The New Red Mage Spells

[MikeDee]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

People have "said" from "testing" it's weaker than Phalanx I. I'm thinking when it was tested it was the level 1 Phalanx II. Each level adds a little more.

I think a lot of people are jumping the gun on Phalanx II and Protectra V (saying it sucks). Try doing it at max merits before we say "OMG I WASTED SO MUCH TIME GETTING MERITS ON THIS!" Once we figure it out, than we'll say it sucks.

[Icemage]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Was in a King Ranperre's Tomb merit party on WHM last night with my LS who had:

RDM: Dia III
BRD: Troubadour

Dia III definitely gave noticeable reduction in Defense, making the Monks hit much harder.

Troubadour was amazing when it was used, making Ballad II last for about 4 minutes (contrary to the help text, it only doubles duration, not effect), which made pulling much easier on the Bard.


Icemage

[MikeDee]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

When you casteded Dia III where you /WHM and how much MND/Enfeebling on you?

[Icemage]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

I wasn't on RDM. That was my LS mate. I was playing WHM, but he was using /WHM. Honestly not sure if the potency of the DEF down is affected by any stat; I know Dia II's is not, and I've not noticed any fluctuation in the effect from enemies that use Dia III/Diaga III. I'll ask tonight and see if he knows (though it might be somewhat difficult to test).


Icemage

[MikeDee]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

testing will be easy for Dia III.

PvP with a naked WAR.

Have them tell you there DEF.

Dia III w/ no MND+

Tell me your DEF. naked man.

Repeat with MND Gear :3

I'd like to know for myself if it can be effected any way

[tdh]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

How would you say Slow II is compared to Slow on that mob Tdh?

When I get home I think I'll bug someone to come pvp and see the differnce in Dia III vs. the other Dia's.

Paralyze has always been random so now surprise in it kicking in so randomly :3 ~but you would think it would kick in more being tier II and all (-.-;;

Now I didn't test them back to back. But from just the Odude Nekkid Eye Test, there was a difference. I need to find a mob with a higher delay, and see just how kick arse it is!

Vs. EP~DC mobs, that Paralyze II was wreck'n shop! DC Tiger had 4 straight Paralyzed messages. But against EXP mobs it seems to be very random. Sometimes it's awesome, other times I sat there wondering, "I spent 3 Merits to get this spell?"

[Hamlet]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Was in a King Ranperre's Tomb merit party on WHM last night with my LS who had:

RDM: Dia III
BRD: Troubadour

Dia III definitely gave noticeable reduction in Defense, making the Monks hit much harder.

Troubadour was amazing when it was used, making Ballad II last for about 4 minutes (contrary to the help text, it only doubles duration, not effect), which made pulling much easier on the Bard.


Icemage

That's interesting. Even though I like casting Dia2, I've never noticed a significant damage difference. If it does make a difference, I'm officially screwed about what to get besides Para2 fully meritted.

[Lmnop]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Blind 2 would be very helpful to a solo RDM. Especially if you're going for straight-tanking mob (/nin, mainly). Blind + decent agi/evasion build is already quite nice for mobs T and under. Blind 2, I'd imagine, would make you feel like a ninjar.

testing slow 2: ballista and recast timers are about the best way.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

I'm gonna go ahead and spend my next sets of Three Merits on Ice. THEN I'll see about Paralyze. But yeah, it seems that the increase of the spells is marginal, at best, until you fully Merit them.

Seems like SE pulled the wool over our eyes ;.; Is it worth "getting" them? Perhaps we're expecting too much. I mean, even if they were 1.5x stronger, I'd say they were worth just having and not max meriting.

Oh, and Phalanx II is indeed weaker until you max it out. But that's sacrificing a lot.

If I was a Straight Enhancing RDM (Enhancing Magic Merits as opposed to Enfeebling) I'd definately do it, but maxing it out as opposed to getting others... Idk....

[nazlfrag]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Canage Elegy and Slow stack, BTW.

Who needs paralyze? The mob would hardly be moving after that combo... I wonder if there's a cap on slow similar to haste though?

[Zempten]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

I guess it's SE way to make more specific RDMs, try to make us more special.

I don't know how it'll work in end-game (I have no expereince there), but imagine a 1 RDM with Dia 3 Maxed, 1 RDM with Paralyze 2 Maxed.....etc. I wonder how that'll work . . . . .

[Icemage]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Who needs paralyze? The mob would hardly be moving after that combo... I wonder if there's a cap on slow similar to haste though?

Ho ho ho. Paralyze is extremely useful at end-game. Some enemies are immune to Slow effects (Aspidochelone), while others hit so hard that you'd much rather avoid a hit via Paralyze in addition to just slowing it down (Tiamat or Jormungand while they've got Mighty Strikes up).


Icemage

[Kirsteena]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

We are a little rdm light in our linkshell (3 full timers, and one might be leaving to go study), and we decided between us that one of us is going to merit Slow II fully, while I merit Para II fully - this way, between us we are going to cover those. We haven't decided between us about the other spells, but I am waiting to see tests on fully merited Phalanx II, since I am most often in the tank party, if not, I might do Dia III...

[Aeni]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Seems like SE pulled the wool over our eyes ;.; Is it worth "getting" them? Perhaps we're expecting too much. I mean, even if they were 1.5x stronger, I'd say they were worth just having and not max meriting.

I think this is great. It gives you flexibility of just what you want out of your RDM.

I have a couple of JP friends who are 75 RDMs and have quite a bit of meriting done. They aren't in end-game really outside of missions (Assault, CoP) and generally solo things a lot. In this sense, for the RDMs that like to solo, their priorities of the meriting will be quite different from the RDM who is figuring out how best he/she can serve his/her LS. In a sense, SE gave us the choice on how we shape up ourselves and I think this is a step in the right direction. I hope to see many more of these options in the future.

[Karinya]

Re: The New Red Mage Spells

Not very well, unless you have the same set of RDM with you everywhere you go.

Personally, I expect that the upgrades will be found to be just as un-earthshattering as the original spells. These are merit abilities we're talking about here. You're not becoming level 80, or even 76. The overall philosophy of the merit system that it is *small* improvements remains.

This is not to say that they won't be *useful*, but the people expecting a 75% stick rate on gods are going to be disappointed.