Red Mage - A DoM Tank Job?

[Duelle]

Duelle, not all FFs are turn based. And RDMs white and black magic was not weak.

Almost every FF that's ever had Red Mage is turned based. FF Tactics did not have RDM (as I absolutely hate Tactics Advance and its sequel, I don't acknowledge their existence), XII International had basically a set of "unique" spells that needed a name so they plastered the Red Mage name on it, and it was NPC-only in FFIX.

RDM had access to lower tiers of what BLM and WHM had access to, so yes it had weaker magic as a whole.

That is not how you balance a hybrid

Hence why I said "simply put". It was more to drive the point home of what a RDM should be capable of in concept. Of course, I am more than willing to aim for the mythical 5% (RDM being capable of dealing roughly 5% less DPS than a "pure" DPS like DRG or MNK) for balance purposes. Additionally, utility provided by the job would be limited in some capacity in order to keep it balanced against the other jobs. That approach is very feasible (ret paladins and enhance shamans in WoW are a good example of how that works) and would fit RDM without being iconoclastic. It does mean RDM would have to land in the DPS pool but would still have the three aspects of sword, attack magic and heals.

Red Mages never have, and never will be, on par or anywhere close to on par with a real melee class.

Again, you can't look at the job as a middle-of-the-road hybrid. That model won't work in an MMO, even more so in a trinity-based MMO. I've repeatedly said in the past that RDM needs to be taken to the core concept behind the job: a guy with a sword that casts magic. Once you have that down you can build it in a way that makes sense without inhibitions caused by how it was presented in the console FFs.

They already said musketeer won't come. It's a relic of the past, it's time to move on.

I don't recall them ever being specific about musketeer never coming. Mind presenting a quote or linking an interview?