Excalibur Vs. Almace

lol man

Productivity? You do realize that this is a game and not a job right? You play games to have fun, not to be productive.

Second this thought.

No no no you have it all wrong. In order to be allowed into the hallowed halls of the azure underwear you must quit your job and devote yourself entirely to FFXI. No task may be undertaken without first maximizing yourself first, and no task that doesn't result in you winning parses is worthy of being undertaken. It's pure blasphemy to mention the the f** word for this most sacred of undertakings.

Well if you maximize your RDM you can win the parse against average~below average DDs! ^_~

I've tried to keep my rdm up to date just because I still love the job. Rdm with Excalibur can toss down some wicked Requiscat numbers. I only get to use my rdm on silly stuff, but in dynamis and other things my rdm will out damage my pld with Requiscat.





Almace on rdm is very lacking. Rdm just doesn't get enough attack and dex to make CDC good.

If thats your WS set, you should at very least change the ammo since MAB does nothing for Req, get the Relic+2 hands, as you need them for Enhancing Magic anyways and they have 1 more MND, get Rubeus Legs if possible, because they are flat out amazing, change the body to Heka's if you have it. Also the offhand admittedly isn't to good, depending on which you have the extra delay on it counters the additional effects it gives you in the end, especially in the case of Req, where the 27 extra attack makes a noticeable difference in WS damage.

Just sayin :x

Really RDM's DD power is not all to bad, its just beaten by other jobs, a pimped out RDM can keep up with a decent DD, but it will never come close to a pimped out DD, to many flaws with gear and forced /NIN for dual wield to even keep up with BLU. Req is just a great tool for RDM because of RDM's great amount of gear made for it, but even that advantage was robbed from RDM as of Neo-Salvage gear, because while the Morrigan's +1/Fea's gear is absolutely amazing for Req, BLU has access to it as well, which is RDM's biggest competition on the front lines as a hybrid-DD job.

Ya, i'll get right on it boss.

Woah..did he seriously just try to compare rdm dd to blu?

Look, I don't know you, don't be an *** when I try pointing out how to better a set in 10 minutes because its practically wearing full +2, which is not bad but easily improved upon...


...yes, I'm just clueless about the job I main and make sets for all of the time trying to improve myself.

Yeah, because as a hybrid utility frontline job the only 2 useful ones with a ton of verity are RDM and BLU. BLU has many more unique things about its spells but is limited to how many it has, just the fact it can setup DW3 alone pushes it up far above RDM in DD power, and the fact RDM gets royally screwed in gear. Were RDM to have access to either of those 2 things its melee DPS would improve immensely because it could either A:Sub WAR, putting its attack much higher which would allow Req to be much more useful on anything with high defense. And B:Access to Athos would make RDM much better with CDC than it is now due to having bad DEX gear and Thaumas would allow for a real good TP set, where as RDM is forced to use awkward gear that comes from the weirdest of places. For instance the best TP feet are Ghadhab Nails from Dimgruzub, a NM people fight 1 time for win, and never really fight ever again.

If RDM has any job that pushes it out of a utility front line job position it is BLU. Need a melee who can cure? BLU can do that, need a sleeper who is not only sleeping, but killing? BLU has light/dark AoE sleeps, need someone who can deal every type of damage in some form? BLU can do it too! I guess people don't like the 2 compared because RDM is much weaker than BLU in DD, and that comes down to simply the subjob and gear problems, besides those, RDM would come out probably better or the same, because of Temper's 20% Double Attack and Gain's STR+25, but sorry I compared two jobs.



This is kinda why I stay off these forums most of the time, because I feel as though I get crap for the smallest detail and am treated as if...even though I know perfectly well what I am saying, and I know how it is in fact. So far as comparing BLU to RDM, do me a favor, go add the Thaumas and Athos gear to the RDM spreadsheets rq and tell me how far RDM is behind BLU with that TP set, if ya want to be a bit nicer, add in a 10 Attack & 25% Attack Bonus to a piece of gear so its as if RDM was getting DW3 natively and could /WAR, the other problem with it I mentioned. Once you solve both of those, look at the number difference between RDM and BLU again, and tell me how they are so very different.

I could talk about how awesome DNC would be if it could wear Phorcys and wield Ragnarok and have native Berserk while subbing SAM all night and day but that doesn't make DNC vs. WAR a very good competition.

Or did you seriously just mean to say "let's turn RDM into BLU and then see how far RDM is behind BLU?"

BLU and RDM are different jobs even if RDM had DW access natively and Athos/Thaumas gear. RDM simply gets screwed over on melee gear, thats the entire thing that holds it back. The best TP set for RDM with capped accuracy is this...



That is pathetic by compare to what RDM could easily have if it was given access to the Light DD sets that come out all of the time. Every light DD set since the beginning of Abyssea has excluded RDM, AF3 was pure mage stats, so yes, of course RDM right now will not match up to BLU. But if you are telling me the only difference between BLU and RDM is the fact BLU has Athos and Thaumas gear, and can sub WAR while keeping DW, then wow. RDM's best TP set should look like this, or very similar...



The same compare between the current best RDM CDC set, and what could be the best with us having more gear access...

Also, your example is an over exaggeration of what I am talking about. RDM is supposed to be a melee mage hybrid job, that is shown through its spells as well as its old gear options, however as of the last few years RDM gets screwed on most light DD sets, I mean hell, even Pink would not be terrible, especially for a starting out RDM. Instead though RDM was put on mage gear only, this hurts the job terribly, its not as though they could not put RDM on 2 sets either, after all, BST is on Mekira and Toci's, PUP is on Heka's and Toci's. RDM could easily be just like PUP, put on the mage and light DD set, and it would be fine.

Your example on the other hand changes DNC from a light DD dagger wielding job into a heavy DD Great Sword swinging job. Its not hard to see the vast difference in what is being talked about here, 1 changes the fundamentals of the entire job's DPS capabilities, the other gives gear from sets that normally would be available for the job anyways.

What exact point are you trying to make?

If RDM were meant to be a light DD, it would be on more light DD sets.

Temper, Phalanx, Enspells, Bregos, Ghadhab, Calmecac, Haste Belts, Atheling, Vara Brig, to name a few things that are either native abilities or pieces of gear that show RDM is meant to be a front line job, particularly a light DD due to weapons of choice being Sword and Dagger. The list goes on but I would like to think this shows my point a bit.

RDM actually gets access to just about every piece of light DD gear, except primary sets(Mextil/Toci/Athos/Thaumas) and special amazing pieces like Epona's. Basically anything outside of those, RDM has access to, those pieces are the best though, thats the problem, it was designed as a hybrid/light DD but without getting the best things about being a light DD, which Epona's is for example.

RDM is built as a hybrid DD, same as BLU, it just did not get the same options as BLU in gear. This is why I compare them, I never said they were exactly the same, I said they were similar, which is actually true, they are, they are support jobs capable of fulfilling a front line DD role, but are not as powerful as heavy DDs. This is why they are similar, BLU's level of gear and native traits simply give it the upper hand over RDM, which is part of why RDM has fallen as low as it has.

It's not really "the upper hand." BLU is in a completely different category. It's basically a MNK with Swords that can haste itself and self-skillchain (+ a few other random tricks up its sleeve).

I would be hesitant to make the claim that RDM could keep up even with a melee WHM. (WHM also gets a shitload of random frontline stuff natively, and Temper barely counts because it was a concession to the constant bitching about RDM melee on the official forums).

You can claim "Well RDM is just a few traits gearsets and JAs away!" but it doesn't have these things. DRG is also "a few traits and JAs away" from the other heavy DDs (and it even gets the gearsets!). and without a Ryunohige it lolligags in the trash heap. Unfortunately for RDM, RDM doesn't get the equivalent of a Ryunohige (it doesn't get a trump card that pulls it out of the trash heap).

But just to clarify, allow me to clarify why you were being picked apart (ridiculed).


Yes, it is. For reasons we have discussed. It just doesn't have access to the right gear or native traits.


Misuse of the word decent. Did you mean below average?


Irrelevant because BLU rarely uses Requiescat. BLU got gear for a WS it uses rarely and this somehow robs RDM of an advantage?

I realize you started playing when Abyssea was released so your knowledge of gear sets prior it lacking. There once was a time when RDM was on the light armored sets. Things like SH, Dusk, even AJ, that kind of stuff. They could even equip the best dagger, Blau Dolch. RDM melee potential wasn't the best but it was decent enough.

Then Abyssea happened and RDM was put on all the "mage" sets and left off the melee ones. After Abyssea it's been a crapshoot, sometimes its on mage gear, other times it's on some random melee item and often it's on both. SE has given RDM several melee orientated abilities, some of which are really nice (20% DA says hi). Yet has lacked reinforcing those abilities with gear or job traits to make a current melee build really viable.

The reason this is important is that RDM's design is three parts. WAR + WHM + BLM, it's been that way since the 80's and is the hallmark of a Red Mage. It has white magic but not as good as a White Mage. It has black magic but not as good as a Black Mage. And it has melee power but not as good as a Fighter Warrior. If you remove the WAR component then you have a ... Scholar not a Red Mage.

Removing melee from Red Mage would be like removing the Lance from a Dragoon and telling them to use Staff instead, or having Monks not use their fists to beat sh!t up.

Actually my first job was RDM back in 2004. I bought a scorpion harness back when it was 20mil for my melee RDM. I'm aware of what it used to be on, but designs have shifted from their original intention.

Stop

You have no idea how a BLU plays and is the primary reason your confused.

BLU's use Req for SCing with Q.Continum once every 2min or so. Req is also one of the most useful WS's a BLU has access to, it lets it bypass sh!t that would cripple other DD's.

hmm...mk. I guess all that sounds nice in your head. You call it exaggerated, but Sylow's example is exactly what youre doing. The fact is the only thing to be compared between those jobs is that they both use swords. Yeah you can devise some plan to make RDM become a dd, but the fact is its not. Rdm doesnt keep up with blu, no contest there. Something you can throw your type of logic at is rdm vs whm.

The main point I am trying to make is not even that RDM is as good as BLU or could be as good as BLU, simply to say there is not a large difference between the two if you cover a few gaping holes in the RDM job itself that keep it from being a respectable DD. They are both hybrid frontline support jobs, they each would still have their own unique features.

I feel like I am being told I am weird or foolish for comparing apples and oranges. If you colored the apple, orange, it would look mostly the same on the outside, the inside is totally different, but the outside looks the same. This is what I am talking about with RDM and BLU, I was commented on for comparing the 2 jobs, when in reality the only reason that seems outrageous is because of RDM being forced into /NIN and being left off key light DD sets.

Please understand I am simply attempting to explain why I made such a comparison, not trying to argue the point RDM should have these things, if I were to carry on that battle it would be on the OF, not here.

What original intention?

This EXACT debate was happening back in 2003~2008.

RDM has always been derided for it's combined hybrid nature. Hybrids traditionally don't fare well inside MMO's if their nerfed to heavily across their multitude skill sets. Usually this is done by developers out of fear that the hybrid would outclass the specialist and typically ends up with the hybrid being nearly useless. FFXI isn't the only MMO to of made this mistake. The only way to fix it is to unnerf the hybrid, they still won't be as good as the specialist but they'll be close which is what's important.

RDM, BLU and SCH are all related as their in the same category. Technically DNC is too, though it has a completely different set of issues. BLU is a hybrid that focuses on front line melee support, it has a whole array of abilities but needs to be close up to use them effectively. SCH is a hybrid back line mage support, it can do both healing, nuking, CC, enfeebling and buffing though not on the same level as the specialists (Embrava not withstanding). RDM was designed to be "all the above" but SE's failure to give it any powerful abilities resulted in it being in it's current state. If you want front line hybrid you bring a BLU, if you need back line hybrid you bring a SCH, you'll never be in a situation where a RDM is desired.

That is why we're talking about RDM and BLU (and SCH kinda) together. Because any situation where you'd use a RDM melee a BLU would be a much better choice.

ftfy

Their using the arguments from 2008 and before. I'm expecting someone to bring up TP feed shortly.

Honestly it's a case of people using different premises to support their conclusions. The above individuals are utilizing circular logic, "RDM is not a DD therefor RDM can not be a DD".

Right NOW RDM's primary limitations are gear related with a secondary limitation of being forced to /NIN for any melee potential at all. Some form of native DWIII is needed, though honestly a better way would be to create a unique set of self-buffs that enhance your stats. An attack +15~25% spell self cast spell, something on that order.

Don't be daft.

We all know the relic Dagger is the best, it was rare so I'm using the most commonly found Blau Dolch.

BTW in case you forgot to check, RDM can use the Mandau too.

RDM\RNG (For the extra Accuracy)
Make a enspell set as pimp as possible.
Make a TP set with lots of -atk, +acc, haste and enspell dmg gear.
Equip a Kraken club.
Eat Sushi.
Deal hate-free, tp-feed-free damage(as long as you do 0 dmg, this is clearly assuming hard mobs, like new nms in Adoulin)!

THIS IS THE FUTURE OF RDM DD

I think the more interesting discussion would be why RDM is excluded from the best DD gear. I don't think the dev team is blind to the dire position RDM is in on the backline, they've at least implied it ... and people are constantly complaining about RDM's function on the front line? So what's the motivation to continue shafting it?

I'm starting to think RDM has some secret five-point exploding heart technique that the devs are aware of and we just haven't figured out yet.