But it's a sword.

I am so jazzed about having RDM. I love spellcasters with swords.

So why, exactly, are RDM's not allowed to use said sword outside of the GCDs? I can't even get in close for auto attacks without losing dual cast. ;_;

I just want to stick them with the pointy end between spells.

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Originally Posted by Venjamin

I am so jazzed about having RDM. I love spellcasters with swords.

So why, exactly, are RDM's not allowed to use said sword outside of the GCDs? I can't even get in close for auto attacks without losing dual cast. ;_;

I just want to stick them with the pointy end between spells.

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their level 1 skill is a sword skill(first hit in the sword combo)... its just more optimal to use the combo to lead to the finisher because of the nature of using x amount of black/white mana with the combo for significant damage increase/have enough to cast the final nuke

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Originally Posted by ADVSS

their level 1 skill is a sword skill(first hit in the sword combo)...

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Which is likely there because it'd make no sense to give you Jolt at lv1 if you have nothing to spend mana on once you hit 30/30 from spamming it. It's purely for making the skill spread work and nothing else.

The sword is sadly an afterthought, since the design basically forces you to spam spells from range and then run in to hit the mob 3 times and then get away again. If you use sword skills without mana (which takes a long time to build), you're going to be dealing really low damage. Hence why the potencies are so low.

It's a step above this, but not by much. And yes, that guy doesn't use his sword for anything at all.

Red MAGE...

Can't say I'm a fan of rdm.

Having both white and black mana is a silly concept on this, because the white mana is just nuke spells really. You have a bad cure and a raise... but so does smn. It's blm with dragoon jump, little more.

Ffxi the rdm outside of soloing became the same too though in terms of that sword being useless.

At least you leveled rdm starting out as a swordsman and slowly learning spells. That was cool. Here you start at 50 though with everything handed to you.

Meh

The cure is a boss. I love my cure. But despite being a red MAGE BOLD LETTERS ETC, red mages have always been competent melee damage dealers as well as casters, which is why I'm disappointed with the lack of mana interaction and swordplay. If it's close enough to dead, I'll embolden auto attack a bit to feel special.

Actually I think it is the perfect balance, your sword combo when fully enchanted does awesome damage.
As a mage you cast few spells, then jump in few swordplay actions then pull out again to cast few spells. I actually think in the concept of FFXIV (MMO), the redMAGE is very well done and balanced.

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Originally Posted by Capriana

Actually I think it is the perfect balance, your sword combo when fully enchanted does awesome damage.

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I would't call gameplay skewed towards casting "perfect balance". Perfect balance would be sword skills not dealing pitiful damage on their own, the ability to combo sword skills with spells, one weakening the mob so that the other does more damage, and all of that can be done without needless yet almost forced mobility.

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I actually think in the concept of FFXIV (MMO), the redMAGE is very well done

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I'll say that compared to the other MMO hybrids that came before it, the job's design leaves something to be desired.

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Originally Posted by Fyce

Red MAGE...

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Welcome to the final fantasy series of games! It's always great to have newcomers. I know it can be confusing to hear a name like that and think of red mage as a pure mage but it's actually always been kind of a hybrid between a classic mage type and a fighter.

Yeah, the current RDM is nothing short of a mockery. Hell, I'm pretty sure WHM and MNK got more love than RDM... the dev team spent too much time on "How can we make it flashy" and completely forgot to make it FUN.