Thread: RDM 7.4 changes and job identity

Originally Posted by Milkbeard

I do not personally believe that the "fun" of Red Mage was stealing a melee player's position during certain content. When they design bosses, they have balanced party compositions in mind.

They designed bosses in the past where RDM needed to be in Melee range for its combo, but it somehow wasn't a problem for them back then. I don't remember any of these kind of complaints back in, say, Stormblood when RDM was introduced. If there were such complaints, surely this change would have happened sooner?

It's the encounter design that changed, not the Melee combo. So maybe, instead of saying 'wow it sucks to do the 2min burst when I have to go to Narnia to solve this mechanic', SE should consider not having the 2min burst be during a mechanic that sends the Ranged to Narnia? Have them go to Narnia for a mechanic at 1:30, then come in again for the 2min burst as the 'recovery' from that mechanic?

Originally Posted by Milkbeard

You might hate that it’s ranged now, but you should look at how these changes affect RDM in a gameplay sense, not just how it looks. You are literally being a melee outside of 2 min burst windows for that mobility sword combo, and you still have to use your gap closer, the identity and fun aren't dead. RED MAGE IS STILL FUN :0

These changes were good, just please reinforce our class identity in 8.0! If you want red mage to be a melee or worthy of taking a melee spot during mechanics then that is fine. Just know it has never been a melee so what you believe to have lost or want changed is something that has never existed on this job class to begin with.

I imagine that the 'fun' will be the same as it previously was, and that we'll just eventually get used to the change. But the identity being alive/dead is definitely up for debate, as I'd argue that removing the Melee requirement of a Melee combo, is as weird and damaging to the identity of RDM, as making all of the Ninjutsus on NIN be Melee range would be to a NIN's identity. 'It's a rapier, why can I hit from all the way over here with it' and 'It's a lightning bolt, why do I have to be inside the boss's backside to call a lightning bolt down on them', two sides of the same coin IMO

If you're referring to me on that last part (RDM was never a melee), I'm fully aware, I was just musing in a previous post that it could be an interesting way to resolve RDM's issue of 'perpetually 6+% behind BLM because who knows why'. If it were up to me from the very start, RDM would have been a Tank.