Lack of decent Red Mage Gear

[Varlan]

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.

This is nothing of the sort. This thread is my first post on this forum, and I didn't even know this game had a forum until a couple of days ago. I'm getting around to leveling up my red mage and I'm looking at gear on the AH and realizing that I can't get the kind of gear I normally buy after 75. What made me think about this is when I was comparing the Aurore Doublet (damage dealing chest) with the Teal Saio (caster chest). A blue mage can use both as can a puppet master. However, a red mage can only use the Teal Saio. Up until 75, with some exceptions, my red mage can use a lot of STR, DEX, ATK gear, but after looking at the situation with the two chest pieces above, I started looking at other gear on the AH and realized that most of the ATK, STR, DEX gear I can't use. It's all caster stuff and it's only on gear after 75.

I have played my red mage as a melee caster guy since I created him with no issues. I don't run any of the crazy dungeons, never killed an HNM, or don't really even know what Abyssea is, even though I bought the first one the other day. I'm just not that kind of player. But I'm enjoying my class and I'm only concerned with the lack of gear once I get past 75 (which may be a while since I have to beat Maat). It's an innocent question and one that I'd like to have an answer to without getting into any crazy flame wars. I don't know anything about the history of the class. I just followed the description of it in the game when I created it and went from there.

My hope is that the developers put red mage on some of this gear, because it's a little unfair to be allowed to play a certain way up to some point, then do a total 180 and say it wasn't supposed to be that way. I'll admit I'm a little frustrated and disappointed.

[Mageoholic]

My hope is that the developers put red mage on some of this gear, because it's a little unfair to be allowed to play a certain way up to some point, then do a total 180 and say it wasn't supposed to be that way. I'll admit I'm a little frustrated and disappointed.

I wouldn't say a complete 180, its on some pretty decent gear that other jobs use. It can Cap gear haste and has 40% haste by itself, it can break 600ATK, it has pretty solid ACC on 2 weapons, it has a 17% ATK bonus (Dia III), it now has a 10+% native DA, It has Enspells I and II (depending on subjob and weapon selections.).

While some of that is pre Abyssea, and I agree that our gear options haven't grown much....but here is why.

In addition to all those bonuses to melee... we have T4 nukes, T4 Cures, Enfeebles, Buffs, all things that are accessible a gear swap away, RDM is becoming more of a hybrid with almost every update, we have seen updates to both sides in almost equal increments.

The issue with gear isn't so much that it is there. It is that the better gear is not available from easy AFv3 +1/+2 farming, it is under pretty heavy competition with other DD's. It is also the fact that our WS's are kind of meh unless we /WAR (or the like for Sanguine Vorpal) use a Dagger (which is alright if you have Twilight Knife I guess) for Evis, or have CDC.

But RDM has T4 Nukes, T4 Cure, Enfeebles and buffs.

RDM is in a pretty good spot design wise. The issue is not in the gear, it is the systematic things. Such as the Healing Gap The nuking gap. The buffing gap. The debuffing gap. The melee gap.

Oh wait, I forgot we can do all of that stuff with simple gear swaps, where other jobs can't.

RDM is mediocre because it can do everything. Suck it up and learn to solo/lowman.

[Varlan]

RDM is mediocre because it can do everything. Suck it up and learn to solo/lowman.

I won't lie, I don't know anything about what you're talking about. It's all jibberish to me. My point was simply about gear I could use before vs. gear I can't use now. I don't know anything about being mediocre or sucking at casting spells or healing or anything like that. I'm fine with all that. The only thing I want is better gear availability for the way I play. I don't know anything about Abyssea or anything like that. I don't know what a T4 or T5 is and I don't really care, either. When I want some new gear and I go the AH to buy something, I want options. After 75 there are none. Which is why I made this thread in the first place. Maybe some people aren't happy with where they are in the game, but I'm fine with my position. I accept my limitations as being a "hybrid". The gear situation is just unacceptable to me at this point and it's making me want to quit because I was enjoying myself up until this point. Knowing that sometime in the near future I won't be able to get gear is disheartening.

[Swords]

Well your frustrations are understandable, when Zeni NM's were released 3 or 4 years ago, SE for whatever reason just stopped including us on certain types of armor like scale, doublet, and harness gear. Then again SE started to give into the player based trends (which is obvious in most Emp. AF) so that could be part of the reason, but where some job's got left in the dust SE is scampering trying to find a void for these jobs to fill. Seeing as SE has finally started to give RDM some much overdue attention, they are probably playing with their options now that RDM isn't seen as the mainstream all powerful job anymore.

[Soranika]

Oooooh.
...T4 = Tier IV magic. (Fire IV, Blizzard IV, Cure IV.... anything with IV). Same with T5. Any one plays a job that use magic should know this.... Every one should also know any gear worth getting won't usually be on the AH.

And Abyssea should matter. It's part of the core reason RDM's limitations started to rapidly appear.

[Varlan]

I guess I'm learning something about what seems to be the seedy underbelly most of us "casual" players don't know anything about. I never considered any of what you guys are talking about. I hit things with a sword and things die...easily or not. Didn't really matter to me since I was enjoying the game, which to me is the most important part. I'm one of "those guys" in WoW, and I started this game to not be one of "those guys". Which is why I just dealt with what the game gave me and went from there. Ignorance is bliss in this case. Either way, I thought this would be an avenue to voice my concern as someone who is not at all "hardcore" and I don't know what the community wants at large. My discussions with players in the game generally don't revolve around the technical side of the game so I've never really thought about it.

Buying things on the AH is how I've survived in the game and I'm okay with that. I'm not going to get into a discussion about what someone should or shouldn't know about a game, because it's not really my place to tell someone how or what to play. Saying someone should know what T4 and T5 is doesn't make any sense because it's simply game jargon. I know what Water III or Aero IV is, but that doesn't mean I should know that some players call them T3 or T4 spells. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the heads up. At least now I know what that means.

As for Abyssea, it means getting into the "hardcore" section of the game that I don't want to jump into. Even more so after reading this thread. I like the way I play my character and to all of a sudden to go from a relatively relaxed game experience to one where people are telling me that I'm gimped, suck, can't play my class, shouldn't play this way, etc., that's not something I want to get into. For me, all they need to do is allow me to get some decent gear from the AH (or even questing to be honest) on my way to 95 and I'll be happy.

I recently figured out what AF was and the red mage stuff just isn't for me, so it's something I've avoided questing for. Even though I think the hat looks awesome.

**EDIT** Red mage was considered a powerful job? I've liked the versatility the job gives, but I wouldn't have considered it "powerful". I simply picked it because the description of the job at character selection sounded cool.

[Mageoholic]

**EDIT** Red mage was considered a powerful job? I've liked the versatility the job gives, but I wouldn't have considered it "powerful". I simply picked it because the description of the job at character selection sounded cool.

Its a false powerful, a long time ago some douchebag named Avesta started soloing the some of the strongest monsters in the game. Ever since then SE has been pussies about RDM, and other jobs cry foul if RDM ever gets to strong again (see RDM EXP healing in ToAU and the current Healing Gap vs SCH and WHM.)

[Economizer]

Okay, I really wish you were on my server, I'd just explain all of this in tells, and give you a linkshell if you had any further questions.

**EDIT** Red mage was considered a powerful job? I've liked the versatility the job gives, but I wouldn't have considered it "powerful". I simply picked it because the description of the job at character selection sounded cool.

Look on YouTube for "Avesta Red Mage" and watch him solo things at 75 that were simply not meant to be fought solo. Be inspired.

Some players exploited (in a very good way) being able to do a little bit of everything along side some creative gameplay, and it created a reputation.

There is more to it then that as well, but I'm not quite sure how to put it into words at the moment.

When I want some new gear and I go the AH to buy something, I want options. After 75 there are none.

While there is somewhat of a shortage for mage melee related gear in general, there are a lot of things you can use that will make you incredibly effective. They also tend to be harder to get then gear for jobs that more commonly melee. One of the plights that come with meleeing as a more "magey" class is that you will probably pay ten times the gil for your gear, if you can even buy it.

A lot of the best gear for melee for Red Mage is currently under level 75, although there are pieces above. Rarer pieces generally aren't buyable at the AH, but instead are quested and such.

Basically, as a melee interested Red Mage, you will be putting a lot of work into the job, and it is easy to switch to another class where you put much less effort into it to get the same results, especially as the levels go on. It can be well worth it if you enjoy it, but you should be warned.

-

Getting more to the point, while I do think it is a good idea to ask for this sort of gear, and to ask that the melee related spells and abilities continue to come, the dev team simply does not update fast enough that they will add this gear by the time you get to 95, assuming that you are leveling fairly fast.

Thus, a good idea in the mean time would be to get advice on how to gear up for this play style.

I'm not an expert on gear for Red Mage, but I can suggest a few budget pieces, like a Rajas Ring (quested), Spiral Ring (cheap, helps INT, STR, and VIT, which helps casting and melee, and even a tiny bit for tanking and curing), Suppanomimi (quested), Swift Belt (quested).

That said, I don't have to be an expert on gear, and you don't have to be either. There are plenty of suggestions and guides, like the few in this thread for example:

there's stuff out there to wear.

i run this: http://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/219339

and that's not ideal. as in rdm could wear better than that.

Mainhand obviously is Almace or the WoE sword for CDC. That not being an option you can twilight dagger and the newer DMG 42 Delay 186 dagger, although it's kinda pricey. If SE was to give us Vorpal naively then we could go Sword all the time.

Both of these guys seem to really know there stuff, and I think I remember Saevel even being knowledgeable on the subject of sub job selection, which is a surprisingly big part of augmenting your Red Mage to fit your play style.

Seriously, if you have any more questions, ask. Even if people who are real experts of Red Mage don't answer, I'll do my best to help, even if the best I can do is point you to FFXI related websites with better knowledge of the game then I have.

As a side thought, don't think that Abyssea is hard because for "end game" content, it is a top contender for casual play, even if some players have to make it more serious then it really is. You can dive right into it with some minor preparation and have lots of fun.

[Swords]

Yeah, a select few amount of highly skilled and extremely well geared RDM's pretty much started soloing some of the toughest baddies of the time. While only a select few were able to pull off such feats, and even though other jobs started doing the same things after a point, many viewed RDM as overpowered even though there was extremely few who could pull off such feats at the time. In the end RDM became represented by the minority of very few elite players which caused a negative and biased backlash that got RDM overlooked for 95% of the updates over the years, and were just now starting to recover and get attention after 7+ years.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Even though I think the hat looks awesome.

If nothing else, you need that hat, 10% Fast Cast can't be beaten.