To this I will always respond, if the job is viable, what can it do that a SCH with proper gear can not? SCHs have Cure IV like RDM, but a much higher skill under the proper Art, Regen V, and Weather boosts which make their Cure IVs as strong as a Cure V, far more powerful than RDM or WHM can naturally get their Cure IVs to be. SCHs have Weather boosts for their nukes as well, which push them above us yet again, and if that was not enough, they have the best DoT spells in the game, and better access to nuking gear, especially in the case of Staves right now where a RDM's best staff is Lehbrailg +1 with proper Augments, and it does not beat out Atinian, or come close to Mythic. SCH has better Enhancing spells, able to access every party able spell RDM has from using it as a sub-job basically and adding on top of it a spell for Regain, Weathers which can give the same kind of effects as our Gain-Spells, and the ability to AoE all buffs basically, let alone Embrava. Then we come to Enfeebling, our so called specialty, where a SCH/RDM can match every spell we have, with less potency if we have IIs merited and count them into the mix here, but SCH is only missing 2 things, Gravity II, and Addle. Gravity is the same as Gravity II except the EVA penalty is 20 EVA better for II, a small boost, and Addle is able to be cast by WHM, a job sure to join in any event.
The point of all of this is that so far as magic goes, there is nothing SCH is not better at really. It can land Enfeebling Magic better than RDM with less potency, that's the best thing RDM has going for it, less accurate but more potent Enfeebles. I want someone, anyone, to tell me exactly what it is RDM can do better besides those, because I have yet to find it.
This is not quiet true. A SCH/RDM with Arts up has roughly the same as 25% Fast Cast, RDM sub gives 15, Arts gives 10, a RDM99 has 30%, speed is just barely better, and hardly a matter of importance with today's level of Fast Cast gear available, so if that is what you mean by speed, its not really a point of true strength against our largest competitor. So far as durability, I fail to see how we are any better than a SCH really. We have PDT gear, most of it is the same as SCH, the only real pieces we have a SCH does not are the PDT Sword, and Genbu's Shield, with Flume Belt. That might impress if the Terra Staff did not have 20% PDT, 1% less than Shikargar/Genbu's, and took no real work to get by compare to the two. The belt might seem nice but it can be replaced easily too. Past that, we both use Gendewitha/Hagondes for PDT/DEF gear, with no real difference in our sets, our survival from Protect, Shell, and Phalanx, are hardly accountable either, since SCH can match those as well. Lastly it comes down to Regen V vs our F rating in Shield, since I am sure the thought of using a Shield instead of a staff makes it sound more defensive, but blocking almost never happens because our skill is pathetic, and Regen V allows a SCH so much HP/Tick that it massively helps their survival in a situation. Overall, both of those two things, SCH is better at when played well.One of RDM's greatest advantage over other mages is speed and it's durability. With these together, RDM can survive in most places a normal mage cannot.
No, but the Swords are not really important in that situation either, and the swords are an underutilized resource that stops us from bringing anything unique to the table. You mentioned RDM as a Silencer, Sleeper, Mage and Tank Supporter, but I fail to understand what we do here that SCH can not. SCH has more Magic Accuracy than RDM has, even if they had the same amount, Silence is easy to land on all but the Peiste, the Eft it lands easy but the duration is bad, so it needs to be spammed, and that's about the same you get with any RDM. Sleeping things is easier for a SCH, RDM needs /SCH and Klimaform to have a chance at being more accurate with Enfeeblings than a SCH is, and its the best sub for RDM anyways unless you need Stun or Elemental Seal, so chances are a RDM will not have Sleepga, and will not want to waste a Stratagem on Manifestation to throw one out. On the other hand, SCH has an abundance of Stratagems and their recast is about 30% of what a RDM/SCH's is, which makes sleeping much easier. Supporting mages may be a bit weaker, sure, less Refresh, but here is the question, what is Refresh for? The SCH/BLMs do not need it, they hardly spend MP as it is, and the MP they do spend is likely recovered by their own Sublimation, or is easily recovered by the 3 Refresh a SCH/RDM provides, GEOs need it to cast their spells and heal themselves, casting their spells is a valid reason, but it should not be much an issue in reality so long as they are not healing themselves, and SCH heals better than RDM as I covered before, especially with Regen, so this is a mute point. Lastly you have Tank support, where its the same as mage really, with the only stand out thing about RDM being they can Phalanx without being near the tank, and not really anything else.I still see RDM going in to delve all the time as a Silencer/Sleeper/Mage&Tank Supporter. Just because they have some fancy swords doesnt mean they will be using them all the time.
WHM has never had a history for being a melee job, and the situation is hardly the same. SCH does what RDM does, in every magic category. If WHM had an all magic, staff only counterpart with better abilities and spells in almost every case, would WHM be used? The answer is likely no, what's the point? But for RDM, melee is the only thing we have that stands out from SCH, and unless they revamped RDM from the ground up and made it a full on mage while giving us a lot more Enhancing Magic, full party targeting, powerful buffs, and a full revamp to all Enfeebles, it just would not make RDM useful next to SCH which does our magic based jobs so easily.Look at Whm... for years they have decent clubs and a great WS to boot... yet when did they ever have the chance to run up to use them?
I do not mean to do those to you either, this is a subject I feel strongly about in this game, and I feel like SNK, and anyone else who really thinks RDM should be left alone, or people should not complain, are in the wrong. I tried to highlight the reasons in this post, explaining why each thing is not in RDM's favor, and giving points to RDM in the few things it is better at, but the evidence is far in SCH's favor of being the better job, so much so it makes RDM hardly useful.I don't mean to tear you down or belittle you, I'm simply elaborating on the point SNK might have been trying to make in their post.
I see people take RDM to Delve, I am happy, I get to participate, but it does not stop the voice in the back of my head telling me a SCH/RDM could do the job better, because I know they can, its fact, and even though people do not use it often or at least do not shout for it often, does not change the fact. Its only a matter of time till people realize these things, to me, that's all it is, and while I can be useful now, it wont last forever, and my use now is more out of a lack of knowledge on the part of leaders, than it is a real use for my job, I sadly know that, and it eats away at me every time I join a party.
I can not live with that ideal anymore. I was shunned by people for trying to make use of my melee, take pride in the one thing RDM could do so much better than SCH that set it apart, and many people did not invite me. I got by only being invited by friends or linkshell members who took pity on me, its for that reason I made an Almace, and later my Excalibur, working hard to make my RDM better in those fields, farming the best melee sets possible, even if it cluttered my inventory horribly, and so on. I worked with what SE gave me and tried to make the game enjoyable, making a Relic was by far the most stressful thing I did in the game because it was basically the only thing I had left I could do to try getting my job invited to things. Once it was done, I did get more invites, people saw my determination to make it work and let me come. The thing is, I am tired of working to try making a game more enjoyable. I should not have to work for hours upon hours today to make my Excalibur level 119 just so I can be turned down by the grand majority of people doing things like Delve and such who will never take my job as a melee, only a mage, where I get to know constantly that I am mediocre.We all have a favorite job and we all want to see it do the best they can to our personal vision. But in the end, it's not our vision to control. We simply play with the ball SE provides us with. If they say it's fine if the ball only bounces 15 feet when we want it to bounce 20, who's to say they are wrong? It's a game they provide us with, it's up to us to make the game happen and enjoyable.
I can not believe it is so hard to ask for this job to be improved and be understood by people, how many people will argue its fine or that its dead forever, I fail to understand it.