Loving RDM For a Different Reason (HS Spoilers)

Ok, so I have to say... Red Mage has been a really fun class to transition to at 50 (I played White Mage till then). I liked it so much in fact that I lost all desire to play any of the other classes I tried. It just clicked.

I love the combo of Melee and Magic (I always make spellblade characters in games that allow it because I like the aesthetic), I love that it feels like my character in game used their previous training and naturally evolved as a magic user (Lvled as a White to 50 but also dabbled in Black), I love that I get to keep my ability to heal, I love how smooth the gameplay feels (No rotation, just priority list and mana management), and I love the aesthetics of the spells.

All of this has been great... but it isn't why I made this post or why I have been having so much fun with it lately. I love it because it has made me feel like the hero of light in the story context.

The narrative places you as someone special that works with NPC allies to accomplish feats, and yet whenever there is a big thing happening it usually happens in a duty. There has always been a huge disconnect for me with that. You go out to do this thing, the narrative tells you that you are doing it alone, and then 3 other random people do it with you and then vanish afterwards. I get that it is for gameplay reasons and I do not think that this should be changed... but it is jarring all the same.

Loving RDM so much though, I played it through the whole interlude between ARR and HW and hit 60 VERY early into HW. This let me kit myself out in Ilvl 255 gear for very cheap from the market. Overworld mobs are meant to be easy anyways so this just made them faster to kill and made running around the map go faster without killing the gameplay for being too easy. Special story fights sync you down so you don't end up trivializing them either. But the duties... in ilvl255 RDM can solo all the HS duties. It isn't easy per say, a bad stun or going OOM (which happens when you have to Vercure a lot) can kill you and you definitely aren't a 1:1 replacement for a full party (re-doing some of the fights in roulette later was a lot easier) but it is very doable and only takes maybe a min or two longer than a normal party run (though the lack of need to que as DPS easily makes up for the time).

Since you can solo the duties, it actually feels like they fit into the narrative with no weirdness. You ARE this special person who took on Nidhogg alone with the Azure Dragoon and won. You DID storm the vault and take on the three commanders 1 on 1 and triumphed. And you had to work for it. You have to learn the mechanics well since you cant just brute force them. It is so much more satisfying. I am looking forward to continuing this trend with the other expansions.

Anyways, that is it. Just had to share cause of how happy this class has made me.

I felt this way about Paladin, which is also a combo of melee and magic. It used to use white mage spells directly through the cross-class system, but now has its own spells. Because it's a tank it's also very good for soloing and is usually the first to be able to solo things before other jobs can.

The abbreviation for Heavensward is HW. It's heavens-ward, toward the heavens (we have seven); not heaven-sward, a patch of grass in the clouds.

I miss the cross-class system. It made the character feel more connected and like you really were an Arcanist before you became a Conjurer for example. I wish they had kept it and opened it up a bit more, like not locking out magic and physical abilities from the respective classes. It would take a bit of a retool of the system but it would be nice. Like if at 15 every class added one cross class ability (something that represented the class) and the ability would scale with your current classes primary attribute. Something that wouldn't replace or find a place in a normal rotation for the class, but would be situationally useful while soloing or playing with a friend. It would make a nice flavor thing without making it a necessity to be competitive.

Fair enough, I edited it where I could (not the topic title). Given that it is a single compound word, I separated it phonetically for the abbreviation because that's how my brain just works and I hadn't seen the abbreviation before. I'll use the right one from now on.

To the random adventurers showing up and leaving point, it is worth remembering that you are also part of the "adventurers guild" or whatever, which is meant to imply you've got connections to group up with fellow adventurers as needed. They randomly show up because (implied lore) there's good coin and good sport to be had, and they randomly leave cuz you're the one doing the special thing, they just wanted to bust some heads.

Occasionally, the lead-up quests do make mention of calling on your adventurer friends for helping to get stuff done. But. It does feel slightly more satisfying/appropriate once you get Trusts unlocked for 71+ dungeon runs.

Additional point, you're far enough in you could also unlock your Grand Company Squadrons, which have a selection of ARR/HW dungeons you can run with them. Not sure, can't remember if you need to clear the dungeon on your own first to unlock or not. But they might also fit what you were looking for. Spend enough time with them, and they also make running those dungeons synced a total breeze.

I think of them as lesser known scions, or in other situations where soldiers are present, as those. Most of the time this fits, just not for trials.

They actually make a point of this later in stormblood. When a primal shows up out of the blue Alphinaud says “hopefully <player> has some allies in the area he/she can call to help fight this”.

I really like the Red Mage concept and quest, it has a bit of everything. So much I'm planning to adapt it to a tabletop RPG campaign for some friends.