Why are we advertized as fighter-mages when White Mages can out-do us?

[Supersun]

Enspells 1 can be pushed to 35 relatively easy

...maybe with a Fencing Ring and a Chimariac Fleuret

[Mageoholic]

I dunno doing 80-85% of a top tier DD's damage, while increasing that damage by 35% or so (17% via Dia III, and 15% haste) is pretty badass, if you bogarted that stuff to yourself that gap closes even more.

[Ketaru]

I dunno doing 80-85% of a top tier DD's damage, while increasing that damage by 35% or so (17% via Dia III, and 15% haste) is pretty badass, if you bogarted that stuff to yourself that gap closes even more.

That doesn't really count because you can be casting Haste on those DDs and Dia is aiding everybody who is swinging at the mob, not just you. What you're describing is a scenario where everybody is on their own with no outside support. And, most of the time, that situation doesn't exist in the game.

...maybe with a Fencing Ring and a Chimeric Fleuret

I, for one, think Chimeri Fleuret is a pretty solid subhand weapon if you want to go for strong hits over more swings.

All the more reason I go back to the whole "mixed messages" stuff. They clearly know what kind of gear you need to be a serviceable frontline damage dealer. They just don't want to give it to you.

[Supersun]

I'd be very surprised if outside of abyssea Rdm still does 80% of a DDs damage like we did at 75. Other DDs have had HUGE increases to their performance while comparatively we've pretty much stayed the same since 75 with the only real significant increase being CDC, but even then once the abyssites and atma are stripped away our lack Str, Dex, and attack on our WS gear compared to other jobs starts to show quite a bit.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Every (1 handed DD) loses that though, unless you have Crit attack bonus/Skillchian Bonus/Impetus/Blood Rage (war only and why is it dualwielding?) going for you. Oh and obviously the usual better gear/traits/JA than Rdm.

[Supersun]

Yeah, but unlike most DDs I don't go from capping the Str-Vit function to barely breaking 0.

I mean AF3, Twilight, and Eponas for most DD jobs just brought a whole new level of retarded.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Aside from Epona's/Belt, TP/WS Head Option and TP/WS Body Option (alcide's is slightly better but if you need attack Tarasque+1/Rager Ledelsens isn't too far behind) Rdm Tp set isn't that much different from Blu aside from whether you're capping haste/using ACP body with DW/Blu has Mextli harness.

It's really the ability to set DA/attack bonus/go /war and still have DW (assuming you benefit from Zerk and Aggressor) and Self SC in addition to the above that has them ahead. DNC has more DD oriented traits (justifiable, they need TP for abilities), Thf can force crit on weaponskills/more dual wield/stats depending on gear (Dnc can do the same now), Bst/Pup are pet jobs.

EDIT: Not getting Twilight Belt was annoying to say the least with next best belt being N sash.

[Svith]

Okay. I normally don't reply to stupid things: but this in particular piqued my interest;
The melee WHM revolution started in the 75's era, about 4~ years ago, when sea robber and sea wolf cugdels came out, then with the addition of the morganstern, whm became a formidable soloist with Hexa strike + Stoneskin, and /nin. I remember a few of my whm friends going after the Reverend Mail from Shen, because they wanted more solo capabilities.
NOW; this brings me to my next point; ANY job in this game can be broken, if done properly. RDM in particular could easily be made into a front line job if executed properly, in both gear, and mindset. If you want to DD in abbysea, then get yourself some crit gear, (off the top of my head; Pln. Khazaghand, Heart Snatcher) RR SS GH atmas, and go eviscerate the crap out of something.
An example of ingenuity: (Circa 6 years ago~) I recall a RED MAGE I used to fight in ballista, came to matches as RDM/RNG, i thought "wow, this guy is touched in the head", then he busts out his Kclub, hastes himself, and starts going to town, clubbing and sidewinder'ing people into little bits. /w stoneskin and cure, he was nearly impossible to take down, before he'd allready slaughtered you with repeated sidewinders.

Its not that you CAN'T do it, its that you haven't found the way TO do it.

[Neisan_Quetz]

It seems to be more the desire to melee stronger mobs imo, if you don't care to you don't really find anything wrong with Rdm melee. Buffs to it would be nice but I hardly see it as a pressing issue.

[Eeek]

It seems to be more the desire to melee stronger mobs imo, if you don't care to you don't really find anything wrong with Rdm melee. Buffs to it would be nice but I hardly see it as a pressing issue.

RDM melee capabilities are absolutely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and it should never be the job's focus.

If the developers want to throw a bone to RDM's melee capacity from time to time, that's cool. I consider fighting on RDM a fun hobby on the side. The people I know who take meleeing seriously do it well since, instead of whining about Fencer and EX weaponskills on forums, they went out and completed Almaces and impressive TP/Weaponskill sets. They'd appreciate a little buff to RDM's melee capacity. But when it comes time to play as a mage, they play as a mage. And they're damned good.

FFXI has too damn many melees already, and RDM should never be retooled to join that crowd. It'd simply fade into irrelevance like the other weaker DDs. RDM is an exceptionally strong mage and it needs to remain on a mage-centric line of development.