Oh look more swords blu cant use! >.>

[StingRay104]

That's what I'm doing with my PUP (Abyssea Leeching that is) >.> lvl 20 and looks like James Bond in the Tux but then again I know outside of Salvage and Some AF/Relic armor PUP lacks good DD gear even after SE acknowledged PUP players want to DD alongside the puppet.

Also LOL at the concept of 5-10 armor sets from lvl 1-90 equate to a good amount of "good DD gear"

Edit: I'm most interested in how skilling up will work out speed wise on PUP with 3 skills to work on, but that sounds fun to me

Theres some good skill up guides for PUP on wiki.

[Defiledsickness]

at least you can focus mainly on blm and whm pup skills since they're the best. rng used to be great dmg but its the same as rng... not very popular atm. melee pup is fun for a change of pace and their going to be adding new stuff to keep him alive longer.

[Scuro]

I'm pretty sure composure's main purpose was to increase spell duration so that RDMs wouldn't have to constantly deal with their cycles til they were blue in the face. Granted yes there is that bonus, but I can tell you right now, if SE were smart, they would realize that giving accuracy to a mage does not a DD make. They were trying to be people pleasers to people that play the job wrong, thus is why they were trying to give DD RDMs what they desired. Yet the "original vision" I doubt was meant to be DD RDM, while it may have been a possibility, the job RDM is extremely ambiguous and lacked any form of definition other then that which the community gaved it based on their biased of the job. Now you are being told, you're job is a buffer and a debuffer, you can deny it all you want, and you can resent it as much as you like, yet when push comes to shove, it is what the job was INTENDED to do. Hence why BLU has better sword skill and DD gear then RDM could ever dream to equip, and why AF3 for RDMs bared not a single DD stat but only buff and debuff stats. It is also why I the job does not have a single DD Job trait natively. I don't know how much more a RDM can deny it that they play the job in the manner it was not desired, yet it should be extremely evident now when you guys didn't get Fencer, although you would best apply such a role. If that hasn't given you DD RDMs the middle finger to tell you to play the job in the manner it was MEANT to be played, I don't know what does.

[Defiledsickness]

maybe composure is only for DDing. i mean whm gets no "enhances duration" stuff at all. if you're a back line mage you can just keep casting because you're not doing anything else. i mean with RDM you cast once and dont cast again until tomorrow :P although rdm was a haste whore, i doubt the devs gave it composer to keep it being abused.

composer was probably so that you could melee and not have to stop and recast all your buffs while getting pummeled. so the +acc would make sense. the only thing contrary to this at all, is that rdm AF3 has NOTHING good for melee lol. also we got no spells either except +5vit or agi from the boost spells. we should be getting bosst-str and dex soon, but it doesnt seem like we'll be seeing much DD gear from here on out.

but hey, they could have just wanted us to be able to keep up as a mage and give us our DD stuff at 91+

[Zagen]

I'm pretty sure composure's main purpose was to increase spell duration so that RDMs wouldn't have to constantly deal with their cycles til they were blue in the face. Granted yes there is that bonus, but I can tell you right now, if SE were smart, they would realize that giving accuracy to a mage does not a DD make. They were trying to be people pleasers to people that play the job wrong, thus is why they were trying to give DD RDMs what they desired. Yet the "original vision" I doubt was meant to be DD RDM, while it may have been a possibility, the job RDM is extremely ambiguous and lacked any form of definition other then that which the community gaved it based on their biased of the job. Now you are being told, you're job is a buffer and a debuffer, you can deny it all you want, and you can resent it as much as you like, yet when push comes to shove, it is what the job was INTENDED to do. Hence why BLU has better sword skill and DD gear then RDM could ever dream to equip, and why AF3 for RDMs bared not a single DD stat but only buff and debuff stats. It is also why I the job does not have a single DD Job trait natively. I don't know how much more a RDM can deny it that they play the job in the manner it was not desired, yet it should be extremely evident now when you guys didn't get Fencer, although you would best apply such a role. If that hasn't given you DD RDMs the middle finger to tell you to play the job in the manner it was MEANT to be played, I don't know what does.

You either don't know about Red Mage in the FF series, refuse to acknowledge what the development team "intended" based on the implemented spells/abilities/gear options, or just can't handle BLU in FFXI is what it is because of the failure of the front line side of RDM before BLU was introduced.

Regardless of the reason, lets agree to disagree because you can't even accept logical points that counter your "RDM = Back Line Only" thinking.

[Tashan]

Red Mage in FFXI is exactly how it has been in all Final Fantasy games.

Comparable melee/spells to other classes at low levels, multi-casts/rapid casts, then outclassed by specialist jobs at higher levels.

I'd as much argue that FFXI's RDM is the best the class has ever been in the entire series.

---

FFXI BLU is pretty faithful to all previous iterations in the series. Subpar melee to specialist class', but amazing effects through enemy skills. The Blue Mage class design also has more respectable appearances in the FF series than Red Mage.

[Scuro]

Oh lord here we go again with RDMs bringing up what they used to be in other FF's (its either this or they bring up the one term they feel is the holy light of their job "Jack of All Trades", when half of them don't understand that doesn't make you a DD RDM), rather then what they are. Man if I had a dollar for every RDM in denial that said "Well this isn't what RDM is! Look back to what the other games did!" I would be a damn millionare, time to wake up pal, because thats just it those are "other games" not "this game" While the general motif of what is representative of a RDM is carried over to this game, and while this game is still an FF game, the classes and how they operate are different, spells and JA's and etc are different. Because while this game is meant to be apart of its family of games by using classes from older FF's, and referencing past FF's in mobs, music, etc. This game is also meant to stand out from its predecessors, hence why the storyline isn't a FF7 remake part 4. And me? not drawing logical points? I'm pointing out how the community actually utilizes RDMs and their use of composure, how you're AF3 which is supposed to be a definition of what you're job role does within this community does not contain a SINGLE DD stat, and the fact that you bare not a SINGLE DD job trait native to you're class, while you, you are pointing at content that is not this game, but past FF games.

What irritates me is that even with SE coming out and flat out telling you, you are not a DD. There are still RDMs hoping for godly buffs so that they can use it on THEMSELVES to indulge in their lil solo-sword-masturbation rather then utilizing it in the manner that it was intended, to benefit the party. Accept it, this class was designed to buff, and debuff and if you can't accept it from my mouth, go to the job manifesto, pull that puppy up and read on pal. It's quite clear that you were not meant to do such a role within a party construct, now am I saying you CAN'T, no I'm saying you SHOULDN'T in a party, when you are by yourself, do with the job as you please. Yet trying to push off a DD with gimp potential and the only thing rooting for it is sickly TP feeding and high accuracy to guarantee a NM/Mob's TP move onto a party is not going to make anyone interested in the class. And you are wrong, I agreed with you that BLU is what some people wanted out of RDM, HENCE why the job was implemented into the series. God knows this series has plenty of jobs they could implement into the game from who knows how many different game universes, yet BLU was the job that was best fitting for the style of play that DD RDMs desired. SE blatantly acknowledged that RDM is not/will not be a DD class to be acknowledged in the community so they gave RDMs an option, be a BLU and be acknowledged as a DD, play RDM the way the community desires it to be played and in turn the way that SE has bent the job to be played as (hence af3 gear being debuff/buff stats only and not a single DD stat), or play DD RDM by you're self as a cast out pariah.

It just angers me that RDMs think that even with BLU they are designed as a job meant to be the true DD mage, when they couldn't be more far from the truth as SE is showing you now. And when RDMs claim that they desire this power for buffs and DD capability to "benefit the party as a cohesive whole" thats a load of c*ap. it is simply a guise they use to justify the power they want, in order to be a better DD then BLU's and DNC's, its been that way ever since RDMs started using that excuse, and that is exactly why SE will keep RDM DD in its place, as a leper cast out from society, as it should be and as of this moment forward, ever will be.