RDM's specialty is enfeebling and enhancing yet 95% of our most potent enfeeble and enhancing spells go to other jobs. WHM specializes in healing but they have a monopoly on the potent healing spells and regens. Gravity II is probably going to be really dumb as almost nothing is susceptible to Gravity anymore unless they make it like Flash or something and have it give a super potent evasion down effect also.

Para2/Slow2 are nice but our job's usefulness shouldn't be dictated solely based on merits. That's like making Cure5/Cure6/Esuna and Auspice merit spells. Most jobs fare pretty much the same without merits. Take away BLMS AM2 and they're more or less the same. Take away NIN's Sange or San spells, they're the same. Take away Feint or Aura Steal from a THF, they're the same. Take away Chivalry or Fealty from a PLD they're the same. But take away Para2/Slow2 from a RDM and you cripple literally the only things that make a RDM it's own class. A RDM90 is basically a BLM75/37RDM in almost every way except without AoEs.

Everything useful that RDM has or has ever gotten is from level 1-49 which soon anyone can gain from subbing.

My dreams/hopes for RDM:
-Nerf Convert to be 50% as potent when subbed.
-Make Refresh1 give 2mp/tick(makes RDM main more appealing)
-Remove immunities to Bind/Sleep/Break/Silence/Gravity on NMs.
-Vastly increase the potency of Paralyze 2 and Slow 2.
-Increase the potency of Phalanx/Phalanx 2.
-Make Enhancing Skill affect enhancing spells more.
-Nerf Haste/Hastega spells for /WHM /RDM and upcoming /SMN.
-Give RDM a specialist at Fencer traits. No job deserves Fencer more than RDM --the job that's actually a Fencer and has Fencing related equipment including equipment with the word Fencer in the name.
-Add a job ability or spell(Temper maybe) that allows use of EX Sword Weapon Skills i.e Red Lotus Blade/Vorpal Blade.
-Add an enfeeble strictly for RDM that lowers the target's Magic Defense and Magic Evasion.
-Poison III
-Regen III and/or Refresh III(WHM can get Regen IV and Regen merits/gear, but we're stuck on Refresh II)
-Dispel should remove more buffs relative to enfeebling skill(RDM and SCH ONLY)
-Increase Healing and Elemental skill to B- or B+.
-Increase Sword skill to A-, leave Dagger at B+.
-Increase Shield Skill to B-.
-Increase Parrying Skill to B-.
-Increase Enhancing Skill to A+.
-Allow Gain-Stat spells to not only be able to be casted on self, but also single target as well like Regen/Refresh.
-Haste 2 at 99.(This should only happen if Haste for /WHM40 and /RDM48 is not weakened, why should /NIN's Utsusemi Ni be reduced to 3 shadows and /THF's Sneak Attack reduced but /RDM and /WHM's Haste are full strength?)
-Scale Blink to grant more shadows every 100 enhancing skill or something. It could be 4-5 Blink Shadows at around 400 skill making it not a completely worthless spell at higher levels.
-Increase base for Stoneskin, nobody wants to carry around 4 pieces of gear to enhance Stoneskin. Some of these pieces are hard to obtain because nobody does Campaign Ops.
-Make Spontaneity a 5 minute recast. 10 minutes doesn't make it a useful tool, it makes it a novelty like Circles/Breakers for SAM/DRK/DRG/PLD. Sekkanoki is a miniature Meikyo Sishui and is a 5min recast but Spontaneity, a miniature Chainspell is a 10 minute recast. Which is the stronger ability? The one that can be used to make a 4,000 damage light skillchain with 200% TP every 5 minutes or the one that lets you instant cast a Cure 4 or a Sleep 2 once every 10 minutes?

In summation, the only reason anyone would allow a RDM into an alliance at 99 would be for Paralyze2/Slow2 and Dia 3 only. At 99 BRD/SMNs will be able to March 3/March2 along with Hastega'ing the alliance. Even BLM/RDMs can haste. Refresh II won't matter because all mages are /RDM for their own Refresh and Convert. Along with their AF3 which gives +2 Refresh, Refresh II spell on RDM is superfluous. RDM's can't heal or nuke anything important without Cruor buffs and Atmas outside of Abyssea. We have C- Elemental magic and second-rate access to MAB gear outside of our Empyrean armor. We can hardly heal, we can barely nuke, our enfeebles are tepid and lackluster, our melee/swordsmanship is extremely underpowered for anything outside of casual soloing. Despite having the highest enhancing skill in the entire game, none of the spells we can cast on others is affected by enhancing skill(Refresh/Regen/Haste) aside from a merit spell, which even with 5/5 merits is equal to a SCH's Phalanx+Accession and WHM gets AoEs of all of our good enhancing skills (Boost-Stats/Bar-Spells).

RDM is a Paralyze 2/Slow 2/Dia 3 machine at 90, and that's all. Our entire job's usefulness is based on 3 merit spells and nothing else.