RDM Balance ...

[Crimson_Slasher]

/blm and /drk both have mp though /drk has less, objectively on the otherhand, /blm doesnt have a lot to offer in a single nm endgame situation, as sleepga, elementga 1-2 and the like arent effective on nms, so unless you plan on needing warp, /drk is sufficient. Additionally, while burn/choke/shock or drown/rasp/frost are handy for DOT and stat downs, /drk can do the same, and at time offer other bonuses that may further hinder the mobs, absorb tp (which while hindered by low dark skill, we dont find much outisde abyssea that fights our 255ish dark skill) being one of these handy spells, so while not suited for your playstyle, it is a valid substitution and option that may offer other bonuses more suited to a specific fight.

Edit:
And agreed on fastcast, but partly disagreed on MND. While Mnd does raise potency of cures, it requires hundreds of mnd to actually make a noticible contribution, and with the approach of higher levels and subs, some of that fastcast will be granted to those wishing to sub for cure IV.

[Economizer]

And agreed on fastcast, but partly disagreed on MND. While Mnd does raise potency of cures, it requires hundreds of mnd to actually make a noticible contribution, and with the approach of higher levels and subs, some of that fastcast will be granted to those wishing to sub for cure IV.

Granted, cure potency (which SMN can currently cap and RDM cannot) is a bigger issue then MND, but if you don't break a certain threshold of Mind, your cures will just be gimp in general. Coming Monday, assuming none of the gear got changed, Red Mage will be able to cap cure potency though, as it should considering that SMN currently can.

Sub RDM already gives the max amount of Fast Cast it ever will at even level 70. It is competitive with the buff from Light Arts when /SCH, but Red Mage effectively gets twice the Fast Cast of someone /RDM, not including gear and possible future traits for Red Mage main.

Granted, Red Mage sub is getting Sleep 2, Cure IV and Haste in coming updates, but Red Mage will still be twice as good at Fast Cast unless you are competing with a White Mage (for casting cures/debuff removal) or Scholar (for recasts).