Current state of RDM?

[Aebel]

Considering leveling up a RDM, I dont have any casters at max level. They seem fun, but I remember hearing at the beginning of the expansion that they fall off real hard once you hit end game content. I'm not a min-maxer or anything but I do like classes I spend time on to at least be playable or even considered for a slot in end game content.

[Seraph522]

Depends on what you mean by "end game content," but getting into pretty much anything as an RDM is perfectly fine. Their biggest advantage is during progression on Extreme/Savage tier content, where their on-demand rez capabilities are incredibly helpful; this is less so once you've cleared and everyone is presumably on top of their game, but they're not incapable of clearing or anything. The major disadvantage they have is more that they don't bring anything to the table that BLM and SMN already do, and that's only really when it comes to meta comps. That being said, this only matters at Savage-tier or higher content; everything else, no one cares what job you are, and even at that tier personal skill trumps meta rankings. RDM is also pretty easy to pick up, so if it sounds fun, give it a whirl.

I admittedly may be a little biased as an RDM main myself, but there you go.

[Rongway]

At least you can unlock it and take it for a Lv50 test drive without having to invest time into leveling it to find out how it feels. There aren't really any noteworthy changes in the playstyle or rotation from 50 to 68. A few extra oGCDs along the way and you can build up mana for a combo slightly faster. If you think it's fun at 50, you will probably think it's a bit more fun than that at 70. If you don't like it at 50, it probably won't change enough by 70 to change your mind.

There's Verraise at 64 but it will mostly not be a thing you need to use until you get into trials and raids. You get to save the day whenever new content gets added and people are dying to all the new mechanics. Sometimes it's irritating and sometimes it's glorious; that bit can be quite mood dependent.

[JohnnyDevo]

"fall off hard" is a bit of an exaggeration.

At 90 percentile on the final omega fight, for example, a black mage does 8500 ish, and a red mage does 7500 ish. A difference of 12%, comparing a caster that is 100% entirely selfish, with a caster that has higher mobility and provides a party-wide damage buff. and the rez, but that's not so important when comparing parties that can compete at 90+ percentile.

Yes, they're the weakest caster, but no, they're not so weak that they can't compete. They are, in fact, 6th place among all 9 dps, staying ahead of bard, dragoon, and ninja. And the differences between the jobs aren't even that severe.

Bottom line, all classes can compete reasonably at any content that you could hope to do. Just play what you want, and if you play it well, you'll clear.

[Neela]

Rdms got several buff in SB - currently the gap to Blm/Smn isnt that bad anymore - there was i time Rdms really felt apart but thats history

[Maero]

Red Mage is a much better position now even if it is behind the other caster dps.
(Used to be behind by a significant margin and behind Bard as well)
Plus so many times i have saved a team wipe because of verraise