Lack of decent Red Mage Gear

[Varlan]

So I've been leveling up my red mage and I've found that gear (at least on the AH) is strange at best. Up until 75, it's possible to get a good set of STR, ATK, DEX gear without any real trouble. After 75, all of the RDM gear is basically caster stuff. Did something change? Why is blue mage on both caster and damage dealer gear, but red mage isn't? I'm confused, because it seems to send mixed messages and now I'm not sure if I want to continue playing red mage if it's not possible to get the type of gear I want to get (and was able to get at one point).

I'm just curious what the situation is with this.

[Shiyo]

It's the game telling you "Hey, this is a caster not a melee".

[Kristal]

It's the game telling you "Hey, this is a caster not a melee".

Gain-STR and Temper tell a whole different story...

[Tamoa]

LolTemper - not ever going to get that spell for my rdm. Gain-STR, well it would look weird if we got all the other gain-spells and not Gain-STR. Only one I ever use, is Gain-MND.

Rdm does get semi-decent melee gear though. You can easily cap haste, so I don't see the problem. It will never be a good melee job, ever. But if you, the OP, search this forum, there are 7866786789 other threads about rdm melee already. I'm sure you can get some tips about gear and stuff there, if you really really want to go the melee-route.

[Shiyo]

Gain-STR and Temper tell a whole different story...

Obviously we get gain-chr so we can sub brd or bst right?

[Kristal]

Gain-CHR helps resist songs and charm, and it could be usefull on RDM/BST charming mobs in GoV changed dungeons.

Not that you'd see many RDMs going that route, but it's available.

Composure, Gain-STR, Temper, Aquaveil changes .. SE gives us spells and abilities to enhance our melee, but that's kind of pointless if we don't get the gear for it...

[noodles355]

Is this going to be another stupid melee rdm thread?

I'll get the key points in before this thread turns to shit (inevitable):

Rdm melee is fine on casual unimportant content. Campaign, Dom Ops, some Walk of Echoes (excluding boss), Dynamis, Campaign.
Rdm melee is not good for important or difficult NM fights. Don't do it there.

Rdm melee is weak and has issues. However, Rdm's mage side is also equally weak and has even moe issues.

If people like you keep complaining about the melee aspect, which only affects the weak mobs/casual events/solo aspect of the job, then SE will think melee is all rdms care about and wont boost the mage side, which affects every aspect of the job. That's a problem. That's reason enough for you to keep your trap shut about rdm melee until we recieve the important mage updates we need.

[Stylin]

Why is blue mage on both caster and damage dealer gear, but red mage isn't?

This is a very good question.

The rest of you need to get off your damn soapboxes.

[Aver]

Because BLU and RDM are completely different entities. Just because both jobs use a sword and end in -mage does not mean they follow the same rules.

[Sparthos]

So I've been leveling up my red mage and I've found that gear (at least on the AH) is strange at best. Up until 75, it's possible to get a good set of STR, ATK, DEX gear without any real trouble. After 75, all of the RDM gear is basically caster stuff. Did something change? Why is blue mage on both caster and damage dealer gear, but red mage isn't? I'm confused, because it seems to send mixed messages and now I'm not sure if I want to continue playing red mage if it's not possible to get the type of gear I want to get (and was able to get at one point).

I'm just curious what the situation is with this.

Red Mage has changed purposes over the years and thus your observation of the AH serves as an observation of this evolution.

At inception, SE intended RDM to be this caster/melee hybrid but it never worked out because of how the game is set up. RDM doesn't do very well beyond EXP/trash tier mobs, inventory limitations pen you into focusing more on mage relevant gear and over the years most people have abandoned the melee aspect for the much more lucrative magical aspects.

The older gear you see is from the era where SE intended to dictate what every class does whereas the newer gear is representative of the trend in which most RDM avoid melee and stick to the mage aspects of the class.

The enspell II line and Temper are attempts to appease the population of RDMs who desire frontline capability but as of the last patch, very little has changed with regards to the power of a RDM on the frontlines.

Blue Mage on the other hand was released with TOAU and straight out of the gate was designed to be what RDM couldn't from the start - a battle mage. The class gets access to melee and mage gear but if you observe many of the newer mage pieces omit BLU completely.

In short, BLU is the battle mage if you're looking to play one.