Quote Originally Posted by ForsakenRoe View Post
Again, it's not 3 GCDs. It's 'every Enchanted GCD in the 30s duration of Manafication'. Up to 3 'Melee' combos, if you pooled resources. Unless, by '3 GCDs' you mean 'these 3 buttons on the hotbar, which happen to be GCD actions'



If the request is 'what older fights had space designed in, such that a RDM and 2 Melees AND both Tanks can all be in melee range of the Boss during the burst window', A: A lot of older fights did not rely so much on 'the party has 4 in and 4 out' so much as things like Protean positions where everybody is equidistant from the boss, or the angle of each player around the boss is more important than the distance from the boss, etc. and B: The timing of players' bursts were staggered in older days, so not everybody was bursting at the same time.

I guess this slide needs to be updated to say 'Ranged attacks with magic (and sometimes Rapier)', and 'Melee attacks with Rapier (but can sometimes strike with Rapier from 25y away)'. 'A Hybrid Ranged/Melee style, achieved using high-speed positioning' only holds true if you actually need to Melee, and with this change, you Melee less. It is, objectively, less 'hybrid' than it was before. I fully expect that there will be calls to make the remaining 'actually Melee' Melee combo also be executable from range come 8.0

Sorry, I should have clarified: it isn't just the GCDs, it's the moves. However, if you want to go down the route of the "triple sword" combo, I’d argue you should still be in melee range to fit Corps-a-corps and Displacement into your pot window. But at that point, aren't we just arguing that Red Mage didn't actually change for high-level players?

The reason I asked for a specific fight is that, frankly, there aren't any designed for triple melee in any expansion. I’m genuinely open to an example if you find one, but we shouldn't twist things by saying, "Well, Red Mage used to be a welcome fifth to the melee crowd." When the melee players have to pick a cardinal position, it’s theirs, not a Red Mage’s, because RDM is ranged. Lets' not twist things in this identity post to try and spin it like we've lost something until evidence is provided. It wasn't gutted and people should refrain from dog piling on a job when they have been too busy maining the forums to try it out.

I see what you’re saying in your shift mainly toward talking about identity. Not gonna lie, identity is subjective and hard to discuss functionally, but I appreciate that you aren't equating a range change on the sword combo to the new-gen take of "now it plays like BLM." If you believe Red Mage should "hold its own in melee combat," you’re asking for something entirely new that has never existed in this game. I disagree with this forum 7.4 changes the range of 3 "weaponskills" during burst. Not the identity.