Originally Posted by
Seriha
Put simply, people want efficiency. People want the path of least resistance that leads to the most plentiful results. RDM melee is the hardest aspect of the job to gear, and relative to nuking as a damage source, is basically inferior. Our buff side is grossly overstated. What most mean to say is Utsusemi makes us "gods" at times, which last I checked is a NIN ability. Our debuffs really aren't all that when they can land, and we all know WHM can brute force their way through a fight even without casting their T1 versions of Slow and Para (And to the Efficiency Police, enfeebling is A Bad Thing(tm) since the MNK can't counter as often!).
Back in the day, I used to say something like RDM is 1/9 WAR, 5/9 WHM, and 3/9 BLM. Nowadays, you could drop a point off WHM and add it to BLM, if only because of T4 nukes. We've obviously gotten no new cures or meaningful party buffs. Still, I'd like this ratio to eventually become more of 1/3rd each, but I'm not so dense as it to limit it purely to damage. Melee and Support aren't mutually exclusive roles. Would you let a RDM melee if it meant they could cast a 20% Haste instead of 15%? How about a 45% Slow instead of 35%? That's just the beginning kiddies, and it doesn't even demand 4k+ WS to work.