RedMage Magic Skills Merits

Hola!

Just curious, would a RDM with 0 magic skill merits have a hard time with enfeebles outside of merit pt? At which point(which NM's) would you have difficulty landing spells? Can RDM job merits in elemental accuracy make up for no enfeebling skill merits?

Thankee in advance for the infos!

Properly geared i have heard of RDMs soling in sky with almost no merits. But that proper gear is big ticket items @.@

But its Red Mage!!!!! If your going to do it do it all the way!

Well, obviously Enfeebling Magic skill affects enfeebles more so than Magic Accuracy. I haven't really had any problem landing enfeebles on my Rdm with some Enfeebling Magic / Magic Accuracy gear and the Elemental staves.

Is there a certain set of magic that you're already meriting and don't want to merit Enfeebling?

Also, it sure doesn't hurt to throw a few merits into the Magic Accuracy for Rdm's category 1 since they'll affect both your Enfeebles and nukes of that element.

Depends on situation?

Sky Gods, NM's, Limbus Mobs, Einherjar?

In my case, I haven't merited enfeebling magic yet but I plan too in the near future. I've only buffed up my Elem ACC with merits so aside from gear I haven't had much problem doing my thing.

Please understand though that my toon rocks out: HQ staves, AF Body, Enfeebling Torque, Goliard Hands & Feet, along with a Witch Sash and an Omega Ring.

The gears listed put me at 298 skill & +11 Magic ACC + whatever bonus the HQ staff gives. I only wish I had some relic pieces and sea capes to boost my powers further.

Aside from what I wrote the only other thing that will impact your abilities are the mobs inherent immunities and resistances. If strong vs. Earth, slow ain't gonna stick... If strong vs. Ice, paralyze isn't going to stick. I trust you know this, but it bears repeating if only because even the best of us do forget such small details.

Btw... for anyone checking my merits. I'm just optimized for meripo situations. That's what my RDM is for. I have some other spells unlocked, but I have never planned on doing the whole RDM/NIN solo thing. If anything the other odds and ends I've unlocked/ powered up were done so to benefit my LS in alliance situations.

I hope all this helps. Cheers!

heh yea i'm already 16/16 is why i was curious. My RDM is currently Lv60 and i was hesitant to get it to 75 without access to enfeebling merits. Was curious of how RDM performs without them.

edit: and yes was thinking more of Sky gods+NMs/Nyzul.

Personally, I maxed out merits for Elemental Magic for BLM, then started moving to merit Enfeebling before I even hit 70RDM. When I get to 70, I plan to already have max Enfeebling, at which I will move to Ice/Earth accuracy (Paralyze/Slow).

~Yote

Well, I don't think you'd have any problems with a decent gear setup and some magic accuracy in the rdm merit category. Int and Mnd merits would help your Enfeebles last longer as well.
I'm doing Convert maxed and Ice maxed to help with my nuking on Rdm as well. Not so interested in the Earth m.acc. >.>

Ugh!

I hate equiping my AF body, I know it gives +15 Enfeebling, but I can't stand the look.

I'd rather just boost all the other slots and hope that +15 won't matter in the end..

Stupid AF Body has to look so horrendous.

All other RDM are probably ready to disown me for saying this.

O.oa You wear it for like what..? Half a dozen spells? Get over it. :P

PROBLEM:



SOLUTION:

Just mod the .dat file. Refusing to cast enfeebling spells in your AF body is just hurting yourself. :(

Sounds good guys! Thanks for the info so far^^

Could be worse..

You could be wearing the PUP AF body ;p

No, even with AF2 hat, or crimson mask, stick to AF body for enfeebles at least in endgame HNM/god situations.

I use: duelists, AF body, enf torque, i have 3 and 3 into ice and earth acc merit, also have 6/6/4 enfeeble, elemental, wind instruments respectively (yah i had to merit bard a little) ... and ToAU nm still resist the ***out of my slow/para II.

There is really no point to boosting your MND on enfeebles if you get resisted at a very high rate, that being said i think errant is a lame choice, unless you are doing an ES enfeeble. The only more lame choice I can think of for enfeeble is AF2 body...

If you want MND get some communion rings etc, you can stack tons of MND without the errant body piece so.. bleh

Maybe for an exp party i would say swapping in errant or whatever is a decent idea for the MND bonus, but hey rdm don't even enfeeble in exp anymore ahahha.

Besides, why do you dislike a body piece that you only HAVE to macro in for 2 or so spells? For everything else there is dalmatica :P

I don't macro in stuff for my spells. Goes against how I percieve the game should be played.

lol, ok then. good luck. i suppose you don't macro proper staves for debuffs or nukes either then, well, yah good luck landing spells as red mage, not getting resists if you ever play black mage, doing higher dmg weapon skills as any melee job... and ever excelling at any job really.. without macroing gear, hey to each their own though.

I play casually, the only end game I play is Dynamis, there's no HNM, Nyzul, Salvage, Einharjer, Sky, etc. There's no NM's to enfeeble for me.

Making it through FFXI just fine so far.

The concept of switching 10 pieces of gear for a half second, having the spell/ability go off, then switching back is stupid in my eyes. But that discussion would seriously derail this thread.

Why do you have to come off that way Smurfo? You're basically accusing him of being a horrible Red Mage. Do you have any idea how he plays? I think before you judge someone you should know how they play. Regardless if they macro in gear or not.

(Which by the way he does, just not for two seconds.)

how is it stupid to be the most effective red mage possible?

It's as simple as:

/equip main "Earth Staff"
/equip body "Warlock's Tabard"
/ma "Slow" <t>
/wait (3? w/e is spell cast length)
/equip main "Light staff or other preferred item"
/equip body "Whatever"

Doing this you can effectively swap two pieces of gear and replace them after spell cast in one single push of a button, it's not hard, it will make you a better mage, it's so incredibly simple to do that not doing it is just foolish.

When you have more than 2 items to swap out it does become a bit more of a hassle, but it's so incredibly simple to macro.

I wasn't trying to come off in any particular way.

I just cannot comprehend why would someone knowingly refuse to make their jobs easier/better when it's as simple as writing out a macro.

Wow... Sadly... I agree with Smurfo! :O *Looks around for the riders of the Apocalypse.*

Seriously though... I can see melee not switching in 8+ pieces of gear for everything they do... Another little extra bit of damage isn't going to save the day. But being a mage and not macro'ing in gear for Enfeebles/nukes/etc. is just silly. You either want something to stick and save your party or you don't and let them die. I mean... Do you cast Sleep with a Light Staff on? I sure hope not for your sake and that of your party.

It's one thing to 'play how you want', but it's another to be so pig-headed that you refuse to believe there could possibly be a better way.

But then again.. And this will sound like an attack, probably because there's really no other way to word it in my opinion...

We can't all look at the world through rose-colored glasses.

Let me stop you there. That’s where you’re wrong.

Some people play this game to actually have fun, and not be the best. I don’t know about you, but I’d actually like to see my character casting a spell or using a weapon skill and not have them blinking every 5 seconds.

The eliteness mentality is what’s wrong with this game, this desire for eliteness basically revolves around gil/equipment. This is where you get RMT, Ninja Lotters, Greedy LS Leaders, NM Thieves, Borrower Thieves, and countless other crimes that all evolve around people wanting to be the best, and not caring about how they get there.

I play to have fun. If I don’t have fun, I don’t play the game. This game revolves around more then “being the best”.



Who said that? I sure didn’t. I know macroing in will increase my performance. But there’s a point where if you’re blinking every 10 seconds, it gets ridiculous.

So, you enjoy letting your party either die or tow your weight because your enfeebles didn't stick?

Ooohhh... 100th post. =D

No, what's wrong with this game is people who for whatever reason refuse to believe that after this games long long existence somebody may actually be right when they say there is a simple, effective way of doing something.

If you are blinking every ten seconds at least you are trying to land that debuff that obviously keeps resisting, vs. casting the same thing over and over again expecting different result.

I myself don't gear swap nearly that much.. perhaps you are doing something majorly wrong if you have to recast that many times/spells of different elements. (could be the fact that you dont macro.)

Playing to have fun is what we all do, but people refusing to do their jobs in an effective manner is what makes this game less fun for the majority.. seriously if your fun is found in the potential expense of everyone elses fun, i guess that's cool. I think it not elitist to simply think that everyone should be on the same page as far as having fun and succeeding at things is concerned..

If you are so-so equiped rdm than you will have a hard time on or no time sticking enfeebles on big NMs.

Outside of merit parties you should be able to stick and enfeeble on anything unless its a mob specifically strong to a certain spell or element. That is even with a naked rdm and no merits.

In Merit parties you want atleast ok gear. Elemental magic is not a good substitute for enfeebling magic, but magic accuracy is. Your AF hat is good for plain casting (fast cast) and nuke accuracy (elemental). If you want a hat the will help your enfeebles land on lvl 77+ mobs you should invest in a Wise Cap (magic accuracy +5), it is cheap and very affective.

Really your AF body and the enfeebling torque should be enouph unless your trying to be consistant on higher lvl mobs. Even then they will probably work most of the time in merit parties anyway.

Never been put in a position where my enfeebles resisted, or where I’ve actually needed to enfeeble. Again, the only end-game activity I’ve ever played is Dynamis, and there’s very little mobs to enfeeble there, and if there are any usually the other RDM take care of it.

And lastly, if I were to ever decide to expand my end-game, whichever LS I join better take what they get. Again, I play to have fun, I’m not going to change the way I play because all the other kids are doing it. I’ll try my best to get the job done, but by my standards. If they don’t like it, they can boot me.

But that’s assuming I ever do anything besides Dynamis, which in my 4 years of playing this game, hasn’t happened yet.

@smurfo & Tbest

Leave Luginata alone, he's charted his course and it seems that the people who play with him are ok with how he runs his RDM. I'd wager outside of that circle of friends, people would be less permissive of that style.

With respect to the OP I'm sure he/she/shim/it is learning alot about RDM from all of us.

Basically comes down to this: for meripo, put on your Light Staff, play like Luginata, and you can get by. For anything else that seriously requires you to be at the top of your game, so that your party/ alliance has a better time of it... listen to smurfo and tbest. Swap your gears as the situation requires and definitely tack on anything that grants you Enfeebling Magic Skill.

I'll say it again.. I don't argue that what you do is more effective then what I'm doing. I still choose to play this way regardless.



Haven't hurt anyone yet. Perhaps it's because I know my limitations and don't delve into something I can't handle? (AKA, any end game activities outside of Dynamis)

yah ok.. so you have an A+ enfeebling skill why then? Why dont you go play bard if you wanna refresh/buff people (oh yah u probly wouldnt elegy duh!) or whm if you want to cure then?

Honestly the thing is that RDM enfeebles are a priority, you wouldn't understand this unless you had done a little tanking i suppose but you.. yes you.. rdm make the mobs much much easier for tanks, you mitigate dmg done to tanks, as well as buff/cure people..

Ok time to pick apart every little thing he says and be a smartass!



How does that affect this conversation? RDM have A+ Enfeebling… and?



Last I checked, RDM don’t need enfeebling, or even macro swaps for Refresh. How does this fall into this debate?



See above.



I agree. I always put Enfeebling on the top of things to do when in the appropriate situation.



If you’re looking for a “little” tanking, then yes, I’ve taken PLD to 37 on a different char, and I’ve taken NIN to 37 on this char. I classify that as a “little”, not a lot, but a “little”.



Yes, I do that just fine.. Doesn’t require many, or any gear swaps for that.