1 Patch Later: RDM Grievance Retrospect

[Valence]

I can agree that the devs merely "repackaged" the kit and kept things like self shields, dots, and party utility. However my biggest complaint is they've essentially dumbed down the rotation and unique trait of dancing between B/W shift which allowed for more flexibility and skill expression. I feel the new kit now forces RDM players to a singular playstyle as compared to before when players could choose to play aggressively of defensively all the while building up their finisher to support the team or pressure the enemy on the objective.

I don't think the overall power and performance of Red Mage is what is the issue, but rather the removal of having to actively choose between more damage or more survival with your Shifts - making the job have everything at 90-100% of both Shifts all the time and removing the planning makes the job feel monotonous in nature, i.e. what Junebuggy meant with "Now the rotation is just consists of mashing buttons off CD", because other than holding your buttons to sync with your team, there is limits to the choices you can make in your gameplay flow.

Short - its boring.

I do agree yes. I felt like pointing out that since it wasn't clear if the post was only about identity/flavour or also covered gameplay potential, that the new RDM, much like the new GNB, seem to have dropped the stance flavor in favor of a stronger, consolidated toolkit with a lot less constraints.
Amusingly enough both jobs gained a lot in power, whether it's just because the effort required is lowered, or that they have access to everything at once.
If anything RDM when playing against it, I find extremely infuriating since you keep eating silences and stuns all the time and you perfectly know where it comes from. I don't like that, I also felt like the choices felt more engaging back then and a lot less obnoxious to play against.

[EmilySummerstar]

I'd imagine that would be quite annoying. Using resolution in plain sight tends to taunt people to target me which triggers Vice if Thorns and let's me stun others. With Phantom Dart and the changes to assists this will get you Battle High really fast and then even your CCs will do good damage.

To me, current RDM feels like mobile artillery. What I miss most are the DOTs.

[JuneBuggy]

Amusingly enough both jobs gained a lot in power, whether it's just because the effort required is lowered, or that they have access to everything at once.

Hmm... I would argue consolidating RDM's kit ended up doing more damage to its potential in hindsight and constrained it more than it had before.

For EDW RDM, having access to 2 polarizing skill sets all the while being able to simultaneously switch between the two in combat was powerful. I feel having access to the entire kit all at once inadvertently nerfed this really cool binary of augmented damage (Verflare) or healing (Verholy) for whatever the situation called for. Contesting the Crystal? Securing a kill? Trying to bait 2 opponents to chase you to move them away from the objective xD?

I could become a cannon and catch opponents off guard with a Frazzle into Verflare OR if I notice the team needing healing after dumping my melee combo in black stance, I can become support and easily switch to white, throw out a Magick Barrier into Verholy. Shoot, we could even mix and match the combos by throwing a Magick Barrier initially for mitigation for contesting or Frazzle for a party buff and disengage to support from afar. Having consolidated skills takes away the ability to hold these powerful finishers and goes back to my earlier point of simplifying the rotation. It's predictable and boring.

TLDR; I love being able to move my numbers around wherever I wanted to with EDW RDM! It was so cool!!!!

I would have to do actual calculations on potencies if we really wanted to get analyze RDM numbers to the nitty gritty, but I think that's besides the point.

[EmilySummerstar]

Resolution with bind was devastating.