Sure, but how much the amount of melee damage you'd need to do to be "worthwhile" in any case would upset the balance of the job, putting your melee prowess on par with your nukes which would make you the end-all-be-all class. What you don't seem to grasp is that RDM is already on par DD wise if they were to fill in that slot. The damage potential from magic will always outweigh that from melee, and if melee started to become a legitimate source of damage, you'd end up with a dominant class that: Cures itself, Nukes, Imoblizes a mob by any of 5 ways, can buff itself fully to the point of taking tremendously less damage, debuff a mob to a crippled version of its former self, and now can melee a mob down? C'mon be realistic here. You're already needed in 90% of events, you're not hurting for invites, and if you really wanted to melee you got 10+ jobs to choose from that can do that, one as suggested before, does exactly what you want to do on Rdm sans the pimp hat, Blu.

The point I was trying to get across in my last point is basically this, if you got a Melee Rdm, who's curing the party? The Whm? If I got a Whm, then why would I need a Rdm? And vice-versa. The only thing in that equation is a wasted slot, the Melee Rdm; they're not doing the expected role of the job for team play, promoting them to liability. And again, if I wanted a Rdm to be DD, I'd prefere them on the back-line nuking, it's better DD output anyways.

Questions:

But now I want to ask. Why are you so attached to Rdm?
What do you have against doing "This" on another job?

Why are you so opposed to the Rdm that everyone else prefers and expects?

What is wrong with being the best Party Support Mob Debilitator in the game?

Do you realize your presence alone can up party damage 200% - 500%(roughly) while dropping the monster's ability to do damage fourfold? AND nuke to your heart's content at a level that equals a melee's Weaponskill damage every ten seconds or so?

Seriously, what if your actual problem with the status quo at them moment? I'd like to know the actual reason why you think your job is deficient. I've read why you think your melee is deficient, and I've read what improvements you want, but nothing on why you think the job is deficient.

Would you be ok with every melee getting Haste, Protect V, Shell V, Cures I - IV, All elemental Spells I - IV, Bind, Sleep, Break, Sleep II, Enspells, Dia's, Bio's, Paralyze II, Slow II, Blind, Stoneskin, Refresh II; AND... the ability to do all that with nearly infinite MP AND... Be able to cast all those spells in half the time AND... have their recasts reduced to half?

I mean... By your logic of "Past Final Fantasies"... The majority of them, every character had access to every spell, and in most cases every ability...

Rdm is awesome, I just wish you guys could see that.