On Red Mage melee...

[Daniel_Hatcher]

BLU gets to much of the gear RDM should be on. Between VW & NNI on the gear sets BLU got great TP & WS pieces that make RDM's look bad, while RDM still got just plain old mage things that while useful help nothing to do with wielding a blade at all. We have good gear coming to us outside of these sets but the sets are what shine the most. For instance Toci's makes Antares look like crap for CDC however Antares is the best for RDM still when it comes to CDC, while BLU gets Toci's. Much the same with Thaumas & Athos, they are great for DEX and TPing gear, but RDM gets put on Nares & Rubeus which while they are good, are nothing by compare to BLU's sets. And the worst part is so far as magic damage goes BLU wins over RDM by far without the high amount of mage gear because they have fast potent spells.

I love my RDM melee but I have to say sometimes I still feel the shaft when it comes to gear overall.

BLU also gets put on a lot of light armour which doesn't fit the lore of cloth armour, it does however fit the lore of RDM with Cloth and Light Armour, but this is SE so no real shock.

[Babekeke]

Not sure if you're all aware of this little beauty. Using it instead of aketon allows you to use a different off-hand instead of Ephemeron, and even drop to a 2% haste feet like Savateur's if you need the acc. Or keep the Ephemeron and swap out Zelus for Brego.

[saevel]

RDM can already hit 25% haste without that sword or a haste body.

Z.Tiara: 8
Brego: 4
Phasmida: 6
Rubeus Spats: 3 (Or cal pants)
Eurus' ledelsens: 4

Aketon is
STR: 10
AGI: 10
Attack: 13
Ranged Attack: 13 (not important to us)
DA: 3
Store TP: 5

Shedir Manteel
Attack +10
Accuracy +10
MAB +5
M.Acc +5
Haste +4%

It's basically just the ACP body with 4% haste. Though it is juicy if it allows you to play with other gear, though there isn't much to play with. You can wear Rager Ledelsens instead of Eurus' for more acc / atk. Though I've never been able to get a pair of nails. Which goes back to what I was saying before, really lacking in the atk / STR / DA departments now.

[saevel]

RDM has been the victim of something known as overbalancing. It's when you attempt to compensate for a job / class's perceived strengths by limiting their choices or making them weaker in multiple areas. This results in a job / class that has no strengths and thus is useless. EQ did this to their hybrids originally. They were weaker in melee then the melee specialists and weaker in magic then their magic specialists, they also had to get nearly x2 the XP to level up as their specialists counterparts. The results were crap class's that contributed nothing to a group and were generally deemed not worth it.

They've limited RDM's options in too many area's simultaneously, the result being a crap job / class that has no strengths. RDM shouldn't be unlimited in all area's, that would be overpowered, but neither should it be severely handicapped in all area's. SE seriously needs to unscrew RDM's gear potential.

[Crimson_Slasher]

Back for much delay, and i feel for ya on that morta body Saevel. I got unlucky for that and there arent many VWNM ls on sylph (or if they are they arent recruiting too hard, or have people id rather not socialize with...) so instead im rocking myself the following build more or less for TP build.

Weapon/weapon/blank/Astrolabe
Zelus/Chiv/brutal/supa
Dux/brego/raja/(fencer/keen)
Aethling/goading/(Calmecac/Rubeus)/Eurus

I opt for the Calmecac for the DA/TA since i lack the STP and DA from Kuzdu in body. That also nets me 24% haste currently. If i can manage a phasmidia i may swap to that but i think i like the STP to offset the Eurus boots. Though i am considering swapping neck for Twilight Torque. That would give me 9% PDT just when autoattacking.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Chiv > rancor/fort/portus(if you have, perhaps even nefarious)

You can use Phasmida/N sash and Dusk+1 feet which is same haste as eurus/goading (2 less STP if that breaks a hit, which I'm fairly certain it did not last I checked).

[Crimson_Slasher]

I have rancor but again was utilizing a little STP. As for the dusk, i am so sick of wearing dusk i opt to not wear em and tough out eurus'. Might do the rancor swap though.

[Babekeke]

RDM can already hit 25% haste without that sword or a haste body.

Z.Tiara: 8
Brego: 4
Phasmida: 6
Rubeus Spats: 3 (Or cal pants)
Eurus' ledelsens: 4

Ok, but that's only 25%, not 'true' haste cap, which you need another 1% for.

Aketon is
STR: 10
AGI: 10
Attack: 13
Ranged Attack: 13 (not important to us)
DA: 3
Store TP: 5

Shedir Manteel
Attack +10
Accuracy +10
MAB +5
M.Acc +5
Haste +4%

It's basically just the ACP body with 4% haste. Though it is juicy if it allows you to play with other gear, though there isn't much to play with. You can wear Rager Ledelsens instead of Eurus' for more acc / atk. Though I've never been able to get a pair of nails. Which goes back to what I was saying before, really lacking in the atk / STR / DA departments now.

It was basically another option for people really struggling to get the aketon to drop, or even find the shouts for it.

[ManaKing]

http://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/265028

That's what I'm working on right now. I have everything but the swords, body, and boots. You can change the ammo, neck, or tyrant's ring and still have 15 hits + WS to WS, even if you have no S-TP in your WS set.

If that Aketon had any amount of haste on it I would have built a set around it, but RDM only gets so much melee gear. I personally don't like Zelus because it doesn't have stats on it. I don't think RDMs can afford to give up what you can get on the head piece, in my case 14 Atk and 4 S-TP. At some point I would consider builds that involve Phos Belt +1, but that would probably be around the time I have a Phos Belt +1 and a Kudzu Aketon^^.

[saevel]

Ok, but that's only 25%, not 'true' haste cap, which you need another 1% for.

Gear haste cap ~is~ 25% or 256/1024. Gear tends to lie though as 5% on a gear item is only 51/1024 (4.98%), 8% item being 81/1024 (7.9%) and 4% being 40/1024 (3.9%). Thus 25% worth on gear equip ends up being 24.5% or so. That last half percent rarely is noticeable unless your getting BRD buffs and approaching cap. Since this is a RDM melee discussion, I'm assuming the only haste buff your getting is the haste spell 153/1024 (14.94%). That above set should be 252/1024 or 24.6% haste.

Relying on an extremely rare drop off the harpy is worse then relying on a rare drop off Morta / Neo-Limbus (haven't done the new fights so don't know their drop rates)