion.